I started taking the "Functional Programming in Scala" course offered a couple of months ago, but it was an enormous time commitment. I had a week-long trip to the office (in the UK - my job is a long and confusing story) which got me so far behind (two weeks, the way the lessons ran), that I would have had no hope of catching up (with, like Shaun, a full-time job and two young children), so I had to drop out after about 3 or 4 weeks.
I'm sort of conflicted about this. I understand Coursera's problem: courses can't be too simple, or else there's no legitimacy. But at the same time, every course can't be a weeder course, either. I legitimately spent *way* more time per week on this course than I did on *any* course in college (at least not this much effort /every week/), but at the end of the day, the amount of any practical knowledge I was gaining from the course was being far overwhelmed by things I actually needed to be learning immediately for my job and general obligations to my life and family. Maybe I just chose the wrong class, but Coursera's curriculum seems pretty terrible for professional development. It's great, however, if you have time to be a full-time student. -Ross. On Nov 30, 2012, at 4:32 PM, "Donahue, Amy" <[email protected]> wrote: > Another little quick comment, adding to the chorus of lurkers and people who > aren't sure if they're coders. Someday I hope to get to a code4lib > conference (if only to tell people in person I knew Jonathan Rochkind way > back when), but in the meantime I've been on this list on and off (but mostly > on) since I graduated, and it's been nothing but a wonderful resource, and a > place I know I can always turn for that time when I have a tech question. > > But I wanted to point out a possible resource for those of us who aren't sure > of what we know and who want to know more. Coursera has been on my radar > through multiple channels, but not yet on here. It appears they do have some > basic programming courses, as well as theory. I'm curious to know if anyone > has taken any of these, or has any thoughts on this method of learning... > https://www.coursera.org/category/cs-programming > > Amy > ------------------------------------------------------- > Amy Donahue, MLIS, AHIP > 414.955.8326 > User Education/Reference Librarian > Medical College of Wisconsin Libraries - Link. Learn. Lead. > http://www.mcw.edu/mcwlibraries.htm > > -----Original Message----- > From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bess > Sadler > Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 12:07 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] What is a "coder"? > > On Nov 29, 2012, at 6:13 AM, Christie Peterson <[email protected]> wrote: > >> If this were "training" in the sense of a seminar or a formal class on the >> exact same topics, I would be eligible for full funding, but since it's a >> "conference," it's funded at a significantly lower level. I'll gladly take >> suggestions anyone has for arguments about why attendance at these types of >> events is critical to successfully doing my work in a way that, say, >> attending ALA isn't -- and why, therefore, they should be supported at a >> higher funding rate than typical "library" conferences. Any non-coders >> successfully made this argument before? >> >> Cheers, >> >> Christie S. Peterson > > Christie you are not the only person who can get travel funding for training > but not for conferences, and you are not the only person on the fence about > whether you belong in code4lib. In my mind you are exactly the kind of person > I would like to attract to code4lib, so I very much hope you'll join us. > Archives in particular are facing significant technological challenges right > now, and as someone who has been known to develop software for born digital > archives[1] I have seen how vital it is to have a common language and > vocabulary, and a common way of approaching problem solving, in order to > create a system that will actually work according to archival principles. > > One option to consider would be signing up for one of the pre-conferences. > Given the background you've described and the challenges you face in your > career, I think you could make a very strong argument that having a basic > introduction to programming concepts would be helpful for you. Luckily there > is a free full-day of training to be had the day before the conference > starts! Please consider joining us at the RailsBridge and/or Blacklight > workshops or at any of the other workshops that look interesting to you that > you think you could pitch as training. > > Even outside of the code4lib context, I strongly encourage others who face > those kinds of travel funding constraints to get creative. Some of the best > learning opportunities of my life and the best pivotal moments in my career > happened because members of this community decided there was an unmet need > and they were going to do something about it. CurateCAMP springs to mind. The > many regional code4lib meetings are in this category. And also: one time when > a few code4lib folks were trying to get open source discovery projects off > the ground we just decided to create an "Open Source Library Discovery > Summit" in Philadelphia, declared ourselves invited speakers, and attended. > And it was a very successful meeting and a very good use of university funds! > > Christie, if there is training or skills development that, if it were offered > at code4lib, would do you some good, you are certainly not the only person > who could benefit from it. I strongly encourage you to think about what > training opportunities are missing in your corner of the library / archives > world, and then have some conversations with members of this community about > how we could provide that training together. I would love to hear your > thoughts on the subject. > > Best wishes, > Bess > > [1] http://hypatia-demo.stanford.edu Tell your funders you have to go to > code4lib because hydra is the future of born digital archives and this is the > conference where the developers hang out and you need to talk to them about > strategic directions for their project so that it will address your problems. > :D
