Up until recently the only languages I’d been exposed to were html, css, and the tiniest bit of javascript and php. The latter two there are mainly as a result of surrounding myself with friends that code for a living by way of hanging out in irc.

Thats actually a really important part of my journey - in fact the most important part. About five years ago I decided I wanted to learn how to make a website for my small business and from a very early stage I realised the importance of internet forums and chat rooms. It taught me that the developer community was in the most part, incredibly supportive of anyone looking to learn the craft of code. I’ve met some fantastic people people over the past few years online and now regard these people as true friends even though I’ve never met a single one of them! 8 of us started a web design forum about a year ago, thewebdesignforum.

Why ruby?

Having decided I wanted to learn to code I had to choose which language to learn. My local college didn’t offer the type of course I wanted but a few miles down the road there was a possiblilty of a computer science course but the enquiries came to nothing as I didn’t fit the required criteria for qualification. I also looked at Open University courses but they didn’t seem quite the right fit for me. It was at this point that I discovered bootcamp style learning and it was aimed at folk just like me! All of these bootcamps seem to teach Ruby so it seems like a popular choice. I didn’t go out looking to learn Ruby specifically but its looks really exciting and I can’t wait to really get into it.

Bootcamp Learning

At the start of this year I went along to an interview at Makers Academy who offer a 12 month intensive course from their London base. The classroom environment is a good fit for me as I can take 3 months off my day job to do this. It’s perfect and I was really impressed with the set up at Makers, I was accepted on the course and I’m booked into the first course in 2015. The only potential issue I have with MA is the time away from home and the very very long days - I live 70 miles from the classroom so it would involve getting up at 6am and not getting home until probably after 10pm every weekday for 12 weeks. There will never be a perfect fit but Tealeaf offer an interesting alternative to the classroom solution that MA offer. It’s an online bootcamp that is essentially self paced and split into 3 modules. I’ve signed up to module one for the modest fee of $475 just to see if I can succeed at being self motivated before deciding which route I take.

I’ve done the precourse and I start lesson 1 tomorrow.