Syllabus

Welcome to the LEARN Syllabus!

LEARN is a 16-week, full-time program consisting of 640 practical learning hours. Students are in class Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm in the Pacific Time Zone. Each unit below represents approximately one week of instruction. The instruction is conducted remotely but in real time. Instructors are available to students during classroom hours listed above and after hours by appointment. The final four weeks of the program are a practicum in a development role.

This repository is a reflection of the current status of the curriculum at LEARN Academy. Just like the technology we teach, the syllabus is ever-evolving and adapting to suit the needs of the user. That's you! The instructors at LEARN Academy are continuously pushing the syllabus forward; working to give our students the best experience possible. If you want to contribute to our syllabus to fix errors, expand definitions, or further explain concepts, etc. please see our Style Guidelines for process details.

Table of Contents

• Unit One: Javascript Introduction
• Unit Two: Javascript Foundations
• Unit Three: React
• Unit Four: Ruby
• Unit Five: Intro to Postgres and Ruby on Rails Models
• Unit Six: Ruby on Rails
• Unit Seven: Professional Development
• Unit Eight: Cat Tinder! Combining React and Rails
• Unit Nine: React and Rails with Authentication
• Unit Ten: Capstone Project, MVP
• Unit Eleven: Capstone Project, Icebox

GitHub and Terminal

• Terminal
• Git and GitHub Introduction
• Git and GitHub Configurations
• Collaborative Coding with GitHub
• Accessing and Submitting Assessments

Resources

• Attendance Policy
• Pair Programming
• Debugging Tools
• Wireframes
• White Boarding Steps
• Interview Questions
• Customize Your LinkedIn URL
• Jumpstart Student Notes

Career Services Resources

• LinkedIn: A Guided Tour Presentation
• LinkedIn: All Star Status Presentation
• LinkedIn: Extending Your Network Presentation
• LinkedIn: Creating Content
• LinkedIn Premium and LinkedIn Learning for Veterans
• Your Why
• Portfolio Presentation
• Technical Portfolios
• Networking at Events Presentation
• Job Listing Sites
• State of Tech Resources

First Day: Presentations

Welcome to LEARN Academy! Here is the information covered during orientation.

• Zoom Etiquette
• How We Work
• Code of Conduct
• Requirements and Expectations
• Career Services Overview
• Tech Stack
• Slack Overview
• Pair Programming
• HTML and CSS Fundamentals

Unit One: Javascript Introduction

This is our introduction to coding through the Javascript programming language. Here, we will cover foundational concepts and data structures that will get us thinking in code.

1. JavaScript Introduction
2. JavaScript Conditionals
3. JavaScript Arrays
4. JavaScript Loops
5. JavaScript Functions

Additional Topics

• JavaScript Ternary Operator

Unit Two: Javascript Foundations

This is our opportunity to dig a bit deeper into the Javascript programming language. Here, we will use the introductory topics in combination with more advanced logic performance and data manipulation.

1. JavaScript Functions, Loops, and Arrays
2. JavaScript Higher-Order Functions
3. JavaScript Testing with Jest
4. JavaScript Objects
5. JavaScript Classes

Additional Topics

• JavaScript Spread Operator

Unit Three: React

React is a powerful Javascript library used to build more complicated user interfaces.

1. React Introduction
2. Creating a New React Application
3. React State
4. Pig Latin Challenge
5. React Props
6. React Functional Props
7. React Inputs and Events
8. Treasure Hunt Challenge
9. Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Additional Topics

• React State with Images

Unit Four: Ruby

Ruby is a backend, object-oriented programming language. Here, we will cover the fundamentals of the Ruby language and revisit the fundamental concepts shared by many programming languages.

1. Ruby Introduction
2. Ruby Conditionals and Methods
3. Ruby Blocks and Iterables
4. Ruby Hashes
5. Ruby Objects and Classes
6. Ruby Class Inheritance
7. Ruby Testing with RSpec
8. Text Based Game Challenge

Unit Five: Intro to Postgres and Ruby on Rails Models

Rails is a full-stack framework built into the Ruby programming language. Here, we will focus on the model layer of the MVC architecture pattern through a deep dive into Active Record and persistence storage with Postgres.

PostgreSQL

1. Introduction to Databases
2. PostgreSQL Queries

Ruby on Rails

1. Ruby on Rails Introduction
2. Active Record Introduction
3. Active Record Migrations
4. Active Record Associations
5. Active Record Validations and Models Specs

Unit Six: Ruby on Rails

In this section we explore all the Ruby on Rails MVC architecture has to offer. We built our first full-stack application as well as look at how to create a backend-only Rails application.

1. Rails Controllers, Routes, and Views
2. Rails Params
3. Full-stack Rails
4. Rails API with Postman

Additional Topics

• Rails RESTful Routes and CRUD Actions

Unit Seven: Professional Development

Professional development is dedicated to preparation for internship and the upcoming career transition. Here we leverage LEARN's career services team to curate tech resumes, share each student's portfolio, create cover letters, develop networking techniques for every personality, and practice technical interview skills.

Journey to Becoming a Developer

• Life Map Activity Presentation
• Transferable Skills Presentation
• Elevator Pitch Presentation
• Tech Industry Job Outlook Presentation

The Job Search

• Building a Tech Resume Presentation
• Crafting a Cover Letter Presentation
• Cover Letter Resources
• Prentus Presentation

The Interview

• Coding Interviews 101 Presentation
• Ace the Interviews Presentation

Unit Eight: Cat Tinder! Combining React and Rails

Here, we explore our first decoupled, full-stack application. We build a React frontend and a Ruby on Rails backend leveraging all the concepts we've covered so far.

Project-based Learning

• Reestablishing Expectations

Cat Tinder Backend

1. Cat Tinder API Introduction
2. Cat Tinder API Seeds
3. Cat Tinder API CORS
4. Cat Tinder API Endpoints
5. Cat Tinder API Validations

Cat Tinder Frontend

6. Cat Tinder Introduction
7. Cat Tinder Testing
8. Cat Tinder Read Functionality
9. Cat Tinder Create Functionality
10. Cat Tinder Update Functionality

Bringing it Together!

11. Cat Tinder Fetch for Read Functionality
12. Cat Tinder Fetch for Create Functionality
13. Cat Tinder Fetch for Update Functionality
14. Cat Tinder Fetch for Delete Functionality

Cat Tinder Demos

15. Cat Tinder Demos

Unit Nine: React and Rails with Authentication

In this section, we further explore full-stack development in React and Ruby on Rails. We introduce Devise, a Ruby gem that gives us the ability to create user authentication and authorization.

Apartment App Backend

1. Apartment App with Devise and JWT
2. Apartment App API Endpoints and Validations

Apartment App Frontend

3. Apartment App React Configurations
4. Apartment App Protected Pages

Bringing it Together!

5. Apartment App Connect Authentication with JWT

Apartment App Demos

6. Apartment App Demos

Unit Ten: Capstone Project, MVP

The capstone project is the peak experience at LEARN Academy. Students work in small groups to create a full-stack web application. Acting as a development team, the students use agile and scrum project management techniques to plan, wireframe, code, and deploy an application.

• Capstone Project Details
• Capstone Requirements
• Rails has_many_through
• Modifying Devise
• Code Coverage

Unit Eleven: Capstone Project, Icebox

• Consuming External APIs with Fetch
• Handling API Keys
• Render