Day One - Meet "The Stack"

ASP.NET MVC Stack

Day One of Coder Camps was a whirlwind introduction into the language, tools and projects we'll be working on. Our group will be developing the admin dashboard & tools for an up-and-coming crowdfunding site called Fund.io.

I'd write more, but I'm busy finishing up my assignment: Write three functions in C#, one that will calculate the area of a circle (given the radius), one that calculates the circumference of a circle (given the radius), and one that will return the reverse of a string (ex. "What?" into "?tahW").

Edited 11:04pm - Finally finished the assignment: http://ideone.com/Fe7k8p

Coder Camps Prerequisite Work

In preparation for the Coder Camps programming school, I have been asked to complete some prerequisite work in the form of reading, going through online tutorials, as well as setting up this blog and a profile on LinkedIn. Although I'm still working on marking these off the checklist, I thought I'd post something about what it takes to get ready for a camp like this.

One of the books recommended by the school is Head First C# which focuses on the C# programming language and the .NET framework (not related to .net top level domain, by the way). I can tell from going through some of this book, there's a steep learning curve. I'm sure it's true with any programming language, even spoken languages, but I'm banking on being immersed in it for 9 weeks to get into the groove of things.

Another book I picked up, which wasn't recommended but looked interesting, was Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software. Less of a technical book, the author explores the connections between humans and machines, and the history of communications technology such as Morse code & Braille. So far, a good read that explores the world of computers in an entertaining and easy to grasp format.

Another prerequisite is to become familiar with some of the technologies that will be used at the camp. Primarily, we'll be using Visual Studio Express for Web, a web development program designed to help you create modern web applications. After installing the free software, and poking around a little bit, I could tell this is a powerful program. I look forward to seeing what this baby can do!

Since all websites are based on HTML, and more increasingly CSS, JavaScript & jQuery, a general understanding of these is needed to have a good head start going into the training. Coder Camps recommends Codecademy.com online courses to get a handle on these coding skills. I've completed the Web Fundamentals & jQuery courses, and am in the process of completing the JavaScript. The site walks you through lessons and exercises and allows you to enter and test your code in a handy virtual console. Some other online tutorial sites such as Codeschool.com and Teamtreehouse.com include videos and premium features.

While most of these tech bootcamps say they can take a complete beginner and turn them into an entry level programmer, I'm sure the prerequisite work allows students to focus on the meat and potatoes of programming when they get to camp. I feel like I've got a pretty basic understanding of this stuff, but I'm still a little nervous about jumping into 9 weeks of it. Oh well, a little pressure never hurt anyone...

Get Out The Map

After thinking about making a shift in my career path for some time, I've decided to pull the trigger. At the end of the month I'm heading out west to Houston for a nine week intensive (10-12 hrs/day, 6-7 days/wk) bootcamp to acquire the skills needed to become a software developer.

A few weeks ago I heard of this new format for learning computer programming through a friend of the family. This young lady attended a three month bootcamp in 2012 to learn Ruby on Rails. She said it was intense, but that it really paid off. She worked hard, and was hired by one of her instructors, who owns a software development company in Nashville. She now has a rewarding career in a field that's in high demand right now, and in the foreseeable future.

Inspired by her story, I began to do some research, along with some heavy-duty soul searching, and came up with a plan to attend one of these bootcamps and work to become a software programmer in the web development field.

I found a bootcamp located in Houston, Texas called Coder Camps that teaches the ASP.NET (pronounced A-S-P dot Net) framework. After speaking with some programmers in the Nashville area, and conducting my own research*, I found that ASP.NET would be a strong choice since many of the large healthcare, insurance, hospitality and entertainment companies in Nashville are using ASP.NET to develop their software systems.

Out of the many "coding" bootcamps that have sprung up in the country's tech centers over the last few years, Coder Camps is the only one offering an immersion study program focusing on the ASP.NET framework. In 9 weeks you learn the critical skills needed to work as a junior programmer. For an extensive list of these kinds of bootcamps, check out BootCamper.io.

After submitting my application to Coder Camps, I was invited to a Skype interview with David Graham, the founder of Coder Camps and the owner of a software development company based in Houston. I thoroughly enjoyed talking with David about his school, the curriculum, and the requirements for attending. After speaking with him for about half an hour about my background and my goals, he approved my application. It's a big commitment, and that's the main reason for the application/interview process. They want to be 100% sure that students know what they're getting into and the sacrifices they'll have to make. But in the end, I believe the reward of an exciting new career in web development will be worth it. So, here's to new beginnings, and maybe a little Texas-style BBQ!

*Research Sources
Google Trends - Software Technologies
BuiltWith - Framework Usage Statistics
Indeed - Job Trends & Job Salaries