I'm once again overwhelmed and for once it is a good thing. You see, I have always thrived when I have a clear direction and good advice as well as a good curriculum to follow. I'm trying something different because I felt like a was on a programming hamster wheel with Object Oriented Programming and JavaScript to be more precise. As much as I love front-end programming I was looking for something more. I wanted to build full-stack applications and stretch myself to think more about the application as a whole not just the UI, but the whole UX and how that would relate to the stack.

I didn't think of this as going down another rabbit hole, but more of a dynamic shift in thinking. I had some help with this as I watched a friend of mine grow as he worked through his boot camp at DockYard Academy. It is an Online boot camp that teaches the functional programming language Elixir and its programming environment. The goals he had were being realized and I saw such a significant change as he went through the boot camp.

With a little encouragement from him and a whole lot of head-scratching, I proceeded to start the boot camp without joining the cohort for the time being. You see, they offer the boot camp in two formats, self-paced, and online cohort. The benefits of the cohort are the extra support and help you can get from the instructor and classmates. The advantage of the self-paced is it is free to all learners and it is something you can do at your own pace. If you can study on your own and can keep motivated, you can move along and learn this technology and come out with the knowledge and skills you need to break into the job market as an Elixir developer.

The Elixir curriculum begins by teaching you how to get your machine set up with the tools you will need to begin working with Elixir and its environment. It then takes you through the basics of working with the command line and the basics of git version control which the course relies on heavily. I haven't gotten through much of the curriculum yet as I am an Elixir newbie. But, there are many encouraging and helpful resources on the web to inspire you to move on and enjoy the functional programming language.

A good resource I suggest is the Elixir Newbies podcast hosted by Brooklin Myers. He goes through all kinds of topics related to newbies breaking into the elixir industry. My suggestion is to start at the first episode and move forward from there. He is an encouraging and passionate speaker who makes a case for choosing Elixir as your first programming language. He also challenges those who are struggling with other programming languages to make the switch to Elixir and "check it out."

The curriculum for Elixir programming is taught by Brooklin Myers. He is still a newbie by industry standards but is an excellent teacher and problem-solver. It is a curriculum that is easy to follow, yet it covers the gamut of Elixir programming utilizing its programming stack. I've never really been able to put what I have learned in many of the video courses on other learning platforms, but my short time learning the Dockyard Academy's Elixir Curriculum has been very encouraging and deeply understandable.

My suggestion is to go the BootCamp cohort route if you can afford the time and have the finances. You will get the support of the instructor hands-on as well as interacting with other students in class as well as the course's Discord channel. For me, that is not an option at this time. I am a nursing home resident with a pretty full schedule. I use my off-hours wisely and do my self-paced study of the curriculum. I do have a mentor who is finishing up the first cohort. He is a good friend of mine and we talk daily on the web. He encourages me and helps with the tougher concepts that I may struggle with.

If you are new to programming or are struggling with other programming languages my suggestion is to try out Elixir and visit the Dockyard Academy's Elixir website https://academy.dockyard.com/ Also you can check out the Elixir Newbies podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1840381 or whatever podcasting channel you may use. Just type into Google, Elixir Newbies podcast. There is also a documentary entitled Elixir: The Documentary located on the web at https://cult.honeypot.io/originals/elixir-the-documentary

I look forward to spending time on this blog documenting my journey through the Bootcamp. If you are interested in more information or are wanting to talk about Elixir, please contact me at mikemaitoza@gmail.com or DM me on Twitter @mikemaitoza1 you can also leave a comment below. Oh and please bring your coffee to the conversation, :-)