Well, I made it through my first week (first 2 classes) of Code Academy. So far, it’s been inspiring, exciting, and motivational, and I’ve already met some pretty cool people. Jeff Cohen, my course instructor, has urged us all to blog weekly about our experience in the course; thus, I have a LOT of new additions to my Google Reader. Since I was already planning on blogging about it anyway, here’s my first five impressions of Code Academy as a whole…
This is going to change my life
The first thing you should know is that I’ve been working in marketing and front-end web design for a little over 3 years now. I’ve made some great connections and had the opportunity to work on some interesting projects, but I haven’t done much that I’m really proud of. What I’m talking about is projects where I can say, “Look at this. I MADE THIS. It was my idea. I built this thing from the ground up and everyone I show it to knows that it’s amazing.”
That’s why I decided it was time to make a change in my career. I got my undergraduate degree in Art Studio and yet, somehow, I’ve ended up in a role where I never create anything. I believe Code Academy is going to give me the skills I need to become a very skilled web developer and Ruby on Rails programmer. I can’t wait to get a job doing truly creative work, as well as to make some of my own creative dreams a reality.
Goodbye social life (I hardly knew thee)
I think this goes without saying, but Code Academy is going to eat up a lot of time and that means making sacrifices. I do value my ability to do fun things in Chicago, as well as hang out with friends and go to the movie theaters a lot. Yet, for the first time in a long time, I have the urge to fully devote myself to this course. I want to become fully engrossed in this course and get as much out of it as I possibly can. The rest of my life will be waiting for me when I’m done, but opportunities like this don’t come around every day.
The force is strong with this one
I’d be lying to you if I said this wasn’t going to be hard. Yesterday in class, Jeff Cohen gave us a Ruby problem to solve and said that the solution would contain an element that he had not taught us yet. To be honest, I still haven’t quite figured it out. But that’s how I know that I’m in the right place.
I consider myself a pretty smart guy and I know I’m up to the challenge of learning everything (and more) that this class has to offer. The more that I come across problems that I have a hard time figuring out, the more I’ll know I’m getting my money’s worth.
Once Code Academy is over and I’m able to execute these types of challenging functions and methods in the real world, I know it will be an extremely rewarding experience every single time. I know this because I remember what it was like 4 or 5 years ago when I was finally able to do mildly complicated HTML and CSS stuff with no assistance. You know how it made me feel? Like an artist. Like a creator.
Tags: chicago, code academy, creativity, css, html, jeff cohen, ruby on rails, web development
