Category: Education Page 1 of 4

Paw Paw

On October 17, 2021

What can you do with a paw-paw (Asimina triloba)? Paw Paw ice cream, shakes, baked goods, puddings, salad, and even in liquors, this fruit resembles a subtly sweet banana. The paw paw was traditionally mashed and made into cakes or dried as preserves. You can make jams, smoothies, quick breads, and pastries. The green pawpaw is an excellent substitute for squash or cherimoya.

A newly planted Paw Paw (*Asimina triloba*) located within community garden
Jardín Malinalli (28th & Ridgeway) in Little Village, Chicago

It is a bit tricky in terms of availability and when you pick its fruit is key. A lot of fruit from paw paws sadly get discarded especially in the city. Fully ripe paw paws last only a few days at room temperature, but may be kept for a week in the refrigerator. If fruit is refrigerated before it is fully ripe, it can be kept for up to three weeks, and can then be allowed to finish ripening at room temperature. I have not made anything from a paw paw yet, but a quick google search will lead you results to many recipes to experiment with. When I find one that I want to share, I will publish it soon.

Maximum Tight

By Risa Tino

On November 15, 2019

In Education

Your security is constantly being tested, hacked, and repaired. When your site goes down due to suspicious malware, your credit cards get compromised, or you are the victim of identity theft; most people only take action when this happens to them, during the aftermath, and not before. The internet is a wild and scary place. Just because it is feels like the big world wide web isn’t part of your physical security, it is just as vulnerable as getting robbed. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), Password Manager Pro, Last Pass, automated monitoring systems, and the list goes on. You should constantly be aware of ways strangers can get into your account by creating strong passwords, locking your computer when it is in a public place, and please DO NOT store passwords in a word doc! This is as bad as printing it on a piece of paper or writing it on a post-it note. Consider these preventative measures because you should never take security lightly just because it may seem easier to do so.

Purpose & Pursuit

By Risa Tino

On September 17, 2019

In Education

Do you know why you do what you do? Or how you end up with the people, the community, the groups of other similar and dissimilar people? I endlessly ask myself this question when I’m trying to prioritize, trying to make sense of a relationship, and keep myself in check. We try to communicate with purpose and as humans we all have a pursuit. We don’t always recognize it early, sometimes we never recognize our drive in the moment, but it is there.

foggy landscape in Japan — somewhere in Japan

Openness allows me to realize my purpose. It is always changing, disguising itself as something new and developing into something somewhat related to what it once started as. Opportunities have come and gone, but there is assurance that a purpose is out there for everyone. Finding out what motivates you is essential to keeping your balance and momentum. Openness does not just account for output but the input of information as well. I love to observe and make observations with openness. What you take in is as important as what you put out in the world. Don’t forget to listen and be kind to yourself as well as others.

Navigating Git Workflow, Docs & Dev Environments

By Risa Tino

On July 7, 2017

In Education

Each project and dev team I’ve come across seems to have very different systems of git workflow, documentation, and dev environments. My main concern is probably version control, as I realized a couple months ago while on the hunt for jobs that this is not a requirement of every agile development team. Individual ideas of what is considered best practice varies so much, I contemplate on how much of this is driven by behavior, experience, and technical expertise. Setting up environments is both my least favorite and most satisfying part of running an application. In school I didn’t think so much about documentation because it was often prepared, but recently I have appreciation for markdown or comments (a.k.a hints). In situations where I did not build from the ground up, I can’t help but wonder how recently documentation had been updated. Let’s just say that I am thankful and am more willing to tackle an existing project if I know there is some kind of version control and a clear build script. When a company is detached with their on-boarding process or the learning resources, it sends red flags. The past couple months at my new job, have flown by so fast that I decided to list things, things I should practice more often, and take more time for reflecting on what I learned. This will serve as the new focus of my blog posts.

The DOQmentor

By Risa Tino

On June 20, 2017

In Education

I have spent a little over 17 years as a freelance, contract employee and one of the first things I had to learn how to do was negotiate, create and propose projects, customize my own contracts, and manage all my projects. This was exhausting and just thinking about it makes me cringe. That was how I made my living. Dedication and will power. I was lucky. I didn’t get sick, and if I did it was never to the point where I had to take care of myself over getting work done. When you’re freelance, no one cares about your health or your life, you’re supposed to get work done by the due date set by your client or the job would go to someone else.

So then began my first full-stack app from scratch, The DOQmentor. The title is awful, but it was fit for production. It did its job, which was to generate, secure, file digital contracts by the freelancer and the client. I used the prawn-pdf gem and it was first implemented using Ruby on Rails. When something is ready to be deployed, there will always be maintenance, upgrades, and ways to make it better. I work full-time for an awesome organization now and have not been using my app for about a year now. Since then, I’ve worked on other apps that were not built from scratch and in other programming languages. The main lesson learned is that programming requires continuous learning, development and upgrades. It’s the nature of the work that is produced. There isn’t a final PowerPoint presentation, a hardcopy brochure, a high quality print poster, and it always has to be flexible to be relevant. Here is a demo you can watch for free. I did not embed it as the app is no longer being maintained and I used ‘um’ so frequently it bugs me (note: it will probably get to you, too).

ShiftIt

By Risa Tino

On May 9, 2017

In Education

There are several tools for developers and digital designers that assist with or enhance a working environment. Recently, I installed ShiftIt and it has made my workspace so much more efficient and fun! I like to use multiple desktops and I work on a MacBook (Air or Pro) most of the time. If possible, I also prefer to plug into a monitor or two peripherals so I can have more screen space to work with. If you like to keep an organized desktop or have to work with multiple screens, I highly recommend installing ShiftIt. The icon looks like a manual stick shift knob and will make you feel in control of your workplace.

cURL & HTTPie

By Risa Tino

On April 15, 2017

In Education

I subscribed to Upcase about a month ago and I love it. There is so much to learn as a programmer and it’s always great to find a new go-to that offers me a ton of great resources. In today’s weekly iteration, I watched a video on APIs, HTTP, & JSON and I learned more about cURL as well as the pros/cons of a prettier tool called HTTPie. It might make you smile when you install it. I did. I make it a point to tackle my weaknesses first and APIs are just one of those things that didn’t click for me at first.

Six months ago, APIs were still very mysterious to me. Now, I always expect at least one API that I will need to wrap my head around for an application that I’m building. Sometimes it’s easy to understand, but other times when reading through documentation that someone else wrote, it isn’t always clear. Tools such as cURL and HTTPie are just some of many available to help me understand how JSON data gets called, how HTTP requests are accessed and how API requests are made. In fact, even Chrome Dev Tools has a Copy as cURL feature in the Network tab of the inspect [  shortcut = ⌥ +⌘ + i ].

In some cases HTTPie or other more user-friendly utilities may fall short, lack an option or configuration, and in those cases cURL remains the go-to utility.

cURL truly has every HTTP related option built in and can do anything you need, if perhaps require a bit of digging to figure it out.

So that’s what I learned today on Upcase, but there’s more ahead. If you want to subscribe and share my discount with me, please checkout the details below. Thanks!

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Level Upgrade ++

By Risa Tino

On April 7, 2017

In Education

Work. Life. Tools.

The things we use to do the things we do.

This was one of the first books that got me into graphic design and it’s written by Milton Glaser (cool guy). A few years ago, I dove into programming languages because I wanted to upgrade the tools I use as a designer, and I did not go into the field to make a career switch. A better way to illustrate this is through something I try to apply to my day-to-day called the plus/plus model.

For developers, the plus/plus model could be compared to incrementing a variable with ++ in JavaScript, like this:
i++; or i = i + 1 ;

For other people, this applies to the way we work and communicate with teams. My friend and creative adviser, Karen, is a brand strategist and creative facilitator for industry leaders like Google and YouTube. She once described this concept as, “conversation based on a plus/plus model rather than a minus/plus. You give and they give, instead of you ask and they give. It changes the dynamic and places you in a position of generosity and leadership.”

I often work in an agile software development team. I am a hybrid designer-developer, who often tries to balance between two roles. No matter which category you might fall under, there is a common style in communication that works best for an individual. It’s about learning to improve each new cycle with a group of different people. The process attempts to build on with upgrades and evolves just as Karen shared with me a perspective from her UX designer colleague, Nick:

Nick says that, “if we apply the new learning every time we begin a new cycle, the process gets smarter each time, evolving and shortening the learning curve as each development track begins to inform the other.”

*For inspiration, I like to read: Advanced Pair Programming by Chelsea Troy.

Networking

By Risa Tino

On March 30, 2017

In Education

I learn best through other people, so I go to as many meet-ups as I can. Recently, I attended a DevBootcamp meet-up at 1871 to meet a LinkedIn connection in-person. I was greeted by Gregg Pollack and could not believe my eyes. I just re-watched his Shaping Up With AngularJS on Code School because I had learned AngularJS 2, which is very different from AngularJS 1, and here was my internet ‘instructor’ IRL! The meet-up was incredibly useful to me and focused on the topic, “How to Put People First: A Talk on Team Craftsmanship with Gregg Pollack”. Most of the time, I’m looking for a talk that isn’t specifically geared at technical skills to help you become a better developer. I’m looking for people that are in specific fields. It’s both a professional networking opportunity, but also a social engagement. While my main intentions for becoming a better developer is to become more technical, I know that I learn better from other people than I do with online tutorials and message boards. I like meeting people in-person as much as I get a kick out of weapon upgrades from Sky Force on my RetroPie (program yours using Raspberry Pi Cylon.js docs). Engaging in human interaction is not always easy for me, but it’s something that I appreciate a lot. On the other hand, I also love sitting in front of a computer screen, trying out new applications, and surfing the internet for cute animal memes, too.

Certain people will prefer email or phone over in-person meetings. It’s just about how comfortable you are with different modes of communication. When I work with a new business, I interview the place I plan to work with as much as I want them to learn about me. It’s not just the potential client asking the questions, but about being able to also learn more about your future workplace. The plus/plus model applies from the first time I meet someone. A lot of times, I am mystified by a company from how beautiful their application is, and how many people heart their Medium posts. In reality, an amazing company might not be a good fit for me if their communication process conflicts with mine. All in all, professional relationships are never one-sided. It might seem that way when you work remotely or never meet your client in-person. As a freelancer, I’ve had to be my own Human Resource manager as well as the salesperson, contract negotiator, and producer. There are pitfalls to being a contractor, while it’s great to be your own boss, too. I’ve often wondered how much I could level-up in terms of production if I worked for a company that would provide a more stable work environment. Where I could just focus on the work I produce instead of following-up on all the management involved with working independently. That even though I have gotten by with the work that I have created to date, I often wonder about the possibility that my best work is still ahead of me. Networking plays a big part regardless of whether you work for yourself or for someone else, and I think it is a necessary skill for everyone.

*For those that have never heard of Sky Force, I found a great compilation of 10 Mario Power-ups to help illustrate the same happy feeling one can get from playing video games.

ChiVR @ Isobar

By Risa Tino

On March 23, 2017

In Education

Part of the crowd during the ChiVR – Chicago Virtual Reality Event @ Isobar on March 22, 2017

The ChiVR-Chicago Virtual Reality @ Isobar was the second ChiVR (pronounced shiver) event I had attended and it was by far in the top 10 of the 100 Meetups I’ve attended or read/heard about. Virtual Reality has always been fascinating to me, but also very experimental in its implementation. I had been working on graphic assets for two applications that require Unity (C#) and I just wanted to learn a bit more about what I was dealing with. My colleague asked me to join him to this event and I am so glad I went. The beverages and food choices were definitely one of the best selections I had seen and plentiful.

The main presenter was a graduate from my alma mater, Teek Mach. Unfortunately, I never knew her when I was at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but I meet a lot of people who worked there in some capacity and it is like learning about your ancestry or family tree. It’s a massive community with generations of many types of artists and creative minds that emerge from the same institution, but probably never ever meet in-person. I did not get a chance to talk to her, because of the large crowd at this particular Meetup, but I did learn a lot from her presentation. I learned about the possibilities of virtual reality, mixed reality, or digital creativity. I realized that the human race could very likely be heading towards a Black Mirror type world. It also seems that Teek spends most of her time under VR goggles for work, in a tiny room in NYC, and loves what she does.