Internship Week 15
Hey all! Feeling great this Saturday morning! I got up at 6am to go run eight miles with some hardened cross country runners. That was awesome. My foot is killing me now, but it was totally worth it.
So let’s talk about this week!
I spent the most time handling support requests for NinjaMaster. One of the top problems recently has been people signing up for NinjaMaster subscription when they wanted a league membership. A contestant needs a league membership to be counted on that league’s leaderboard, so not having. one can cause some big problems.
We’ve found that it is a little too easy to get the two mixed up, and they’re very different options. We’ve had to refund a number of people and then have them sign up for what they originally wanted, the league membership. After that, we go into the database and change the date to when they had originally tried to sign up. It wouldn't be fair for them to get burned by a mistake they didn't even know they were making.
Changing the date takes a bit more work than just that. The database is accessible in a couple of different ways: through the web portal for Heroku, who hosts the NinjaMaster app, or through the terminal on a computer. The terminal is essentially the same as command prompt on a Windows machine. If you're familiar with either of these, you know they’re the most technical and probably most effective way to navigate among the innards of your computer. This is also true when you’re trying to manipulate the thousands and thousands of entries in the NinjaMaster database. You can do otherwise impossible things.
Anyhow, once you know the process, it’s fairly simple. You must be very careful that you’re changing the right entry because messing up in the database can cause a ripple of problems throughout the app.
I got to watch a true programming wizard last night tear through the database in search of a bug. This guy is a genius and it seems like he's never stumped. The way he flies across the keyboard, typing in commands he's as fluent in as his native tongue. It’s pretty cool to watch. Maybe I’ll get closer to that someday.
I may or may not put out a post next week. I’ll only be in the office for two days, and then I’m flying home for Thanksgiving and our annual Turkey Bowl. Couldn’t be more excited about that. It’s been too long.
I hope you are doing well, are staying healthy, and are enjoying a spirit of thankfulness during this season for all the ways you are blessed.
I know I am.
And then one day, I’ll cross the river
I’ll fight life’s final war with pain
And then, as death gives way to victory
I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He reigns
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow
Because He lives, all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living, just because He lives
Because He Lives by Guy Penrod
