is exercism.io the truth?
As an aspiring sw dev with over a year and a half of hardcore dev training and experience (as a web dev boot-camp teachers assistant), I am at the point where ...
I want to:
- level-up my RoR skills
- increase the quality of my github portfolio
- contribute to open source Ruby projects
- receive on-demand quality feedback from an experienced mentor
- complete the above in spite of my ridiculous super-hero-like schedule
The solution .. one word .. Exercism.io (at least in concept and theory).
The seemingly superwoman-ish semi Norwegian creator Katrina Owen, describes it as a
place to engage in thoughtful conversations about code. Explore simplicity, idiomatic language features, and expressive readable code.
.. and guess what .. its open source!! repo found here .. pics of shorty found here.
Aside from a glowing recommendation from an instructor who never gives recommendations, the following description is what sold me on it enough to give it a whirl:
About
- There is immense value in comments and critiques of your code by your peers.
- You grow and improve your ability to write code by reading others' code and commenting on it.
- As a better coder you help to improve the world of software development
Practice
- Practice writing expressive code.
- Practice accepting feedback graciously.
- Practice providing feedback respectfully.
Open Source
Contributing to Open Source Software can be very intimidating. It’s scary to expose your code to strangers. It's terrifying to be presented with problems that you probably don't understand, and don't know how to even approach. These are feelings that ALL developers have had. And the more experienced - those whom you look up to - overcame it with practice and active participation.
In the catch-22 scenario of needing experience to get a job as a dev and needing a job as a dev to get experience .. Is this service heaven sent? TBD
