Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#1

Post by freedevbootcamp » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:03 AM UTC

I have a free dev bootcamp for exceptional people who have a dream of becoming a software developer. I only have the front end curriculum ready but wanted to get some input on what I might add for front end or back end. I don't have most of the books listed but the learning is a combination of the best books with the best online videos.

Thank you so much for you input. I really appreciate it.

1. Setup Workstation

2. Learn Linux or OSX at the command line

3. Learn vim

4. Learn Git

5. HTML

6. CSS

CSS Frameworks

L. Bootstrap Framework M. Foundation Framework

7. Javascript

Javascript Frameworks A. Angular.js B. Backbone.js C. Knockout.js

8. JQuery

9. Pro Developer Tools a. Yeoman b. Grunt c. Gulp d. Bower e. Coggle f. Balsamiq

BACK END

10. Node.js

11. Databases and Caching Technologies

12. Webserver, reverse proxies and load balancers

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#2

Post by s_kilk » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:35 AM UTC

What exactly do you mean by the term "Unicorns"?

In my mind, rare and mythic creatures (and their human analogs) cannot be trained into existence. Sure you can take a group of people and show them how to do something, but the result would be closer to a squad of foot-soldiers than a herd of Unicorns.

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#3

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:37 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#4

Post by gtirloni » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:37 AM UTC

You can find a lot by researching what other web frontend / basic backend dev bootcamps offer: https://www.google.com.br/search?q=programming+bootcamps

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#5

Post by radleymith » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:37 AM UTC

This is a lot of work. How long is the bootcamp?

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#6

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:44 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#7

Post by siscia » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:45 AM UTC

How long is the boot camp ?

Supposing is not very long I won't teach any framework, but I would let them discovered it.

After they manage the CSS I would make them build some simple page, and I will let them know that there are some CSS framework already done...

Similarly for the Js part, teach them how to inject html in a page first and finally let them know about framework...

Also I will cover react.js, not because is particularly cool or new or hot, but because is a completely different approach, actually closer to the CSS / front end way to code...

Also, I won't really teach them vim... Maybe sublime is a safer bet...

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#8

Post by moron4hire » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:47 AM UTC

"Unicorn" is a term usually used by experienced developers who think specific job listings are asking for unreasonably broad skill sets. i.e. "I've been doing this job for 15 years and even I can't fill this Jr. Dev role."

EDIT: oh god, I just glimpsed a future where asshat recruiters on LinkedIn have co-opted the word "unicorn" and are starting to use it like "rockstar".

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#9

Post by dangrossman » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:49 AM UTC

This list is more than a 4-year CS program would hope to teach a dedicated student. It's not realistic to expect someone to go from learning how variables work to load balancing a server they wrote from scratch, in vim on a shell, in a bootcamp.

Re: Ask HN: How to train my students to be Unicorns

#10

Post by djmill » Thu, Apr 09, 2015, 11:50 AM UTC

Maybe for a small backend project, you could use Ruby on Rails? RoR gives you easy JSON API capabilities, an app server, and an out-of-the-box sqlite3 db.

I figured I'd throw it out there because for a beginner, all of these things would be wrapped into one application and it might be easier for a beginner to maintain; however, you'd need to call out that not all frameworks have everything that RoR has.

And I'm not saying RoR is a 'best practice' backend approach, because I'd never use it as a real backend service, but it might fit in nicely with your bootcamp!