My learning plan is meant to be equitable. What does that mean? I needed it to be low cost, accessible from anywhere I may go and start from zero knowledge and become a frontend software engineer. Tools like Free Code Camp, MDN Web Docs and The Odin Project are doing a lot to make computer science education accessible.

What do you need to learn software engineering?

1. computer

2. internet access

3. pens and paper.

This list above came from the MDN Web Docs’ Front-end Developer Guide’s article on Learning and getting help.

Please read more about getting help on the MDN linked above.

Finding an equitable entry point into tech can be difficult. The podcast linked below is worth listening to if your goal is to be a software engineer, but equity is a hurdle:

‎CodeNewbie: S23:E7 - How a Single Mom in a Shelter Became a Successful Software Developer (Brittney Ball) on Apple Podcasts

I hope this Notion website is helpful for all.

Mistakes I Made

I started learning to code in college. This are some of the mistakes I made that others should consider if they had no previous experience and no connections to people already in the computer science field and they want to go to college for computer science:

  1. Do bootcamp(s) during the summer months of high school. More exposure and connections can only help you. I listed free bootcamps in README.LearningToCode, listen to podcasts , find local Free Code Camp Clubs near you or other programming clubs. Learn how to code and find to establish meaningful relationships and start learning as soon as possible.
    1. consider taking a leap year. You can contact your university and ask to take a leap year before starting your studies. I believe a leap year to complete a bootcamp in full stack development would be highly beneficial for someone like me, who started college with no computer science knowledge and wanted a degree in computer science. If the bootcamp takes only 3 months, consider completing an internship with the rest of your year before starting at university. This would be a great way to get an competitive edge before starting at university. Immerse yourself in the developer community.
  2. Find a school with lots of clubs in computer science, so you have a community. You will need a community. I didn’t have a coding community and tones of self doubt. To be successful, you want a community and practice
  3. Do not take your entry programming classes and your advanced programming classes at two different colleges. A mistake I made was taking the entry level programming classes at a community college and then transferring to a larger university with no community for students to lean on for help. You will want to learn the same languages and learn how to submit your assignments the way your professors want them done. If you didn’t know want an IDE was, like me, than you want a college with an excellent support system and to get all of your computer science training from 1 college. It is fine to take the history and english classes you need at a community college, but you will need to get involved in a community to be successful
  4. try not to work during the school year and stay connected to your campus coding community as much as possible.
  5. When selecting a college, look at graduation rates. This is an indication of how much academic support their students are getting. High graduation rates above 80% can be an indication that the school is doing a good job of supporting their students. Your goal is to succeed in getting your degree, so pick a school with a large success rate/ graduation rate for the degree program you are in. This is public information and you can ask someone in the college or department of computer science at your university for the graduation rates if not published online. I would not attend a college with a graduation rate below a 70%, because in my opinion the university is failing if the graduation rate is lower than a 70%.