Speaking of Learning

Since I mentioned my hopes of getting into the field of coding, I thought I would pass along links to the different sites I've been seeing. Whether you are looking to learn something, or find (like me) a new career path, or are just interested in learning for its own sake, here are some resources:

For coding -

• Codeacademy (nicely set up for the beginner to track learning progress)
• W3Schools (self-described as "the world's largest development site)
• Udacity has an Intro to Computer Sciences that looks organized & practical.
• Hackety Hack is a downloadable program to teach you to... program. 

For app development & other -

• Coursera offers free courses of all kinds, including those in computer science. Check to see which courses are open for which dates. 
• General Assembly offers courses both online and in classroom. The Mobile Development and  Web Development courses look interesting.
• Sitepoint offers to show how to design apps without having programming skills. (Should I be worried?)
• Mozilla offers a tool to help you get creative while Google has a learning spot for developers interested in their products. (Now that Google has surpassed Apple as the most valuable company, it might be nice to jump in on the learning.)

There are tons of courses and classes and intructors to be found on the web for just about anything you want to learn. For this post, I listed sites that I have seen mentioned more than once in articles and reviews. I also tried to list only free courses, but some sites offer a choice of free and paid, so read the small print. Most of all, have fun learning something new. At 50-and-change, I am just trying to keep up with the kids.

Peace

--Free

New Things

So, I am still on what I am calling my "Discovery Tour." I'm trying to discover a new career path. Actually, I'm pretty open to a new life path! (My sister says I am just having mid-life jitters, but more on that in a moment.)

Since I loved my last job, I hope there's a way I can get back to it, but... There would have to be some modifications and I don't know how well that would go over. My next option would be a business, but I am too much of a dreamer and my pockets are too flat right now for that avenue. Finally, I come to the option of learning something new that will keep me motivated and employable.

Ta-da!

I want to learn to write code. For someone who has days where remembering how to write her name, this might sound ambitious. It is, I guess, but I have made up my mind. I only have a couple anxieties about it right now: this kind of crap and the fact that I might not get the encouragement I need from the folks at Vocational Rehab. Another worry - from inside my own head is - about my ability to learn and retain the necessary information. I've always been a quick study, but I haven't always been "over 50" or struck with any serious illness.

Whatever.

I have made up my mind to give this my best shot. I want to start with writing code and progress to programming.* We will see how it goes. I hope that one day this will apply to me:

Peace
--Free

*As a programming teacher, one thing does irritate me: the persistent misuse of the word “programming” when the author means coding. Programming is creating the logic, coding is translating that logic into code. Many students come into class able to code, but almost none come in able to program — that is, create the logic. They think sitting down and making spaghetti code is programming.

Tom Fordham (Yep)