I spent 40-50 hours a week the last 4 months (October-January) learning at Portland Code School. It was an extremely rich experience. What I learned broadly fit into 2 languages/frameworks. I took both the full-stack JavaScript and Rails tracks (I was the only person to complete both tracks). More specifically I learned the following:
| JS/Backbone.JS | Ruby/Rails |
| - Backbone.JS | - Active Record |
| - Jasmine - TDD | - IO |
| - JSON | - Rails |
| - JQuery | - Many Gems including: Thor, Devise, and Google Maps |
| - Node.JS | - PostgreSQL - SQL |
| - Underscore | - ERB |
| - Regexp | |
| - Capybara/RSPEC/MiniTest - BDD | |
| - Sinatra |
In each of these areas I learned more than just how to code. I learned the culture, tools, and ecosystems that these frameworks inhabit. I also learned many general web development skills including:
| Web Development Skills |
| - Bash |
| - Github - Git |
| - Google Developer Tools - Debugging |
| - Heroku |
| - Front End Development - HTML/CSS |
| - How to Learn (Ask Questions, Read Documentation, use Tutorials, use Stackoverflow) |
| - The MVC Pattern |
| - Pair Programming |
| - The PDX Tech Scene |
| - The RESTful API Pattern |
| - Troubleshooting |
| - Using external API’s like Forecast.IO, Google Maps, Google Geocoder, Twitter, and Yelp |
| - Project Proposal Writing |
| - Working on a Team |
I will be unpacking this experience and everything I learned for many months. The social connections I made will last a life time. I also learned that I will never stop learning in this line of work. Most importantly, I learned how much I love web development (including its challenges and its benefits).