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Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

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Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#102
post #85
post #80

Sorry, I'm sure you have the best intentions but it's not possible to go in 8 weeks from "no computer science background required" to a rails junior.

I'd be curious to hear the rationale behind my downvote. Is anyone seriously suggesting you can turn a programming illiterate into a rails hire in 8 weeks?

It's very subjective to talk about what a "rails junior" means, but it is very possible for someone (like the students at Code Academy) to learn an immense amount of programming knowledge in a short amount of time (say 12 weeks).

Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#103
post #35

I am UC Berkeley student studying mathematics. I would do, anything, to be part of this six week session. I have been painstakingly trying to each myself programming spending more than 3 hours every single day outside of my normal schedule just trying to learn more programming. I learn quickly. I am highly focused. I've started a profitable, successful company before. I have a burning desire to learn this.

Have you taken any of the cs classes? You should consider doing 169 which covers pretty much exactly what the OP will.

Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#104
I'm in India. And very interested. (Of-course I can't get a visa just for this). Are you making any kind of off-line arrangement for those who can't physically attend but still want in on a self-paced learning program? Count me in if you do. I think you can have even greater success from this if you carve out/expand this out of the usual valley-startup circles. There is a lot of pent-up demand for great developers and robust continuous demand good teaching programs out here. I might be even interested in collaborating/partnering if you wish.(gratis/paid depending on level of involvement). Have you thought on these lines?

Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#105
post #43
post #35

I am UC Berkeley student studying mathematics. I would do, anything, to be part of this six week session. I have been painstakingly trying to each myself programming spending more than 3 hours every single day outside of my normal schedule just trying to learn more programming. I learn quickly. I am highly focused. I've started a profitable, successful company before. I have a burning desire to learn this.

Have you considered just applying to places? His setup works because people are really, truly desperate for programmers. If you're a Cal math student who's really into programming (even if you just started learning), you have the intellectual chops to do it. You would get training just the same, except you'd be getting paid for it at the same time. I got my first job/internship involving programming with zero (litera…

Would you mind sharing some more about how you got your first programming job?

Did friends help you land the job, or did you just wow them in an interview? Did you have an impressive portfolio or degree?

Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#106
post #64

This is an interesting business model. I like it, but am interested to see how you will commit people to paying you $100/month for the next 5 years unless structuring it as a loan (which has it's own headaches) For those interested in something similar, my understanding is that Code Academy (Different than YC startup codecademy) http://codeacademy.org in Chicago is phenomenal. I met a bunch of their students at the H…

I am a Code Academy Student and it has been an amazing experience. I really don't think that I could have a better atmosphere for learning. The professor is one of the best I have had, the mentors are all very accomplished craftsman, but the atmosphere and student interaction might be the most valuable part. The 35 people devoting all of their time learning rails are unbelievably motivated and passionate. Just about every hour of the day there are people learning, asking questions, and working on projects together. To me, that part alone was worth the price of admission. When we finish I know that I won't be half as good as most of the people on HN, but I do know that I have a solid base on which to build on. Not only can I read a lot of the technical posts on HN and fully understand them, but can take those and implement them into my projects. Most of the students in Code Academy came with startup ideas, and now not only have the ability to program them ourselves, but we have a solid network to help get it done if we need it.

Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#107
post #64

This is an interesting business model. I like it, but am interested to see how you will commit people to paying you $100/month for the next 5 years unless structuring it as a loan (which has it's own headaches) For those interested in something similar, my understanding is that Code Academy (Different than YC startup codecademy) http://codeacademy.org in Chicago is phenomenal. I met a bunch of their students at the H…

Structuring it as a loan is a very good idea.

Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#108

Is it really possible to pick up RoR in 8 weeks to be useful to a company? How is what you're offering any different than this site: http://teamtreehouse.com/ Super honest question, I'm fairly new to the web dev world.

With hands-on, 5 days a week, many hours a day, intense one-on-one mentoring, I'm still skeptical.

The main reason I asked, and why I'm a little skeptical, is I see a lot of places (in the Los Angeles area) that require additional knowledge in a myriad of other technologies; MySql, JavaScript, Html etc. along with Ruby/Rails or Python/Django.

I apologize for sounding brash, but this sounds a little too good to be true, almost DeVry ITtech ish...

Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#109

Is it really possible to pick up RoR in 8 weeks to be useful to a company? How is what you're offering any different than this site: http://teamtreehouse.com/ Super honest question, I'm fairly new to the web dev world.

IMHO, he did say you'll be passable as a junior dev(depends on the person's potential i guess). I think that this would be enough for most companies, especially if they think you have great potential and can grow/learn exponentially(like be a senior in 6 or less months)

There are some projects that don't need senior devs THAT much, like basic CRUD apps, etc. And you'll be "continuing" your studies under the company's mentors/senior devs.

So yes, I think 8 weeks of studying RoR can make someone useful to a company. Not all, but probably one that needs juniors

Re: Tell HN: I want to teach you web development. In 8 weeks. For free (sort of)

#110
A lot of ambitious and hungry people ready to take Kabuks up on his deal. And a lot of hackers skeptical of the results. Will he pull it off? Will those code hungry bootstrappers make the commute, make the grade and get paid? Kabuks, please keep HN in the loop on how this unfolds.
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