What I Love About Angela Yu’s App Coding Courses on Udemy
Entrepreneurship Journal Day3: The point about being human-centred
With all the love for the men in this world, I have to say, sometimes, it’s just so amazing, to have a woman’s touch, on things. It makes a difference.
Before Angela
I have always loved data, apps, and devices. I guess no one can escape them these days. They are such quintessential experiences of the modern life.
Two years ago in 2018, curiosity finally took over. (As my Dad would say, curiosity is the best teacher.) I went on the e-learning platform Udemy, which was known as the greatest resource for learning tech skills, with most of the courses costing no more than A$20 most of the time. For the first time I completed a full Udemy course on coding apps. It was a course on React Native (RN), which is a programming language for creating apps that can run on both iOS and Android devices using one and the same code. This is meant to halve development costs, and become RN’s key advantage and attraction.
The course I did was at the time one of the most attended and highest rated on Udemy for React Native. It was by an experienced developer, Stephen Grider. He chose good content, structured it well, his explanations were clear, his expertise was impressive, he had enthusiasm, and was funny. It resulted in me successfully creating four tutorial apps, and discovering the end to end process of making an app. Mystery unveiled. Truly satisfying. I enjoyed the course.
Turning point
Subsequently, I was to discover the disadvantages of React Native in the maintenance of these apps. For a time, I was disappointed with my foray, until I saw an article on Medium about AirBnb’s experience with React Native, all the issues it had had, and why it decided to switch out of it.
The article really resonated, especially on the developer experience, and it was useful to see what it took to deliver quality in technology. In a way, it was also a story of a foray into RN, but of course at a much grander scale. I was to realise again, forays were not failures, and experiments are all we will ever have.
After some further research comparing Android vs iOS, I renewed my interest in learning the iOS framework, for the quality of its experience, which I valued higher.
After Angela
Enter Angela Yu, one of the highest rated iOS course instructors on Udemy, and recommended by a developer friend of mine. Her latest iOS coding course is rated 4.8 stars from an intake of almost 160K students. The way her course feels different to others is exactly like the way an Apple computer feels different to many a PC. What a coincidence. How fascinating.
If I have to summarise, the difference lies in the form beyond the substance, all that she added peripheral to the code, which is perhaps peripheral to all but the human.
Specifically
First thing that’s different, at key points in the course, we actually see her face =) How lovely and simple. Without any code, she simply speaks to the audience like they are there. What a surprise and nice change.
Secondly, she outlines on the very outset, what makes her course different. It is not so much her extensive development experience, but her core interest in learning how humans learn. Thank god. Amen to someone like Angela.
This philosophy is to first translate into a motivational journal exercise at the beginning of the course, which you get to see / comment on with submissions from others. To read and experience the dreams and hopes that exist out there in those sharing the same journey. Brilliant idea.
It would show up next, as an informative introductory e-book, on the “12 Rules to Learn to Code”. For anyone who has read the recent WSJ bestselling book, Ultralearning, you would realise there are important behavioural principles that help us learn skills better. We are often blind to them. So it is heartening when I put up the 12 Rules against the 9 Ultralearning Principles, there is a great deal of overlap.
In fact, I recommend the e-book even if you are not interested in coding. It’s an awesome read, about learning and tech culture. It is also incredibly humbling for me to learn about others’ journeys and our common experiences. So humanising. Transcendental as they say. Makes me laugh, makes me lighter, and makes me appreciate, life and people.
And she communicates in analogies throughout the course.
- “Learning to code is a bit like going to the gym.” Genius.
- “There is no ‘perfect’ language to learn. … A programming language is simply a tool. … In Engish, we have werewolves, in German they have Werwölfe. It’s still the same shirt-ripping mammal that comes out during a full moon, it’s just spelt differently.” How effective.
- “I tend to liken the process of learning programming to a bit like putting a puzzle together. Because in the very beginning I’m gonna be pretty you with the corner pieces, and then I’m gonna give you the side pieces, and then finally I’m gonna give you more of the centre pieces. At the beginning it’s very difficult to see the bigger picture. You are only seeing the outer edge. But as you add more pieces, as you increase your knowledge and your understanding of different concepts in programming, at some point during the course, you can have an aha moment where the picture suddenly becomes more and more clear. … So the important thing is to be patient. If a concept is particularly challenging, then continue for a few more modules and then coming back later on, and reviewing that same concept … so by the end you’ll gain a complete picture.” Isn’t it good to be reminded that’s how we learn everything. Doesn’t that make you feel different about it all.
- “What is the Bash Shell. To understand the Bash Shell, we first have to know what a shell is. … If your operating system macOS is a pistacio nut, then the actual nut is the kernel, the thing you gonna eat, and in computing the kernel refers to the actual program that interfaces with the hardware, it’s the core of your operating system. The shell of your pistachio or the shell in computing refers to the user interface for you as a human to be able to interact with the kernel, and in turn with the hardware of your computer. There are two variants to the shell. There are graphical interface (GUI) shells (like the Finder). But there is also a command-line interface … which is an alternative way of intefacing with the kernel. … Coming back to the Bash Shell, it stands for the Bourne Again Shell. And it’s named after a Mr. Bourne. But not this Mr. Bourne (picture of Jason Bourne), but this Mr. Bourne (picture of Stephen Bourne). And I can attest they are equally badass. … And the Bash Shell is a CLI or a Command Line Interpreter for the UNIX system. … macOS runs on a UNIX-like operating system. And this is a completely different family from the Windows side of things, which uses DOS and Windows. … (And the reason to learn Bash and CLI is to gain a general skill to interact with many other similar OS as well as to skip the GUI and become more efficient with our coding).” Aren’t we blessed.
- “Recently, I went to a bronze cast workshop where you get to cast you own bronze sword from melted tin and copper. … Similar to Constants, once you cast the bronze, it’s actually very hard to change it. It’s not quite iron which you can hammer and reshape. Bronze is really hard and it’s gonna stay as the shape you’ve cast it. And if you want to change it, you have to melt it down and recast it.” See what I mean, I can go on.
She also drops in interesting stories from the history of apps. There was apparently an “I Am Rich” app early on, which charged US$999.99, that did nothing but to show the picture of a ruby, hopefully to make you feel rich for having dropped a fortunate for nothing. We then got to make our own “I Am Rich” apps. Fun.
She takes feedback surveys regularly so you don’t have to wait till the end of the course when you would have forgotten all the issues and suggestions you had along the way.
Additionally, she includes quality resource and reading lists on development topics, and full sections on topics beyond the coding, such as app design and app marketing. Again, it’s not about the app, it’s about the human.
There is of course also her selection of great coding content, logical structure, clear explanations, the expertise, the enthusiasm, and the odd humour about some Flappy Bird.
What a great experience though. Well thought out, centred on you. I am loving my journey through her courses. I believe she has made developing technology skills that much more accessible to so very many.
And she has her first career as a medical doctor, which means she shines a possibility for all of us to keep evolving and reinventing. A beautiful human.
The point: about being human-centred
This, I guess, is not strictly about a woman’s touch. I have also liked the teaching style of Mark Price, another popular iOS course instructor, there is a lot of heart in his well made classes. And I acknowledge all the instructors who work to make learning new skills more possible for more of the world. There truly has never been a greater time to learn and create.
Yet again, I am reminded of the human-centred design principles in the pioneering book, The Design of Everyday Things, by Don Norman.
Human-centred design is a design philosophy. It means starting with a good understanding of people and the needs that the design is intended to meet. This understanding comes about primarily through observation, for people themselves are often unaware of their true needs, even unaware of the difficulties they are encountering.
I love human-centred designs and technologies. They have such an impact, make a beautiful difference, and offer a valuable service.
If you have ever harboured curiosity about app development, want to add a new colour to your creative palette, tuck a new skill under your belt, or encourage the youngsters in your world to do so, I recommend Angela’s courses.
