Month: March 2015

So I will be starting a new project soon…which I will describe more fully as it develops, but it has led me to learning PHP! So far so good. It looks a lot like C, this I can do. Right now I’m just going through the Treehouse php course.

Speaking of C, school has been a little frustrating here and there. My Computer Science classes focus really heavily on memorization and getting everything totally perfect on the first try, which has NOT been my experience of actually programming. Being able to look at a loop and knowing exactly what will come out is important, however, actually running that loop and seeing what comes out works, too. In my real life programming experience, I’ve learned the most from just messing around and seeing what happens, which is the opposite of my current classroom learning environment.

But I’m not gonna hate on school, I feel like I’m also learning a lot! And more than learning, I’m also cementing a solid foundation of what I already know. I’m also meeting other people who like to code, and making some real life buddies, which is always good. I spent a lot of time alone in my bedroom in January learning by myself, so it’s nice to get outside and talk to humans.

 

I’ve been so busy with school and music that I’ve forgotten to blog! Anyways, for the past 2 weeks, I have been doing nothing except homework, going to classes, and writing songs. My band La Sera is going to record a new album in April, so every spare moment I have in my life right now is going towards writing songs. However, that’s also the best part about being a full time student right now! I’m still learning a ton all day every day, and it’s nice to be so productive right now.

I’m only 2 weeks into classes, so everything is still pretty easy. We are going over HTML in my Internet Programming class which is super easy, but always worth refreshing. C and Java are more difficult, but also pretty exciting. My teacher for both those classes (he teaches both!) is really into machine/assembly languages, so I feel like I’m learning a lot about how computers truly work on the lowest level. My rails online course will start next week, super excited to get back to making web apps.

That’s it for now! I’ll keep updating through the semester. Someone asked me the other day why I chose community college over bootcamp, so I’ll quickly summarize. It’s WAY less expensive, about $3k verses $15k, however it also does help that I already have a Bachelors so all of the general education requirements are already fulfilled. I’m taking 4-5 classes a semester, all computer science, and I’ll be done with my degree by November. That means about a year of school for $3k. I feel like a 3 month bootcamp is just too quick. Also, spending a year on the degree will really let me know if this is something I want to do. It’s easy and fun to do a quick bootcamp and land a sweet, well paying job, but if I don’t actually want to DO that job, it’s a total waste. This way, I can work towards the degree, and after a year, I will have a really good handle on what I want to do long term. It isn’t a race for me (although I understand that for other people, time is a much more important issue). Luckily, making music has provided me with the perfect opportunity to be able to take time off and go to school. (Although I am eating a LOT more mac and cheese than I used to 😀 )