Bitwise Workforce Training

By now I’ve been a Professional Software Developer for well over 30 years. But like everyone in this industry I always have something new to learn. Things change rapidly.

I recently took a Beginning HTML class through Bitwise Workforce Training. Yes, I took a beginning HTML class. I could poke around HTML and CSS enough to make a mess but I never really understood how to properly build a page. I don’t plan on becoming a full time web developer but having the ability to create a great page for one of my iOS Apps is really important. How else will folks learn about my work?

Our class was a wonderful mix of folks from all walks of life and I absolutely loved it for that. There were things I knew about computers I could pass on to others and others already knew a bit about CSS and HTML so they passed on tips to me. Everyone was smart and ready to learn.

That’s important. Come ready to learn. The class is structured to be a practical guide to building a website with a few pages and our instructors made it clear we were only scratching the surface of HTML and CSS and the real learning would come when we were out on our own. Practical. Like the real world you learn the basics and figure out the rest through exploration. This is perfectly suited for me. I learn best by doing.

The class paid off for me after the first two sessions. I am the developer of an iOS feed reader called Stream. I was in the middle of an update to replace my Article viewing code with 100% HTML. The HTML I needed to create was quite simple but to someone without proper grounding in HTML and CSS I was struggling. After my first two classes I had enough knowledge, after asking a few follow-up questions, to build the HTML I needed to ship the update to my app.

If you’re interested in learning in a structured – yet practical – way consider taking a Workforce Training class.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to a couple folks. Gabby Moreno, our intrepid instructor, and Jen Lewis, her assistant. Between the two of them they managed to help everyone. They’re very kind, smart, and most off all, patient.