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We might say that programming and coding are the bricks of the bridge between the human kind and the computers.
Coding and programming happens all around us. From the bus that we hope on everyday to the phones that we use to text our friends. Programmes can actually cook food, serve it or even pack it and send it to you. Codes affects everything. When you go to the market down the street even while you are walking there you can see street lights, traffic lights, cameras, cars, everything literally working with programming.
For far too many years it was only like handful amount of people have known how to code and programme. But today, it is millions of active software engineers in the world, in fact at the end of 2021 it was estimated to be 26.8 million.
I have seen many people from different backgrounds who wants to join this community, or learn programming to use in their line of work. It is not only software developers, web developers, or Silicon Valley people that codes and programmes, a politician can code to estimate the vote amounts that person could get, or an event planner can programme an application so that they do not have to wake up every-time a party needs to be planned or shared on social media. They can just do everything with programming. Even cooks use programming or online markets, everything has a website nowadays.
Briefly we could say that it is giving instructions to a computer to execute, or as normal human beings say do. Being a cook is a line of work, you have to follow some concepts of a recipe to achieve the desired and consistent food. It is actually an art, but you can take initiatives.
Programmers are the ones who write the recipe - a consistent, precise recipe that will have the same food each time the cook prepares it. With the same amount of spices.
Programming is a mental process of thinking up the instructions to give to a machine, whereas Coding is the process of transforming those ideas into a language that a machine/computer can understand.
In order to communicate with computers/machines programming languages are used. People use computers/machines within their life to extend their ability, quality of lifestyles. It is just a tool, but to those who knows and wants to know how to use it.
Hey, I am Feridun and thank you for checking out my blog! I am a recent International Economics graduate who is aiming to become a junior software developer. To achieve this I have enrolled into CyprusCodes's 24 week-long part-time fast-track Software development bootcamp.
What I have learned this week
I thought first week was a bit cramped due to the fact that we had to read lots of articles and watch videos about software development to develop the perspective and way of thinking of a software developer but the second week surprised me with more content to learn. If you wish to read about my first week you can access it here.
The second week started with the introduction of HTML. The pace of the course started increasing at this point because we have started to get into the more technical side of web development. Furthermore, we started learning about the origins of HTML and I have to say I was not expecting HTML to be 32 years old! If you are interested in the history of HTML check this out. With the slight knowledge of how the webpages are built, my admiration increased dramatically for all the beautiful webpages I have visited till this day. It seems like a lot of work is crucial to create a beautiful, aesthetically good looking webpage! Moreover, this week we also had a lecture about asking good questions which explains how to overcome errors and problems by asking the right questions. This could mean searching the right keywords on Google could lead you to a forum on stack overflow that contains a solution for your problem. In addition to that, this means that asking the right questions to your peers or tutors could eliminate misunderstandings and increase the work efficiency in the cohort.
What did the bootcamp cover this week?
Challenges of this week
In the second week of the bootcamp we have established two main goals to achieve. The first challenge was about creating an about me page which included some rules that forced us to explore and use HTML features like images, links, buttons, forms and tables. The second was about creating a scrapbook where we practiced the features of HTML without worrying about the looks and aesthetics of the website. At the beginning of the about-me page challenge, it was a bit hard to create a website and implement the styles and attributes I have imagined in my head. At first, I imagined creating a website that had many aspects with different stylings but then I have realised that I could only do so much with raw HTML and this made me more ambitious to learn more about web development. Furthermore, while creating my webpage I have fought really hard not to hide little rickroll easter eggs in my webpage and truly I don’t know how other developers do not rickroll people. It seems like the perfect opportunity to do so! For those who don’t know what a rickroll means, it is basically an internet meme where you troll someone on the internet by linking to the music video for Rick Astley's 1987 hit song “Never Gonna Give You Up.” It is, by far, the most popular example of bait-and-switch linking. Here is a video that gives a more in-depth explanation.
What’s next week?
CSS and Javascript
","publishedAt":"2022-02-21 10:56:33","categoryId":1,"firstName":"Feridun","lastName":"Canselen","category":"javascript","blogTags":[]},{"blogId":3,"description":"Let's push the barriers and break glass ceilings!","image":"https://minio.cypruscodes.com/cypruscodes-teaching-platform-user-assets/0e775404-a189-4ece-b2ad-2a88f28d5793.jpeg","slug":"journey-for-everyone","title":"Journey for Everyone","blogContent":"My journey has started off as an engineer in the field of materials science. Experience in the field, lots of studying including a master’s degree then to a PhD has been rather challenging than fun. Although during my PhD I was enjoying doing simulations and coding, I have concluded that I enjoyed the coding part which for me was more interesting and for the theory part I should say that I didn't quite enjoy it.
The interest and being drawn towards coding were boiling in my blood, that’s when the pandemic hit, and I heard about Cyprus Codes.
A ``short term, part time, full stack software engineering`` course.
The rest just came with it as soon as I rolled into the course, made new friends, learnt new coding languages, created my first website. After graduating the course, I have practiced a lot to fully understand and get used to the languages.
It is not an easy journey, needs hard work and studying, you need to be determined and you need to enjoy what you are doing. I have met people from marketing background to engineers who has no idea of coding or its languages or have lots of knowledge and struggles. It doesn’t matter which background you are coming from you just need to be willing to learn and study hard.
Is there a lot to learn? YES!
Can it be hard? YES!
Is there any help? YES!
There are many people like you starting from scratch or needs help. All you need to do is search for it within online communities and forums, which will be shown and provided to you through the full stack course.
Coding takes time, patience, and practice to learn. There are a lot of job opportunities within software engineering from all around the world, as well as providing remote working opportunities too.
I would like to mention that for the women out there, I am a woman in engineering field, and in junior developer field. Women can do coding, building, anything that are scientific. We are not determined by what society tells us we should be doing. As long as we enjoy doing it, we should do it!
We welcome everyone in Cyprus Codes!
We welcome every gender and race!
It doesn’t matter what you have done before or where are you coming from you just need your computer to do it and an internet connection.
My journey never ends, I tend to brag about never finishing learning because there are a lot to learn in the world about everything. Now my journey is at the stage of focussing onto being a senior developer.
Join me and my friends to start your own journey with Cyprus Codes!
","publishedAt":"2022-02-20 17:38:21","categoryId":1,"firstName":"Buse","lastName":"Ozkan","category":"javascript","blogTags":[]},{"blogId":7,"description":"","image":"https://minio.cypruscodes.com/cypruscodes-teaching-platform-user-assets/abb1854f-4a64-4d78-84fa-9ef67bdd4087.jpg","slug":"how-to-get-the-most-out-of-this-coursebr","title":"How To Get The Most Out Of This Course?","blogContent":"As a CyprusCodes student with no background in coding, every topic was a challenge for me at the beginning. Every new concept was harder than the previous one but with time and effort you will notice the difference in you.
Do not stick to one source, find the best and most suitable for you. You will need different sources to understand one concept. A diversity of sources will strengthen your understanding and you will learn more from each developer you follow.
Additionally, you will need to find the source that is the most effective in helping you to learn. I would suggest FreeCodeCamp. The structure of learning is perfectly compiled and it is mostly project based, which means that you practice whilst you learn, and is the best way to learn coding.
CodeWars is another great tool that will help you to push yourself beyond your limits. There are combats categorised on the difficulty levels. I can’t say I always focussed on solving them, rather I tried to understand other warriors' logic and their way of solving. This will help you advance your skills.
It is impossible to know everything. Be patient and spend your time efficiently but remember that you can not learn everything.
Never hesitate to ask questions! Despite all the teachers mentioning the importance of asking questions and not wasting time, when I first started this course, I never asked! That is why I can tell you, you should definitely ask questions.
Firstly you will not know how to ask or how to express yourself since you don’t know the concept. It’s okay if you don’t know how to ask what you want, but don’t worry, they will understand what you mean. You are not their first student and many students who had no background in this field have been their students and have had the same questions.
Try to understand the fundamentals of everything you are learning. Eventually you will need to debug, and to be able to interpret, you will need to know the fundamentals. So don’t hesitate to ask what something particular is designed for. Try to google or ask your mentor; why are you using them, how do they work? If you don’t know the logic behind it, you will not fully understand why it is not working, or giving an error.
Errors are opportunities to learn, embrace them, do not let them scare you. At first, I was freaking out but error leads me to my solution, so learn to read your errors. Give it what it wants and it will be solved hopefully, at least you will have a hint about the problem.
Do not just read or watch, apply what you are learning simultaneously and encounter the errors on the way so you can solve them.
Teamwork is the best! Some will learn faster than others but always stick together, cooperation will move you all ahead. You can not know everything and everyone's learning is different. Sharing what you learn and helping your teammates will be an investment for your future career in this field.
Think of your core team as the prototype of your future working environment and use this chance to improve your communication skills with your teammates. Your friends will find another way you didn't think of and you should be sharing it.
Think of this as a journey with your teammates. You will need each other along the way, you will learn from each other along the way.
Hey, my name is Feridun and thank you for checking out my blog. Today I will be talking about my first few weeks in Cyprus Codes’s 24 week long fast-track Software Developer Bootcamp. A part-time 24 week-long boot camp based in Cyprus which teaches you the fundamentals of Software Development.
I have recently graduated from University of Essex and I was planning to do a master's degree on finance in Netherlands. However due to COVID-19, when I went to United Kingdom for my last year academic year I wasn’t able to come back to my hometown for 9 months and with the condition of not getting into the university I desired, I have decided to take a gap year. I thought taking a gap year would be beneficial for me because I could use that time to see my family and friends, work and get some experience in the field that I have wanted to excel in. While I was applying for finance related jobs I have realised that most of them demanded coding languages like SQL and with that I have decided to enrol into CyprusCodes boot camp.
The course consists of two online lectures per week which are held on Mondays and Wednesdays at 18:30 and also includes a support session on Saturdays from 10:00 to 16:00. The lectures usually take around 1 and a half hours to 2 and a half hours depending on the topic. All lectures are recorded so if you miss the lecture or just want to go over the topics the lecture recordings are a great tool for both. In addition to lectures CyprusCodes also have a platform which is like Moodle where you can find topics and exercises you can work on and you are expected to progress through the platform throughout the boot camp. Furthermore, you are also expected to self-study 14-18 hours per week which comes down to 2 to 3 hours a day but I usually found myself working for 4 to 5 hours per day and I have to say it was really fun! Moreover, you will usually have a weekly assignment that you need to advance through the platform and if you get stuck, tutors and mentors will help you via Slack or Google Meets platforms where you can share your screen and work through the issues with your tutors.
Apart from working on projects and exercises that I have spent several hours on, enrolling into this boot camp could be one of the best decisions I have made in my life. My bachelor's degree was in international economics but I feel like I could improve my skillset much more in software development industry. I think with the skillset I will acquire from this boot camp I could bring my business ideas to life much easier and work in an industry that I enjoy more.
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