Day 20: Starting Again

Day 20 of the journey to find a new job.

Yesterday was probably one of the harder days of this journey.

Not because something terrible happened.

But because I wanted to study, I knew I needed to study, and yet I simply didn't.

The entire day became a conflict between what I wanted to do and what I actually did.

And eventually, I chose not to study.

That's yesterday.

But today is another day.

And that's something I'm slowly learning through this process:

Yesterday doesn't get to decide what I do today.

So Day 20 started with a reset.

There weren't many interview calls today. In fact, there were more messages and emails telling me that I hadn't been selected than there were opportunities coming in.

Of course, those emails don't feel good.

Every rejection carries a small reminder that the outcome I'm looking for hasn't happened yet.

But I'm trying not to give those messages more importance than they deserve.

The goal hasn't changed.

I still have to prepare.

I still have to interview.

I still have to improve.

And eventually, something has to work.

A Different Kind of Productive Day

Today, instead of solving DSA or system design problems, I spent most of the day working on an assignment for one of the agent-driven builders.

It took quite a lot of time.

But unlike some of the previous days where I was questioning whether I was using my time correctly, today I actually got something valuable out of it.

I built a non-AI-looking, polished website as part of the assignment.

And I'm genuinely proud of it.

Not just because the website looks good, but because the assignment forced me to figure out something I was already thinking about for my own project.

I had been wondering how I could build that part of my project.

Now I know how.

That's one of the interesting things about building.

Sometimes you learn something because you're deliberately studying it.

And sometimes you learn it because a real problem forces you to figure it out.

This assignment gave me the second kind of learning.

And I'm going to take what I learned and apply it to my own project.

So even though I didn't solve a single DSA problem today, the day wasn't wasted.

But I also don't want to use that as an excuse.

Because there is a difference between having a productive day and doing what your current goal requires.

And my current goal requires interview preparation.

Monday Is Waiting

I have an interview scheduled for Monday.

That changes the priority.

DSA hasn't really been touched this week.

System design hasn't been touched the way I wanted either.

And React preparation needs attention as well.

So tomorrow, I want to give my full attention to React.

Not another project.

Not another interesting idea.

Not another rabbit hole.

React.

I want to go back into the fundamentals, solve problems, practise implementation, and get myself ready for the interview.

Because after the interview I can always come back to the other things.

But right now, the interview has a deadline.

And deadlines have a way of making priorities very clear.

And Then There Is AI

At the same time, there's another thought that keeps coming back to me.

AI.

If you look around at what's happening in software, it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

AI might not be directly asked in every interview I'm preparing for right now.

But for my own growth, I don't think I can keep treating it as something I'll learn later.

I've already gone through the basics. I've read about it and understand some of the concepts.

But there's a difference between knowing about AI and actually building with it.

I've spent a lot of time on the consumption side.

Reading.

Watching.

Understanding.

Using tools.

Now I want to move toward the other side.

I want to build.

And I think the best way to do that is to integrate AI into something I'm already working on — my own project.

That way, I'm not building an AI demo just for the sake of saying I built one.

I'm solving a real problem for myself.

And that's where I want my learning to go.

From consumption to creation.

The Week Didn't Go As Planned

If I look at this week honestly, it hasn't gone the way I imagined at the beginning.

There were targets.

DSA.

System design.

Interviews.

Projects.

AI.

And I didn't hit everything.

But maybe that's okay.

Because the purpose of documenting this journey was never to create a perfect record.

It was to see what actually happens.

Some days I'll execute.

Some days I'll struggle.

Some days I'll get rejected.

Some days I'll build something I'm proud of.

And some days I'll simply fail to do what I promised myself I would do.

The important part is what happens next.

I don't want yesterday's failure to become another three days of failure.

I don't want one missed day to become a missed week.

And I definitely don't want one difficult week to make me question the entire journey.

So I'm going to start again.

Tomorrow, the focus is React.

Monday, the interview.

After that, we'll see where the next problem is.

And somewhere alongside all of this, I'll start moving from simply consuming AI knowledge toward actually building with it.

I don't need everything to be perfect.

I just need to keep moving.

Because if I fall back again, I'll stand up again.

If I miss a target, I'll adjust it.

If a plan doesn't work, I'll change the plan.

But I'm not stopping.

Day 20 done.

The week didn't go as planned. But tomorrow is still mine to change.