Pledge to Learn How to Code

I've been learning how to code on and off now for about two years. However, until recently I haven't been able to make much progress on my Codeacademy lessons and other free online Python and Ruby tutorials. I've learned that the biggest obstacle for me to learn how to code last year was coming up with ideas of applications and websites that I wanted to build as my personal side projects. Until I found something I wanted to create and a tool that I would enjoy making or would be useful to me, I couldn't motivate myself to keep finding the time to read through programming tutorials and go through the online lessons. I also realized that it took me a while to get back into student mode. By making sure to study a little bit each day and take notes while I was going through the lessons, I've now been able to get through almost all the Codeacademy lessons.

I'm also excited to see that learning to code has taken on a new movement with the viral video that came out recently from Code.org, which featured entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. After watching the video, I made sure to fill out the pledge to help every student learn how to code on the website here. It seems crazy to think that we all had foreign language requirements in high school and college, but learning how to interact with computers through programming was never a specific requirement towards graduating.

As someone learning to program now, I really appreciated how Code.org put together a list of all the resources people can use to learn how to program online. After finishing my Codeacademy lessons, I'm now looking forward to trying out the other resources listed on the website such as Treehouse. My goal is to be able to build my own Quantified Self-tracking application either through a website or an iPhone application, while also working towards creating a separate website to feature some of my travel photos. With a little bit of progress each week, I'm hoping to have a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, jQuery, JavaScript, Python, Ruby, and iOS development as well as my two completed personal projects by the end of the year.