So this is the first post for my blog. I will be documenting my time in the Awesome Inc U bootcamp. This is the end of week one and we have done quite a bit in a short amount of time. This week we mainly focused on html and bootstrap frameworks along with some procedural items. One of the coolest things that I have learned this week is that with the bootstrap frame work you can add items to your page that can be resized on any device to promote cross-platform compatability. In learning these skills I feel that I am picking up momentum in my journey to become a web developer. However with the momentum I have found some things I need to work on as well. I understand how to make everything functional and presentable but making everything look "good" is a challenge. My skills in actually designing the page are lacking but I will find a way to overcome this shortcoming. I did find one resource this week that I believe could be helpful to the class moving forward. The resource is a bulk image resize tool. With this tool you can get your pictures to be a uniform size to be used in carousels on the page. This post really just hits some highlights but as I learn I'm sure these posts will grow.
Here we are again but this time after week two of the bootcamp. Week two was a lot more strenuous than the prior week as we began our adventure into Javascript. Javascript was a little more difficult for me to pick up than the initial HTML and bootstrap elements we learned in week one. After studying and reviewing the materials and focusing on the objects and how you can manipulate those with methods, things began to click some. My momentum definitely slowed down this week as I prepared to take a leap of faith into the desert of dispair. This is important though because I can now begin to build my momentum back to continue my learning. Throughout the first two weeks I have learned that programmers hate to repeat themesleves in code. It is much easier to create a variable for items that will be continually used. My blog uses both a jumbotron and navbar which are containers built in bootstrap but you can target these containers by their ids to use javascript on the html page. After two weeks I believe that I have a good understanding of the roles each new language plays in the overall website. The HTML is the front end layout of the webpage. It is how you can build containers to hold certain parts of the website and keep a level of organization to the page. CSS is the next step and allows you to add personal style to the HTML page. You can also style with bootstrap directly through the HTML but CSS can overwrite or change specific aspects. Finally Javascript is yet another language but it is functional. Javascript can also be added to the HTML page so that you can perform functions or you can build the HTML page through the JS file by creating a function that will build and add divs on the HTML page.
Week three has now come and gone and we are onto the next phase of our journey. We went from using just vanilla javascript and now have added the framework Vue.js into the mix. Things have started to speed up a little more yet again. With the content speeding up it does allow us an opportunity to see how everything fits together because everything is fresh in our mind as we introduce the new content into out learning environment. With the difficulties that come with such an accelerated learning curve we have balanced that stress with a group of people all in the same boat all heading in the same direction. Everyone in the class is prepared to help with any question as well as engage in thoughtful and inspirational discussions. Everyone wants to see everyone succeed which is a big help to the learning environment. As usual they have provided some guiding questions to answer along with my insights on the bootcamp so far. They want us to begin thinking about our final project for this course. So to start off I have been tasked with coming up with three possible ideas for the final project. The suggestion was made to think about your passions which will make the final project easier to work on.
Yet another week is in the books and we have gathered a better understanding of JavaScript by using Vue.js. I have finally learned the best way to go about learning a new coding language. Before now I have tried to rely on tutorials and resources to get me through the exercises that we have been given, but now I see to gather a deeper understanding you must break things to fully understand them. I have now began to play with the code and change things rather than just rushing to the end goal. In changing the way I attempt to learn I see how the job of being a developer is one of constant inquiry, research and learning. This new revelation has shown a new light on everything and this is the career I was meant for. I have such a curious mind and a determination to learn that I will want to push myself to always learn new languages to push the limits of what is possible for me as a developer to accomplish. Now that we have learned Vue.js I am eager to search for other frameworks to see just how they affect the code as well and what processes they may make easier. Moving forward in this course I want to retain my new process of fully interacting with my code so that I am able to understand all of the minor nuances of what I have built.
This week we have been posed the question of how we feel now compared to when we started this bootcamp. I honestly had no idea how I would ever be able to learn all that I needed within a 12 week span when we began, but now I am reconsidering this notion. I started this bootcamp with absolutely no prior coding knowledge but seeing where I am now I have no doubt that I will be fully prepared by the end of week 12. I have grown my computational thinking as well as my comfortability in my new craft. I see how much of a creative process this career is and how much fun it can be to create things for others to interact with. We had yet another project this week that was modeled to closely reflect the work environment by utilizing groups and SCRUM methodolgy. We started the project with a discovery and design phase by meeting with a mock client and asking some questions to form our ideas. We then designed our layout within our group to get the minimum viable product that we would accept. Following the design phase we utilized Trello to facilitate our sprint using personas and stories to keep up with who was working on which part of the project. I was in charge of building our data structure and recalling info from what I had built. The project as a whole was very helpful to see what the actual work environment would be like. We worked in small groups and had to come up with a uniform look and UI for the website. It was a very collaborative process and showed just how important communication is during the process.