My 1st two weeks of studying Software Engineering
I’ll share my thoughts on my learning process during my first two weeks of studying Software Engineering.
I found these two weeks pretty challenging due to the wide variety of tools and the short amount of time to digest them all. There were plenty of topics covered in this phase, which they call the “First Mile”. It started with the set-up of the environment tools and then the essentials of the Command Interface Line CIL, Git, GitHub, HTML, CSS, a brief intro to JavaScript, and finally, a project that includes the creation of a webpage through the utilisation of all the tools just above mentioned. Additionally, I recorded a video explaining the code I used and two blogs (this post is actually one of them).
Due to time limitations, I first thought it was too much to absorb and do in a couple of weeks. I’m not sure how, but I managed to finish everything, and I’m proud of it! I felt pushed from the very beginning, and the outcome was quite positive. The use of the CLI definitely opens a wide range of possibilities when using my computer. I’ve found it practical and quicker than using the Graphical User Interface GUI at times.
There were some topics that I particularly found far more challenging than others. I need to practice more about Data Structures and JavaScript events. Those two modules were a bit complex sometimes. The good news is that now I’m going to learn JavaScript exclusively, so I will have the chance to practice more and feel more confident with it.
As for the project, it consisted of the application of everything we learned to build a webpage. I used HTML for the content and structure, CSS for displaying and designing the HTML content, and optionally JavaScript events to add some interactivity. Moreover, I had to use Git to track and push local file changes to my remote repository on GitHub. The fact that I had to use the CIL in all labs helped me get its hang.
My plan to complete my studies in these two weeks was initially to finish the setup of the local environment as soon as I could so that I gain extra time to study Git, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. That approach was a wrong move as I got stuck for hours trying to set up the environment as sometimes I did not follow the process carefully. I realised that the best approach was to dedicate the necessary time to each module. Dedicating 40 to 50 hours was enough to achieve my goals on time.