Why I love Screenhero, git branching, and mentors

One of the benefits of having a mentor is learning how to work with others. I am no expert but imagine once I actually get a job in developing I will need to have the ability to work remotely with others through the use of screen sharing and git branching, both of which I learned how to use last week.

Today marks the 3rd week of my Bloc apprenticeship and I have already exceeded my goal in learning more than I had learned previously on my own. I only spent about 6 weeks learning programming and then Rails. So far I have completed the first 2 weeks of Ruby basic learning, which has helped tremendously now that I am started my first full Rails app while in bloc. The three things I find most beneficial in my learning is the use of Screenhero, Git branching, and Bloc's Office Hours.

1. Screenhero

Screen hero is an amazing free piece of software (which is free). I have used it with the combination of Skype audio. My mentor is able to take control of the screen and walk me through any issues I might be struggling with, and I have had lots of issues.

2. Git Branching

Now git branching is something I have heard of but not something I used previously. I had the opportunity to learn it over the weekend through the Bloc roadmap. Creating a branch in git lets you create changes without committing to the master branch. I am enjoying the safety blanket of not completely ruining my repo especially since I have had experiences creating projects and needing to start over from scratch because a pestering mistake I could not figure out. My recommendation to anyone who has not completely learn how git and branching works to learn it now to prevent the headaches I went through. Trygit

3. Office Hours

Office hours is Bloc's attempt to have 24/7 support for students through the use a private mentor chatroom. I say it's an attempt because it not completely 24/7, but I don't fault them at that because not everyone is up at 4am eastern looking for Rails help like myself. I used the Office Hours for the first time last weekend when I had an issue working with Ruby Blocks. My personal mentor has been readily available on the weekdays but when it comes to the weekends he is less available, but having the assistance of other Bloc mentors is huge plus. I am currently getting about 15 hours of learning during the week, but Bloc requires 25, so I get most of my learning in on the weekends. I am pretty sure the weekend mentors are getting used to me popping in and asking quick questions.

Another plus is not having to worry about if my dumb question are too dumb to answer. My first day my mentor told me not to fear asking stupid questions and I get the same feeling from the other mentors in Office Hours. I also don't have to worry about lowering my Stack Overflow rating because my questions might get voted down (which happened.)

I am looking forward to this week, all of the Basic Ruby is done and its now on to create my first app Bloccit. Each section runs 2 weeks but I am already on lesson 10/21. I might be getting a bit ahead this week, which will be good since the next section will be working on practice freelance projects.

*This blog is not meant to be a Bloc cheerleading page, but that is where I am currently in my journey and there will be more Bloc praise to come.