leonnoel.com

#100Devs Free Full Stack Web Development Bootcamp (Live)

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Hey, folx!

Starting Oct. 20th, I will be running a live intensive full stack web development bootcamp covering everything you need to know to go from no technical skills to employable. We’ll meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30pm EST to 9:30pm EST with office hours on Saturdays from 12pm EST to 3pm EST. The goal is to give folks who have been laid off or affected by the pandemic the tools they need to command a job in software engineering. I’m looking for a group of 100 individuals (#100Devs) and will give priority to those affected by the pandemic and/or under represented in tech. I recently ran a short 5 week bootcamp that was an amazing success. I want to follow it up with a 30 week full stack program to help folx get ready for a career in software engineering.

If you would like to join, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/ngK4pnr9pLediMjS9

Complete these tasks: https://gleam.io/e6AV3/100devs-signup

And send a short 2 minute recorded video of why this bootcamp is right for you to leon@leonnoel.com (Be sure to include your name in the video. If you do not have the means to record video, please reach out for an alternative request)

Also, please know that I will be requiring everyone to sign a commitment contract prior to starting the bootcamp. If you can not commit to meeting every Tuesday / Thursday, putting in 10 hours of work outside of class each week, and committing to a full 30 weeks, this bootcamp is not for you.

This program is 100% free, so the barrier to entry will be high and I hope you see this a necessary process to find 100 folx super committed to changing their future.

A little about me:

I’m Managing Director of Engineering for Resilient Coders. My job is to get black and brown folks into high paying careers as software engineers. We’re pretty damn good at it too. 85% of our graduates, most of whom do not have degrees or prior experience, go on to get full time offers at an average starting salary of $98,000. No bullshit or funny business. I’m also a Distinguished Faculty Member at General Assembly were I’ve been helping folks learn to code for the past 8 years. You can see a sampling of my classes taught at Harvard, MIT, and elsewhere here and reviews from my past students here.

What to expect:

We’ll have class two nights a week with the expectation that you come prepared and have done the assigned reading ahead of time. I like to use lecture as a means of exploration and not dictation, but that only works if you come prepared. The first half of class will be exploring new topics and the second half will be lab. During lab, you will tackle what we just covered by building. You’ll never just listen to me and then sign off. Myself and TA’s will be available throughout the lab. You’ll have real time guidance / feedback and a chance to have all your questions answered.

This course is designed to give you the skills you will need to pursue a career as a software engineer, but will only work if you are committed and ready to put in serious work.

Why am I doing this:

My activism is teaching. I want to help folks affected by the pandemic and those under represented in tech. The bootcamps I run are either very selective or expensive, so I am hoping to help in the best way I know how by offering a full stack course for free.

Disclaimer:

I like to joke, curse, and have fun. I do the same thing in my classroom. I value learning over nit picky correctness. If any of these things bother you, this course might not be the best fit.

Here are the videos from my most recent live bootcamp: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGiRSHBdWuCgjgmPPz_13xw

These should give you a good idea of my teaching style and what to expect.

If you have questions, please join our discord (leonnoel.com/discord) and ask in the #100Devs channel.

I’m looking for #100Devs and hope you will be one of them!

Free 5 Week Web Development Bootcamp (Live)

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 12:00:00 GMT

Hey, folks!

Starting Aug. 4th, I will be running a live 5 week intensive web development bootcamp covering the basics of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. We’ll meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30pm EST to 9:30pm EST with office hours on Saturdays from 12pm EST to 3pm EST. The goal is to give folks who have been laid off or affected by the pandemic the chance to see if web development (coding, programming, software engineering, ect…) is fit for them. I’m looking for a group of 20 to 30 individuals and will give priority to those affected by the pandemic and/or under represented in tech. If you would like to join, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/9XPpU1F8bbvFomBx9

A little about me:

What to expect:

This course will not help you get a job! It will be a great introduction to web development (HTML, CSS, and a little JS), but if you are looking to make a career change this won’t be the golden ticket. For anyone who completes the course, I’ll build them a custom learning plan and help them figure out the best next steps. For a lot of folks, that may mean joining a bootcamp like the ones General Assembly offers.

Why am I doing this:

Disclaimer:

I like to joke, curse, and have fun. I do the same thing in my classroom. I value learning over nit picky correctness. If any of these things bother you, this course might not be the best fit.

Here is a sample from a recent class:

Peace!

Using Kiwix To Power Offline Learning In Remote Schools

Mon, 04 May 2020 12:00:00 GMT

For the past three summers my wife has led a group of rising college freshmen on a two week leadership service trip through Tanzania and Kenya as part of the Next Generation Leaders Program. Youth in this program work with Grand Circle Foundation to design and execute impactful service projects requested by leaders in select Maasai communities. Over the last ten years, they have built classrooms, school kitchens, distributed hundreds of reusable sanitary napkins for girls, and donated thousands of much needed school supplies. During their 2019 summer trip, Chief Lubulu, leader of a village that borders Tarangire National Park in Tanzania, asked for support building their first ever computer lab at the Eluway Primary School, that served over 200 students. My wife introduced me to the youth going on last year’s trip with the goal of creating a computer lab. Together, we decided to go bigger. We built two computer labs and 8 additional offline hotspots that could be distributed to other schools and NGOs during their trip. The following is a breakdown of the hardware and software we used to bring wikipedia, books, and learning materials to hundreds of students miles away from the nearest internet connection.

Above is the first school’s completed computer lab at the new Lewis Secondary School, led by Chief Joseph, in a village near the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. It includes two Raspberry Pi 4s for the actual computers and a Raspberry Pi 3B+ for the offline hotspot. We needed computers that consumed minimal power, were easy to fix or replace by shipping to these remote locations, and that took up minimal space. Both computer labs and all 10 of the offline hotspots had to fit in one medium suitcase and then later be carried in a large reusable Ikea bag.

The Raspberry Pis checked all the boxes, but they also had one major factor in their favor. They supported Kiwix Hotspot. Kiwix is an offline reader for online content like Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, and TED Talks. It makes knowledge available to people with no or limited internet access. The software as well as the content is free to use for anyone. The Kiwix Project introduced Kiwix Hotspot which was perfect for this application. A Kiwix Hotspot allows you to distribute free content through a local WiFi network with an inexpensive computer like the Raspberry Pi. End users just need a WiFi-enabled device with a browser: no need to download and install anything on their devices. This hotspot solution would work well with the slightly more powerful Pis powering the computer labs and would work well as hotspots distributed to the other schools and shelters. Anyone with a phone, tablet, or any device with a browser would have access to all of wikipedia, thousands of books, ted talks, and a few stack exchanges.

How To Build A Kiwix Hotspot

The process for putting together a kiwix hotspot is very straightforward due to the hard work of the Kiwix Project and their Hotspot image creator. For $10, they give access to a wysiwyg editor where you can choose all the ZIM packages (the individual apps that can run on the hotspot) and their server will spit out a completed image that can be flashed onto an SD card. The image took some time to render as mine was 256gb, but was emailed directly to me upon completion. 70gb was simply Wikipedia. I used a free tool, Balena Etcher, to flash a 256gb SD card with the Kiwix Image. It is a simple drag and drop tool. Once the image is done flashing, you simply insert the sd card into a completed Rasberry Pi and everything just works!

Once the Raspberry Pi is powered on and with the sd card inserted, you will see a new wifi network that you can join with the SSID name you chose while using Kiwix’s image creator. Next navigate the custom url you chose or http://goto.kiwix.hotspot and you will be able to access all the kiwix apps. Special note that on android devices you may have to select “Stay Connected” for connection to the hotspot not to drop.

On a Raspberry Pi 3B+ everything loads snappy and I was able to have 5 simultaneous users accessing all the different content at the same time. Multiple folks watching Ted Talks and some browsing wikipedia or downloading books off of Project Gutenberg all worked flawlessly. I used Canakits 3B+ kit which included heatsinks, the pi, a case, and a power supply. These worked well price wise due to being close to Microcenter and catching a deal. I did, however, clean out their entire stock… Also, I was extremely lucky to grab Raspberry Pi 4s as soon as they dropped from MicroCenter which I would go on to use as the main computers.

Setting Up The Computer Lab

Above is Chief Lobulu of the Maasai overseeing the construction of the computer lab at The Eluway School. As chief, it was his responsibility to ensure successful completion of the project. Two of the Next Generation Leaders had helped me build the Raspberry Pi 4s the month prior and were on hand to set everything up. The Raspberry Pi 4s were loaded with open office, minecraft, and a bunch of other helpful free software apps. I grabbed inland keyboards and mice which were on sale for $8 as a set at Microcenter along with inland headsets so folks could listen to the Ted Talks on the Kiwix Hotspots. Also, I got lucky and was able to snag AOC monitors on sale that worked well and fit in the suitcase. Shout out Microcenter 🙌🏽

As of right now (5/2/20), Microcenter has the Raspberry Pi 3B+ kit we used for $54.99 and the 256gb Samsung Evo SD cards we used are$ 49.99 on Amazon. That plus the $10 Kiwix Image creator brings a hotspot to$ 114.98. Not bad for a fully offline system that brings so much educational and entertainment value. For the main computers, we used Raspberry Pi 4 (2gb RAM versions) which right now Microcenter has for $35, official power supplies for$ 7.99, cases for $4.99, heatsinks for$ 3.99 and 32gb Samsung Evo sd cards for $7.49 bringing the total cost for each device to$ 59.46.

In conclusion

We were able to set up each computer lab for ~$350 including the monitors and peripherals. So far they’ve worked great, draw minimal power, and are easily replaceable by posting replacements to our partners in the area. We were also fortunate to be able to build 8 other hotspots that were left at shelters and remote villages as the Next Generation Leaders completed their trip.

Big thanks Alan & Harriet Lewis and the Lewis Family Foundation for backing my idea and covering the complete cost. Also, thanks to Stephane Coillet-Matillon and the entire Kiwix team for answering my questions, helping me build the kiwix images, and building a project that empowers learners around the world.