2017
A Little Background and Why Java?
Hi, I'm Jen. I've decided to learn Java. Many tech people have recommended starting a blog to record your journey, so here I am. The picture on this page is from my first conference which I attended with a friend I met at a local meetup group.
I have a Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology. The degree I received was very general to the technology field. I took Microsoft, Cisco, and database classes and received certifications like A+, Network+, Security+. This gave me what I needed to get a career in tech but my degree did not give me specific enough skills to take my career to the next level.
In college, I took one Java class. It was the hardest of all of my classes not just for myself but many students dropped the course. I knew I wanted to come back later and tackle learning java. I know Java is used to make Android apps and that my current job uses java to process financial transactions. I'd like to find out more about servlets and how businesses use them. Right now it is all a bit fuzzy but I have a basic understanding and am ready to dedicate the time and effort to learn this in 2017.
My goal is to have 1000 hours of learning completed by the end of 2017 and have put stat bars on this site to keep myself accountable. I originally planned to spend all of my time learning Java, but realized I need to know a lot more in order to become a developer. I need to learn more about Git, Eclipse, and web development (to create my portfolio) and so much more! So, I have broken up my goal into two progress bars still trying to reach 1000 hours combined.
Update: Feb 2018
Last year went by so quickly and I learned so much. I'm going to start out with last year's goal progress. Did I get 1000 hours of coding? I absolutely hit over 1000 hours of reading blogs and articles, doing tutorials, talking with people about coding, going to meetups and conferences and learning about becoming a developer. I attended 43 meetups and 5 conference days which were incredibly insightful. But actual coding? I would say more likely half of that (I recorded 647 hrs). What I realized is that it is very hard to measure how much time you are coding as a beginner since much of beginner coding is done in developer training websites rather than on projects or working in your IDE. I did discover WakaTime, an app you can add to your IDE's to measure the time you work in each editor. But without the paid version, your weekly progress is lost each week. Also, I was not able to properly track the time spent doing practice problems within websites like Coding Bat, Free Code Camp, Code Wars and similar sites. You really would have to stop and restart a timer every time you get up for a cup of coffee, take a break, etc., so I underestimated regularly. Additionally, I tested so many sites and courses out before deciding on the ones I chose to work on that I decided not track the ones I did not use in the end.
This leads to another thing I discovered last year. There are a HUGE amount of free resources for learning web development (JavaScript, HTML, and CSS) in comparison to those for learning Java which I now realize is why so many people recommend learning these skills first. With the web development courses, an easy Google search or tip in a forum often more quickly provided a resolution than for the Java course issues. The Java tutorials and books I did use, often had gaps in the instructions. I would get errors and other issues where I had to keep stopping and researching the cause before continuing especially considering I am working on a Windows PC rather than a Mac.
This leads to another thing I discovered last year. There are a HUGE amount of free resources for learning web development (JavaScript, HTML, and CSS) in comparison to those for learning Java which I now realize is why so many people recommend learning these skills first. With the web development courses, an easy Google search or tip in a forum often more quickly provided a resolution than for the Java course issues. The Java tutorials and books I did use, often had gaps in the instructions. I would get errors and other issues where I had to keep stopping and researching the cause before continuing especially considering I am working on a Windows PC rather than a Mac.
Another issue I found is how easy it is to get distracted and jump from resource to resource. The issue here is, once I started attending meetups, so many people referred me to a plethora of great resources I would stop working on one thing and start working on another which was better or more exciting. But doing this too much, I was not able to finish many of the things I started on. Additionally, be careful of all of the bootcamps and for profit websites offering free beginner courses with the promise of possibly getting a paid scholarship upon completion. I fell for this at least three times last year and am even now currently working on the Google Scholarship for a chance at a free Nano-degree. I'm not saying not to do these, but check out what the odds are and only put in the time if it is a topic you are truly interested in.
So with that being said, being self-taught, you really need to put together some type of curriculum for yourself and stick to it as much as possible. This is a lesson I need to work on going into the next year. I plan to work heavily on Free Code Camp in 2018 as well as continue to work on my other interests in Java and Android. I found using Trello a free project management tool incredibly useful for helping me create and continually edit my study plan.
So with that being said, being self-taught, you really need to put together some type of curriculum for yourself and stick to it as much as possible. This is a lesson I need to work on going into the next year. I plan to work heavily on Free Code Camp in 2018 as well as continue to work on my other interests in Java and Android. I found using Trello a free project management tool incredibly useful for helping me create and continually edit my study plan.
Please feel free to comment on my blog with any ideas, tips or suggestions. I'm still learning and welcome the feedback!
Thank you for visiting 😊
See my portfolio page- https://jenhurd8.github.io/Portfolio/
More content coming soon!
