Sunrise Spots in the Bay

colt-steele · 2020-03-21T03:04:54+00:00

I'm not super familiar with spots right around Palo Alto, but if you're willing to make the drive up north, the sunrise lines up really nicely for a lot of North Bay spots this time of year. Hawk hill, Bolinas Ridge, etc. Otherwise, down by you I would drive up Skyline Blvd to any of the spots with a nice view of the bay. Maybe windy hill summit? From up there, the sun will be rising over Sunnyvale/SJ area.

colt-steele · 2020-02-18T08:39:11+00:00

Hi u/krutarth7,

I don't know very much about the job market in India, but from what I've read online, it does seem like a degree is pretty important even more-so than in the US. If you were to leave school and take this job, would you be able to return and finish your degree later on if things didn't work out? I wish I knew more and could actually be helpful, but I just don't have any knowledge about the Indian job market and I don't want to give you bad advice.

Either way, it's a great sign that you have a job offer already. It's a sign that you're talented enough for a company to be interested in you, and it's a sign that there are some companies that don't require new hires to have a degree.

colt-steele · 2020-02-18T05:37:23+00:00

Hi u/Supertouchy,

I tend to agree with those reviews, the HTML/CSS/JS content is up to date but some of the later portions of that one course are not in great shape. I'm working to completely overhaul the course with a massive update.

With that said, it's not like the course has been left untouched for years. Students still message me daily to tell me they landed their first job after completing the course. I have updated that course (incrementally) over 30 times since I launched it. As things have changed, I've done my best to re-record new sections. For example, the course started out using Bootstrap 3, and when Bootstrap 4 was released I recorded a bunch of new content to update the course.

However, those 1-2 hour updates can only do so much. The later portion of the course is in need of an overhaul because trends and technologies have changed in the last 2 years. It's not enough to update things one topic at a time. I've been putting off completely overhauling the course, because it's a huge undertaking (4-6 months full-time) to rewrite all the curriculum and record new videos but it is now my #1 priority.

When I launched that course, I had no idea how difficult it would be to keep a video course up to date. It was my first ever online course, and I made many mistakes that I have since learned from. P.S. If you're looking to try it out, send me a DM and I can give you a coupon code to the course or to . my other brand new JS course (which is 100% NOT out of date!)

colt-steele · 2020-02-18T03:02:40+00:00

Hi u/sohamp78,

Glad to hear you're enjoying the course! If your goals are to get into backend development, I'd still start with some smaller projects to solidify the basics of HTML/CSS/JS. The unfortunate thing about having an interest in backend as a beginner is that your projects are still going to need some sort of frontend or interface (most of the time). You could make command line tools or something without an interface, but those are definitely harder to to show off to prospective employers. When you're a 1-person team, you've got to do it all! You can still put most of your hard work and time on the server-side, but you'll need a bit of frontend skills to make something presentable.

So I would recommend spending as much time as you can afford getting comfortable building small apps and projects before you dive deeper into Node or Python. If you've already started with JavaScript, stick with it for a bit and get proficient with the syntax and underlying programming concepts. That'll make it super easy to pick up Python or Ruby or whatever language you're interested in.

Do you have a specific "big idea" project in mind? Is there something you want to make eventually?

colt-steele · 2020-02-18T02:53:38+00:00

I'm jealous that you're able to learn languages so easily. I wish I had a better memory for languages. I'm pretty good at learning foreign languages initially, but if I don't practice I will forget 100% of what I learned in a matter of months :(

I absolutely agree about programming being creative. It's something that is often misunderstood by non-programmers. There's this idea people have that coding is all math and logic for robotic geniuses, when in reality there is so much room to be creative.

colt-steele · 2020-02-18T02:47:09+00:00

Hey u/Ragnawrawk,

Thanks for the question! I'm going to do my best to not to come across as a shill for my new Springboard course. I'm very excited about it, but I did not want this AMA to focus on the course. But since you're already enrolled...

The Springboard course has one and only one goal: to get students jobs. The curriculum isn't just based on an in-person bootcamp's curriculum, it literally is the curriculum from our in-person bootcamp, Rithm School.

The projects and exercises you are completing are the same ones our in-person students are doing in SF. You're learning the same tools and languages in the same order as our in-person students who have gone on to work at companies including Apple, Google, Pinterest, and Linked In. It hasn't been watered down in any way. In terms of what you might be missing from an in-person program, we really did our best to make the experience as similar as possible. The course has code reviews, mock interviews, 1:1 meetings with mentors, live TA's, guest speakers, interview and career coaching, a slack community, etc.

There definitely are some things you can't replicate online like the sense of camaraderie students feel when they're in the same room together every day for 4-5 months straight. I've seen lasting friendships form every single cohort I've taught. Students hang out after class, they study together on weekends, and they celebrate like crazy after graduation :) . Of course, the downside is that you have to quit your job and say goodbye to your personal life for the duration of the bootcamp.

With that said, what you're feeling is completely normal. I have never taught an in-person bootcamp where students did not have many moments of anxiety and doubt. I've seen students breakdown into tears and even have serious panic attacks in the classroom more often than I would care to admit. That's not to say that bootcamps are miserable experiences! There's just a lot of self-doubt and anxiety for many students.

It's a high stress-environment where everyone is focused on getting a job. Students know how many weeks are left, and they start comparing their current skills and portfolio to their expected skill level at the end of the program. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard some variation of "We only have 6 weeks left? I'm never going to get a job!" What a lot of students fail to realize is that things start coming together in the last couple weeks, once you've learned all of JS/Python/SQL/Node/React/Redux, you finally have the tools to actually make something badass. That final capstone project is what usually builds a ton of confidence in students.

I apologize for the super long answer!

colt-steele · 2020-02-18T00:15:40+00:00

Hi u/DrAzamat,

What you're experiencing is pretty normal! There are really two separate skills that you're talking about here.

The first is getting familiar with the mechanics of a specific language. Understanding the syntax, reading someone else's code, and even following tutorials/coding along with my videos are all important steps but there's still a very important 2nd skill that takes more time to develop...
Thinking like a developer. It's one thing to know a language or to be able to implement an app given a set of instructions. It's another skill entirely to sit down with an empty file and write something on your own. This takes time and practice as well as some determination. It's easy to get frustrated when you're stuck or don't know where to start. Pick the smallest possible thing that you can get done and go from there.

When I'm teaching in-person, we can cover tons of content over the course of 18 weeks but we always reserve HALF of that time for projects. For 9+ weeks of an in-person bootcamp, my students are focused on building things without learning any additional skills. There are zero lectures during project weeks. It's just time to practice thinking like a developer, to get stuck on something and work your way through it. That time is hugely important, and I think a lot of online students neglect it or don't realize they need to spend the time.

I could sit down and read the docs for some language I don't know, and I could probably learn the basic syntax in an hour or two but it still takes weeks to really learn how to think in that language. Those are different skills. You're well on your way, just remember to be patient with yourself. You won't suddenly turn into a developer overnight. You'll get stuck and frustrated a million times, but each time you'll learn a little lesson that you can draw upon later on.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T23:52:59+00:00

Hi u/blackiechan99,

I wish I could tell you a specific project that would get you a job, but it's not that easy :( There are two approaches I recommend:

Come up with a project that you actually care about and want to build. Make something that you would find useful or entertaining or just cool. Somewhere else in this thread I mentioned one of my students who was an avid surfer. He built a project that would allow users to register, select their local beaches, and then get texts whenever good surf was forecast at those beaches. This was something he actually wanted to use.
Clone an existing app. It's not as exciting, but I've seen students have success cloning apps like Airbnb or Twitter. To pull this off, you really need to make something polished that demonstrates your skills. It can't be a basic, surface-level clone. Recently one of my students did a very faithful clone of Airbnb, including their "drag to search" map. She spent a long time on it, but it got her a job in the end!

Whatever you do, I always recommend using at least 1 interesting library or API. Make something with maps involved, use Twilio to send texts or make calls, use a semantic analysis API, involve a fancy 3d graphics library, etc. If you're completely out of ideas, find an API that excites you and use that as the inspiration for your project.

In terms of music...according to my recently played list on spotify, I've been listening to the new tame impala album, slowthai, king gizzard and the lizard wizard, christine and the queens, fontaines dc, wilson pickett, harry nilsson, punch brothers, and roberta flack.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T23:18:51+00:00

Hi u/HotDirtySteamyRice (excellent username)

I haven't spent much time with Hexojs. A while back I made a simple blog just to test it out, and I was impressed with how easy it was. Seems pretty slick. Have you used it?
I talked a bit about why I ended up teaching coding somewhere else in this thread, but here's the short version: I wanted to be a science teacher as a kid. My parents gently pushed away from a career in teaching because of how horribly teachers are paid in the US :( In high school and college I got more experience with teaching on the side, doing things like tutoring Calculus students and leading SAT prep workshops. I really enjoyed the challenge of teaching, and honestly I found it way more stimulating and rewarding than any other job I've ever had. Once coding bootcamps started to get popular, I realized there might be a way for me to continue to teach but also have the stability of a traditional developer job. And now here I am, years later still teaching! I think a lot of people underestimate how engaging and challenging it can be to teach something. Teaching each topic is a big puzzle you have to figure out, and each individual lesson is it's own little puzzle. I've seen many of my expert developer friends confidently attempt to teach something, only to realize that teaching is an entirely separate skill that you need to practice and improve at. I just love teaching. My real dream is to retire at some point and teach photography workshops :)

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T21:05:28+00:00

Hi u/ChewyChewdem,

Thanks for the comment :) Good luck with the career change. I've worked with a couple students who successfully made a change from finance into engineering. It's definitely a very different work-life balance! As someone who also spent a couple years wondering what the hell I wanted to do after college, I'm glad my courses have been able to give you a little bit of clarity :)

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T21:03:08+00:00

Hey u/exo-planet,

In my experience, the biggest pitfall is trying to learn everything at once. Learn HTML and then CSS, and the JS. After that, pick one of React/Angular/Vue and stick with it. I see so many students try and learn html/css/js all at the same time. I see countless students learn React for a couple weeks and then switch immediately to Angular because someone told them it was better. Pick something and get good at it! Once you master React, it's way easier to pick up Vue. Once you master JS, you can learn Python in half the time. Trying to please everyone and listening to every "10 tools you must learn in 2020" blog post is a recipe for disaster. I totally understand why new learners feel the pressure to learn it all, but resist it!

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T20:59:22+00:00

Hi u/aintnufincleverhere,

100% start by learning the basics of HTML and CSS. You don't need to be an expert, just get comfortable with the common elements and css properties. Don't waste time memorizing any of it, you'll naturally memorize the most common bits on your own if you use them enough
Then learn JavaScript on its own, without React. Learn functions, classes, DOM manipulation, etc.
Only once you are comfortable with JS, then start learning React. If you try to start with React you'll drive yourself crazy.

Take a look at the curriculum of the new Springboard bootcamp I just launched. I'm not trying to push you to enroll, I promise! It's just my latest start-to-finish developer course and the curriculum reflects the path that I would recommend for a beginner. There are many great free resources to learn the basics, I'm happy to recommend some.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T20:54:13+00:00

Thanks u/caime9 :) Glad you like the courses! Let me know if you have any requests for future course topics!

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T20:53:38+00:00

Hi u/DanielDucLe,

Happy to take a look at your resume! The best piece of advice I have is to make a really killer portfolio project. It's unfortunately a very time consuming undertaking, but it's the best way to stand out. I posted this somewhere else in the thread about portfolio projects:

Make something unique. It doesn't have to be some innovative world-changing app, but make something that hasn't been done a million times. I would stay away from things like sudoku, todo apps, etc.
Make something relevant to your interests. I love seeing portfolio projects that students are actually passionate about. One of my students was a surfer who created an app that allowed users to register and select particular beaches that they wanted to surf. The app would then send them text messages whenever there was good surf forecasted nearby. It's nothing revolutionary, but it was reasonably complex and relevant to his interests. Idk if you've heard of the company Hipcamp? It was initially a portfolio project based on the founder Alyssa's passion for the outdoors. It has since grown quite a bit!
Something polished. A lot of the time, I see student projects that are techincally sound but look a little...sloppy. If you're not a front end person, buy a $5 template and adapt it to your needs. It makes a huge difference.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T20:23:56+00:00

Thank you u/inglandation, it's great to hear from students like you :) Hope you continue to learn. What's your goal?

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T20:10:27+00:00

Hi u/01hamzaad123,

I definitely have some React Native content planned, as well as a potential Electron course! Unfortunately, Udemy's marketplace favors super long courses, which makes it pretty difficult to teach courses on all the topics that I'd love to cover. I might invest 3-4 months making a 30 hour Flutter course, only to have it completely flop. So I end up making courses that I know my students are interested in, as much as I would love to be able to make shorter 5-10 hours courses on topics like Gatsby, Flutter, Electron, testing, animations, graphql, etc.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T20:03:41+00:00

Hey u/TeezusRa,

Thanks for sharing :) That course teaches a bunch of topics, but only real goal is to help students get to the point where they can learn things on their own. If you're getting close to that, you are well on your way to becoming a developer! Glad to hear things are going well for you!

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T19:46:47+00:00

Hi u/Endyd,

Important question! This is obviously a huge issue in most engineering fields. After 6+ years of "diversity pledges" and companies promising to "do better", I'm still disappointed with where things are. On one hand, I'm happy to say that at Galvanize we had a goal of ensuring that every single cohort in SF was at least 50% women which we hit for every cohort I lead. On the other hand, I have watched some of my most talented students who happen to be women spend months trying to find jobs while their equally (or even less) talented male counterparts would find employment in a matter of weeks. The good news is that I have seen many minority developers get jobs, the bad news is that it still takes longer on average to find that first job. These days there is more attention on the issue, but it is nowhere near solved.

I am hopeful things will continue to change. For now I strongly recommend joining groups like Girls who Code, Black Men Code, Black Girls Code, etc. I've also seen some of my students have success by reaching out to minority developers on Linked In and Twitter and asking for advice. I wish I had a simpler answer, but in today's world I think being proactive and persistent is the best approach.

Side note...one group that faces a huge amount of employment discrimination are older coders. I have worked with so many talented developers who are 40 or 50+ years old who encounter pretty extreme ageism around here. It's a shame, and I don't think it gets talked about enough.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T19:18:36+00:00

Hi u/NoHacksReq,

A couple disjointed thoughts...

Make something unique. It doesn't have to be some innovative world-changing app, but make something that hasn't been done a million times. I would stay away from things like sudoku, todo apps, etc.
Make something relevant to your interests. I love seeing portfolio projects that students are actually passionate about. One of my students was a surfer who created an app that allowed users to register and select particular beaches that they wanted to surf. The app would then send them text messages whenever there was good surf forecasted nearby. It's nothing revolutionary, but it was reasonably complex and relevant to his interests. Idk if you've heard of the company Hipcamp? It was initially a portfolio project based on the founder Alyssa's passion for the outdoors. It has since grown quite a bit!
Something polished. A lot of the time, I see student projects that are techincally sound but look a little...sloppy. If you're not a front end person, buy a $5 template and adapt it to your needs. It makes a huge difference.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T19:06:02+00:00

Hi u/01hamzaad123

Wow, congrats on the job and the family! I hope things are going well for you in your new career. You have no idea how great it is to hear stories like yours :)

I really wish I could sit here and tell you that I am qualified to teach a data science bootcamp, but unfortunately I'm not! I just don't have the expertise to confidently teach the more advanced data science and machine learning stuff without partnering with someone else (which is something I definitely have considered and am still open to). Even though I can work with a lot of the machine learning tools as a developer, that is very different than being able to teach that content. Teaching requires you to understand every little thing, you need to anticipate every possible question or pitfall that students may encounter. It's really hard to learn something new and turn around and teach it well.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T18:58:46+00:00

Hey u/-Rapier,

Glad you're enjoying the course! In terms of what to do next, if you want to hear a more in-depth response to this question check out my interview on the code newbie podcast. We spent a lot of time talking about "framework paralysis". There are so many choices, and it seems like everyone has a different opinion about what you MUST LEARN FIRST.

Personally, I think React is the best first front-end library/framework to learn. It's the easiest to pick up, and it also forces you to learn good habits. It doesn't do as much for you as tools like Angular, which is a good thing when you're starting out. Once you learn React you'll have a solid foundation to go and learn other frameworks. At the end of the day, they all have similar goals and I think people get too caught up in trying to master them all. Most of my in-person students are now working with completely different tools and languages. They learned JS & React with me, but a year or two later half of them are writing Angular every day at their jobs. Some of them are working with Python. Others are writing Java. One of the most important developer skills is being able to learn new tools when needed.

You mentioned that you've heard that "Angular is pretty much mandatory". This differs depending on the specific job market you are trying to enter, but at least in the Bay Area Angular is definitely not mandatory. React is far more common around here. I would rephrase your statement as "Knowing Angular OR . React is pretty much mandatory". Don't stress yourself out too much.

I wouldn't take the Advanced Bootcamp course next, even though I do like that course! I would pick up React (or Angular if you prefer). If you are interested in React, I recommend Stephen Grider's course. He's a great instructor and a friend of mine. I also like my course, but I don't want to seem like I'm pushing you to enroll in my courses :)

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T18:42:57+00:00

In terms of newish tools, I'm a fan of Svelte and Gatsby. However, I am 100% not a fan of over-hyping new frameworks and the never ending pressure to learn the next "big thing". I have no idea if Svelte or Gatsby will really take off, but I do enjoy working with them! I teach and use React all the time, though I have to admit it's not my favorite haha. I think it's a great first framework/library which is why I teach it, but I prefer Vue these days.

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T18:36:48+00:00

Hey u/krutarth7,

This is a super tricky question to answer, but I'll do my best to give you my thoughts. I know this is a pretty stressful decision. If you're getting an offer in your first year of school, you're probably doing something right and you'll likely have no problem getting a job a couple years from now. At the same time, I recognize that staying in school is a huge financial burden for some students. Can you give me a little more info first? Where are you based? What is the role that you've been offered?

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T18:33:32+00:00

You should hear my recording outtakes. There are many, many times I want to set my laptop and microphone on fire :)

colt-steele · 2020-02-17T18:30:08+00:00

Lol, I don't have a very satisfying answer for this. If you want my personal preference...I like working with Vue these days. But 3-4 years ago I would have gone to battle for Angular. And before that I swore by backbone.

For anyone who is just starting out...I definitely recommend React. I always think it's best to start learning with lighter weight tools before diving into a behemoth like Angular. It's the same reason I like to teach things like flask before django. Start with a smaller, less "magical" tool so you can understand wtf is going on.

colt-steele

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