Meet Our Coding and Design Mentors

Bloc
News on the Bloc
Published in
4 min readOct 25, 2018

1:1 mentorship is a critical component of both our Web Developer Track and Designer Track’s 360 Support. During the program, students have weekly meetings with their chosen mentor as well as access to our online Slack community and live teaching sessions. Learn more about some of our mentors below!

Alex Rolfe | Web Developer Track Mentor

How did you get started in coding?

I switched from a career in classical music into software development.

What do you do outside of Bloc?

I work at a healthcare IT company where we solve a lot of cool problems to improve quality of care for patients around the world!

Outside of work, I spend as much time as possible with my toddler. I’m a new home owner too, so at least 2 hours a day seem to go into fixing faucets, cleaning gutters, and dealing with any other problem that pops up in the middle of the night.

What advice do you have for people just starting out in their coding journey?

Embrace the burn! You are literally changing your life by learning a challenging new skill set. That isn’t easy, but it is so worth it!

What makes the Web Developer Track special?

Our 360 support is wonderful. Between our grading team, the technical coaches, 1:1 mentor sessions, and student success, you are never without help or far from getting unstuck.

Sara Cannon | Designer Track Mentor

How did you get started in design?

I have a passion for Art and a love of technology. Graphic and product design merges those two perfectly. I decided to pursue that passion with vigor and make a career out of it.

What do you do outside of Bloc?

I’m the managing partner of a small digital agency called Range, but I’m currently transitioning to Design Lead at the company, Art Processors. They are an experiential design consultancy specializing in rich, immersive visitor experiences for museums.

What advice do you have for people just starting out in their coding or design journey?

Immerse yourself. Get your hands on as much as you can. Listen to podcasts, read articles, research design, and practice practice practice. The more knowledge you have, the bigger your design vocabulary will be, the better your eye will be trained, the more you’ll be ready for anything.

What makes the Designer Track special?

Bloc is an amazing program for emerging designers. They come through the program with so much knowledge and experience. If you put in your all, you will thrive.

John Fecko | Web Developer Track Mentor

How did you get started in coding?

Commodore 64 when I was 5 or 6. Professionally, I came to development as a career change during the mid-2000s recession. I picked up a HTML/PHP/MySQL book and got to hacking.

What do you do outside of Bloc?

I work on small development projects using a number of technologies. I am very involved in my faith and I am currently studying to become a deacon. I also love playing Madden on the Xbox with my son.

What advice do you have for people just starting out in their coding journey?

Build stuff. I tell my students all the time that they should “build a thing that does a thing”. It doesn’t matter what it is or what it does, just build stuff. It will surprise you how much you learn from building small projects.

What makes the Web Developer Track special?

The Web Developer Track is special because of how many developers a student gets to interact with over the course of the program. Between the mentor, the grading team, the technical coaching team, and the group sessions, students have access to many developers who will pair program, give code reviews, or talk about technical concepts.

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Bloc
News on the Bloc

An online education company with coding and design programs built for outcomes. Check out our publication, News on the Bloc, as well as our website, bloc.io.