Joyce C. Yang

~ This summer, Codework Academy at Montgomery College had its first Java Web Development boot camp.  The program was in Gaithersburg, MD and taught students how to write and deploy web applications in eight weeks.  I participated in the boot camp, which was full-time, 9 am to 5 pm every day.  Starting from object-oriented programming fundamentals, I learned how to think like a programmer. The main things I gained from the camp were the programming skills and the professional network.

One of the model-view-controller (MVC) projects that our team worked on: a boot camp finder that that enabled users to search for boot camps from a database, apply to a camp as a student, and accept applicants as an administrator. Top: a preliminary version of the code for the boot camp model.  Bottom: the final version on the live site

Programming Skills

Until the boot camp, I did not have experience in Java or C.  While looking for employment opportunities, I examined software engineering job listings and they generally required those languages.  Since I had had experience in Python, R, Matlab, and Visual Basic, I was familiar with programming fundamentals.   The Java boot camp was a good way to learn new programming concepts that were relevant and apply them immediately.

Some of the skills I learned

• Using relational database management systems—we used MySQL and PostgreSQL
• Using the concept of encapsulation for data hiding
• Making “Input–Processing- Output” (IPO) diagrams
• Developing the model, view, and controller of an application
• Using an application framework (Spring) to streamline the development process
• Deploying applications to a cloud service (Heroku)

Building networks

I learned a lot outside the classroom by talking to others, and I expanded my professional network.  One graduate student had switched majors from chemical engineering to computer science, and they helped me decide to learn more about careers in web development.  Another student was considering applying to a four-year college, and in my capacity as a college graduate, I offered some advice.  The Montgomery College web development boot camp was supported by a grant.  As a result, it was completely free, and people who were underemployed and unemployed could attend! Students were constantly talking about new ways of solving problems, and the environment was collaborative.

The boot camp was quite challenging, and students needed to meet strict requirements.  The program’s aim was to make assignments as close to “real life” as possible.  Each day at camp consisted of testing code, determining new issues to fix, and fixing them.  One of the main differences between web development and math is that web development does not usually have well-posed problems.  There can be times when the problem is not clear.  I was prepared for the boot camp, but I wish that, before I started, I had learned a bit more object-oriented programming.   Overall, I gained software skills and a great professional network from this Java web development boot camp.

About the author: Joyce C. Yang graduated from Harvey Mudd College in December 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics. An experienced K-12 teacher, she has also worked on research problems in graph theory, statistics, and abstract algebra.  Currently living in the DC area, she is looking for employment opportunities. Joyce can be reached at jcyang@hmc.edu