I started Bloc’s Software Development Track (SDT) apprenticeship program in February of this year. Studying part-time, I’ve covered the front end foundations, which include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery and Angular.

The first couple weeks of the program covered the basics of HTML, CSS, Git, and JavaScript using free sources like CodeSchool. From there, the coursework was custom Bloc content with lots of references to source material from MDN, jQuery, and AngularJS.

Projects are broken down into phases that include a problem, instructions, and guidelines. After finishing, I commit my work to GitHub and and my mentor evaluates it to let me know whether I need to make changes or if I’m good to move forward. Sometimes work on multiple units can be done simultaneously, but it is mostly sequential. I can also e-mail or IM my mentor if I have questions while trying to complete my assignment, and there are student Slack channels where we can help each other.

In addition to the custom content and e-mail feedback, I get a weekly meeting one-on-one video or phone meeting with my mentor, Junior, who has been great to work with. At the beginning of the program, I got to choose from among a list of available mentors. I picked Junior because he seemed like he was very experienced, and is in my time zone. I got incredibly lucky, because it turns out that he really has a passion for teaching, has a broad variety of experience to pull from, and is pretty darn patient.

So far my Bloc experience has been good. I do struggle a bit with the online format. The way the program is designed, it’s very self-guided with no hard and fast deadlines. This has been a challenge for me because sometimes I get stuck on a concept and end up churning my wheels longer than necessary before moving on, or getting distracted by other projects outside of Bloc. However, as I keep moving forward, I can see that with each passing week I’m making more and more progress, core concepts are sinking in even more deeply, and code challenges I once thought were impossible are becoming routine.

The program starts with front end development, moves to back end development, and ends with independent projects and computer science fundamentals like data structures and algorithms. The front end has been a bit tedious for me, and I’m interested to see what the back end holds. This portfolio project is my last act during the front end portion of the course, so I’ll be on to Ruby and other skills soon!

My decision to start my Bloc apprenticeship has been an incredible gift to myself, and I’m eager to see where it takes me!