Kickstarting Careers During Summer Holidays with a 4-Week Programming Bootcamp!
An interview with Code Asylums’ hackathon winners on their learning journey, the process of building a website, tips, and achievements.
Progate Success Stories
Interviews with Progate users who have inspiring stories with their experience in learning to code.
Alaap, Ayush, Samriddhi, and Nitika began their programming journey as absolute beginners. They joined Code Asylums, a coding bootcamp supported by Progate as one of it’s learning partners and coded their way into winning a hackathon by building their first website in just 30 days! They built a website called Sahitya. A platform designed to be a collaborative environment for writers. In simple words, they wanted to create a ‘GitHub’ for authors with an interactive and simple user interface.
How to learn programming from scratch and build a website like Sahitya
− What was the beginning of your interest in programming?
Alaap: Computer games! My favourite games are Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty. I began setting up my computer to play games since I was 11 years old. I was very intrigued by how games work and how they were created — this was the beginning of my interest in programming.
Ayush: I have always been interested in mathematics and logic. Being able to implement something has always motivated me and the adventure in creating something new. The University I go to has a culture of coding. They promote competitive coding which encourages me into trying and creating something myself.
Samriddhi: I had opted for Computer Science as one of my subjects in high school. I owe my interest in the subject to my teacher! I was not very good at coding, but my teacher helped me a lot with getting my fundamentals right. Once I was able to understand the basics, my interest in programming grew and I decided to opt for Computer Science Engineering.
Nitika: I did not learn about programming in junior school, however, in high school we were introduced to C++. My teacher wrote a simple code on the blackboard and I could not help but wonder what this simple code could create. I began to explore and I found the concept of coding very interesting.
− What brought you to a bootcamp like Code Asylums for learning?
Alaap: Code Asylums was introduced to me by a senior of mine from University. She became an able programmer after joining the bootcamp and secured an internship at Microsoft as well. This story really motivated me to learn more as well. We have a competitive job market and it is important to stand out, we have classmates who have done over 1000 projects on GitHub per month!
(Ayush, Samriddhi and Nitika agree in unison)
− How did you make use of Progate while learning at Code Asylums?
Alaap: We started learning on Progate before we joined Code Asylums. It was the perfect introduction to programming. Learning on Progate made us well prepared for advancing our skills at Code Asylums. I would study for 6–7 hours a day on Progate and we would keep encouraging each other by racing each other’s levels on Progate — I would take a break and Ayush would be levels above me! (laughs)
Ayush: I agree with Alaap. We would see our classmates on the team dashboard on Progate and they would be reaching higher levels everyday, that really motivated us!
Samriddhi: Progate was a good gateway into the world of programming. I would code for many hours like Alaap and Ayush too. It helped me with my fundamentals.
Nitika: I was learning on Progate in the same way as Alaap, Ayush and Samriddhi. I have to agree, achieving new levels together was such a thrill!
“Deciding the work flow in the beginning is important and is one of the best practices we implemented — Alaap”
− Congratulations on winning the Code Asylums hackathon! Could you tell us about the website you have built as a team?
Alaap: We have built a website called ‘Sahitya’ named after the Hindi word for Literature. The website was meant to establish an environment for writers with a version control system. In other words, we wanted to establish a “GitHub” for authors with an interactive and simple user-interface. The aim of our website was to have a collaborative work environment for authors or writers where they could finish their unfinished novels. The idea came about when I was working for the media club in my university. I wanted to have a platform where I could channel my thoughts and ideas and modify them accordingly.
Ayush: GitHub is for ‘techies’ and authors do not want to go through that, so we made a simple interface where you do not need to have any technical knowledge while uploading your work and collaborating with others. Using our platform, writers can compare changes with their original ideas and merge ideas while collaborating with other writers. We used the version control system as it is a very easy system based on time stamp. We are now thinking of building a chat app feature on the website where writers can chat with each other while collaborating.
Here is a sneak-peek into Sahitya -
The interface of the homepage is minimalistic with monochromatic colour tones. It is easy to navigate to the Login/Sign up columns making the user experience seamless.
As you scroll down, you are acquainted with the vision of Sahitya.
Following which is another call-to-action for signing up.
As you scroll right down, you reach the end of the homepage where their Contact Us option is displayed clearly with three visible icons of different channels.
Signing in is as simple as this!
As soon as you log into your account, you can view your recently added novels or choose any of the options on the right to navigate through the website while working. There is also a drop down menu available on the right titled ‘Category’ where you can segregate your novels as per the genre.
On clicking the ‘Start a new Novel’ option, a short form lets you fill in the basic details of your novel and gets you started as soon as you click ‘Submit’.
Merging and collaborating with writers is easy. You can edit, delete, and merge your content together!
− Tell us about the programming languages that you learned to build your website. How did you develop the frontend and backend of your website?
Alaap: We have used HTML & CSS and JavaScript mainly to build our website. The frontend side of the website was developed with a lot of dedication and special care was taken to enhance the visibility of the page. We kept the design minimalistic. For frontend development, we used HTML & CSS. We used a lot of CSS frameworks like BootStrap and MaterializeCSS to make our work easier! The backend was developed using Node.js. We used a lot of packages to enhance the UX. The database we used was MongoDB. The packages that we used were Express, Mongoose, and Passport.
“Progate has also helped us in answering questions during our classes at University! — Samriddhi”
− How did your learning on Progate help you in strengthening your programming foundation? What are some of the other resources you have used to study further?
Alaap: We were learning on Progate before joining the bootcamp. It served as prerequisite knowledge or the ideal preparation for joining an advanced programming bootcamp such Code Asylums. I had learned SQL on Progate and I loved it!I I started implementing my learning in University. In JavaScript, the explanation on Arrays and Objects is not documented well in other resources. In Progate, there is a lot of focus on the basics such as Arrays and Objects and the learning of which was very useful while building a website. I used Udemy as an additional resource to study Machine Learning.
Ayush: I started learning on Progate 15 days before I joined the bootcamp. I had reached level 92 by then. I thought the explanation on placing contents in HTML & CSS Study II on Progate was awesome. I loved the Dojo lessons the most! I could really test myself and figure out where I needed to improve. I have studied the Web Development Bootcamp course and Machine Learning on Udemy.
Samriddhi: I used Progate before joining the bootcamp as well. I agree with Ayush, the Dojo lessons made me really confident! Hands-on experience is everything! While learning on Progate, I supported my learning by studying the Web Development Bootcamp course, Web Design, C, C++ courses on Udemy.
Nitika: I reached level 120. I was addicted to Progate! (laughs) I really enjoyed learning HTML & CSS, JavaScript from Progate and was able to utilise my learning while building our website, Sahitya. I have used Udemy as an additional resource too along with Buckey on YouTube.
Tips, challenges and solutions on creating a website from Team Sahitya
“Get a good team that can motivate you! — Nitika”
− How did you decide to delegate roles in your team to build Sahitya?
Alaap: I am good with databases, backend and debugging, so I was on the backend team.
Samriddhi, Nitika: We love HTML & CSS! We were the frontend development team.
Ayush: I am a full stack developer. I love design and logic. I was working on the backend but also helping out on the frontend.
(Alaap, Samriddhi, Nitika: Ayush is the all rounder of our team!)
− Could you tell us about some of the challenges you faced while building your website and how you resolved them?
Ayush: Well, authentication was easy, but maintaining the session was tough. It took us 5 hours to resolve the issue, we spent an entire night discussing as well. When we got started, we segregated frontend and backend and then we found Passport and integrated frontend and backend while using Node.js and it then became easy to maintain!
− How did learning to code change you? What are some of your career goals?
Alaap: I was inspired to learn coding by looking at the projects being created by my peers. I wanted to be able to do the same someday. Learning to code made me more confident and now we are all set to take on hackathons and create awesome projects! I would personally like pursue my MBA and travel the world while coding.
Ayush: I was unsure about where to start and how to go about creating something. Progate and Code Asylums gave me a direction to follow and now I’m confident about my skills. I learned how to code to be able to think out-of-the-box and create something using technology. I would like to work for a growing company or a startup and then eventually pursue my Masters in Data Sciences.
Samriddhi: I had never built anything before. But I can now create beautiful pages with my skills and build something of my own and that has been life-changing for me. In the future, I would like to work for startups, big companies and gain experience.
Nitika: Before learning on Progate and joining Code Asylums, I always wondered when will the time come when I can build something too. I have been able to build Sahitya on my own and it has been exhilarating! My career path is similar to Samriddhi’s path.
“Start small, combine, make it large! — Ayush”
− Do you have any messages for our readers, aspiring coders and your friends?
Alaap: Start coding right after your 12th grade examinations during the 2 month vacation. Even if you are planning to pursue another field of study, coding will always be of use! Get yourself some mentorship or join a community. Pro — tip: Chrome extensions such as Colour Picker Tool, JSON View really help, make sure you install them while starting out!
Ayush: Start early! For anyone who is thinking of learning programming, learn HTML & CSS to get started with Web Development — this is a tip I wish I was given while I was starting out. It really helps!
Samriddhi: I never started learning to code early and later realized its benefits. Vacations can be utilised well for upskilling.
Nitika: Get a good grasp on your basics and surround yourself with people who motivate you and inspire to do more! I would love to help students on Progate with their learning!
A message from Pratyush Agarwal, Founder & CEO of Code Asylums —
Progate is a great platform for the students who would like to choose Software Development as a career choice. Progate’s interactive UX and applicative coding environment can help students to learn from the basics in a quick and easy way. Progate helped Code Asylums students a lot in covering their prerequisites and also supported us in growing the Developer Community.
