CoderGirl

By the start of 2021, the feeling of COVID lockdown had permeated in the Whompton household. Raina and Lola schooled from home, Krystal taught from home, Eric worked from home …. We hardly ever left our house except to walk around in the neighborhood. We had a lot of free time on our hands. We weren’t antsy, per se, but those conditions usually lead to my taking on a new project.

The new project of 2021 is learning how to code. In January, I applied and was accepted into LaunchCode’s CoderGirl program and I have spent 8 - 30 hours a week learning how to code: first in Python, then JavaScript, then HTML and CSS, then TypeScript, and now Java. The course design is simple: students are provided with an online textbook that has concepts detailed, sample problems displayed, and coding exercises within, and each student is expected to work through one or more chapters a week and attend the 3-hours class on Wednesdays. We have a lead teacher for the Wednesday class, Teaching Assistants to guide us through as needed, and an active Slack community to assist. The weekly homework is all for practice and students can work with each other – and are actively encouraged to do so – to better master the concepts and skills. The real assessments, called graded assignments, are coding projects that the students complete independently; in all, the graded assignments are scaffolded and designed to teach the fundamentals of coding and to make each person job ready. Remarkably, this entire bootcamp experience is funded through grants and so is absolutely free for me!

Most everyone doing LaunchCode is hoping to use their newly developed skills and transition into a tech career, but that’s not my primary goal of completing the course. If I successfully complete the course then I can apply to their Apprentice program, which is in essence a job placement opportunity. We’ll see if that has any interest for me once my CoderGirl course ends in Jan 2022. 

Learning how to code was a mental saving grace for me in 2021: it filled up my time with something more meaningful than watching even more television and it used my brain in ways I haven’t pushed myself in quite some time. I’ve always been a good student, so this combination of independent learning with external accountability has been a great combination for me. I also have developed some lovely friendships with other women and non-binary folx who I would never have encountered during this COVID time. All in all, it has been a win-win. 

I’ve done a little bit of everything, it feels like, and mostly I’ve grown an appreciation for the complexity and beauty of logic and syntax. CoderGirl is not easy and I certainly have questioned whether I’ll make it successfully to the end, but I’m working really hard to learn, to improve, to finish.