Today was straight-up fantastic. We started by taking a quiz on the previous day’s lesson and I scored a perfect 10 out of 10. I grew a little panicky when Tom (the instructor) said there would be a quiz. I wasn’t convinced that everything had sunk in with the gits and the version controls and the whatnots. But it turns out it did sink in. I arrived about an hour before class and reviewed the homework from the day before. This study probably took me from an 8 to a 10 on the quiz.
After the quiz, we had a three-hour lecture on variables and data structures. I have wondered since last summer whether I was studying the right things and whether any of it would pay off once I got to the boot camp. The answers are yes and yes. For anyone who is wondering about how to go about studying for a boot camp–study the crap out of HTML, CSS, and (most importantly) JavaScript. Knowledge of these three areas will get you through the second day. For what that’s worth.
There were some differences between the way variables and data structures are used in JavaScript and the way they are used in C# (which is the language I’m studying). For instance, in C# you must be specific as to whether your variable is an integer, a decimal, a Boolean, or one of a few other possibilities. In JavaScript, the word “var” covers everything, much to Tom’s disciplined disdain.
After the lesson, we broke for lunch and then had a Pathway meeting focused on StrengthFinders. Pathway is the program in TE that focuses on our resumes, interviewing, and LinkedIn profiles. We did some ice-breakers using the StrengthFinders program and got to know some of the students from the other class (Java-studiers–a mysterious and befuddling pack of yahoos). We were split into groups and made to argue over an imaginary scenario where we were stranded after a plane crash in the northern Canadian woodlands. It was a fun argument, but when the answer to the survival question was revealed, it became clear that our team would have died within hours.
After the Pathway meeting, we split back up into groups of C# and Java and went to work on our exercises. The work was long and tedious, but pretty easy, save one question about Bill and Jill painting rooms which had the whole lab banging their heads off the gray-painted walls. We’ll try again tomorrow.
From Retail to Programming 