The Viking Code School Experience

Introduction

Hey there. My name is Christian, and I am a self-taught web developer. Well, almost.

It turns out, teaching yourself how to code is a pretty big challenge. I’ve been at it for about six months now, and while I’m learning cool new things every day, I’m also finding that with every new discovery comes a dozen more questions. This complexity is exciting, but it is also frustrating.

A month or so ago, I decided it was time to take my education to the next level. Going back to college was out of the question, because I want my career to start within the next year. I found a superior alternative in the form of coding bootcamps. These bootcamps claim to be an almost surefire way to launch yourself into the tech industry, boasting near-perfect job placement rates, and high average starting salaries. And the best part is, many of them are free, at least for a while. The bootcamps that I applied to all used a “deferred payment plan,” where you pay nothing but a small deposit until you are employed in the tech world. After that, you fork over a slice of your salary for the next year. I love this model. It gives the educators a huge incentive to actually get you employed, and it allows people who don’t have a lot of money to spend on education to move up in the work force.

The application process for these bootcamps is rigorous. For the schools to get paid, they need to make sure that their students are bright. I spent weeks reviewing both Ruby and Javascript, drilling myself on practice problems, and daydreaming about algorithms at work. I’m proud to say that this all payed off, and I was accepted to all three bootcamps to which I applied. Now I just had to pick one. Two of the schools were in San Francisco, and one was online. One of the SF schools taught full-stack Javascript, the other two taught Ruby on Rails. After working with both languages during the applications, I fell hard for Ruby, so the Javascript house was off the table. After that, I mostly made the decision based on geography. Because I was moving to Austin, Texas to look for work and not San Francisco, I figured it would be better to do the online course, so that I could begin to network in Austin before it was over.

That online course is Viking Code School. I will begin on October 31st, 2016, and continue learning full-time for 16 weeks. We get a break halfway through, during which I will relocate from Cincinnati to Austin, and finish out the program there. Between now and the time I find a job, I will post an update at least once a week. I want these posts to serve as a resource for anyone who is considering Viking Code School or any coding bootcamp, or people who are just trying to teach themselves some code. Once I’m further along in the course, I may get in the weeds a bit talking about technical stuff I’m learning, but I’ll try to always link to outside resources to provide extra context and information.

This post is simply the introduction. From here on out everything will be split into six phases:

Phase Zer0 (Preparation): I will journey through the 100 hours of prep work required before the program even begins.

Phase One (Fundamentals of Programming): I will explore object-oriented programming in Ruby, and touch on data structures and algorithms.

Phase Two (The Back End): I will dive deep into databases, server-side programming, and frameworks like Sinatra and Ruby on Rails.

Phase Three (The Front End & Final Project): I will start making things that look pretty and work using Javascript, letting me tie everything together into a working application.

Phase Four (How to Get Hired): I will turn myself into a hire-able guy who knows how to network, create a brand, and not totally mess up an interview.

Phase Five (The Job Search): The grand adventure continues as I throw myself into the belly of the beast, hitting the streets and offices of Austin with a stack of resumes and a head full of fresh knowledge.

This is going to be a journey. I’m trying to learn a lot of complicated stuff in a short amount of time. I know it’s going to be grueling, but never as grueling as it is rewarding. I hope you stick with me until the end.

Cheers,

Christian Carey