Turning Baseballs To Apples: How our students learn to learn

Little Johnny approaches his father one day, an apple firmly clasped in his hand. "Dad," he asks, "how do you throw an apple?" Puzzled by his question, his father considers for a moment and then answers, "Why, the same way you throw a baseball, son." Little Johnny's face breaks into a mischievous smile, and he yelps his thanks and runs off, apple still clutched in his hand. Of course, not even five minutes passes before the father gets a phone call from the neighbour reporting that Little Johnny has splattered rotten apples all over his bay window.

How does this apply to a coding bootcamp, you ask? Recently, Lighthouse Labs held our June Demo Day, for the most recent graduates of our program. This event is equal parts talent showcase, product demonstration, and rite of passage. What was most significant to the event wasn't the products themselves: the killer dating app(see below), the learning assistance app, the cool security cameras, or the gratification of sinking your opponent's battleship. It was the realization that in each and every case, our students had chosen to continue on beyond their skills gained and adopt new technologies. They had learned new languages and platforms in order to deliver their vision.

This, beyond the apps themselves, was what our graduates were demonstrating to the public. They were exhibiting their ability to approach other languages with the confidence borne from having already conquered the fundamentals of Ruby, Sinatra, Rails, and JavaScript/jQuery. In that light, our graduates took on Python, SVG, AngularJS, and Node. They learned advanced techniques of responsive design, canvas animations, and WebSockets. Essentially, we had shown them how to properly throw a baseball; they used that experience to throw around apples, oranges, and any other technology they wanted to pick up.

We have seen graduates go on to take jobs that required languages such as PHP and techniques such as machine learning and API development. In each case, our students have reported back that the effort of learning the new technologies was so much less than they had anticipated. The skills they had incubated during their time at Lighthouse equipped them to take on the new challenges with which they were presented. What this accomplished is far more than a soiled window and 15 minutes in "time-out" for Little Johnny. Instead, it is an opportunity to realize a product vision without being limited by a lack of familiarity with the best technology needed to implement it.

Want to see how they turn baseballs to apples? Read a day in the life at Lighthouse Labs

Or, want to se it live? Get exclusive pre-registration for the next Demo Day below: