jenniferDewalt

This is so true. Coding is about more than typing some things into a text editor. Even if you don't have a CS degree or a ton of experience you can bring a lot to the table from good UX decisions to fresh perspectives to contagious hustle and drive.

Don't worry, I've seen much, much harsher critiques of things on HN. I doubt you'll get banned. I'll have to keep in mind that the name YumHacker was so offensive to someone they were compelled to write an off topic rant about it, though.

Thanks! I'm currently working on v2.0 which I am really excited about.

The internet! I spent most of my time googling, searching Stack Overflow, reading online demos, tutorials blog post and poring over docs to find the answers to my questions. There are tons of free resources out there.

Thank you! Learning something new is so intimidating but I really think the best way to do is to just dive right in. Sure, you'll suck at first but that's ok. Eventually you'll get better.

I've been working a website called YumHacker since I've finished the 180 project. It's a restaurant discovery app using Rails as an API on the back end and Backbone.js on the front end. I learned a lot with the 180 websites project and working on a full scale app has been really great for taking my skills to the next level.

Making myself publicly accountable was definitely a great motivator but my biggest take away was getting over the fear of being wrong/judged.

Good point! Thanks for posting the link to the YumHacker blog post. I've added it to this blog post as well.

Thank you! It's been a crazy awesome year.

This is exactly how I feel. It's nice to see I am not the only one who struggles with that guilt!

It really is hard to switch between different modes of thinking. I think that is why it's important to carve out chunks of time where you can really dig in and focus on getting stuff done.

That is very true. Improving your product is a big part of growth. The trick is to not waste time working on code that doesn't matter.

I think it's the immediate reward aspect of coding that draws me in. The more important tasks don't necessarily give a tangible result right away. With code, I can fix a bug and have something to point to and say 'success!'.

That's a great thought on endorsements vs. check-ins. I'll have to think about including more metrics.

When I first decided I was going to learn to code, I saved some money and organized my life so that I could quit my job and tackle the challenge full time. I knew being fully immersed in learning would help me get through the rough patches and discouragement.

I spent about 8 hours a day, every day working on YumHacker, with the occasional day off or half day around the holidays. Things were kind of slow going at first because I was still doing a lot of learning and I wanted to get a better understanding of what I was doing. After I got the hang of things, the pace picked up and I started producing much faster.

The crazy schedule I've been keeping this past year has definitely cut into my social life. Weekends are my favorite days to work because the office is quiet and I get my best work done then. My friends have gotten used to me carrying a monitor around on trips.

The thing that works for me is to make a habit and do whatever it takes to stick to it. I bit the bullet and got a desk in a co-working space which means I eat more ramen noodles but allows me stay super focused and productive. I tend to stay up really late working but then I let myself sleep in so I can come back fully charged the next day. Finding a personal groove is crucial.

Awesome! Thanks for the tip!

Sorry about that. Saving the search state is on my to do list right now.

Thanks for adding restaurants! I've got a couple of ideas for rewarding active engagement. One thought I have is awarding people something like a 'Super Hackers' status and their endorsements and profiles promoted. Another idea I've been tossing around is giving people the ability to make special lists which could also be featured.

A lot of my friends use Backbone and I poked around at it during the 180 Websites project. Despite the somewhat high learning curve for me in the beginning, Backbone felt like a natural extension of how I was already thinking about JS and frontend dev. I haven't really worked with Angular but I'd like to play around with it (and Ember) at some point.

As an occasional hypochondriac, I really like this idea but I'm ridiculously squeamish when it comes to medical stuff. I'm afraid I'd keep passing out on my keyboard. :)

That's the next thing I get to explore and I'll definitely be asking for plenty of advice. One thing I plan to do is go out and talk to people who love exploring new restaurants. Bloggers, critics, chefs and just people who generally love food. I'm also thinking about different features that could help provide value while the site is still small, such as custom lists. But mostly, I expect it will be a lot of trial and error.

Thank you! My focus for YumHacker right now is for people to try it out and figure out how to make it better.

Thanks! For the backend I use Rails as an api. Rails responds to the initial request with the assets and a barebones html doc with header, section and footer tags. From there, Rails responds to subsequent requests with JSON.

The restaurant search feature uses the Google Places api to get restaurant data (including things like hours and price) for places that aren't already in the database. YumHacker uses Postgres with PostGIS for the database and devise for authentication.

The frontend magic happens with Backbone.js. Backbone latches onto the skeleton html sent over by Rails to render the views. Whenever you request new data, it sends a request to Rails which sends back JSON. The learning curve for Backbone was kind of high but now that I've got the hang of it, it's pretty awesome.

I plan to write something more in depth about the technology in the near future.

Thanks! I'll probably write more about my learning process as well as the technology in the future.

I use the Google Maps Javascript api for geolocation. It takes a string and returns an array of places that match. Each place object includes a formatted address which I put in the search bar in place of what was initially typed.

Thank you!

I'm going to add more advanced filters so you can sort by things like price, category, etc. I'm also going to make a mobile optimized front end so it will be easier to use on fly. Some other thoughts I've had are adding the ability to make custom lists (i.e. My Fav Taco Joints) and promoting people who are active on the site.

Thank you! Some days I can't believe it's been less than a year.

Thank you! Getting over the fear of failure has been a huge lesson for me in the past year.

The code is publicly available on GitHub (https://github.com/jendewalt/yumhacker) but I hadn't thought about opening up as an open source project. Definitely something I'll consider!

Thanks! Good call on the line-heights. I hadn't noticed how weird those multiline business names look.