New Adventure: Learning to Code @CodeAcademy

I love languages, the process of creation, and paying my bills.

Up until recently, I believe these three things were constantly fighting each other. Actually, I believed that languages and creation were teaming up against paying my bills. Artistry is the higher calling right? I mean, who really needs to eat.

However, I was recently faced with the reality that I need to eat, as do Paul and our dog, Sabine. So I polished up my resume and started sending it out. To no avail. Here is the dilemia I’m facing: the positions which I previously held are in fields I don’t have a particular interest in returning to. The fields I am interested in getting into, I don’t have any experience in. In this economy, companies aren’t as open to the line “I’m a fast learner”. 

So I was dismisally searching through job listing after job listing. All of the ventures and companies which I was were interested in, weren’t necessarily interested in me. The were interested in UI Desginers, Ruby Gurus, and Hackers. So I did some research, it turns out that being a programmer is a way to use language, create, and (holy moly) pay your bills!

Thus began a new adventure–learning to code.

I have started with a website called CodeAcademy. Their lessons are simple and give you direct feedback to what you are working on. I finished the first third of their JavaScript track in six days. I’ve found that while there is nothing more frustrating than a misplaced semicolon, there is also nothing cooler than when your code works and works well. If you’re interested in learning code at all, I recommend you check out their site.

Continuing the adventure,

Jess