User:Ajuanca/Google Code In 2019 rewind

= Introduction = I don't know where to start. That's the same feeling I had got about a month ago when I sing up in the contest. I think that the best thing I can do is a recap. I hope this is gonna be useful. Pardon me in the first place, because neither my English nor my writing ability is the best. = All has an opening = The truth is that I don't remember how I discovered the contest. The only thing I know is that, when I found it, the registration was closed, so I write a remainder. This is the one that my phone showed up, (let me check the phone to be precise...) on. This day the organizations were announced, although at that point I didn't have clear which one was I going to choose (to be even truer I didn't how exactly the contest worked). Was then when I decided to practice in order to be prepared. The first week was fine. I practiced Java exercises because is a language I feel confident with (let me suggest the Google courses of Udacity). Next week I proposed designing a web page (HTML, JS, and CSS) for one of the organizations, Liquid Galaxy. The development of that page extended and ended up merging with tests, so the practice I had panned started to got away, till the day of the opening of the contest, a moment in which I hadn't even finished the page. As a conclusion (apart from the messy I'm), there's no need for practice before. The day has arrived, so we're at. I sing up on the web (looks like they've finished one 😂😂), and write the requested data. It redirects for the first time to the dashboard, with an easy structure that makes navigation easy. You can't request any activity till one of your parents agrees on the policies, so I leaped from the chair and go running to read it. The next day I'm allowed to start. I went to the organization's tab, and start reading a bit about them. The main reason why I chose Wikimedia was that I know it. That's true there were others seemed familiar, but not the same way as Wiki(m)pedia, the main page used for school works. I also discovered some new ones, like Public Lab, that looks very interesting. = We're in = When I clicked Wikimedia, I see the main languages. What's Lua? luckily I see that one of the activities is the Hello World, (and also an important number of mentors where listed), so I was going to receive a lot of help. I requested it. (I don't remember how long was the activity, let me check it). The same day. The truth is that I didn't remember the quicky it was. Obviously Lua looked nice for me (I think something like task per day), so let's move on to the next, Lua 2. After some other, I left what we can call the comfort zone, and I select another language.

= Some aclarations= At this point, and before answering some questions in the Google chat (open for mentors and competing, I can make a better idea of the general mechanic of the contest. Some things that aren't written are:
 * Mentors of an assigned activity aren't the only who could help: Rest of organizations members could help you. The list of assigned mentors for one activity can change.
 * Don't be scared because of time: Luckily, always I asked (even when I forget it) I get extra time. I would consider time as a level indicator, nothing more.
 * ASK!: Don't be afraid. As I said, my English isn't good, but that didn't affect me.

= Let's continue = Before this project, I got back to Lua. It's left to say that, from the 12 activities I've done, 9 belongs to Lua. 7 of them where just introduction, so they didn't were a big difficulty.

= I don't want to suck up but... = I would like to express a massive thanks to all the involved, to Google for the contest itself and to Wikimedia for appear us an Organization. Obviously, from a very more closely way to all the mentos that had oriented me along more than one month. I don't know if you're aware of (I hope someone is reading it) conscious of the so important role you've. Thanks, among other things, because of your time (and patience 😂). I want to express gratitude also because of the quick response and close manner, and with a special mention to Taylor, because he was one of the main mentors for Lua, therebefore I was like one of his 'pupils'. I found his responses about Lua related answers very detailed and easy to understand, and also, like the rest of the mentors, encourage me to think and thin. I would like to give thanks in the chat (I'm very grateful and I'm not sure they'll know it and be aware of his labor, but once the revision deadline is finished, you can't communicate with them anymore, another aspect to take into account). Just in this article, there's one implementation of what I've learned, (look at the dates).

= And now, what? = I'm still impatient for the results. I know that I'm not going to win because of the low activities I have done, but while I have been writing this article, I see the amazing works done by others. For sure I'll participate next year. And I would try to solve real problems, with real implementations, like the ones I did outside Lua. They were the ones I was thinking of completing, but I choose the easy way (and now I regret it. This first participation has taught me how really does Wikimedia works (I wasn't sensitive about the soo-many things you've to consider, the really big quantity of projects that are involved, and the also extensive people that is involved (amazing). Next year I will try to apply the learned concepts (about the organization, the architect of Lua (applicable to other languages) and other things (like properly use of GitHub or starting a local server in my computer). And who knows, maybe in two or three years' time I can be one of the mentors, although by then I should've learned a lot.

Thanks for reading the article. I hope it has been useful, and if you're one of the people that has done this possible, let me say it again: Thanks!!