First Week At Bloc
Author: John on March 15, 2014
About two weeks ago I was trying to decide which on-line web developer education solution I would enroll in. The decision was not easy. Along with the weekly time requirements, roughly 25 hours per week, the financial cost is nothing to shrug off. In the end I choose Bloc (http://www.bloc.io)
My training at Bloc started this past Monday, March 10th. The Bloc course runs about 12 weeks, broken down into four segments:
1. Environment Setup / Programming with Ruby
2. Rails Foundation
3. Features/Testing/Javascript
4. Project Challenges
I've just finished item 1 - Environment Setup / Programming with Ruby. When I read the description of this section my first thought was, "this should be easy." I have been exploring Ruby and Rails for almost a year. I've installed RVM on several computers, worked with GitHub and Heroku, as well as several introductory tutorials.
And many of sub-sections in this first track were a nice and quick completion for me. But, through each sub-section, I did learn something new. For example, while working on setting up an app on Heroku, I learned how to add support for New Relic. I've seen ads and mention of New Relic a lot while learning Rails but never took a look at it. Now I've had a nice gentle introduction.
There are 20 sub-section to Environment Setup / Programming with Ruby. I felt good and confident as I traversed through them one by one. I was slowed down briefly in sub-section 14 - Arrays. One of the exercises there introduced me to new code and techniques I had not yet experienced. I love learning new stuff!
As I rounded out this section, I found myself staring at my nemesis - Blocks. I don't know why, but I seem to have a mental block when it comes to Blocks (as well as Procs and Lambdas.) This section took me a bit and I had to reach out for help.
In the Bloc program, each student has a mentor. We have around 3 calls a week with our mentors. When I got stuck it was after I had last talked with my mentor. Not a problem - Bloc also has a staffed on-line chat room. I popped in to the chat room and asked a question. One of the staff there gave me a nudge. After about 30 minutes I was still stuck. I had gotten further, but still hadn't solved the problem. Another question/discussion in the chat room and it became clear. I was able to complete the lesson. Happy Dance!
I look forward to my next call with my mentor (tomorrow) and starting my next section - Rails Foundation. As I progress through each section I'll return here to provide updates.
Learn Something New Every Day
Last Edited by: John on December 30, 2015