So for the last few weeks I’ve been learning a web programming language called Ruby at launchschool.com. I decided to delve into web programming because it is a growing industry with lots of demand for skilled developers. With the advent of iPhone and the whole smartphone, mobile, slash always-connected phenomena, demand for web developers and software engineers has skyrocketed and with my background in IT, I figured I’d give it a go and maybe in a couple years be able to add software programming and web development to my repertoire of computer related skills.

Many years ago, I took a class in Visual Basic 6 at a local community college and did fairly well but it was super basic. I had no need for my job at the time nor was I looking to get into programming but I thought it would be good to learn. Not having to use the knowledge I learned back then, needless to say, I knew almost nothing coming into learning and had zero background when I decided to seriously study web development.

After a few weeks, I’m enjoying the process of learning again. I am always challenged by subject matter, because it’s all new to me and it feels like my brain is getting a workout daily. At times my mind feels like mush and other times it feels empowered from having learned AND understood new concepts.

The course encourages starting a blog and so I started this blog as a part of my IT Experiences site. It’s related, right? So, why not? I’ll occasionally post some updates. Not sure what they’ll be about – technical, experiential, both, who knows? Keep checking back to see how I’m doing.

My current plan is to finish the course that in 2 years I can say I have the skills to write a full-stack software program. Full-stack means front-end and back-end programming. Think front end as your smartphone and back-end as the servers in the cloud. What does it mean for me if I can complete this course successfully in 2 years? God only knows.