You Can Teach An Old Dog New Javascript…
A Sales Account Manager, A Digital Producer and a HR Manager walk into a meeting room……
Sounds like the start of a joke right? Well it kind of is, we’re here to learn how to code.
Recently, Our passionate Software Architect Terry Benade decided that he wanted to help his fellow SEEK employees realise their dreams of learning how to code.
‘Code school’ the concept was born, and after some back and forth on slack, we had recruited a dozen or so mentors and over 50 interested students.
The current suggestion is to complete an online Javascript course provided by Codecademy. This course and content is free and of the highest possible standard. Why not just do it at home on your own? Well you can, and that is fantastic, but doing things as a team and helping each other grow is a pretty cool thing to do too. -Terry Benade — Software Architect SEEK
So here we are, 8am on Monday morning learning how to make slackbot say funny things.
View it, code it, jam — unlock it — Daft Punk, Technologic
Code school runs on a Monday morning before work and on a Thursday lunchtime. We are currently alternating between completing Codeacadamy courses on javascript and completing small tasks guided by our resident mentors.
When asking why the students wanted to learn, the responses varied from career related development to personal development. One thing is clear, there are a lot of people at SEEK who want to learn, and we’re lucky to be surrounded by the best in the business who are more than happy to give up a sleep in and a lunch time each week to help us achieve.
As the individual needs of the students vary, our “curriculum” is fluid. Students are not bound to an end task or goal, and are not forced to learn at the same pace. Students can learn on their own at home and use the slack channel as a forum to get support. They can turn up to classes and bounce off the team or not. They can storm ahead through the course and start to build out their own ideas or stick to a stricter class by class environment. It seems by simply saying to people “this is a possibility, and I’m here for you if you need me” Terry’s initiative has given people the shove they needed to start something that seems very daunting to approach on your own.
I for one am both surprised at how easy it is to write code when you understand the basic language and at the same time perplexed at how much is involved in executing one action. The patience and attention to detail required of a developer is amazing and with the tiny amount of understanding I have, I’ve developed a whole new appreciation for the work our developers do.
For me, this learning and understanding is success in itself. I’m not sure what I want to achieve by the end of my code school experience, or even whether it will ever come to an end. But each time I have a conversation with a colleague that sounds less like alien jibber-jabber and more like something I understand, the prouder I am of what I’m learning.
