Navigating the Challenges of Self-Learning in Web Development

In this episode Wes and Scott talk about developer education — what to look for, what to avoid, and how to be a life-long learner with good problem solving skills.

Sanity.io - Sponsor

Sanity.io is a real-time headless CMS with a fully customizable Content Studio built in React. Get up and running by typing npm i -g @sanity/cli && sanity init in your command line. Get an awesome supercharged free developer plan on sanity.io/syntax.

The Armoury - Sponsor

The Armoury is a men’s clothing and accessories retailer that provides some of the highest quality clothing you can buy. Designed for those of you who want the highest quality clothing that feels great and will last forever. Buy less, buy better. Follow them on Instagram @thearmourynyc and check out their website TheArmoury.com.

Show Notes

3:59 - Our experiences

• Scott:

  • Went to college - Go Blue!
  • Worked odd jobs while self teaching
  • Was mentored and taught more while working at my first job
  • Self directed since then
  • Started teaching via LUT in 2012

• Wes:

  • Went to university for Business Tech - entirely self-taught
  • Led and created part-time HTML + CSS program at HackerYou
  • Led and created first bootcamp at HackerYou
  • Led and created first JS part-time at HackerYou
  • Been offered jobs at colleges + universities

10:02 - School - $$$

• Pros

  • The best thing about school was unrestricted free time to find out what I enjoyed, which lead me to coding
  • Co-ops can help you find what you like and what you don’t like
  • Life skills that involve you being on your own and figuring things out more
  • You are exposed to interesting people and ideas
  • CS Degree work can open more career doors
  • Professional networking
  • Many companies wont hire you without some sort of bachelor’s degree (this might change)

• Cons

  • Not everyone has the time or money to devote two to five years to school — especially to something they might not end up enjoying
  • Potentially outdated staff and course material
    • Wes was often asked to lead a video editing course, print design course and a web development course
  • Lot’s of distractions

23:10 - Bootcamp - $$

• Pros

  • Very fast, lots of info, but can be a bit overwhelming
  • You can get up-to-speed extremely quickly
  • Focused on hire-ability and job-ready skills
  • Focused information
  • Personality is really the deciding factor here - lots of people do well, and some don’t

• Cons

  • Hit or miss — quality of bootcamps aren’t vetted, so do your research
  • Talk to someone who took it, find out who the instructors are
  • You absolutely must continue learning after the bootcamp
    • The bootcamp is just a push and you are expected to continue learning once you are done
  • Not great for individuals that can’t handle the pace
  • You have to quit your job

37:09 - Self-Taught - $

• Pros

  • Self-directed people will prevail here
  • Can be drip-fed while earning money at another job
  • Can be supplemented by a job (e.g. you are front-end and want to go full stack)
  • Can get real world experience as a freelancer while you evolve

• Cons

  • Not for everyone
  • Can be difficult to self-motivate
  • Hard to get help - sometimes you can be stuck for hours on a two-second fix
  • Potentially discouraging
  • You might go down the wrong path without guidance on what you should learn

47:11 - Part Time Programs - $

• Pros

  • Fantastic way to get up to speed with a new tech
  • Goes at a good pace - twice a week usually
  • Offered on weekends and evenings where you can maintain a regular job
  • Very low risk - you can try it out

• Cons

  • Might not be as fast as you like it
  • Quality is all over the map

49:55 - Mentored Self Learning - $

• Pros

  • Best to do with a mentor on the job
  • Mentor can help steer what to learn in your free time
  • Good feedback and a place to ask lots of questions

• Cons

  • Can’t be done without someone willing to mentor you
  • Only as good as your mentor

52:55 - What approach would we take?

• Bootcamp > then immediately supplement with courses

Links

• Notion

××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ×××

• Scott: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
• Wes: American Kingpin

Shameless Plugs

• Scott’s React Hooks For Everyone
• Wes’ All Courses

Tweet us your tasty treats!

• Scott’s Instagram
• LevelUpTutorials Instagram
• Wes’ Instagram
• Wes’ Twitter
• Wes’ Facebook
• Scott’s Twitter
• Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets