It has been a crazy last semester at Edmonds College! With the Covid-19 pandemic forcing all the classes to go online, I thought I would have a little breathing room. Not! My internship with the Edmonds College Federation of Teachers filled in all the extra breathing room. However, it was a great experience and allowed me to flex my web development wings. And, I am happy to announce I have graduated from Edmonds College with a Certificate as a Web Application Developer. Woot!
What I Took
First Semester: (GPA 4.0, Honor Roll)
- Algebra – Almost killed me, but I managed to finish with a GP 4.0.
- Intro to Programming with VB – Really? Yes, I breezed through this and provided help to some of the other students. I did recommend Python as the target language in future courses. GP 4.0.
- Web Development I – Intro to HTML 5 and CSS 3. While I already knew the basics, this course turned on the light bulbs for me regarding CSS. A portfolio posting shows one of the projects from this. GP: 4.0.
Second Semester: (GPA 3.97, Honor Roll)
- JavaScript and JQuery – Finally, something to sink my teeth into. Front-end programming with an introduction to jQuery. GP: 3.9
- Joomla! and SEO – This was a great course for learning a Content Management System and Search Engine Optimization. I gained a great toolkit of resources from this course. GP: 4.0
- Intro to CSS – Even though the title says Intro, this was a hard-core course on front-end UI control with CSS. This course greatly expanded my knowledge of front-end design and the power of CSS. GP: 4.0
Third Semester: (GPA: TBD)
- PHP – This course dove into the use of PHP and MySQL for the back-end development. Even though I’m very strong in SQL, this course filled in the blanks for me on how to move data between the browser and the server. We also focused a lot on WordPress and plugin development. GP: tbd. Total Grade: 101.3% (With some extra credits.)
- JavaScript Frameworks – Most of this course was on the use of jQuery and the use of JavaScript plugins. Again, my mind was blown by the capabilities of jQuery and the shortcuts for referencing data and functions. GP: tbd. Total Grade: 97.26%.
- Graphic Design – This course took me outside of my comfort zone and taught me some serious skills for graphic design. While the focus was on print media formats, these skills directly apply to digital content creation as well. I’ll be writing a big portfolio piece on this one. GP: tbd. Total Grade: 98.96%
- Internship – This was a special assignment aside from the assignment given to the rest of the students. I was assigned as the webmaster for the Edmonds College Federation of Teachers website. (edcfedt.wa.aft.org) My primary task was to refresh the site with updated graphics, logos, a new theme, and change any content referring to Edmonds Community College to Edmonds College. This went so well, I am continuing as their webmaster for the long-term. A portfolio post is coming soon. GP: tbd. Grade and review are pending.
Seminar in Cyber Security – In addition to the assigned courses, I also attended a half-day seminar on Computer Forensics and Cyber Security. Since I have done a lot of forensic work in the past, I was glad to have attended this seminar. It brought me up to speed on some of the security challenges being faced by companies and their developers in order to keep their data and customers safe from “bad actors.” While I have no desire to work in computer forensics again, I’m sure I will have to face the implementation of security measures in web development. Certificate of Attendance.
It is hard to summarize all of the things I learned, the friends acquired, and the overall feeling of accomplishing this nine-month intense learning process. My true roots in the computer industry are as a creator of content and code – a perfect combination for web development. I’m very happy to have accomplished this and gain the foundation for continued growth as a web application developer. I’m looking forward to diving into my CEPAR project and learning more about React, Angular, and other web application development tools.
Congratulations, Tim! Great job. Was surprised to see the VB class in there. Bill Gates says anything you can do in any other language, he can do in VB but I suppose operating systems and web design might be a stretch.
Thank you, sir. Yeah, I breezed through that one. However, it was a lot of fun helping the other students and kicking around project ideas with the professor. I can see where it would be possible to do a VB OS. The trick would be in bootstrapping the hardware. Not sure about web design though.