CodeAcademy Cutie

I first learned  HTML (hypertext mark-up language, for those of you who have always wondered) in high school in a computer class. It was easy enough and we used a program called Dreamweaver to make it even easier. Previously I had messed around with HTML on my MySpace page, mostly copying and pasting code from other templates. I had done a little bit of linking and formatting on LiveJournal. But I never coded consistently over long periods of time. Whenever I did pick it back up, it wasn't too hard to re-learn, though I wouldn't say it was like riding a bike.

This year I decided to try again and try harder. I started using a website called CodeAcademy to refresh on HTML and learn the new formatting for HTML5. For several weeks, I hesitated to start learning CSS. I had seen CSS coding in the past and my boyfriend insisted it was really easy, but the number of brackets and semi-colons scared me a bit.

In my sophomore year of college, I took a Java programming class to fulfill my math credit. I did well enough but it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Maybe this is because I think more abstractly than concretely. It took a lot of effort to do well, which is not something I'm used to.

Somehow, I managed to get through it. But when I saw CSS and saw how similar, on the surface, it looked to Java. So I waited and waited and waited.

Two weeks ago, I was tasked with designing (just on PowerPoint -- so, just design, not program) a website for my internship. Although the programming was being contracted out, I decided to mess around with the HTML the site would theoretically use once I'd designed it in my free time. I realized before starting to mess around with the coding, however, that I would need to learn CSS.

So I trudged back to CodeAcademy, feeling less than confident, and began the lessons.

I don't know what it is about CodeAcademy that works so well for me (maybe the repetition?) but it worked. I now feel very confident with my HTML and CSS coding skills and know where to find help/resources if I need it. I can create some really cool stuff and it only took me about a week to get to the level of skill I currently am. I think that's pretty cool.

I was able to code the homepage of the website I designed. Also very cool.

I recognize that this is a valuable skill. While I can't (yet) program a library catalog or anything, I could certainly design and program an About Us or Events or Resources page.

 

I found the CSS and HTML programming to be relatively simple. CodeAcademy explained it in a way that I understood and the exercises were relevant and well-written.

 

Meanwhile, when I started up JavaScript again (nudged into it by my boyfriend who insisted it wasn't so bad), I struggled. I'm still in the JavaScript lessons and, because there are so many more little details to be aware of in JavaScript than there are in HTML or CSS, I get lost. Frequently, I just type what they tell me to and go on without truly understanding what it is I just did. While this happened sometimes with HTML and CSS, I managed to play around with it until I really understood what it is I had accomplished. This isn't the case with JavaScript. This may be my own failing, or it could be a shortcoming of this particular section on CodeAcademy. I'll leave that up to others who haven't learned JavaScript before. I sometimes wonder if it's that I've already learned JavaScript in a different order than its being taught to me now. If one of you try it out, I'd love to hear your take on it and what section you prefer.

"I can code like a boss."
"You're hired." 

 

Still, I'll keep at it because it's valuable and important and, honestly, I imagine it will help me write the novel I'm currently working on for my senior honors thesis.

 

Even if you're not interested in coding or afraid of it, try CodeAcademy out. Start with HTML. It becomes addictive, once you start building things out of nothing. Once you see that you could recreate your favorite website (though maybe not so much in functional terms, because that would include more advanced code, but in its visual aspect). If nothing else, it's great for professional development. If you want to be hirable or even more mobile in your current position (assuming you work in an office of some sort), take up coding. You'll instantly become more valuable.

 

Codeacademy image courtesy of uwbnext.

Interview image courtesy of GlassDoor.