Apr 22 2016

Week One

It’s been one full week at Coding Dojo.

Topics Covered:

HTML

CSS

Git

The first week is a very brief overview of these topics, including how to use frameworks like Bootstrap and preprocessors like LESS and SASS. By the end of week one you sit for your first of 4 exams throughout the program, the Yellow Belt in CSS/HTML.

Instruction:

Our instructor Dylan led us through two lectures each day, the first being a lecture relevant to learning CSS/HTML and later in the afternoon a lecture/workshop on algorithms. I wasn’t paying that much attention for the first lectures, though I’m sure they were good, but paid ample attention during algorithms since I fear them the most.

As a kid in math the thing that most intimidated me were word problems and we were are given word problems for algorithms that test our ability to convert them into actual functions.

A sample algorithm question would be something like: Charles has three grades and needs to get an average of them. If he gets above 85% then he knows his mom will be proud of him, if anything below, he knows that he will have to make it up by mowing the lawn.

Here is an example of how to take the word problem and turn it into a working algorithm. (I made this up, it is not a sample from the program and generally they are more difficult than this).

function gradeHighEnough(a,b,c) {

var avg = (a + b + c)/3;

 

if(avg >= 85 {

console.log(“son, you’re the best! I’m so proud of you);

}

else {

console.log(“no excuses, go mow the lawn”);

}

}

 

gradeHighEnough(90, 72, 83);

Assignments:

In order to get people more comfortable with key concepts there are videos and examples of how to figure out the thought process that goes into constructing a website. Noticeably the key emphasis in class is not necessarily about getting the right answer, but about thinking through how to get to an answer, which I think is key in learning, especially when there could be multiple answers as in coding.

We are then asked to construct full web pages, which I think can be both a great and tedious task. As someone whose job was primarily this, part of me was annoyed I had to do it, but I learned a lot about thinking about box models and other ways to construct web pages that I had taken for granted.

Another core concept of Coding Dojo is learning how to instruct others and so I was given the opportunity to help instruct others in CSS/HTML, which helped me realize either some of my knowledge gaps or to understand why I do things because “explaining helps you understand concepts” ß #truth.

Other things:

Sports day! Every week they do an hour where the cohort gets out and plays! This week we walked to a park and played basketball, soccer, and Frisbee. Have I played many sports? No. Will I play again? Surely! This is the first time I felt like I was on a level playing field with people and we really just went out and had fuuuuun!

Overall Thoughts:

I honestly enjoyed my first week. I wasn’t sure what to expect and after a $10k investment, there is always a worry that you’re not going to get your money’s worth. I think by the end I will get my investments worth (crossing fingers) and I’m excited to keep learning. My general fear is finding a job. I have never left a job that I liked and made a decent amount of money doing to invest in something like this. The what ifs keep playing over in my head. I think I’m going to be awesome, but one can never be sure. For now I’m just going to try to be confident that I’m the fucking best person out there and if I’m not yet I will be! Let’s do this!

Cohort Demographics:

Total: 17

Men: 15

5 Caucasian-American

1 Indian-American

7 Asian-American

1 Trinidadian

1 Columbian

 

Women: 2

1 Asian-American

1 African-American

Apr 17 2016