Preparing for the Apprentice Developer programmeKatherine GoffBlockedUnblockFollowFollowingDec 25Just before Christmas, I was hired as an Apprentice Developer (squeal!) I’m super excited to get started, but I’m the pilot (more commonly referred to as: guinea pig) and my company is hoping to use my experience to create a more structured programme for future cohorts.I really care about my company, their vision, and the people who hired me..They took a big risk and I want to make sure that the programme succeeds.At the end of my training period, as I transition to a Junior Dev role, I want to be sure that I will have quality feedback and ideas on how they should structure the Apprentice Developer programme..My plan is to keep track of my learning and experience here — explaining my journey and slowly building up an idea bank to go into the planning process.Hold up, what is an Apprentice Developer programme?I was originally working as the Digital Content Coordinator for this company..They knew that I was waiting to hear back about MYOB’s developher program; a female only scholarship program..The aim of the developher program is to break down barriers to women changing careers and becoming developers..When I was offered the scholarship, my company had a counter offer waiting and I accepted the Apprentice Developer programme position instead.At the moment, I’m learning as much as possible, but in February, I begin 6 months of training..I will learn Ruby on Rails, HTML, and CSS before transitioning to a Junior Dev role.So, what have I done so far?The CTO of my company teaches Ruby on Rails with RailsGirls, a global company that provides tools and a community for women..He provided me with the basics to get started — TryRuby and RailsGirls Guides.Source: RailsGirls blogBoth of these are free, straightforward, follow-the-instructions, introductory guides..But I was so excited and I rushed through, accidentally skipping some steps, and breaking things in the process.Neither of these take long at all, but considering the structure indicates a Coach is leading the learning, I believe it would have been better if there had been someone with me as I did it..The benefits of this would have been twofold — I wouldn’t have broken anything, and I would be confident that I haven’t missed any basic information.I also find the concept of using libraries overwhelming..I understand that it’s better to use them and save time, but I feel like I don’t understand how my website and application is built.What am I planning to do next (coursework)?Many people suggest becoming a self-taught programmer..While this is great, I find the sheer amount of free courses and information on the internet terrifying.Despite this, I do intend to use free online resources.My plan:Watch Crash Course Computer Science, this will take a month at most and will hopefully give me a nice overview of the history of CSCourse by Keith Devlin, Introduction to Mathematical Thinking (this is a priority for me, as I haven’t had to use math since high school)Courses in the Udacity School of Programming.. More details