Showing posts with label cartwheel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cartwheel. Show all posts

Friday, April 22, 2011

I teach Python and Django

This is one of those blog posts where a developer announces that he/she is teaching for a whole week. The difference is that in this post I'm going to explain why I want to teach and why you should take my classes or send your staff.

I'm an experienced instructor.
I've taught a variety of things for over 20 years, including in alphabetical order: Best practices, Django, English, JQuery, martial arts, Pinax, Python, Selenium, soccer, and unit testing. I speak clearly, get across technical points well, and love the material. I also know how to provide an early foundation of knowledge and then expand upon it for maximum benefit.

I don't just dump knowledge into the heads of my students; I take the time to teach them common standards and best practices, so their code is extendable and maintainable.

I'm not alone. 
Audrey Roy, co-founder of Cartwheel, leader of PyLadies and Django Packages, who has tutored and lab assisted at MIT will be teaching with me, meaning the teacher-to-student ratio is kept at 5:1 for our first offering. 

I want you to surpass me.
After teaching various things for many years I've found it a point of honor and immense pride when a student shines better than myself. I'm not one of those teachers who holds something back so I can always have the edge. In fact, my ultimate goal is to make you better than me.

I rest on the shoulders of giants.
I'm sure the people I'm mentioning in this section are going to roll their eyes, but lets face it - they rock!

In any case, I've had the fortune of helping Steve Holden write Python 3 classes for the O'Reilly School of Technology. I've been exposed to the Django code bases of NASARevSys and Eldarion. While I can't share that work directly, I can take the abstract of their methods and turn it into lessons.

For the employers: Classes are a good way to find resources
Having trouble finding staff? Imagine instead you hire a talented developer from another language and send them to my classes. In a week's time for a fraction of the price they'll have been kickstarted into not just knowing how to do their job, but how to expand their knowledge so if they don't know something, they know who to ask.

Refresher courses are free for six months
Space-permitting, you can retake a class at no charge.

The course schedule
Our first classes are scheduled for May 16th to May 20th. We are offering:
One more thing, if you take both classes we'll give you a 10% discount after registration.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Los Angeles Open Source Hackathon

I want to announce the launch of our new company which we've named Cartwheel! Besides Python and Django consulting, our plan is to support local Los Angeles small business, teach classes, and host events. And our first event is a Los Angeles Open Source Hackathon on February 5th! Space is limited so RSVP before tickets run out!

Open Source Hackathon at Cartwheel

A hackathon (or sprint if we want to be Pythonic) is where a bunch of developers get together to push various projects forward.

Bring your laptop and work on any open source project that you'd like, as long as it's open source. It can be an existing open source project (e.g. Django, Python) or a new one of your own. Leave the work stuff at work!

Got an existing project? Hackathons are a great place to share ideas and perhaps find additional contributors. Let me know and I'll put it in an additional blog post.

New to open source? A beginning developer? We'll help you get started with open source software development and do our best match you to a project that fits what you want to do.

Some projects that may be worked on:
Please RSVP as soon as possible. The $10 ($11.54 with fee) ticket price covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Costs are partially subsidized by Cartwheel. We hope you can join us!