Welcome to the Software Engineering Course

Introduction

Welcome to Flatiron School's Software Engineering course! Over the next few months you will learn everything you need to know to get started as a Software Engineer. It's going to be harder, and more rewarding than any other learning experience you've ever had, we promise, but we're thrilled that you've joined our community. Let's learn together.

Before diving in, we need to briefly go over a few things. In the upcoming lessons, we'll get your personal computer set up (what we refer to as 'your local environment') and walk through the process of completing and submitting coursework.

In this lesson, though, we'd like to talk about the structure of this course.

Accessing Software Engineering Course Content

Our Software Engineering curriculum is divided into a series of courses. Each course is a collection of many lessons, organized into topics (referred to as modules in Canvas).

You can access the courses available to you by clicking Courses in the navigation on the left.

Clicking on a course will display that course's front page. To access the rest of this course's content, click Modules in the navigation just to the left of this reading.

The Modules page displays all course content available to you. Note that depending on which type of course you're taking, some content may only be made available after you've completed the current course materials.

How Our Curriculum Works

As mentioned, lessons are organized into modules based on topic. Later lessons build off the earlier ones, so it is strongly advised that you complete each lesson in the order provided. Use the Modules page to go back and review earlier content if needed. When you complete a lesson, use the Next button to continue to the next lesson.

As you work through the content, you'll be able to see which lessons and modules you've completed, started, and not started.

A check mark indicates you've completed that lesson. An open circle indicates a lesson you have not started yet. A circle with a dash inside indicates a lesson you've started, but haven't completed yet. If you've started work on a module, it will display a circle with a dash inside until all of the module's required lessons are completed.

Lesson Types

There are a few types of lessons you'll see in this Software Engineering course. The most basic is a Page, like this lesson. Here are the main lesson types you'll see:

• Pages: These contain content to read on a particular subject. No action needed, just reading and learning.
• Assignments: These are lessons where action is needed. Assignments can be many things. Some assignments will include tests for code, sometimes referred to as labs. Other assignments may just ask you to code along and apply a concept as you are learning it.
• Quizzes: These are included to assess your knowledge of the topics discussed. Quizzes will typically be placed at the end of a topic.

Portfolio projects, assessments and blog submissions will all be available in Canvas as assignments, since they all require work to be submitted. We will talk more about assignments in an upcoming lesson.

Conclusion

We are comrades in a never-ending quest for knowledge. While there are no shortcuts, we believe that by providing knowledge in an optimized order, reinforcing knowledge with hands-on, feedback driven practice, and providing space for discussion, you will learn quickly. Our goal is to provide the right materials, support and structure you need to discover your own love for the code.

You're just getting started, and we're happy you're here. Continue on and happy learning!