Programming, Rubik’s Cubes, and unconscious incompetence

Rubik's Cube

The “conscious competence” learning model describes four stages of competence. The first stage is “unconscious incompetence,” which is the state of not even knowing what you don’t know. Not even Google can help because you don’t even know what to type into the search bar. Last year, when I made the decision to learn how to code, this is how I felt. I was an English major in college and had used it to rack up retail experience. My knowledge of computers, while passionate, came strictly from recreational experience. Continue reading →

5 things to learn before starting a personal blog

I was browsing my blog archives the other day and realized that I was nearing my two year anniversary of starting this website. As of March 10th, 2012, IAmDann.com will be two years old. I’ve got enough content to no longer feel like I’m just “faking it,” so to speak. It’s awesome. For anyone who doesn’t have a blog: start one. It’s extremely easy and it will teach you a lot about the internet and how it all works. Plus, you’ll have a place to post your thoughts and pictures that allows you to retain the rights—much better than turning those rights over to some social networking site.

Here are a five tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the past two years. Understand these and you’ll not only have your own blog but it’ll be better than most other websites out there.

Update: Check out my free video course for help setting getting a domain and hosting, and installing WordPress! Continue reading →