Learning to code with Code Nation - Week 1

Today marks the end of a highly challenging yet rewarding week in Manchester with Code Nation.

Coming from a business background the initial overwhelming feeling of seeing a piece of code & it looking completely alien was definitely present, however, even after 5 days in, once breaking each piece down, the logic of everything begins to click & every day brings epiphany after epiphany as things begin to click.

So far we've learned the basics of terminal & began exploring the fundamentals of JavaScript including variables, functions, objects, loops & classes. Within cohort 13 we have a class of around 12 aspiring developers, of all levels of experience & backgrounds beginning their journey, taught predominantly by Telmo Sampaio.

The basics of JavaScript

On day 1, we were told to take a look at the following piece of code & to remember that initial feeling of confusion:

for( i = 0 ; i < 10 ; i++ ){
console.log(i);        

5 days on, it has become apparent to me personally that there will be many more occasions like this during the learning process, and that's okay. Each day brings a new challenge & a different set of activities to get involved with.

The tutors do a great job addressing the various learning styles of each individual on the course to ensure nobody falls behind whilst maintaining a consistent pace of progression. We are now coding JavaScript with a little more complexity than on Monday but with a better standpoint of understanding, an example of a class in ES6 learned today can be seen below:

class BankUser {
    constructor(userName, userPass) {
        this.userServer = "Josh"; 
        this.passServer = 12345; 
        this.balance = 200;


        this.userInput = userName; 
        this.passInput = userPass; 
    }
    
    get userBalance() {
        if(this.userServer == this.userInput && this.passServer == this.passInput) {
            return this.balance; 
        } else { 
            return "Sorry your login details are wrong"; 
        }
        
    }


    set shopping(price) {
        
        if(this.userServer == this.userInput && this.passServer == this.passInput) {
            this.balance = this.balance - price; 
        } else {
            return "Sorry your login details are wrong."; 
        }
        
    }


}


let josh = new BankUser("Josh", 12345)


josh.shopping = 20; 

console.log(josh.userBalance); - 28/02/20        

So what about the environment?

Positioned on the 5th floor, once outside the lift you are greeted with a fingerprint scanner to get into the main open plan area of CN, which hosts various seating areas with a 360 view of central town, sofas, a kitchen & large TV's attached to games consoles (GREAT FOR A GAME AT LUNCH) with Fifa, Mario Kart & Nintendo Switch to mention a few options to choose from.

The main area splits off into different classrooms & each will host another cohort at a different stage in their journey, making it easy to see how you will progress whilst you are here.

Talks & Events

Yesterday CN hosted an event that welcomed the British Council and a 41-strong delegation of Ministers and business leaders from Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, and Tanzania. They came to find out more about how things work at Code Nation so they can start creating employable talent for themselves.

We also welcomed David Igoe from ao.com who spoke about why developers from Code Nation form an essential part of their talent pipeline.