A few months ago I decided to teach myself how to code. I have a Liberal Arts background and basically started from zero, so you can imagine the process has been… well, a process. Although I was making headway on my own during these months, I felt I could do better by learning in a group or class room setting. Enter Tech Talent South. When I heard that TTS would be coming to Jacksonville this fall I immediately applied for their 8-week Code Immersion program. Here are my initial thoughts after completing week two:

There is no better way to learn than by being around other like minded individuals. Even on my first day at TTS, which was mostly material I had previously learned, I found myself thinking about concepts in different ways. If you have only learned how to code on your own, you will be stunned by the how much you will learn simply by thinking about problems from other students perspective.

Breaking into a new industry such as computer programming? Be prepared to network. Probably the most impressive thing about TTS so far for me is their emphasis on hooking up with the local community. It has only been two weeks and the Communications Director, Melissa, has been great about providing Meetup recommendations, key note speakers, and information on the startup scene here in Jax.

Instructors are great. Through this first two weeks our instructor, Tracey, has been crucial to my learning process by answering (and encouraging) all questions on the material. Tracey has also made himself available for office hours before and after class which has been extremely helpful. In the past, problems that used to force me to bang my head through a wall for hours, and sometimes even days, can now be resolved in minutes due to these one-on-one interactions.

In two weeks TTS has improved my learning speed, given me access to new resources, and helped me network around my local community.