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Word of the Day: hardscrabble

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Word of the Day: hardscrabble

The word hardscrabble has appeared in 31 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Oct. 13 in “How Jesmyn Ward Is Reimagining Southern Literature” by Imani Perry:

Her next novel, “Salvage the Bones” (2011), returned readers to Bois Sauvage, introducing them to Esch, a pregnant and motherless teenage girl living with her father and three brothers when Hurricane Katrina upends their world. Esch and her family face the storm the way they face everything else in their lives: trying to make do after losing so much of what little they had. Ward brings the traumatic displacement of natural disaster into focus, describing hardscrabble living with a sensitive terseness. Her prose brings readers inside Esch’s perspective, protecting her against the voyeurism that stories of Black teenage mothers usually encourage, and granting her a vulnerable nobility.

Can you correctly use the word hardscrabble in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how hardscrabble can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

How I Went from Graphic Designer to Front-End Engineer in 10 Months

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How I Went from Graphic Designer to Front-End Engineer in 10 Months

Learning to code so that you can land a job in tech can feel daunting. That’s why we’re sharing inspiring stories from Codecademy’s community — to show how people like you (yes, you!) can embark on a learning journey and end up with a totally new career. We hope these stories serve as a reminder that there’s no single path to a more fulfilling work life. 

Today’s story is from Franklin Méndez, a 28-year-old Front-End Engineer at the customer engagement platform Reply Pro, living in Honduras. Read more stories from Codecademy learners here — and be sure to share your story here. 

Why I chose to learn to code 

“My first full-time job was at a startup that trained AI datasets for speech recognition. I had many different tasks, including design, and I also worked on the operations team. Eventually, I became the Head of Operations at that company. I learned MySQL [an open-source relational database manager] and Google Analytics, because it was part of the operations, ensuring the follow-up on the features that we designed and built.  

I ended up learning a bunch of stuff related to web development, like HTML and CSS. I couldn’t build from scratch, but I could modify the color of the buttons on landing pages. It was pretty basic, and I feared JavaScript at that point. I grew a lot working at that startup, but I felt like I was getting stuck in a loop. I liked designing, but I want to build and deliver projects, too. 

Learn something new for free

I discovered Codecademy searching on the web. I saw the free JavaScript course and I took it. I felt weird not having a teacher or someone teaching in front of a webcam, but I ended up being used to it. I also loved how you can interact with the web and incur instant feedback on what I’m doing wrong and how it should be done. So that’s how I decided to go with the Front-End Engineer career path.”  

How I made time to learn 

“I think I learned 40 hours per week, like a full-time job. I started at 8 a.m. and would go until I finish it. I set up weekly milestones, so I would decide, I need to finish this lesson or chapter this week. It wasn’t enough to only finish it, but I had to understand it. Sometimes the milestones got pushed a week.”  

How I saved up money to switch careers 

“I left my job in February 2022 and started Codecademy in March 2022. I had some savings at that point. Since that startup had some clients in the United States, I made some connections and also worked as a freelancer while learning to code. So, I was full-time during the week, learning to code. On the weekends, I fulfilled graphic design requests from some clients.” 

How long it took me to land a job 

“By November, I started applying to UI/UX jobs, just to just to ensure I had a job in case I didn’t get a front-end position. I had design experience from my previous roles, but some companies were like: ‘You weren’t a full-time UI/UX Designer.’ I started this new job in January 2023.”  

How I got in the door 

“A previous coworker moved to another company, and I had a close relationship with them, even when I left the company. He told me they had an open position for UI/UX Designer, but also, they needed some help with coding. So, I said, ‘This is great. I can continue working on what I know, but also start professionally.’  

I applied to that position. They sent me the take-home exercise for the UI/UX Designer role. I built it in React the same afternoon and I sent them a demo of the design I made. I made it the application so they can test it — it was a small application, just two pages dynamically working — but they liked that I coded it.  

The same day that I was finishing my last Codecademy project [for the career path], I got rejected from that position. But the email came with another offer to join as a Front-End Engineer. I said, ‘Okay! Let’s take that test.’”  

Want to learn the skills you need to break into UI/UX design?   

Read this blog with tips from UX Designers about the design tools and soft skills you need for the role. 

How I nailed the interview 

“I had to do a full-stack test to see my back-end and front-end coding skills. At that time, I managed Amazon Web Services and other stuff on the startup, but I was still struggling a little bit with JavaScript at that point. I was scared of that test; I wasn’t sure if I would get it. 

I ended up getting the role as a Front-End Engineer. It was a perfect match, because we use React, Redux, and all the tools that I learned on Codecademy. The only language that I didn’t know was TypeScript, but in the 10 days before I joined the company, I took the Codecademy course and learned it. 

For me, I have two examples of times when I gave a little extra to make a good impression in a job interview. When I got my job at the previous startup, I made small, three-minute videos summarizing 30-minute livestream demos that they had. Nobody requested it, I just did it. If you give that extra, your profile will stand out. Show all the skills that that you have from other jobs. Even having good time management can be a deciding item or your profile.” 

How I evaluated the offer 

“I only applied for working from home jobs. I started my first job remote, and I said, ‘I’m not touching any office.’ My first job was remote, so I have never gone to an office to work in my life. I’ve been three years now remote.”  

Are you committed to the WFH lifestyle?

Check out these high-paying and remote-friendly tech jobs. 

How day one and beyond went 

“I started with two other Junior Front-End Engineers on the same date, and they didn’t know Redux! They learned to code on other boot camps and platforms where they didn’t get Redux. So, I got that advantage; I could explain to them and grow as a team. It was nice.”  

What I wish I knew before I started learning 

“It’s not as hard as you think — it’s not impossible. Knowing how to manage that fear in the beginning can be crucial. Mark milestones, because if you don’t keep consistent, you won’t get it. If you don’t keep practicing, you’ll forget what you learned. I would take a week off and come back like, ‘Oh, what is this?’  

Also, you can make good connections with the Discord community. When I was learning Redux, I was working on the Codecademy portfolio project where you have to make a Reddit clone. It’s a collaborative project, so I met some cool people that had a better understanding of full-stack development. We were a good match, because I made the design prototype, and they were handling the most difficult parts and explaining how to manage with Redux.”  

Not sure where to start? Check out our personality quiz! We’ll help you find the best programming language to learn based on your strengths and interests. 

Want to share your Codecademy learner story? Drop us a line here. And don’t forget to join the discussions in our community. 

How to answer interview questions with the STAR method

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How to answer interview questions with the STAR method

Last week in our job interview series, we talked about behavioral interview questions, which ask about your past experiences in the workplace. This week, we’re discussing situational interview questions, which are questions about hypothetical future situations.

These types of questions help an interviewer better understand what you might do or how you might react under specific circumstances or to certain events. Rather than “tell me about a time when…”, these questions are structured as “what would you do if…”

Some examples of situational interview questions are:

  • You’re assigned an important project but have to work on it with a difficult team member. What do you do?
  • How would you deal with an upset or angry customer?
  • You’ve been assigned a task that you haven’t done before. How would you approach your task?

These questions present an opportunity for you to speak about both your technical and workplace skills side-by-side in your answer.

How might you do that? Luckily, there’s a pretty straightforward formula you can use to craft your response: the STAR method.

How to use the STAR method

You can use the STAR method to respond to behavioral or situational interview questions, but it can work particularly well for situational interview questions because it offers a comprehensive structure that may be lacking when you’re dealing with hypotheticals.

STAR stands for:

  • Situation: The scenario
  • Task: Your role in the scenario
  • Action: How you’d respond
  • Result: The impact that response would make

Say you’re in an interview and someone asks you, “What would you do if you realized you’d made a mistake that will impact a project’s deadline?” First, take a breath. Next, begin working through the STAR method.

If I were working on a project and realized that I’d made a crucial mistake that would impact the deadline [situation], I’d need to work toward fixing my mistake and figure out what can be done to either still meet or adjust my deadline [task]. My first step would be to tell my manager, as well as any other teammates or stakeholders who may be impacted by my mistake [action]. Then, I’d assess the damage of my mistake. If it can be easily and quickly fixed, I’d make the necessary adjustments to avoid further damage. If it requires more work to fix, I’d develop a plan of action to fix the mistake [more action]. Next, I’d revisit our project timeline to figure out a way to still meet our overall project deadline and compile my proposed adjustments [more action]. Finally, I’d reconnect with my manager, teammates, and stakeholders with an update on my solution and timeline [more action]. This way, I can take responsibility for my mistake, make the necessary corrections, incorporate those corrections into our project timeframe, and control any further damage my mistake may have caused to my teammates’ workflow [result].

Keep practicing

Although you can’t be certain which questions an interviewer will ask you, practicing how you’ll respond to common interview questions can help you think deeply about your skills and how you’d like to present them.

For an interview crash course, try Big Interview’s The Art of the Job Interview. In about 19 hours, you’ll explore interview fundamentals and practice forming answers to common questions.

For career-specific practice, check out IBM’s Career Guide and Interview Preparation courses for Tech Support, Software Developer, Data Analyst, Data Scientist, and Data Engineering. Each of these courses takes about 10 hours to complete and will offer role-specific tips.

If you have any more questions about interview preparation, ask us in the comments. Next week, we’ll close out this interview series with an issue on questions to ask at the end of an interview. See you then!

Weekly Student News Quiz: Dubai, College Protests, Caitlin Clark

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Weekly Student News Quiz: Dubai, College Protests, Caitlin Clark

Above is an image related to one of the news stories we followed this past week. Do you know what it shows? At the bottom of this quiz, you’ll find the answer.

Have you been paying attention to current events recently? See how many of these 10 questions you can get right.

Are You Too Critical of Yourself?

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Are You Too Critical of Yourself?

Think of a time when something didn’t go as well as you had hoped — a time, for example, when you made a mistake, did poorly on a test or were cut from a team.

Faced with disappointment, did you treat yourself with kindness and compassion? Or did you beat yourself up about it?

In general, do you live with unrealistically high expectations when in comes to your grades, popularity, appearance, performance in sports, extracurricular activities or anything else? Do you ever wish you could be a little easier on yourself?

In “Perfectionism Is a Trap. Here’s How to Escape” Christina Caron writes about ways to quiet your inner critic:

Yuxin Sun, a psychologist in Seattle, sees a lot of clients at her group practice who insist they aren’t perfectionists. “‘Oh, I’m not perfect. I’m far from perfect,’” they tell her.

But perfectionism isn’t about being the best at any given pursuit, Dr. Sun said, “it’s the feeling of never arriving to that place, never feeling good enough, never feeling adequate.” And that can make for a harsh internal voice that belittles and chastises us.

Perfectionism is so pervasive that there’s a test to measure it: the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. When researchers looked at how college students have responded to the scale’s questions over time, they found that rates of perfectionism surged in recent decades, skyrocketing between 2006 and 2022.

Thomas Curran, an associate professor of psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science who led the analysis, said the type of perfectionism with the steepest rise — socially prescribed perfectionism — was rooted in the belief that others expect you to be perfect. Today’s young person is more likely to score much higher on this measure than someone who took the test decades ago. There could be a number of causes for the uptick: increasing parental expectations, school pressures, the ubiquity of social media influencers and advertising.

The feeling of not being good enough or that “my current life circumstances are inadequate or not sufficient” has created an “unrelenting treadmill,” Dr. Curran said, where there is “no joy in success and lots of self-criticism.”

Ethan Kross, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, explains one way to keep your inner critic in check:

Distancing is a way of zooming out on our inner chatter to engage with it differently. If you’re agonizing over something in the middle of the night, for example, that’s a cue to “jump into the mental time-travel machine,” he said.

Begin by imagining: “How are you going to feel about this tomorrow morning?” Anxieties often seem less severe in the light of day.

The time period could also be further into the future. Will the fact that you stumbled a few times during your big presentation today truly matter three months from now?

Another way to practice distancing is to avoid first-person language when thinking about something that upsets you.

Instead of saying: “I cannot believe I made that mistake. It was so stupid of me,” someone might gain a new perspective by saying: “Christina, you made a mistake. You’re feeling bad about it right now. But you aren’t going to feel that way forever. And your mistake is something that has happened to a lot of other people.”

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

  • Would you describe yourself as a perfectionist? Did any of the descriptions of self-criticism in the article remind you of your own behavior?

  • What is your reaction to the research that found that there was a surge in perfectionism — and especially in the belief that others expect you to be perfect — among college students in the last two decades? Do you see similar patterns among your peers? Why do you think perfectionism has increased so much recently?

  • Would you try any of the strategies suggested in the article, such as distancing, accepting what’s good enough or practicing self-compassion? Is there someone else you know that could benefit from these techniques?

  • Consider the disappointing moment you identified earlier. Imagine you had a second chance at reacting, with the knowledge you now have about perfectionism and strategies for quieting your inner critic. How would you approach that moment differently, if at all? What effect do you think comforting and reassuring, rather than criticizing, yourself would have on you?

  • Do you have any advice of your own to share with people who compare themselves unfavorably with others, or struggle with the fear of not being good enough?

  • What do you wish adults knew about the roles self-criticism and perfectionism play in the lives of teenagers today? What, if anything, could older people do to help?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.

Old and Young

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Old and Young

Do you have any meaningful relationships with people significantly older or younger than you are? What do you get from those relationships that you might not get from those with people your own age?

Karl Pillemer, a Cornell gerontologist who has led research on intergenerational communication, says that most people’s social networks consist only of people 10 years older or 10 years younger than they are.

Is this true for you, too? If so, would you be interested in joining a program that helps you build relationships with people from a different generation? Why or why not?

Let us know in the comments, then read the related article to learn more.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Picture Prompts here.

Word of the Day: blithely

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Word of the Day: blithely

The word blithely has appeared in 72 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 8 in “Ariana Grande Spins Heartbreak Into Gold on ‘Eternal Sunshine’” by Lindsay Zoladz:

In 2019, the altitudinous-voiced pop star Ariana Grande released an exquisitely unbothered breakup song titled “Thank U, Next” — a light, chiming smash that mentioned several of her famous exes by name and then blithely banished them from her heart forever with a wink and a smile.

But the heartache that fuels her seventh album, “Eternal Sunshine,” is of a considerably deeper variety; it even takes its name from Michel Gondry’s 2004 movie about the impossible fantasy of purging a past relationship from memory. “I try to wipe my mind, just so I feel less insane,” Grande, 30, sings on its skittering, mid-tempo title track. The potent melancholy that suffuses the song, and much of the album, tells you about how well that went.

Can you correctly use the word blithely in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how blithely can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

Do You Spend Enough Time in the Dirt?

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Do You Spend Enough Time in the Dirt?

How often do you spend time in the dirt?

Do you ever walk barefoot on the ground? Or stick your hands in soil while gardening or working outside? Do you get muddy while mountain biking, hiking or camping?

What if you knew that regular contact with dirt could improve your physical and mental health? Would you try to get your hands dirty more often?

In “A Little Bit of Dirt Is Good for You,” Holly Burns writes about how soil can benefit things like your mood and your microbiome:

Scientists have long known that a little dirt can be good for you. Research has suggested that people who grow up on farms, for instance, have lower rates of Crohn’s disease, asthma and allergies, likely because of their exposure to a diverse array of microbes.

In the 1970s, scientists even found a soil-dwelling bacterium, called Mycobacterium vaccae, that has an anti-inflammatory effect on our brains, possibly both lowering stress and improving our immune response to it.

More recently, there’s been an explosion of interest in the human microbiome — with people taking probiotics, seeking food with live cultures and “rewilding” their microflora. At the same time, scientists have been discovering how broad a role dirt microbes can play in our mental and physical health.

When we’re touching soil or even just out in nature, “we’re breathing in a tremendous amount of microbial diversity,” said Christopher A. Lowry, a professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder.

A recent Finnish experiment found that children attending urban day cares where a native “forest floor” had been planted had both a stronger immune system and a healthier microbiome than those attending day cares with gravel yards — and continued to have beneficial gut and skin bacteria two years later.

It’s not just good for kids; adults can also benefit from exposure to soil-dwelling microbes, Dr. Lowry said. So this spring, make a little time to go outside and get grimy.

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

  • Do you have a memory of playing in the dirt or mud? Describe that moment using as many sensory details as you can. Can you remember how getting your hands dirty made you feel — mentally and physically? Did you notice any benefits? Or did you just want to go home and take a shower?

  • Are you persuaded to spend more time in the dirt after reading the article? What, if anything, did you learn that surprised you?

  • Leigh Johnstone, a gardener and mental health advocate, said, “A lot of people still have this nervousness around touching soil.” But for him, he said, “it makes me happy.” How would you describe your relationship to dirt? Why do you think that is?

  • The article gives some suggestions for how to get in touch with dirt more often, including picking up a handful of it when you’re outside, gardening or even making a mud pie. Which, if any, of these activities might you like to try? What other ideas do you have?

  • Is finding dirt a challenge where you live? If so, what do you think could be done — either on a community or an individual level — to make it more accessible?

  • How important is spending time in nature to you? Do you get the chance to do it as much as you would like? What do you like to do outside? What, in your opinion, are the benefits of being outdoors?

Word of the Day: regale

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Word of the Day: regale

The word regale has appeared in 10 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Feb. 7 in “At 116, She Has Outlived Generations of Loved Ones. But Her Entire Town Has Become Family” by Soumya Karlamangla:

From then on, Ms. Ceccarelli’s birthday each year has been marked by a party, a lunch or, in the Covid era, a parade, open to all Willits residents. Often wearing a colorful scarf and pearls, she would pass on her wisdom on how to live a long life: “Have a couple of fingers of red wine with your dinner, and mind your own business.”

Other years, she would regale guests with stories of bygone days, of meeting a man who had lunched with Abraham Lincoln or of hearing all the bells in Willits ring on Nov. 11, 1918, signaling the end of World War I.

Can you correctly use the word regale in a sentence?

Based on the definition and example provided, write a sentence using today’s Word of the Day and share it as a comment on this article. It is most important that your sentence makes sense and demonstrates that you understand the word’s definition, but we also encourage you to be creative and have fun.

If you want a better idea of how regale can be used in a sentence, read these usage examples on Vocabulary.com. You can also visit this guide to learn how to use IPA symbols to show how different words are pronounced.

If you enjoy this daily challenge, try our vocabulary quizzes.

Students ages 13 and older in the United States and the United Kingdom, and 16 and older elsewhere, can comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff.

The Word of the Day is provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary. See every Word of the Day in this column.

What’s Going On in This Picture? | April 22, 2024

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What’s Going On in This Picture? | April 22, 2024

1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:

2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?

We’ll post more information here on Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned!

More?

• See all images in this series or slide shows of 40 of our favorite images — or 40 more.

• Learn more about this feature in this video, and discover how and why other teachers are using it in their classrooms in our on-demand webinar.

• Find out how teachers can be trained in the Visual Thinking Strategies facilitation method.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

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