Syllabus

Welcome to the LEARN Syllabus!

LEARN is a 16-week, full-time program consisting of 640 practical learning hours. Students are in class Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm in the Pacific Time Zone. Each unit below represents one week of instruction. The instruction is conducted remotely but in real-time. Instructors are available to students during classroom hours listed above and after hours by appointment. The final four weeks of the program is an internship in a development role. The instructors and the career services manager support the students during internship.

This repository is a reflection of the current status of the curriculum at LEARN Academy. Just like the technology we teach, the syllabus is ever evolving and adapting to suit the needs of the user. That's you! The instructors at LEARN Academy are continuously pushing the syllabus forward; working to give our students the best experience possible. If you are interested in contributing to our syllabus to fix any errors, expand definitions, or further explain concepts, etc. please see our Style Guidelines for process details.

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Table of Contents

• Unit One: Javascript Introduction
• Unit Two: Javascript Foundations
• Unit Three: React
• Unit Four: Ruby
• Unit Five: Intro to Postgres and Ruby on Rails Models
• Unit Six: Ruby on Rails
• Unit Seven: Professional Development Week
• Unit Eight: Cat Tinder! Combining React and Rails
• Unit Nine: React in Rails and Authentication
• Unit Ten: Capstone Project, MVP
• Unit Eleven: Capstone Project, Icebox

GitHub

• Accessing and Submitting Assessments
• Git and GitHub Intro and Configurations
• Collaborative Coding with GitHub

Resources

• Attendance Policy
• Portfolio Resources
• Debugging Tools
• White Boarding Steps
• How to Ask a Tech Question
• Intro to Atom
• Wireframes
• Pair Programming

First Day: Presentations

Welcome to LEARN Academy! Here is the information covered during orientation.

• Zoom Etiquette
• How We Work
• Code of Conduct
• Introduction to Terminal
• Requirements and Expectations
• Career Services Overview
• Tech Stack
• Slack Overview
• Pair Programming
• HTML and CSS Fundamentals

Unit One: Javascript Introduction

This is our introduction to coding through the Javascript programming language. Here we will cover foundational concepts and data structures that will get us thinking in code.

1. JavaScript Introduction
2. JavaScript Conditionals
3. JavaScript Arrays
4. JavaScript Loops
5. JavaScript Functions

Additional Topics:

• JavaScript Template Literals
• JavaScript Ternary Operator

Unit Two: Javascript Foundations

This is our opportunity to dig a bit deeper into the Javascript programming language. Here we will use the introductory topics in combination for more advanced logic performance and data manipulation.

1. JavaScript Functions, Loops, and Arrays
2. JavaScript Higher-Order Functions
3. JavaScript Testing with Jest
4. JavaScript Objects
5. JavaScript Classes
6. JavaScript Class Inheritance

Additional Topics:

• JavaScript Spread Operator

Unit Three: React

React is a powerful Javascript library used to build more complicated user interfaces.

1. React Introduction
2. Creating a New React Application
3. React State
4. React Props
5. React Functional Props
6. React Inputs and Events
7. React Forms and Functional Props

Additional Topics:

• React State with Images
• React Component Lifecycle
• Smart and Dumb Components
• Testing Props with Jest

Unit Four: Ruby

Ruby is a backend, object-oriented programming language. Here we will cover the fundamentals of the Ruby language and revisit the fundamental concepts shared by many programming languages.

1. Ruby Introduction
2. Ruby Conditionals
3. Ruby Methods
4. Ruby Blocks and Iterables
5. Ruby Hashes
6. Ruby Classes and Objects
7. Ruby Inheritance
8. Ruby Testing with RSpec
9. Text Based Game Challenge

Unit Five: Intro to Postgres and Ruby on Rails Models

Rails is full-stack framework built into the Ruby programming language. Here we will focus on the model layer of the MVC architecture pattern through a deep-dive into Active Record and persistence storage with Postgres.

PostgreSQL

1. Introduction to Databases
2. PostgreSQL Queries

Ruby on Rails

1. Ruby on Rails Introduction
2. Active Record Introduction
3. Active Record Migrations
4. Active Record Associations
5. Active Record Validations and Models Specs

Additional Topics:

• Rails Database Seeds

Unit Six: Ruby on Rails

In this section we explore all the Ruby on Rails MVC architecture has to offer. We built our first full-stack application as well as look at how to create a backend-only Rails application.

1. Rails Controllers, Routes, and Views
2. Rails Parameters
3. Rails RESTful Routes and CRUD Actions
4. Full-stack Rails
5. Rails Generate Resource
6. Wildlife Tracker Challenge

Additional Topics:

• Postman

Unit Seven: Professional Development Week

Professional development is dedicated to preparation for internship and the upcoming career transition. Here we leverage LEARN's career services manager to curate tech resumes, share each student's portfolio, improve online professional presence, develop networking techniques for every personality, practice technical interview skills, and learn about salary negotiations. All resources are available in the cohort Google drive.

Journey to Becoming a Developer

• Life Map Activity
• Elevator Pitch
• Transferable Skills
• Tech Industry Job Outlook
• Remote Worker Panel

The Job Search

• Building a Tech Resume
• Crafting a Cover Letter
• Best Practices: Applying to Jobs

The Interview

• Salary Negotiations
• Coding Interviews 101
• Mock Interviews with ZEAL
• Portfolio Demos
• How to Prepare for Interviews

Building Relationships

• LinkedIn Building: An Interactive Session
• Networking for the Introvert
• Informational Interviews
• Job Search & Mental Health

Wrap-up the Week

• Tech Recruiter Panel
• One on ones with Career Services Manager
• Internship Process Overview

Unit Eight: Cat Tinder! Combining React and Rails

Here we explore our first decoupled, full-stack application. We build a React frontend and a Ruby on Rails backend leveraging all the concept we've covered so far.

This Is So Fetch

1. Consuming External APIs with Fetch

Cat Tinder Frontend

1. Cat Tinder Introduction, Routing, and Wireframes
2. Cat Tinder Testing with Jest and Enzyme
3. Cat Tinder Read Functionality
4. Cat Tinder Create Functionality
5. Cat Tinder Update Functionality

Cat Tinder Backend

6. Cat Tinder API Introduction
7. Cat Tinder API Seeds
8. Cat Tinder API CORS
9. Cat Tinder API Endpoints
10. Cat Tinder API Validations

Bringing it Together!

11. Cat Tinder Fetch for Read Functionality
12. Cat Tinder Fetch for Create Functionality
13. Cat Tinder Fetch for Update Functionality
14. Cat Tinder Fetch for Delete Functionality

Unit Nine: React in Rails and Authentication

There are many ways to create a full-stack application. In this section we use Ruby on Rails to host React components in a monolithic application. We also introduce Devise, a Ruby gem that gives us the ability to create user login.

1. React IN Rails Introduction
2. Apartment App Devise Introduction
3. Apartment App Devise with React
4. Apartment App Challenge

Additional Topics:

• Authorization and Authentication

Unit Ten: Capstone Project, MVP

The capstone project is the peak experience at LEARN Academy. Students work in a small group to create a full-stack web application. Acting as a development team, the students use agile and scrum project management techniques to plan, wireframe, code, and deploy an application.

• Capstone Project Details
• Capstone Requirements
• Rails has_many_through
• Modifying Devise

Unit Eleven: Capstone Project, Icebox

• Rails JBuilder
• Heroku
• ActiveStorage

Unit Twelve: Internship Preparation