I Attended a Coding Class. Here’s My Experience.

As you may know, my journey to learning web design and development wasn’t your everyday, run of the mill story. My journey was unique, informal, and even I can admit, weird.  When I started learning web development, I could have only have dreamed to have the kind of access to coding classes available today. In 2018, there are so many web development boot camps. It’s like they all came out of nowhere, all at the same time, planting their seeds in cities all around us. As a Torontonian, we certainly have our fair share of coding boot camps and classes downtown, all within walking distance from each other.

If you’ve ever been interested in attending an in-person, three-month-long coding boot camp, you probably gasped at the cost like I did. The $10,000 for three months is certainly a lot of money. Given that I’ve gotten this far, being self-taught, I clutched my purse and sought out a more suitable, less costly option to learn. No shade to those that have attended. Yes, we all learn differently.

I’m happy to report that most coding boot camps offer one-time classes at a much lower price (sometimes even free). So, I searched online for a class where I could learn at a reasonable cost on the weekend.

After searching, I finally found what I’ve been looking for, a class at Ladies Learning Code on how to build a Chrome extension, from 10 am to 4 pm. Ladies Learning Code is one of several programs offered by Canada Learning code, a non-profit organization that “aims to provide equal opportunity to those that have been historically underrepresented“, through teaching digital skills, like coding. Not only am I a woman, but I’m also black. I’m historically underrepresented! I signed up, and I was super excited the night before the class.

Getting to the location was easy…once I found it after being lost for a few minutes. The HQ had its own floor in a large building and the actual class was in a spacious room on the same floor. In attendance were women from all backgrounds and there were even a few guys. It was a really friendly, welcoming environment. The teacher was very knowledgeable and down to earth. There were also several mentors who attended the classes, so anytime you were stuck, or something wasn’t working, you could ask a mentor for support. I was pleasantly surprised that there was also really good food that was ordered for us at lunch.

At the end of the class, I really did learn how to make a Chrome Extension and it was actually a lot easier than I expected. All you need to know is JavaScript, a bit of HTML, CSS, and you’re good to go. I loved that I was supporting a charity organization and that everyone there was volunteering their own time. The structure of the lesson, enthusiasm of the everyone, and most importantly, the teacher was awesome. Now that I’ve officially attended a web development class, I will definitely go to more in future. Whether you’re a self-taught newbie or expert, I totally recommend attending similar classes as a way to supplement your at home/online learning. Not only for the structure but even as a way to network and make friends with like-minded people!

This is a guest blog from Marisa of XO PIXEL! Since beginning in 2014, XO PIXEL’s mission is to provide creative and inspiring web design, front-end web development tutorials and helpful articles for enthusiastic learners online. By taking a look around XO PIXEL, you’ll notice four main types of content: Video Tutorials, Articles, Freebies, and Cool Extras.