I've been coding since I was a wee bairn (well, 21, really). I was introduced to programming, in 1982-3, during a tech school course. I don't really consider the Heathkit calculator I built and programmed in the 1970s to be "real" programming.
Mostly self-taught. I'm smarter than the average bear, and pick things up, fairly well, but I've also taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 bootcamps, seminars, and college classes.
Not one single one of them (after my tech school, which was actually quite vocationally-based) was particularly useful for immediate use in the real world. I think one or two of the project management ones were in the same zip code, and the Apple DU (dating myself) courses were relatively practical, but they were all "training wheels" classes.
What has been my real education, has been writing code to ship. Everything I write, I write as "ship" code. Even my "throwaway" projects and experiments.
Having a clear end goal, and becoming habituated to finishing all my work, has been incredibly valuable. Solving my own problems, doing my own research, not "kicking the can down the road," and releasing with full tests, documentation, and support, have been great teachers.
People seem to like the work I do.
Bootcamps are nice, but they only light the fuse.
I don't think I was ever qualified to write ship code after any one of my classes. In many cases, I already knew how to ship, and just wanted to learn about different directions. In the last year or so, I've taken a whole bunch of short courses on new Apple tech. I probably won't use what I learned for months, but I like to keep the axle greased.
Mostly self-taught. I'm smarter than the average bear, and pick things up, fairly well, but I've also taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 bootcamps, seminars, and college classes.
Not one single one of them (after my tech school, which was actually quite vocationally-based) was particularly useful for immediate use in the real world. I think one or two of the project management ones were in the same zip code, and the Apple DU (dating myself) courses were relatively practical, but they were all "training wheels" classes.
What has been my real education, has been writing code to ship. Everything I write, I write as "ship" code. Even my "throwaway" projects and experiments.
Having a clear end goal, and becoming habituated to finishing all my work, has been incredibly valuable. Solving my own problems, doing my own research, not "kicking the can down the road," and releasing with full tests, documentation, and support, have been great teachers.
People seem to like the work I do.
Bootcamps are nice, but they only light the fuse.
I don't think I was ever qualified to write ship code after any one of my classes. In many cases, I already knew how to ship, and just wanted to learn about different directions. In the last year or so, I've taken a whole bunch of short courses on new Apple tech. I probably won't use what I learned for months, but I like to keep the axle greased.