I love to keep up on technology trends after all I am in the social media business. I was curious about taking my skills to a new level beyond the front part of my brain. I wanted to be able to understand the technical side instead of just the marketing side. Sometimes when working with technical folks it was hard to communicate what I wanted without the jargon or understand how it might work. I wanted to add this to my skills to be a more effective communicator and know enough to have an intelligent conversation. Secretly I was challenging myself to try something that I didn’t think I could do. (shh don’t tell anyone)
The class description for Learn to Program through Coding at TTS was: Can you work a mouse? Then you can program. Hey, I can work a mouse. I signed up without thinking twice.
To be perfectly honest, I am not super technical and I am not friends with Math. I knew with extra help and time I would eventually get these foreign words and concepts. I signed up for the part-time classes which are after work and into the evening. This was a huge commitment as I am a mom to 3 and literally the taxi driver and a business owner. Is there ever a good time? I don’t think so. Why not now?
The classes are indeed intense and very fast paced. I could not believe that just after a few classes, I was Ruby and Railing it. I wasn’t really sure what the heck I was doing but somehow I manage to hang on. Each class started to get more intense each concept was building up to the next one. I kept telling myself I can work a mouse therefore I can do it. Sometimes my brain was in overdrive and I was so tired that my fingernails hurt. I am hanging on and often for dear life cant’ believe I made it through somewhat understood the concept. The instructors are great about answering emails with solutions to error codes and offer office hours for one on one. I like it but I am slow to grab everything that they are teaching. I am starting to speak their language but I have to dig farther back into that part of my brain and exercise it. I give myself pep talks: I can work a mouse.
My take away is that I am getting a solid foundation from very capable instructors. I can see how what I am learning applies in the real world. I know that I get it with more studying and perhaps another round at auditing a class or two where I have a deficit.
If you can work a mouse then you are capable of taking this class. The foundation, instructors, curriculum are waiting for your hard work and can do attitude.
