Official Launch!

Launching my own iOS bootcamp, and why it isn’t as crazy as it sounds.

In the rush towards newer and better apps, there is an explosion of new ways to learn code. Small groups of people are forming these things called bootcamps, and training people in crash course settings to build apps and websites. You know them. They are the Mobile Makers Academy, Makers Academy, Dev Bootcamp, among others. Some range from $5,000 to $10,000, for anywhere from 8 weeks to 12 weeks. Many of them cover basically the same material in similar outlines. Languages you can learn from these great programs range from Swift, Objective-C, CSS, Python, HTML(5), and more. It all just depends on what you want to build. Mobile, websites, manage big data, its all right there.

But, what if you don’t want to spend the $5,000 or $10,000?

The answer, as I found it, is a bit surprising.

In the era of big University’s, big college debt, and starving students losing sleep over having a degree (even Masters) but no career, it might be a shock to hear that some of the great Universities are offering their courses on code for free. While you, of course, are not an official student, nor do you receive a degree at the end, you do walk away with a couple apps under your belt and a new skill set. So, I put my deeply held, bitter grudge against the University model, and explored these courses. To my surprise, they were great! If you have the right professor, teaching a language he or she has worked in professionally, the course is very rewarding. One thing though, they tend to be pretty advanced. While they take you through the basics, it also doesn’t hurt to have some base knowledge going in.

So that’s where I found Treehouse.

Treehouse, at teamtreehouse.com, offer courses on a month to month subscription basis, in everything from mobile development, to business management. The courses are structured in “tracks”, built by a mix of video lectures and quizzes. They host a great forum where you can reach out for help in solving code, and the information is easy to understand. There is a $25/month and a $49/month subscription scale, each offering their own perks. So, in my early days… about a year and a half ago, when I just got my iMac 27”, I was exploring the world of tech. Did I really want to learn code? COULD I even learn code? Treehouse seemed like a great place to find out. With a $25/month subscription locked in, I delved into their Objective-C track. All was going well, and I even had the makings of an iPhone game. But then…

Apple announces a NEW language!

Swift was a bombshell. What was this?? I was doing so well, and now this! Did everything I learn become useless just like that? In my panic, I explored Swift.

Soon enough, I became OBSESSED. I was hooked. It was cleaner than Objective-C, tighter, easier to read, and with Playground, had some exciting possibilities.

And, of course, cause they are just awesome like that, Treehouse launched a track on Swift. By this point, I knew I was interested enough to learn code, but still wasn’t sure it was something I would want to make a career out of.

I can’t tell you when the exact point was that made my mind up on this, but it was probably a mix of the Apple Watch, electric cars becoming self-driving, and the prospective applications of code in city planning that won me over. Code is so much more than computers. In the modern era, is just far more than telling a desktop what to do. So, with that, I took another look at the bootcamps.

I picked up a crap job washing dishes at a full service restaurant to save up for the $5k. All was going well, except the job really blowed, with 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, and a 6.5 mile walk every day; I knew this wasn’t going to kick it for long! Then I bumped into someone who works for a major tech company, and we discussed what makes a person qualified to be a developer. By the end of the lunch, it was clear that being self-taught was ok, but it was in fact a bonus! So, if a degree wasn’t all that important, then by extension, a bootcamp name mattered very little, as well. For some, these may still be important, but for the jobs I’m scoping, I’m free to save a little bit of money.

But what about motivation and focus?! You might ask. How will I stay focused and disciplined?

For me, academic focus was never a problem. In my time as a student at University of Bridgeport, I took on more and more extra research projects, and gave more and more class presentations, ONTOP of being a member of the Student Government, Debate Team, a club Treasurer, as well as a founding President of two student clubs. Drive and discipline was never an issue for me. With a 3.5 GPA, I transferred to American University, where I did the same thing, ONTOP of interning in Congress. Going into this endeavor, I am very confident that my drive and focus will be there.

Not everyone is like that. That’s why bootcamps are great. They offer mentors, tutors, one-on-one help, and there’s the benefit of networking.

To compensate for this, I decided I would need a solution. Networking is paramount when breaking into a new career field. PARAMOUNT! So, Github is a no brainer, as well as reaching out to professionals who are already in the industry. Anybody can do that.

So, with enough money saved to pay for my bills for the next three months, I am taking the dive! I am giving myself three months to learn what I can, build a portfolio, and build a network. It won’t be easy…. I’m almost certain it will be harder than that molecular biology course I took at Duke University, but it will be well worth it! Tech is the future, and I want to have a hand in it. So, feel free to follow the same outline, or build your own, and enjoy the ride!

Cheers!