As I mentioned here, I am engaged in self-study to become a software engineer. I now have a (tentative) 3 year (roughly 2^10 hour) plan for learning the relavent skills. You can take a look at what I’m doing and track my progress here.
Currently, it includes learning touch-typing, math, logic, computer science, Java, C, Ruby, Haskell, SQL, HTML/CSS, Unix, and getting a degree in computer science with a concentration in software engineering.
The idea is to read and do all the exercises in the texts listed under each goal and move onto small personal and open source projects for the remainder of the time.
I’m open to and would appreciate constructive criticism of the plan, book suggestions, relevant anti-akrasia techniques, etc… Also, before I get any comments about the “slow” pace, keep in mind I own my own business, have an almost 1 year old son, and am going to school full-time.
I think your plan is good, and I like the idea of having it visible (and on github as well—a requirement for software engineers these days).
You have 32 hours for HTML and CSS but you could also include some time prior to that on core design principles / Human Computer interfaces. It is one of those skills that while not directly related to building the software (interface is often done by a design team), will set you apart as a developer.
I recommend this book DESIGN creation of artifacts in society as this covers the design process more so than technical interfaces. It is very useful. The book is written by Karl T. Ulrich and follows the free course, which is very good in itself, but I wouldn’t recommend the time commitment required for it.
If the course Human-Computer Interaction runs again I would recommend doing it. A fair time commitment but you go through the process of building web interfaces and peer reviewing them against the various heuristics.
In terms of the nitty gritty details like layout, font selection, colours, spacings, etc I used blogs, wikipedia and other ineffective ways of learning, but I would love to see a good textbook recommendation on the subject.
As I mentioned here, I am engaged in self-study to become a software engineer. I now have a (tentative) 3 year (roughly 2^10 hour) plan for learning the relavent skills. You can take a look at what I’m doing and track my progress here.
Currently, it includes learning touch-typing, math, logic, computer science, Java, C, Ruby, Haskell, SQL, HTML/CSS, Unix, and getting a degree in computer science with a concentration in software engineering.
The idea is to read and do all the exercises in the texts listed under each goal and move onto small personal and open source projects for the remainder of the time.
I’m open to and would appreciate constructive criticism of the plan, book suggestions, relevant anti-akrasia techniques, etc… Also, before I get any comments about the “slow” pace, keep in mind I own my own business, have an almost 1 year old son, and am going to school full-time.
I think your plan is good, and I like the idea of having it visible (and on github as well—a requirement for software engineers these days).
You have 32 hours for HTML and CSS but you could also include some time prior to that on core design principles / Human Computer interfaces. It is one of those skills that while not directly related to building the software (interface is often done by a design team), will set you apart as a developer.
How would one go about efficiently learning core design principles/human computer interfaces? Do you recommend any texts or online courses?
I recommend this book DESIGN creation of artifacts in society as this covers the design process more so than technical interfaces. It is very useful. The book is written by Karl T. Ulrich and follows the free course, which is very good in itself, but I wouldn’t recommend the time commitment required for it.
If the course Human-Computer Interaction runs again I would recommend doing it. A fair time commitment but you go through the process of building web interfaces and peer reviewing them against the various heuristics.
In terms of the nitty gritty details like layout, font selection, colours, spacings, etc I used blogs, wikipedia and other ineffective ways of learning, but I would love to see a good textbook recommendation on the subject.
Thanks.
Hey. Your plan looks interesting and I’m wishing you all the best with your project on self-studying. If you want to learn about logic take a look at the online courses on coursera from the University of Melbourne : https://www.coursera.org/course/logic1 https://www.coursera.org/course/logic2