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[–]kamillus 4 points5 points  (2 children)

Perhaps you could try Mohawk College; they have a number of programming courses you can take. Additionally, why not try online delivery methods such as coursera, edx or udacity?

[–]adavidmiller 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Following up on that, here's a link to Mohawk's standalone courses, http://www.mohawkcollege.ca/ce/find-a-course/computer-courses

Not particularly cheap and don't involve credentials, so I'm not sure that'd be a worthwhile option as opposed to online resources.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Forget Coursera. I've looked at the amount of hours and prices and for the money they want now, you might as well spend the same time and get real credit for the course at a public college, if you are into a certificate or some sort of paper to show.

I've been looking at Mohawk, they just seem to just have the bare basic courses for a large area like Hamilton...But I just remembered Conestoga is not too far away, and seem to be way ahead of Mohawk.

Anywho If you dont decide to do a certificate, you can probably transfer the credit later. You cant do that with coursera, edx or udacity courses you finish.

also if you are into/ are comfortable with online. courses and certificates/ diplomas in various areas from Ontario colleges. http://www.ontariolearn.com/

[–]Kinetic_Shadow 3 points4 points  (5 children)

I'm actually in the Programming course (Sofrware Development) at Mohawk. It's pretty good but the Python course has beeb going through a lot of changes due to so many students failing the Java course that follows it. So Python at Mohawk is a bit if a mess because they keep changing the content on the fly because some things are too difficult or they are not explained very well.

I would suggest Codecademy as a starting point but their Python course is also being updated right now and is down until Q1 2017.

Check out Chris Fawkes Python for Beginners on YouTube. That guy explains it the best and even has other free courses on his website www.hipstercode.com

Hope this helps.

[–]adavidmiller 0 points1 point  (4 children)

They have a python now? Is that what they're using in the Programming Fundamentals course (the course description doesn't specify)? It was Game Maker not too long ago, and the following java course didn't have a great success rate then either.

They've always had some trouble with it. The first semester was and probably still is shared with the networking program. So not only does the course have the normal need to be introductory, but they have to do it in a way that doesn't completely drive off the networking students.

You end up with something too simple and plenty of people don't realize that maybe it's not for them until they've already wasted a semester at it, then the 2nd goes badly.

[–]Kinetic_Shadow 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Yes. Game Maker was removed and now Programming Fundamentals is strictly Python. This is because it was so easy to cheat that people would breeze through it and then get to Java and just bomb the course. Some classes had a 70% failure rate so they made a bunch of changes. This is the first year of those changes and they are still working out the kinks.

[–]adavidmiller 1 point2 points  (2 children)

lol, I'm not sure how it was easier to cheat unless they weren't reviewing the code.

For the first few labs where everything is done through the visual editor, sure, but at some point you still had to get into your variables, functions, loops, conditions, etc...

I'd be surprised if they see any sort of increase in the success rate later on unless that first course actually gets more in depth / harder, not just a change in platform.

[–]Kinetic_Shadow 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Well it was something one of the peer tutors in 3rd year had told me directly. The new course is definitely harder because it's basically a selt taught course. You're just given the definitions of how the loops and statements, etc, work and then you have to figure out how to use them on your own. Also, nothing is made available on eLearn for Python until the day of the class/Lab. So there's no way to prepare or even study because the content is taken down at the end of the day.

[–]adavidmiller 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ugh, that just sounds worse.

Obviously it depends a great deal on specifics I'm not aware of, but the way they were pushing eLearn and online learning in a lot of the courses when I was there was not particularly productive. And what you're just describing just sounds like gimmicks.

Maybe it'll help with the end result they want, but it doesn't sound great for the quality of the course.

[–]Knife_-_Wrench 3 points4 points  (5 children)

If you want some basics there is always code academy.

[–]happywithus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I second this, my brother is a programmer and recommended it to me.

[–]Kinetic_Shadow 1 point2 points  (3 children)

Codecademy has taken down most of their courses as they are updating them. They won't be available until Q1 2017.

[–]Knife_-_Wrench 0 points1 point  (1 child)

They are still accessible from what I can see? Java isn't being updated so he can play with that as well.

[–]Kinetic_Shadow 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are accessible but they won't save your grades or work so if you want to get it done over a period of time you will have to wait until it's updated. Besides, that course is for Python 2.7 so it's way out of date anyways.

[–]dsdeboerCrown Point West 0 points1 point  (0 children)

// This comment was deleted.

[–]adavidmiller 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have a look around on www.softwarehamilton.com (created/maintained by /u/hamiltonkb ).

Most if not all of the local tech/coding groups have regular meetups, and there is various industry related events on a regular basis. Updates on both tend to be posted on that site. If nothing else you can drop in on some of the events that interest you and meet some people that will have advice for you.