On 03/26/2014 12:27 PM, Stacie Farmer wrote:
>
> I was wondering what your opinions were on the type of programs, ours and 
> those similar, that provide non-traditional tech training? Specifically, I’m 
> looking for where you think these programs fail or succeed and what 
> specifically we should be teaching our members who want to become developers.
>


Project management, data structures, and algorithms.  As has been 
mentioned in other posts the syntax is easy to look up online.  I've 
never had a class on php, sql, perl, java, or javascript, yet I use all 
of them frequently.  So when offering classes it's good to offer thing 
they can't learn from a manual.  An introduction to getting started 
programming is of course useful, but once you get to a certain point you 
should be able to turn them loose to learn the language on their own.

One of the most useful takeaways for me from groups (like UPHPU) is 
tools.  I can't look at them all so it's great that I can show up and a 
meeting and see what someone else likes and dislikes about a specific tool.

Thinking of your specific objective(hopefully this doesn't come across 
as arrogant since you know more about your objectives then I do)  Most 
companies can not afford full time developers and often hire contractors 
because they know them(or they are family), think of really small 
companies.  This is a great place to get started. If I was doing a boot 
camp to help people get started in the industry I would do a LAMP work 
shop.  Maybe using openshift or google app engine.  Train them on 
php,html,css,javascript,and mysql.  I'd probably avoid a frame work when 
starting out.  Get them to find a project for a friend, family member, 
or interest group. Once they have a couple of projects in their 
portfolio they can start charging for contract work.  So a workshop on 
running your own business and doing bids, etc could be really useful.  
This is a workable route for anyone whether they are going to college, 
or not.  I mention this route specifically to your group because I know 
women tend to look for more flexible careers then men.  This gives them 
the ability to set their own hours and work from home.  This sort of 
path can be very low paying at first, but it will build depending on 
both technical and marketing skills.


Kyle

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