I took a "Software Engineering for SaaS: Ruby on Rails" Coursera course
over the summer through UC Berkely. I got a little more than 1/2 way
through and could not finish it.
I've been hacking for over 10 years (mostly PHP and Javascript among
others) so I've got a decent amount of programming experience. However,
it was an upper level class, geared toward CS majors, so it was intense
for me and started at a much lower level than most Rails
tutorials/books. The Coursera shell is way better than online courses I
took through my library school program (eCollege).
Granted, I work full time, am a single parent of 2 young kids, and it
was a condensed summer course. I didn't struggle as much as I ran out
of time. If I had more time I would have stuck it through, but it was
challenging. Looking forward to the RailsBridge preconf! ;)
There may also be other courses available now through Coursera that
would be less intense.
-Shaun
On 11/30/12 4:32 PM, Donahue, Amy wrote:
Another little quick comment, adding to the chorus of lurkers and people who
aren't sure if they're coders. Someday I hope to get to a code4lib conference
(if only to tell people in person I knew Jonathan Rochkind way back when), but
in the meantime I've been on this list on and off (but mostly on) since I
graduated, and it's been nothing but a wonderful resource, and a place I know I
can always turn for that time when I have a tech question.
But I wanted to point out a possible resource for those of us who aren't sure
of what we know and who want to know more. Coursera has been on my radar
through multiple channels, but not yet on here. It appears they do have some
basic programming courses, as well as theory. I'm curious to know if anyone
has taken any of these, or has any thoughts on this method of learning...
https://www.coursera.org/category/cs-programming
Amy
-------------------------------------------------------
Amy Donahue, MLIS, AHIP
414.955.8326
User Education/Reference Librarian
Medical College of Wisconsin Libraries - Link. Learn. Lead.
http://www.mcw.edu/mcwlibraries.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Bess
Sadler
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 12:07 PM
To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] What is a "coder"?
On Nov 29, 2012, at 6:13 AM, Christie Peterson <cpeter...@jhu.edu> wrote:
If this were "training" in the sense of a seminar or a formal class on the exact same topics, I
would be eligible for full funding, but since it's a "conference," it's funded at a significantly
lower level. I'll gladly take suggestions anyone has for arguments about why attendance at these types of
events is critical to successfully doing my work in a way that, say, attending ALA isn't -- and why,
therefore, they should be supported at a higher funding rate than typical "library" conferences.
Any non-coders successfully made this argument before?
Cheers,
Christie S. Peterson
Christie you are not the only person who can get travel funding for training
but not for conferences, and you are not the only person on the fence about
whether you belong in code4lib. In my mind you are exactly the kind of person I
would like to attract to code4lib, so I very much hope you'll join us. Archives
in particular are facing significant technological challenges right now, and as
someone who has been known to develop software for born digital archives[1] I
have seen how vital it is to have a common language and vocabulary, and a
common way of approaching problem solving, in order to create a system that
will actually work according to archival principles.
One option to consider would be signing up for one of the pre-conferences.
Given the background you've described and the challenges you face in your
career, I think you could make a very strong argument that having a basic
introduction to programming concepts would be helpful for you. Luckily there is
a free full-day of training to be had the day before the conference starts!
Please consider joining us at the RailsBridge and/or Blacklight workshops or at
any of the other workshops that look interesting to you that you think you
could pitch as training.
Even outside of the code4lib context, I strongly encourage others who face those kinds of
travel funding constraints to get creative. Some of the best learning opportunities of my
life and the best pivotal moments in my career happened because members of this community
decided there was an unmet need and they were going to do something about it. CurateCAMP
springs to mind. The many regional code4lib meetings are in this category. And also: one
time when a few code4lib folks were trying to get open source discovery projects off the
ground we just decided to create an "Open Source Library Discovery Summit" in
Philadelphia, declared ourselves invited speakers, and attended. And it was a very
successful meeting and a very good use of university funds!
Christie, if there is training or skills development that, if it were offered
at code4lib, would do you some good, you are certainly not the only person who
could benefit from it. I strongly encourage you to think about what training
opportunities are missing in your corner of the library / archives world, and
then have some conversations with members of this community about how we could
provide that training together. I would love to hear your thoughts on the
subject.
Best wishes,
Bess
[1] http://hypatia-demo.stanford.edu Tell your funders you have to go to
code4lib because hydra is the future of born digital archives and this is the
conference where the developers hang out and you need to talk to them about
strategic directions for their project so that it will address your problems. :D
--
Shaun D. Ellis
Digital Library Interface Developer
Firestone Library, Princeton University
voice: 609.258.1698 | sha...@princeton.edu
