Welcome to Carrot University!
Ultimately only you can decide how to structure your time to ensure you get the most out of the content, and out of your relationships with your mentors. However, we have some guidelines we hope will help.
You'll typically be doing one of two things in the course:
- Consuming some content, whether it's reading a tutorial or blog post, watching a lecture video, etc.
- Writing code. This could be working on either the class or individual project, exercises, etc.
These are both essential to the learning process, but they can be tricky to balance. If you consume too much content without applying the knowledge and you'll have a good theoretical base, but there are some things you just can't learn until you get your hands dirty. Make sure you're always looking for ways to exercise the things you're learning.
It also works the other way — if you spend all of your time writing code, you could be enforcing bad habits. This is particularly true because often you will learn something by doing it "the hard way" first, then you will be shown how you can build on previous work to avoid doing it the hard way in the future.
This may be especially difficult considering that the program exists in addition to your normal work hours. That being said, creating and sticking to a schedule is a huge indicator of success. For example, you could set a daily goal (maybe an hour), and set aside a few larger blocks (~6 hours) on Sat/Sun. Or, take off Saturday and dedicate all day Sunday. Consistency is the real goal; the specifics are up to you.
What's the big difference between Carrot U's code school and simply following along with the content online? People. Your fellow students are here to share in your failures and triumphs, to support you, and to help you stay accountable. But also remember how much you'll be able to enhance each other's learning. You'll find that you won't really understand something until you've had to teach it to someone else, so participating in Slack discussions and the in-person talks and workshops, including attempting to answer the questions of other students, is one of the best ways to learn. You're not alone!
One of the most important skills you'll develop as an engineer is how to ask questions effectively. Reaching out for help too quickly or too late can be equally frustrating, so here's a handy guide. If you get stuck:
- Google it! Google is the most important tool in any developer's arsenal :). You'll find the answers to many of your questions on Stack Overflow, which is great for quick solutions, but make a point to read official documentation as well, as you'll learn a ton in the process.
- After 15 minutes of searching, reading, searching, etc., reach out to a peer or post in Slack (#carrot-university).
- After 30 minutes, reach out to your mentor personally, either in a direct message or by at-mentioning them in #carrot-university.
Learn this pattern, because you will use it every day as a developer. None of us know all the answers, the trick is knowing where to look and when to stop searching and ask.
Before asking, it's always best to do some upfront work to ensure you can help people help you. Remember that others don't have the context that you have. Focus on setting up your question effectively. Clearly explain what your goal is at a high level, what the specific task you're trying to accomplish is, and make sure you can answer the following questions:
- What have you tried so far?
- Why do you think it didn't work?
- What other solutions do you think might be worthy to explore?
- Welcome class of 2019!
- Get your computer set up for Carrot U
- Read the syllabus
- Explore the additional reading