My First Week of the 100 Days of Code Challenge

Kicking off a challenge like the 100 Days of Code gets you excited and nervous at the same time. When I started this journey, I had a clear goal: to boost my problem-solving skills, get better at data structures and algorithms (DSA), and keep my MERN Stack skills sharp. I didn't expect the first week to be such a mix of wins, lessons, and surprise hurdles. Here's how these first seven days went down.

On Day 1, I worked on LeetCode Problem 2053, "Kth Distinct String in an Array." At first, it looked easy. But I ran into trouble with LinkedHashMap, something I didn't know well. This made me look at different ways to solve it bettergo back over JavaScript ideas how to change the DOM. On Day 2, I tried LeetCode Problem 3016, "Minimum Number of Pushes to Type Word II." This one was tough so I asked for help. This taught me a lot about how to make code run faster. I also learned about Hash Tables and watched sorting lessons from Striver's course. Day 3 saw me solve LeetCode Problems 409, "Longest Palindrome," and 169, "Majority Element." The hard part was to make the answers run faster, and the help I got made Hash Tables clearer to me. I learned a lot about sorting methods and did more problems from the Grind LeetCode sheet. From Day 4 to Day 6, I had to stop because my laptop needed some repairs. Even though it was hard to study on my phone, I focused on learning about, linked lists stacks, queues, and bit manipulation. This showed me how important it is to be flexible and stick to a plan. I did received my laptop on Day 6, but I spent most of my time settings things up, even though I still squeezed a little time to study but it didn't went that well. On Day 7, now since my laptop was back, I dedicated the day to practicing easy-level array problems to regain momentum. This experience underscored the importance of consistency in coding practice and felt rewarding as I got back on track.

Challenges and Lessons Learned: My first week of the challenge felt like a roller coaster ride. My laptop repair put my resilience to the test, but it also taught me how to adapt. Even when coding wasn't possible, I found ways to keep learning and stay involved. The help I got from other developers when I needed to optimize problems, showed me how powerful teamwork can be.

What's Next? As I start the second week of this challenge, I plan to build on what I've learned in these first seven days. I'll keep solving various problems from Grind Sheet and other leetcode problems, dig deeper into DSA. Also I really like to begin working on some MERN Stack projects. I can't wait to keep this momentum going and see where I end up.

At last I'd like to add, that this first week of the 100 Days of Code Challenge mixed tough times with wins. I'm happy with how far I've come and keen to keep pushing ahead. If you're on a similar path or just starting out, remember that every step matters. Don't give up, keep learning, and don't hesitate to ask for help along the way.