Day 1
I am a classically trained actor who is now beginning to learn more about how to code in earnest. My workplace, Advisen, has agreed to underwrite my enrollment in Codecademy’s “Build Web APIs From Scratch”. It’s an awesome place to work. Check them out on Glassdoor.
Anyhow, I thought it might be interesting to keep a Medium blog running about what I learn.
First, you might be interested in:
- why I’m focusing on JavaScript.
- why I selected Codecademy
Why I’m focusing on JavaScript
The guys over at freeCodeCamp have an awesome podcast and I particularly liked Quincy Larson’s “Which programming language should you learn first? ʇdıɹɔsɐʌɐɾ :ɹǝʍsuɐ”.
That article is written specifically with job seekers in mind (and I’m happy at Advisen Ltd.), so, I’m not studying JavaScript to find a new job. The points that Quincy makes still apply though to me or anyone who’s thinking of learning to code:
JavaScript runs on any device that has a browser, right there in the browser. You can build basically anything with JavaScript, and share it anywhere.
That’s incredibly powerful from the perspective of someone who’s been dabbling in code on-and-off for years. Code, to me, is most exciting when it is being used and it is useful, when it is saving my coworkers time by automating what they used to have to do manually, when it is scoring leads we might otherwise not prioritize, and when it is creating personal connections at scale by connecting site visitors with the data they freely gave us about themselves so we can provide great service.
As the administrator for both Salesforce and HubSpot, I care deeply about integrations running reliably. That means getting smarter about the APIs that are making calls between the apps upon which our business intelligence is built. Salesforce will always have Apex/Java running somewhere in its DNA but with the shift to Lightning, they’ve very much moved to JavaScript as their language du jour. JavaScript also extends the functionality of HubSpot from a dev point-of-view. So, for me, as I look ahead to how I can advance the work of Advisen, I’m thinking that this is the way to go. Further, at a certain point, you just have to start somewhere. Every legit programmer I’ve spoken with basically comes down on the side of “learn one language well and go from there”.
Why I selected Codecademy
Once I figured that I wanted to focus on JavaScript, I focused my search away from:
- Salesforce’s own class offerings ($3.5k+) and Java (Apex) based with only a few hours of online instruction (some in-person offerings but not in a great location for me and, again, not quite cost-effective or the right focus especially since their free learning solution, Trailhead, is so awesome);
- The great community over at General Assembly (Rubyists / ~$13.5k);
- The other great community being cultivated in NYC over at Flatiron (Rubyists / $15,000);
- Jeffrey Way’s Laracasts are *brilliant* and you should subscribe to https://laracasts.com/ — that said, I wanted some more hands-on guidance in real-time than was being offered. Also, I am not the fastest study and yet, Jeffrey’s teaching was effective enough to get me to insult my friends within minutes of enrolling in his Vue.js course:
- Hack Reactor/Fullstack/Bloc — I really didn’t want to pay that much and my time is extremely limited. I needed a study schedule that allowed for a more flexible time commitment.
- So, what about Thinkful? Well, I read some pretty terrible reviews, and the cost was much higher than Codecademy.
So that’s how I selected Codecademy and JavaScript. Wish me luck. I plan on posting on my first impressions once I dig into the course content.
Let me know if you have any questions about beginning to code, education selection, living and working in NYC, or why a classically-trained actor is teaching himself JavaScript.
I can usually be found near the Advisen office at 39th and Broadway. If you’d like to grab coffee and chat, connect with me on LinkedIn and remind me to explain why there’s a horse emoji in my name when we meet.
