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Original poster

Who codes and where do you hang out?

77 replies

IrvinaYalom · 10/09/2018 15:01

Is there a place here for coding folk who do coding-y programme-y tech things?

I am currently teaching myself with the aim of eventually becoming a full stack web developer and would quite like to chit chat with people who understand what I mean when I say things like: "how the fuck does the this keyword work in JavaScript?".

If I'm not alone in this (or if there's a place I've failed to find where you all congregate) please do let me know!

OP posts:
LadyLaSnack · 10/09/2018 15:09

Hi Irvina!

Sorry I can’t help with a ‘hangout’, but I’d love to learn to code.

How are you teaching yourself?

Original poster
IrvinaYalom · 10/09/2018 15:30

Hi Snack- you have already helped with the 'hangout' just by replying, there are two of us now so this is it!

I started out by signing up to Codecademy which is an online platform offering lots of different courses, it is really quite good (though not free). I've also gone to a few Meetups for tech people and was lucky enough to find an amazing local group that had just started a totally free mentoring programme. So thanks to that I now have my very own mentor and I meet with him every couple of weeks for a bit of a chat/tutoring session. I'm still just starting out, it's only been a couple of months but I'm really enjoying it so far and can definitely see myself doing it full time.

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ArkAtEee · 10/09/2018 15:44

Not sure if there's anywhere on here, but you will find good free teaching on W3 Schools and support on Stack Overflow. If you sign up to Pluralsight, you get a free week and their courses are really good.

ArkAtEee · 10/09/2018 15:48

By the way, in JavaScript, 'this' is the global object, but this will mean different things depending on the execution context.

CeeCeeAndAida · 10/09/2018 15:55

There's a topic on here called Geeky Stuff www.mumsnet.com/Talk/geeky_stuff, you might find some like minded MNers there?

olderthanyouthink · 10/09/2018 16:04

👩🏽‍💻👋

Another web (frontend, PHP, JS) developer here.

There's geeky stuff (where you end up as tech support) and startups/freelancers where people sometimes ask questions about setting up a website but it's mostly squarespace/wix stuff.

There's loads of developer sub-Reddit's.

I started with Treehouse about 4 years ago (I think I had it for a couple years using it less and less), it's was good because I needed the structure of courses/modules (crap MH + being unemployed) but now I just "do"/google. Stackoverflow is a life saver.

Never been to a meet up, just "hangout" with colleagues.

Original poster
IrvinaYalom · 10/09/2018 16:15

Thanks all! I know about W3 Schools and Stack Overflow etc, I was just wondering if there was a dedicated Mumsnet place (as this is my favourite area of the internet). Had seen Geeky Stuff but no dedicated developer threads were apparent.

Cheers for the this keyword explanation @ArkAtEee, I do understand what it is in theory, I've just been having a little trouble putting it into practice in the exercises I've been doing so was venting my frustration...

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LadyLaSnack · 10/09/2018 16:18

Thanks Irvina!!

Flowers
CeeCeeAndAida · 10/09/2018 16:26

"Had seen Geeky Stuff but no dedicated developer threads were apparent."

You could always start one and others might join in?!

CeeCeeAndAida · 10/09/2018 16:28

Or maybe in Tech Tips www.mumsnet.com/Talk/tech_tips_and_queries?

olderthanyouthink · 10/09/2018 16:32

I would happy chat, not sure how helpful I could be because I'm pretty junior and going on maternity leave soon so brain may go to mush Confused

Mumsnet is very female and female developers are a bit thin on the ground atm at work we are at parity atm but that's mostly because a load of guys left

Original poster
IrvinaYalom · 10/09/2018 16:45

@CeeCeeAndAida that is sort of what I was trying to do here- just thought it was sensible to double check there wasn't one already!

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Original poster
IrvinaYalom · 10/09/2018 16:48

I'm sure you could be very helpful @olderthanyouthink though it's not even necessarily help I'm looking for. Just a bit of camaraderie, as has been pointed out- women in this field are few and far between so it's nice to meet others Smile

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CeeCeeAndAida · 10/09/2018 16:49

I realise that, Irvina, I was just trying to point you towards a couple of topics that might be more applicable to your specific needs.

Actually, although I'm not involved in coding and whatnot (!) I think there are loads of MNers who work in those fields ... it's just a question of finding them Grin

Original poster
IrvinaYalom · 10/09/2018 16:59

@CeeCeeAndAida well thank you very much for the pointers- I didn't mean to be unappreciative. You're right that this thread should probably be homed somewhere else but I though I'd aim for maximum visibility! I will try and get it moved if it seems like there's enough ongoing interest...

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CeeCeeAndAida · 10/09/2018 17:02

No, no, no! I didn't mean that at all!! Hopefully you and all the MN coders will come together sooner or later. And you are quite right to post in Chat for maximum visibility! I just thought it was possible you might find some of them in the other topics too?!

Stupomax · 10/09/2018 20:53

I'm a web developer and social media marketing person (somewhat unwillingly on the social media marketing side). I'm defeated by Javascript though. I'm pretty good at the graphic design side of things to make up for it. I actually do a lot of other stuff like graphic design, product design, etc.

I'm interested to know what people use to write their code. I've just discovered Atom and love it.

nm1989 · 10/09/2018 21:14

I code for my job also. I work with data, so python and sql mainly. Probably more scripting than programming. I've not used Atom before, usually use sublime and I liked IntelliJ when I've used it before.

olderthanyouthink · 10/09/2018 21:25

I'm using atom atm, not hugely sold on it but mostly because of buggy packages and not having it set up the way I want it because that will require me to spend time fiddling. I used to use Sublime text (no I didn't pay for it Blush) and that was set up great for PHP but I heard there was better so moved when I moved to ReactJS

My manager thinks I should try WebStorm but will the company pay for it... no.

JS was my weak area (baring in mind I'm junior anyway) but now I'm in JS all day everyday. Still need to google a lot though but I don't feel so weird about that since working closely with my last manager and seeing that he does it too Grin the one before that had savant level knowledge of everything

Original poster
IrvinaYalom · 10/09/2018 21:31

I've downloaded and had a look at Atom but still pretty much at the playing around on Codepen/ JSfiddle for now.

@Stupomax I'm really interested in developing some proper graphic design skills to go alongside the coding. My background is actually as an artist rather than anything tech related and I've worked a lot with my own designs and paintings etc on Photoshop but I've never known how to take the learning up a notch so that I can work digitally in a more professional way. Are there any graphic design courses or resources (online or off) that you'd recommend? Did you study or it or teach yourself? (Sorry for the many questions- I've been hoping to stumble upon a graphic design mentor for a while now!)

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Spudlet · 10/09/2018 21:35

I'd be up for that, am in the throes of teaching myself atm. I am attempting to learn to code WordPress themes. I have done one, but I'm not sure it's terribly good Blush

I doubt I'll be able to be much practical help but am always there for a digital coffee and a 'there there, it can't be that broken, surely' session Grin

Stupomax · 10/09/2018 21:41

I've done a variety of types of training - a bit of face to face about 2 decades ago which stopped me from being so terrified of Photoshop, then mostly teaching myself. I used Lynda.com and did a couple of courses there to learn Illustrator, and it was a pretty good way to get started. I also went on a local graphic design evening class at the art college when I was getting back into graphic design and hadn't touched InDesign in a million years. Since then I've just Youtubed or Googled everything I need to do.

The software gets redesigned so often it seems like you spend your life trying to keep up. I know I could do far more with things like layers and slices in Photoshop when designing websites for example, but I just never seem to find the time to learn.

That's not much of an answer - sorry. But I think a good Lynda.com video will get you started if you know what you want to learn, IYSWIM?

I also go to an annual local web design conference which makes me think I'd like to find a design conference - but not one of those that costs hundreds and hundreds...

olderthanyouthink · 10/09/2018 21:52

I'm interested in how long you guys have been developers (working I guess) or how long you have been learning and how old your are?

Most of the developers I know personally are fresh-ish from uni/college or like proper grownups been doing it for like 10 years.

Spudlet · 10/09/2018 21:58

I'm 35. I've tinkered around with company websites in the most basic sense as a peripheral to my proper job for a few years, but I didn't go back to that job after mat leave and was looking for something different - hence, started teaching myself in the spring of this year and blundered into getting my first client a few months later, entirely by accident. Way too soon really, but fortunately dh is a proper grownup developer... He's a terrible teacher but at least he's there if I get stuck! Launched that site last month so now I'm concentrating on sorting my own site out and learning more because god knows I've a lot to learn -plus I have no more clients Grin

Original poster
IrvinaYalom · 10/09/2018 22:11

I'm 26 and about 2 months in to beginning to learn so just at the very beginning of the process! I have built one proper e-commerce website for a sideline business I've set-up but it was using Shopify (so themes and templates). I was being frugal (stingy) and didn't want to pay anyone to do anything for me so I ended up having to do quite a lot of tinkering around with the template code to add certain apps and functionalities. All that turned out to be really quite enjoyable so I though- "hey! I could get into this."

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