I am glad to be getting done with this class because it is the natural progression of things; to move forward we have to move on from where we are. But I will miss the class because I have found the learning to be, all at the same time, fun, fast, frustrating, and fulfilling. The thing I have found most exciting is the fact that I know I will use this class in the future. I cannot say that of my other classes. I really enjoyed both Covering Capitol Hill and Crime Reporting, but the odds of being a journalist in both of those fields is slim (with the exception that many Capitol Hill stories are about corrupt politicians…).

I interviewed Patty Tompkins, who has worked for numerous companies as a contractor, consultant, and developer. She is one of a small number of women who started programming early in the computer era. She started in the late ’70s and has kept up on the cutting edge of the industry all of these years. She now owns her own company that contracts out to other companies. I met her during my trip to New Hampshire, which is where she is based out of. She was really funny and nice, and I could tell that she is someone who is able to get things done, no matter what. I think she summed it up best when she told me that she doesn’t see it as work, but rather an enjoyable hobby.

She has also found a way to be a ski instructor for over 20 years, and it really made me think about how I want to have my career path go. I want to make sure that I don’t get stuck in a rut doing work that I don’t enjoy, when I could be out doing fun things that I could make a career. This course has shown me that I could find that combination with writing and programming. I want to make sure that I keep my head up and look for the latest in technology and stay at the forefront. Once you get stuck in a certain technology, you can stay there for a long time, and I want to be always adapting.

Class Overall

I was not sure what to expect from the Web Development going in to the class, but I was definitely excited about the opportunity to learn. Maybe too excited. I feel like i should have run with the rest of the people who dropped week two, but I remember thinking, I am a Consultant in the IT industry, this class should be easy. Was I wrong. Not only was the subject matter difficult to understand, but the non-structured  approach for the class made it a challenge to follow. On a more positive side, now that the course has come to an end I can appreciate all that Greg worked hard to teach us. Greg, I really appreciate your commitment to exposing us to a well-rounded set of Web Development concepts.  It was a lot of information for such a short period of time, but it was worth it.

What I Learned

Throughout this semester I learned a lot, and had some personal breakthroughs. I decided that I am not cut out for Web Development. It is fun and I know that I can make progress and possibly become an okay developer, but it is just not for me. Development requires patience and complete commitment. It is a lifestyle which drives me crazy and which I do not find rewarding.  The course definitely helped me learn a lot about myself  such as sometimes we just have to walk away.  If something is not gratifying walk away and find someone does enjoy it. This way you both win.

Why What I learned Matters

What I learned will save me time and headaches in the long-term. I have accepted that yes JavaScript, CSS, and HTML are amazing and important to this era. Expectations for myself going in were very high so I am currently dealing with disappointment; however, the bits that I did grasp such as how to make updates to WordPress sites from a child template, creating taxonomies, and making design modifications to a page will help me make an impact.  In fact, earlier today, I started showing my 17-year-old brother David how to update the template files for my site and talked to him about sublime, and cyber-duck.  I could have not done this three months ago.

What you’ll do with the new knowledge and skills

My plans are to leverage what I learned to help small business obtain an online presence. The knowledge which I have will help me get Clients started and will enable me to orient them in the right direction. I may not be extremely savvy on web development, but I am passionate about people and seeing them fulfill their goals.

Thoughts on re-reading the initial readings

These readings were a great way to closeout the semester.  They helped reinforce some of the concepts learned through the semester, specially about troubleshooting and thinking. they also refreshed my memory on the key concepts and practices which must be applied not only to be a great developer and/or developer journalist, but to have a great impact on life. My favorite pragmatic approach being:

Be a Catalyst for Change – You can’t force change on people. Instead, show them how the future might be and help them participate in creating it.

This approach definitely works, I use to kill myself trying to fix situation and was not getting anywhere. Today, I find myself taking a different approach – showing and action and it is really helping me make breakthroughs. We can never assume people understand what we are saying. We all speak a different language, by doing and being an example, we rid ambiguity.

What you want to learn after the class ends

Websites are extremely important to a business. For my message of health and fitness to have the impact which I seek my Web-site can be nothing other than SOLID. As a result, I will be looking for someone to help me recreate the GroceryCoach site. I do however plan to take on other development projects which are independent of my business site. Developing interests me and it is always good to have the knowledge so I will continue practicing the fundamentals on my spare time and will hopefully learn how to create drop down menus cause they make websites handy, I also want to learn about advertising and e-commerce sites as well as incorporating Amazon pages like the one Luis’s site. So much to learn and do, so little time.

Closing 

In closing, each experience in my life has made me realize that everything is much more similar than it appears. Foundational principles listed below apply regardless if coding, serving in the military, or Consulting for the Federal Government and/or Commercial companies

1. When faced with a wall walk away, re-strategize and try again,
2. Your thinking has a lot to do with results
3. Thinking through the process before attacking is much more effective.

Cheers to Web Development and all its quirks! And remember to eat your veggies, get your sleep and reward your body with cardio!

The class overall

In some ways, I’ve learned more than I expected to in this class, and in some areas, I’ve learned less. The local server/FTP setup was way, WAY more complicated than I expected it to be, and I still feel in the dark about the whole process, and surprised every time it works the way it’s supposed to. Part of me just thinks that, with legions of programmers, designers and UX experts using the system, somebody would have been able to devise a more intuitive way to make the interwebs happen. Still, I feel like I’ve internalized the WordPress editing process/taxonomies/codex far more than I thought I would. I feel confident going ahead with editing the CSS of my site, at least, and at least I know I’m capable of learning this stuff.

What I learned

I learned a great deal of CSS stuff that I’d never been exposed to before. I also learned the basic structures that make up the JavaScript and jQuery languages, so if I look at some script, I can probably figure out what it’s doing. I learned how to open the hood of WordPress and edit stuff outside the admin. I learned a lot about how computers and the interwebs work with each other.

Why what I learned matters

It matters not just because I’ll be able to do more and better web projects, but because a person who is web-literate is better able to find and distribute information – an integral skill in a democratic society.

What I’ll do with the new knowledge and skills

I’ll be able to make and edit websites without simply settling for the default options WordPress offers. I’ll be able to better communicate with the developers on my team at work and suggest new solutions to the problems we face. I’ll also be able to offer informed opinions on the quality and effectiveness of our web projects.

Thoughts on re-reading the initial readings

When I first read these a couple of months ago, I enjoyed them on a philosophical level, but still got the sense that I was on the outside looking in on something I didn’t quite understand. Now, I feel like I count as the target audience for these readings, like part of the “in-crowd.” It feels great.

What I want to learn after the class ends — either new skills/tools/platforms, strengthening current ones, a mix of both, a list of problems you want to solve, etc.

I want to continue learning jQuery, improve my CSS literacy, and look into Ruby on Rails at the suggestion of the developer I profiled. I also want to make a more complicated site on WordPress, try to emulate some cool online projects I’ve seen and try using some social media APIs.

Thoughts on re-reading initial readings

I’ve always enjoyed first perceptions and seeing the beauty in everything the first go around. I’m not the type of person to film experiences because it takes away from enjoying the experience and making memories. I do my best to avoid watching movies over again and I’ve never gone through and re-read a book in my entire life (including Dr. Suess). The movie inception was an interesting one because it involved planting a seed or memory in that of another person.

Going back and rereading these articles with a certain type of experience has completely changed how we perceive these articles. It’s like an entirely new first perception and experience going through these coding language articles.

In my first analysis post  of the summer I made a comment about how the Pragmatic Programmer Quick Reference Guide was anything but quick. Through an inception of sorts and becoming literate in programming terminology it was a quicker read than the first time I read it. It all made much more sense and it should continue to make more sense as I continue to learn about web development.

What I learned

While we never got the chance to learn and practice python the philosophy rings true for other languages. The concept of abstraction and writing modularly is a concept that I’ll continue to use in everyday life. Making everything independent of itself should lead to less complication should any one thing fail. Writing code linearly or dependent on itself could lead to hours of frustration.

Why what I learned matters

Abstraction applies to everyday situations like balancing school, work, personal, and gym time as independent times and forcing one time into another can possibly lead to negative results. I’ve been known to forgo the gym during a tough week at school or work. Scheduling time well in advance for gym, school, and work should lead to better time management and productivity.

I’m thankful for this class because I really feel like I’ve learned a tremendous amount about the web development process. The tools that we’ve learned like GitHub, Sublime, Command, MAMP will really help me communicate with web developers and should a problem arise that they can’t dedicate their time to I feel confident enough to go in and make changes and update to the live server.

What I’ll do with new knowledge and skills

Reducing project length time from agency processes is always a struggle but it now feels like I have the tools and skill set to do so. This is invaluable as a young online marketer to really understand the web development project life cycle. It’s an asset that not many people have or are willing to learn so it should assist me in professional ascent. Perhaps my next endeavor will be partnering with someone for a mobile application.

The Class Overall

This program to me has always been a measured risk as a professional studies degree. It’s still unknown whether the cost of the degree will be worth the monetary and time investment. It is a very practical degree unlike an MBA, but the negative side of that has been some fluff courses like Social Media. Some of the courses in this program have only solidified what I already knew or gave me some minor insight. Unlike those courses, this course has taught me a tremendous amount that I will be able to use in everyday life.

What I want to learn

• Python
• Ruby on Rails
• Mobile App Development
• Strengthening knowledge of what we’ve learned already

Class overall: I was excited to take this class because I knew it was going to be quite different than my other PR/CC classes. Overall, I’m coming out of class with a better understanding of the fundamentals of web development, and why it’s important for today’s marketing/communication professionals and journalists to be well versed in this field.

The first few weeks were overwhelming and a bit difficult to grasp everything. Coding is very detailed with so many moving parts, so when Greg told us to only concentrate on the bigger concepts — it was challenging. But, I’m happy Greg reiterated this throughout the semester – by learning the broad concepts and utilizing WordPress, you are capable of creating a customized website.

What I learned: My expectation of the class was to learn enough coding skills to create a website, as well as learn how to better communicate with developers – and I think this was accomplished. In addition to learning basic coding skills (HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript), I gained knowledge about how to actually setup a website. I never heard of MAMP, GitHub or CyberDuck before this class, so learning these applications was tremendously helpful. I had some WordPress experience prior to class, but now I feel much more comfortable with the Admin and Codex. I also learned that taking a class like this is going to be very frustrating at times, but I’m happy that I’m coming out of it with better problem-solving/troubleshooting skills.

Why it matters: Learning about web development is going to matter more and more as we progress in our careers. From the developer profile assignment, I learned that the working relationship between developers/designers and digital marketing/communication professionals is extremely important.

What I’ll do with the new knowledge/skills: I plan on drinking more wine so I can add additional content to my site 🙂 There’s also more customization that I’d like to do, such as incorporating a photo slideshow. The knowledge/skills gained from this class has already helped me in my current job and will continue to in the future. My department at work is implementing WordPress by the end of the year, and I will have a key role in the CMS/front-end. I don’t think I would be as excited about using WordPress at work if I wasn’t for this class. Clearly companies are catching on by investing in this platform, so it feels good to know that I have experience working with WordPress.

Thoughts on initial readings: I feel much more comfortable about the concepts explored in our readings from week one. The readings about “thinking” talked about looking at programming from a broader perspective… I can appreciate this idea much more having lived through creating a website. I also enjoyed re-reading the WordPress philosophy and really took to the 80/20 principle:

“The rule of thumb is that the (WordPress) core should provide features that 80% or more of end users will actually appreciate and use……That should allow all users to find the remaining 20% and make all WordPress features those they appreciate and use.”

After the class ends: Although we covered a lot of different topics in class, I don’t recall learning about Python. I keep hearing that it’s the “latest and greatest” language to learn. Maybe I’ll check out a Codcademy lesson or tech blog to see what all the hype is about. After this class, I think there’s going to be a lot of that — reading industry blogs — to further my skills and knowledge.

The Class Overall

I chose this class, because I wanted to learn a new skill. Something I could walk away with and use. Something tangible. Overall, I think the class gave me that. I think I was a little thrown off by the style of the course, which seemed to involve a lot of self-teaching. However, when I think of my wife’s experience during her MBA, I remember it being much the same. If that’s the idea behind a masters program – that you go through it with a little more independence – I think I can appreciate that. And I think, overall, it worked well in this course.

What I Learned

I learned to struggle through new concepts on my own, which isn’t such a bad thing. I think I couldn’t have learned a lot quicker with more hands on during class, but perhaps the hard lessons of identifying and correcting my own mistakes made the lessons all the more permanent. Obviously I learned a lot about coding. I think the best lesson I learned is to ride the backs of people that are dedicated and know what they’re doing. That is why, for example, I was happy with my decision to use a WordPress theme. I think if I would have gone with a random developer’s theme, I may have missed out on the responsiveness and constant updates, and probably would have run into a few bugs.

Why What I Learned Matters

It doesn’t really, right? I mean if I don’t put it to use, why would it? So, I think the answer to this question is that I have to make it matter by using it to make a difference in my work, my personal endeavors, and possibly even the endeavors of family or friends. Like Luis did. He built that site for his mother’s family business. Who would have done that for her? I think that’s what will make what I’ve learned matter – when I use my newfound ability to do something that no one else could have, or would have done.

What I’ll Do With the New Knowledge and Skills

I think I’ll just build on it. I have a site now that I’m pretty happy with. I think I’ll continue to work on it when I have time, and perhaps build another site. I think I’ll volunteer to help people with their ambitions to have a presence on the Internet, and perhaps even study the coding of some of my favorite sites. I’m also thinking of creating a T-shirt company that sells shirts with random code, written in short witty ways. <!– my back end rocks –>

Thoughts on Re-Reading the Initial Readings

Obviously a lot of it made much more sense. Some of it was still a little out there, perhaps intended for a more professional developer. However, most of it seemed to hit on some key points we covered in the class. The underlying theme being how this all relates to journalism, which I think at least one of the readings discussed. Some of the readings will serve as a good reference for future projects.

What I Want to Learn After the Class Ends

Honestly,  just want to fix the remaining issues I have with my site. I think if I can do that, I’ll be happy. Perhaps in the future I’d like to learn how to create a phone application. It seems like the new “get rich” thing to do (and yes, I’ll throw you a couple mil’ when I sell my big application to Apple). But other than fixing my site and getting rich, there’s really not a lot more I can think of right now. Honestly, it would probably be a waste to try to learn more while I still have so much more to learn and practice with the topics we covered in this class.

See you Tuesday …. don’t cry.

The class overall: Although it may be extremely hard to scope out based on my posts throughout the semester, I did find this class helpful. I learned that web development should not be feared as long as you have time, patience and a close relationship with Google. My negative feelings toward the class came from an expectation of mine that I now see to be completely unrealistic. I registered for the course expecting to be taught how to code and although I have basic knowledge of coding, a lot required me to Google(self-teaching) and I am nowhere near pro status. What I learned though is going into a summer class, or really any class, thinking that you’ll automatically leave as a coder is the first mistake of a non-coder mind(although I’m still trying to figure out  Luis’ technique in accomplishing this. Congrats!). This class covered everything that the syllabus said it would and I not only have a better understanding of what web developing is all about, but I also learned a little more about how I learn/function.

What I learned: The very basics of HTML, PHP, CSS, a lot of things about WordPress that I never knew existed, Github/Sublime/Cyberduck, that Codecademy exists and what questions to Google. I also learned that I do not want to be a web developer. I said this in the beginning of the semester and I’m sticking to it that the feeling I have after getting my code to work does not outweigh the misery and annoyance I feel when my code fails.

Why what I learned matters: Knowing even a little about coding not only helps journalists within their job, but it also looks good on a resume. I cannot and will not put on my resume that I know any code languages, yet, but I know enough to identify the language and work through certain issues. Also, with the disappearance of newspapers and the increase of news being consumed online, there could not be a better time to know some code languages.

What I’ll do with the new knowledge and skills/What I want to learn when the class ends: Shockingly, I do plan to learn and practice more once this class is complete. I do want a better site and I think I may want to change my theme to 2012 after Rob so graciously pointed out to me that there is just way more support with that theme. I have no immediate plans, but by the time I graduate(2 more semesters) I intend to have a site that I’m proud of as well as a better understanding of the codes I mentioned above. JavaScript may still be a lost cause.

Thoughts on rereading the initial readings: They make a  LOT more sense now that  we know what they’re referring to. I really wish I would’ve paid more attention to the reading Rethinking our Thinking. The quote below sums up this entire class for me.

“Your mindset impacts thinking which impacts mindset which impacts thinking… etc for infinity.”

My mindset was negative and therefore my thinking was negative. I believe that knowing code and being able to create sites on your own, even if just for personal use is extremely beneficial for journalists. I also think it is is something that you really have to WANT to do. If you really want it, you will be able to conquer it, even if it takes months. If it is nothing more than a curiosity of yours and you are not willing to put in time, it will kick your butt and your mind and you’re whole approach is negative.