Software Development Education (Calgary, or in canada)
Currently I'm taking a 16 month or so diploma for Software Development and I've been meaning to ask those who have taken Software Development courses of all sorts or even those with experience in the field for some advice on my current situation. I don't need someone to be nice about it, I just need a straight up opinion.
My current program is laid out in a condensed format where you touch on subjects (3 weeks for each) like Programming Logic and Design, Object Oriented Programming Java and JavaFX, Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator, JavaScript, PHP and MySQL, python, HMTL 5 with CSS , and lots more. We have 2 assignments and a project at the end of each course with an exam and some quizzes in between. Projects were things like make a website with 7 functional web pages in HTML, create a Vehicle Simulation program in Java, and with JavaFX create a popular game among programmers called Towers of Hanoi. Right now I'm in JavaScript and our project will be to create another website using HTML, CSS and Javascript.
Prior to coming back to school I did a little research on what steps to take in becoming a Software Developer (also speaking with an advisor). I am completely green in the field and so are the rest of my classmates excluding one who's got very little experience in Computer Science from like 10 years ago in high school. All my research from google, youtube and other forum sites kept saying to focus on one language first and get comfortable with it or else you'll make it much too hard if you focus on various languages at once (this was not what my advisor said btw). Most of us in class also have families and work full time jobs, I myself have two jobs, one full time and one part time. I mentioned this to my advisor but I was told everything would be fine and they would help me understand and walk me through each course so I can learn and keep my busy schedule (only reason why i even came back to school).
We are paying roughly 30 grand for this course and the question or concern is, we are all feeling like the work load is FAR too much for the amount of time spent on each course, and I'm wondering would that be something that we should be feeling? As a class we've spoken over and over again about it and I guess I want to know if we just need to suck it up and study hard cause this is normal or if we have a valid reason for why we feel this way? Programming seems to be more about problem solving and VERY little memorization, so it feels like it's very time consuming to problem solve something you are just learning for the first time. Also, most of our textbooks are outdated and even though a lot of the material applies, we find ourselves using the internet to solve our own questions more than the book or our instructor. We have a great instructor but the content being taught and in the manner it's being taught is not of their making. The school has laid out the exact outline and how to teach it, but even our instructor says there's a lot of things that could have been excluded to save on time and focus on the more fundamental topics we would need in order to have a foundation for when we try to apply for jobs.
I am considering dropping out because I don't want to pay the full tuition cost as I feel I haven't received at all the experience advertised to me by my advisor, or the website. Granted, I expected this to be hard, but not impossible hard, and it might be because I'm working the two jobs at the same time so this is where I need that honest opinion from anyone who's got knowledge on this subject. Also some advice on how to approach some of these programming languages because the further we go in the more it seems to pile on and it's suppose to get easier not harder according to the school. Being green to the field I thought "WOW, here's a program that touches on a lot of subjects in the industry, i'll be able to learn loads!!" when I started, but now I realize maybe there's too much and too little time.
Anyways, any advice or questions are welcomed, or even recommendations for other programs in other schools across Canada. I'm based in Calgary but I'd be open to suggestions. Thank you for your time.
My current program is laid out in a condensed format where you touch on subjects (3 weeks for each) like Programming Logic and Design, Object Oriented Programming Java and JavaFX, Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator, JavaScript, PHP and MySQL, python, HMTL 5 with CSS , and lots more. We have 2 assignments and a project at the end of each course with an exam and some quizzes in between. Projects were things like make a website with 7 functional web pages in HTML, create a Vehicle Simulation program in Java, and with JavaFX create a popular game among programmers called Towers of Hanoi. Right now I'm in JavaScript and our project will be to create another website using HTML, CSS and Javascript.
Prior to coming back to school I did a little research on what steps to take in becoming a Software Developer (also speaking with an advisor). I am completely green in the field and so are the rest of my classmates excluding one who's got very little experience in Computer Science from like 10 years ago in high school. All my research from google, youtube and other forum sites kept saying to focus on one language first and get comfortable with it or else you'll make it much too hard if you focus on various languages at once (this was not what my advisor said btw). Most of us in class also have families and work full time jobs, I myself have two jobs, one full time and one part time. I mentioned this to my advisor but I was told everything would be fine and they would help me understand and walk me through each course so I can learn and keep my busy schedule (only reason why i even came back to school).
We are paying roughly 30 grand for this course and the question or concern is, we are all feeling like the work load is FAR too much for the amount of time spent on each course, and I'm wondering would that be something that we should be feeling? As a class we've spoken over and over again about it and I guess I want to know if we just need to suck it up and study hard cause this is normal or if we have a valid reason for why we feel this way? Programming seems to be more about problem solving and VERY little memorization, so it feels like it's very time consuming to problem solve something you are just learning for the first time. Also, most of our textbooks are outdated and even though a lot of the material applies, we find ourselves using the internet to solve our own questions more than the book or our instructor. We have a great instructor but the content being taught and in the manner it's being taught is not of their making. The school has laid out the exact outline and how to teach it, but even our instructor says there's a lot of things that could have been excluded to save on time and focus on the more fundamental topics we would need in order to have a foundation for when we try to apply for jobs.
I am considering dropping out because I don't want to pay the full tuition cost as I feel I haven't received at all the experience advertised to me by my advisor, or the website. Granted, I expected this to be hard, but not impossible hard, and it might be because I'm working the two jobs at the same time so this is where I need that honest opinion from anyone who's got knowledge on this subject. Also some advice on how to approach some of these programming languages because the further we go in the more it seems to pile on and it's suppose to get easier not harder according to the school. Being green to the field I thought "WOW, here's a program that touches on a lot of subjects in the industry, i'll be able to learn loads!!" when I started, but now I realize maybe there's too much and too little time.
Anyways, any advice or questions are welcomed, or even recommendations for other programs in other schools across Canada. I'm based in Calgary but I'd be open to suggestions. Thank you for your time.