/post-grad-ed

Improve your coding skills mentored by a professional developer and solve real technical assignment from real companies!

Primary LanguageHTML

If you are following the HackYourFuture curriculum we recommend you to start with module 1: HTML/CSS/GIT. To get a complete overview of the HackYourFuture curriculum first, click here.

If you are a PGP mentor, take a look at our guide on how to mentor PostGrads.

Please help us improve and share your feedback! If you find better tutorials or links, please share them by opening a pull request.

Post Graduation Education

Postgrad

Congratulations on finishing the HackYourFuture 7-month program!

In this repository you'll find a curriculum that helps you further master the contents of our program, work on real technical assignment from companies and and further practice your presentation skills.

Each of the following 4 weeks, you'll do exercises and assignments in order to strengthen your skills:

  • Technical assignments (TA): This is the bulk of this module. You'll prepare for the job interview process, by making real technical assignments that come from real companies. During the first (and third) week you will have to make an assignment that complies with all the requirements. The second (and fourth) week you will take the applications to the next level by designing and implementing new features and functionality.
  • Videos: Every week you will have to record a video explaining a concept youve learned. In Week 4 you will also have to prepare a video job application which will be your 'test' to see to what degree you are able to present yourself professionally and confidently.
  • Plannings and learnings: On weeks 1 and 3 you will share your planning on which technologies you will use for the upcoming TA and which features you will add in weeks 2 and 4. Additionally, every week you will share a small message with your group mentioning what you have learned by working on the TA.
  • Questionnaires: Every week you'll have to complete a simple questionnaire containing common interview questions that will challenge you to think about what you want out of your career. Put time to think about the answers as these can be usef in any real interview.

Each week also contains aditional material to revise Javascript fundamentals and learn the basics of Algorithmic Thinking. While these sections are optional and your mentors won't give you feedback on them, we strongly recommend you to go through it to polish and improve your skills.

  • JavaScript Cardio (Optional): In these exercises you'll become more familiar with various JavaScript methods and practice with them. You'll watch videos and code along.
  • Algorithms (Optional): In these exercises you'll practice your ability to think in steps, by doing programming challenges.

Mentorship & accountability

During this module we expect you to behave like a professional developer. This means that you have to meet deadlines and communicate accordingly.

Failing to stick to deadlines and/or communicating about your progress or setbacks will drop you from this program. The HackYourFuture team as well as your mentors are available to help you go through this process, but it is your responsibility to make it a success. Think of this module as a real job.

At the start of this module you'll be paired up with a mentor. It's important that you 'make good use' of your mentor: they can help you plan how to approach the projects, can give you feebdback and code reviews and be there to help you with what you need for a successful completion of the module.

Having said that, keep in mind that the mentor will respond to your requests and not be there to ask you what you need. It is YOUR responsibility to ask for help, to plan meetings and to make the best out of this opportunity. Do not wait for the mentor to take intitiative him/herself but rather show proactivity yourself by planning meetings, asking for support and code reviews, asking for their opinion on your planning, etc.

Needless to say, do your upmost best on the TA's. When delivering great work, these can become part of your CV to show employers the quality of your work.

Important note for trainees: Remember that your mentor volunteers for this practice because he/she wants to do so. Having said that, DON'T BE SHY AND ASK FOR HELP AND GUIDANCE! If the mentor is too busy at any given time, they will let you know. Also don't try to do all by yourself and learn from your mentor instead. They have many years of experience and working with them is a unique opportunity to learn!

About deadlines and dedication

Deadlines are supposed to be every Friday at 23:59 hs. If (together with your mentor) you decide to move the deadlines to another day (maybe sunday, or monday in the following week) because that works bette that's fine as long as the new deadline is communicated in the group followed every week.

To successfully complete this module you will need to spend a minimum of 30 hours of quality hours per week. Since you should treat HackYourFuture as a job and not a hobby, the more hours the better. Some of our best PGP trainees put in 40-50 hours a week. With more skills and a better end project, this has helped them to find a job faster.

If you don’t have enough time, communicate this to your mentor and the HYF staff. However, know that our job-seeking support goes first to those of you that show full-time commitment and excellent communication skills.

Performance review

At the end of the Post Graduation Module, your mentor and the HYF team will conduct a performance review to provide you with feedback on how you performed in the past 4 weeks and how you can improve moving forward. The general factors to be evaluated are:

  • Code Quality: Do you have a good code style and write efficient, performant and maintainable code? Do you apply the suggested feedback in time and push code often?
  • Communication: Do you communicate clearly and precisely? Do you produce easily understandable videos and presentations? Do you reply to feedback constructively?
  • Responsibility and proactivity: Are you on time (and planning) for meetings? Do you submit your assignments on time? Are you actively looking for support and ways to improve yourself? Do you plan meetings and seek for feedback? Do you apply that feedback andlook for ways to constantly improve yourself?

Planning

Week Weekly Deliverables Repositories
1. TA1 Planning + TA1 Code + Video 1 + Questionnaire 1 + Learnings 1 WEEK 1
2. TA1 Final + Video 2 + Questionnaire 2 + Learnings 2 WEEK 2
3. TA2 Planning + TA2 Code + Video 3 + Questionnaire 3 + Learnings 3 WEEK 3
4. TA2 Final + Video 4 + Questionnaire 4 + Learnings 4 + Video Job Application WEEK 4

Finished?

If you finished the program and you still havent found an internship or job, you can:

  • Further practice your interviewing skills

  • Do (or redo) all the optional material

  • Further improve the TA's to add to your portfolio / CV

  • Work on the TA's that you didnt worked on before but that are also in this repo

  • Contact the HYF team to setup a Fellowship Group and work on some awesome projects!

  • Post Graduation Skills Checklist

You got this!

The HackYourFuture curriculum is subject to CC BY copyright. This means you can freely use our materials, but just make sure to give us credit for it :)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.