Weekly wins: a TA's guide to success at Carolina Code School (part three)
Hey there, tech enthusiasts!
Chelsea Snider, your friendly neighborhood teaching assistant (TA) at Carolina Code School, bringing you the latest and greatest from our current full-time web development cohort. Final projects are right around the corner, and our students are about to start building their first full stack applications. They'll have free reign to bring their own ideas to life, using all the skills they've honed over the past two months.
What THEY’VE been up to
Over the past few weeks, they've been diving into the deep end, combining everything they've learned. Recently, we have focused on connecting the front end to the back end with ReactJS, SQL, and API calls being served on the menu. The pace has been “Fast and Furious,” but our students have risen to the challenge, learning a multitude of skills in a short timeframe. It's been a wild ride, and we're thrilled with their progress!
APPS THEY’VE BUILT SO FAR
Our students have already built a few full stack apps under the expert guidance of our amazing instructor. Let's take a quick tour of their work.
First up, we have the Task List Application. This simple yet powerful app taught our students how to manage state in React, handle user input, and dynamically render lists. They learned the importance of CRUD operations (Create, Read, Update, Delete) and how to seamlessly connect the front end with a backend database.
Next, the Movie Data Query Application took things up a notch. Students learned how to make API calls to fetch data from external sources, parse JSON responses, and display the data in an organized and user-friendly manner. They also got a taste of asynchronous programming, using promises and async/await to handle data fetching smoothly.
But their biggest wins so far haven’t just been the cool apps they’ve created. They've also been the personal growth and camaraderie they've developed along the way.
THE BIG WINS
Our students have become comfortable stepping out of their comfort zones, asking questions, and seeking help without embarrassment. They've been inspired by seeing their classmates dream big and create amazing apps, and they've learned not to give up when things get tough. They're proud of turning their code into actual working apps and receiving positive feedback, all while recognizing their own growth in both development knowledge and personal resilience. There's a collective joy in seeing all the concepts we've been learning come together into a cohesive whole despite moments of struggle and doubt. They've cherished the moments when classmates ‘get’ the technologies they've been wrestling with and have enjoyed receiving and offering help. They feel proud of the team they have become despite all odds and opposition.
Final thoughts
This cohort has come a long way, and the best is yet to come. As they gear up for their final projects, they're ready to combine all these skills and more to build something truly extraordinary! Stay tuned for more updates, and get ready to be amazed by what they create!
As always, if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading, and keep coding! Follow us on social media for more updates, events, and blog posts from Carolina Code School.