Learning the 'Benefits of a 100-Day Challenge' from a College Student's 100 Days of Continuous Programming

I recently discovered an interesting article!

It is as follows.

In this article, the phrase 'passively learned information is of no use' left a strong impression on me.

In yesterday's note, I summarized the 'how to use ChatGPT' aspect of the project mentioned above.

This time, I would like to summarize the 'original motivation' and 'benefits' of the 100-day challenge from the project participant's personal blog below.

Original Motivation

Through the 100-day challenge, the expected results were as follows:

・Improvement of problem-solving skills
・Acquisition of effective learning methods
・Acquisition of communication skills
・Improvement of practical programming ability

More specifically, it seems the goal was to be able to answer the following questions:

・How does technology evolve?
・How does the understanding of programming concepts and technologies deepen?
・How can sustainable learning methods be established? (time management, adjustment of study plans)

This might sound like common sense, but I thought it was wonderful that these were properly articulated.

Since there seemed to be an opportunity to present progress about twice a week at university, having a place for output in the first place was also important.

I felt that for individuals working on this, it is necessary to utilize organizations you belong to or social media to create a place for presentation.

Benefit 1: A New Learning Approach Utilizing ChatGPT

Learning utilizing ChatGPT is specifically as follows:

・Solving basic things just by asking ChatGPT (unclear points and bugs)
・Having ChatGPT write simple programs and learning by imitating them
・Making it possible to create professional-level programs by having ChatGPT repeat improvements

As I wrote in yesterday's note, isn't 'having ChatGPT repeat improvements' particularly impressive among these?

Through this, you can use ChatGPT as a teacher to learn what truly good code is.

Benefit 2: Improvement of Programming Skills

The skills here refer to programming speed and software design.

She apparently placed particular emphasis on 'beautiful design and code based on software engineering.'

By beauty, she refers to programs that are 'reusable' and 'highly readable.'

More specifically, this includes object-oriented programming, component-based programming, and design patterns.

The results for each are summarized as follows.

▼ Object-Oriented Programming
・Understanding of principles (encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism)
・Mastery of how to apply these principles

▼ Component-Based Programming
・Realized acceleration of the development process and ease of maintenance
・Ability to design and implement reusable components -> Contribution to man-hour reduction
・Methods for building new applications using reusable components

▼ Design Patterns
・Improvement in code readability, extensibility, and maintainability
・Improvement in problem-solving skills by learning various design patterns

Benefit 3: Networking

Since the person who carried out the project is a university student, the network is centered around the university.

It might not be helpful if you aren't a college student, but I will note it down anyway.

Through introductions from professors, her network apparently expanded as follows.

▼ Professor's peers (corporate executives)
・Gaining deep insights into the IT industry and career advice

▼ Encounters at academic conferences
・Interacting with experts and students in the same field
・Learning about research and the industry, and receiving valuable feedback

What started as academic connections sometimes led to invitations to casual events like study groups, barbecues, and drinking parties.

In such relaxed environments, she was able to build strong relationships and hear firsthand accounts from the industry.

Benefit 4: Good Habits

By continuing the 100-day challenge, she apparently acquired the following habits.

・Long-term concentration
・Stress tolerance
・Healthy daily rhythm
・Mental well-being

Good habits are the key to continuing for 100 consecutive days.

Furthermore, I thought it was amazing that she was also attending university classes (some of which were likely unrelated to the project) in parallel with the project.

Benefit 5: Opening Up Career Paths

The project participant reportedly received two job offers in three hours.

It seems that the 'track record' of this project and the 'confidence' gained from it were major contributing factors.

Beyond that, the following points were also said to be helpful.

・Strengths: Proving 'technical skills,' 'persistence,' and 'learning ability' through project outputs
・Support through connections: Being able to receive support from many people, such as professors and HR staff at companies
・Social proof through academic conference presentations

Through these, it seems she was able to 'differentiate' herself from other students.