Tech Talent South Week 2 Update

Tech Talent South has greatly sharpened my understanding of many programming basics I thought I had already mastered. It has only been two weeks with the program and  I cannot not over emphasize how great it is to have an instructor to bounce questions off of. TTS runs four days a week, four hours each class and two extra office hours each day. So far we have covered the basics of Ruby (arrays, methods, hashes, and Classes), which I had studied when I first began to learn in August by reading Chris Pine's book, "Learn to Program". It was a good refresher on the Ruby language since I had not done anything with Ruby since I read Pines book and I also enjoyed being around other students during the learning process. I have also found it valuable to see how others work out the problems as they go; it ultimately helps me think about problems in different ways, something I could not duplicate working on my own most of the time.

Last week (week 2) we got into Rails which I was really excited about since this was essentially uncharted territory for me. I remember just starting out I wanted to try rails after finishing some ruby stuff but gave up after an installation fail. lol. Thinking back to that point I remember being overwhelmed with all of the information out there and not knowing where the hell to go. Being in this program really helps with that. Now I have a set curriculum with an instructor leading the way to help out when I get hung up on something.

This weekend I started going through the Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl, which is a great supplement to what we are doing in class. I have gotten through the middle of Ch 3, which is basically what we have accomplished in class up to this point. I have to say that going over this book after the work we do in class really helps me understand the concept of rails and how the MVC framework functions. In my own words, when you type something in the browser that then goes to the rails router and requests that page from the controller with the same name. That then, using instance variables, goes to the model which retrieves the information from the database, returns that to the controller which then goes to the view page, renders the html back to the controller and to the browser...and boom, web page.

We created some small rails apps so far including a mock university which uses a database to store classes, students, grades, and depatments. I have gotten a lot more familiar with the command line as a result of using rails as well as a general knowledge of git and heroku. I'm really excited to see what I can get my hands on this week as I continue to further my learning in and out of the classroom.

-John

Tech Talent South Scholarship

Since making the decision to learn how to program I have always been attracted to the idea of a coding bootcamp. The problem for me, however, was that I was unsure of how valuable a two or three month program would ultimately be compared to the cost. About a month ago I heard about Tech Talent South and that they would be teaching a "total immersion" course here in Jacksonville this fall and that they would be offering a 100% scholarship for the semester; I decided to apply. 

A couple of days after my application I received a call from there communications director for a phone interview that lasted about an hour. Over the course of the interview I talked about much of the material I had completed on my own, what I was currently working on, and why I had developed an interest in programming in the first place. I also referenced this blog and some general interests that I had such as volunteering and supporting the hometown Jacksonville Jaguars. Overall I thought the conversation went well, and I was told that I would be accepted to the 8-week program and would also be considered for the scholarship.

Two days later I received the good news: I would be awarded the scholarship for 100% tuition! I was ecstatic to say the least. I have just finished up my second week of class and will update with what I have learned so far, but I believe that the reasons I was awarded this scholarship are very similar to the reasons that employers higher new employees. Here's what you can do to help your chances at landing a similar scholarship or that future dream job:

Ask lots of questions- during the interviewing process the person being interviewed should be asking just as many questions if not more than the person conducting the interview. This not only shows genuine interest and the fact that you have done research on your own about the company you applied for but it also helps for you to decide if the company is a good fit for you.

This website does a great job of giving example questions and also explaining why they are important.

Write a blog- Especially if you are entering a new field such as computer programming, a blog acts as a modern day resume. When interviewing in person or over the phone, a blog will help cover in detail some of your accomplishments and progress that you may forget to mention. Don't worry about how many readers you have, writing shows comprehension, real time progress, initiative, and the ability to communicate. This post by Tim Ferriss goes into more detail about breaking into a new industry and the importance of blogging your progress.

Do your HW- Before applying anywhere, do your research That means check out the website, look up the CEO or founder, and reach out to any current employees or graduates.

-John