DEV Community: thebigdavec

One week into front end boot camp.

thebigdavec — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 22:54:43 +0000

The first week is almost done. It’s been quite long but also seems to have flown by. I’ve been doing front end for a while but totally self-taught. This is my opportunity to learn from pros and with other students.

So far we’ve looked at setup, git, GitHub, html and css. Insert uppercase where necessary. Everyone’s been very nice and helpful and I’m really looking forward to the bit where I struggle.

I’ll keep you all posted.

Learning Git & GitHub Like an Old Dog

thebigdavec — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 16:19:04 +0000

But I already learned it

So, today I'm learning about Git and GitHub. I already use them for my own projects but, since I'm now a student, I need to learn a different way of using them.

I clearly have a lot to learn about a lot of stuff I've already learned. To be fair to myself though, it's because I've pretty much worked exclusively in a team of one. Me.

Upwards and onwards, or words to that effect...

I'm 52 and have just become a student

thebigdavec — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 22:39:35 +0000

What made me do it?

I found out that Harvard offers a free bootcamp for beginning web development. Not that I'm just beginning. But I am beginning to feel frustrated at the speed of my progress.

That's where a bootcamp comes in. And I couldn't do it if it cost me money.

A little history

I've been using computers for many, many years. Since I was approximately 14 years old so, you know, 38 years or so at this point. But I kind of stopped being really into programming after I lost my trusty Amiga and moved over to Windows. It just wasn't much fun anymore.

Now, on the Mac, and after having become a professional entertainer in the interim, I have gotten back into coding. Partly thanks to lockdown pulling my living from under my feet. Partly thanks to needing a website for my business and wanting full control over what said site can do.

Along came edX

So now, thanks to some amazing, free online resources, I am a student for at least the next 16 weeks. This blog post is one of the first early steps into that course. It's long. It's intense. It's a real challenge.

Most of all, I firmly believe it's worth it.

Just Getting Started

thebigdavec — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 14:28:14 +0000

What Am I Doing Here?

Well, I'm here on my first post to Dev.to. I'm following a tutorial (even though I do know a little about Markdown already) and I am happy for you all to see this. My first paragraph is done!

~~This is not my second paragraph~~

Here, in my second paragraph, which is more or less my third paragraph, there is some more text for you to read. I am so sorry, but I am not responsible for the minutes of your life you may have wasted reading this stuff.

"I've learned so much that, whenever I learn something new, it pushes some old knowledge out of my ear." - A wise man

One
Two
- Two and a bit
- Two and another bit
Three

Phew!

So, that was worth it, wasn't it? I've added an unordered list with a small unordered sublist. And I get to the next segment and it says, "Write a paragraph and a list with at least three pieces of information." Well..,

Time For Some Random Code

console.log('Hello, Earthlings.');

A Bit About Me

Since you've made it this far, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm around 50 years old and originally from London. I got into programming when I was around 14, on a ZX Spectrum back in 1985. It had me hooked.

Sadly, things in life drew me away from the world of computing when I reached my twenties. I ended up as a singer in the entertainment industry, which I have enjoyed very much and intend to continue doing.

It was going very well for me and was my prime focus until Covid 19 came along and decimated the entire industry. Now, with no work, I had the time to watch videos, follow tutorials and make sense of the 'much more complicated to the 1980s' world of technology.

Just a year in and I'm managing/creating/content-uploading 7 different websites. I need to learn much more before I can call myself a profession web developer. My website, for one, needs to look like one of a professional web developer. It's so a work in progress.

So, here I am. Please feel free to communicate. I'm all ears. Eyes?