Weekly wins: a TA's guide to success at Carolina Code School (part four)
HELLO EVERYONE!
It’s Chelsea again, your friendly neighborhood teaching assistant (TA), here to give you a fresh update on the inner workings of Carolina Code School.
For the past few blogs, we’ve been building up to Demo Day—the grand finale for our current cohort. It’s a special day when students showcase their full stack applications to an eager audience. If you’re considering joining Carolina Code School or are interested in the amazing talent and skills our program produces, please join us!
Now, let's dive into what the students have been working on over the past week because the training wheels are coming off, and the real challenge begins!
The students just completed their final full stack application tutorial. In class, they created a URL shortener application under the expert guidance of our instructor, Sean Reid. This project perfectly culminated everything they’ve learned over the past few months. They had to set up a PostgreSQL database, use FastAPI for data transfer, integrate a third-party API to generate the new URL link and design a simple yet effective user interface.
how does the URL shortener app work?
Here's a quick rundown of how it works: The user inputs a long URL into an input field. This URL is then sent to a third-party API, which returns a shortened version. The students had to parse this response, display the new URL, and save it in their database. It’s a really fun tutorial project and a fantastic app to showcase in a portfolio!
why create full stack apps in class?
Creating multiple full stack applications has helped solidify their understanding of the logic, techniques, and structure necessary for full stack projects. They’ve learned to set up databases, build backends to manage and structure data, and design frontends that provide a smooth user experience.
With all that accumulated experience, this cohort is ready to start brainstorming and planning their own ideas. The planning stage is crucial for the success of their projects, especially given the limited time they have to develop them.
about the final projects
Students are encouraged to create whatever they like if they meet a few essential requirements: they must use a new technology, package, or third-party API not covered in previous lessons, create wireframes, write user stories, and get comfortable with daily standups that mimic a sprint workflow.
This approach not only gives students the experience of creating their own applications but also helps them get a taste of what it’s like to work as a developer in a real company setting.
Come see what they are building at demo day on July 26th!
We are so excited to show you the projects the students build. You’ll get a chance to see them at Demo Day, located at the NEXT Innovation Center in Greenville, SC. If you are a program sponsor, a partner, a recruiter, or someone interested in enrolling in Carolina Code School, please join us in celebrating the success of Cohort 18!
As always, if you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading. Keep coding and stay curious!