House Rules

• Cameras on:
  1. 8-9am
  2. During breakout discussions and when paired coding
  3. After 2pm
• Be an excellent neighbour:
  • People are allowed to like (and not like) things;
  • Work the problem before asking for help;
  • Teach a skill you've learned.
• Ask a question any time during a live stream. There are no dumb questions (maybe silly ones).
• One-on-ones: DM your instructor anytime to book a time for a confidential video/audio chat. Note: this is not for tutoring, see below.

Sidebars

Direct Message your instructor at any time if you have a private non-coding concern or question.

Getting programming help

There is only one instructor (per course) but many students. Three key skills we will be teaching in this program are:

1. Independent learning
2. How to ask for help
3. Knowing when to ask for help

These are skills employers look for when they hire Juniors.

Debugging

We recommend you follow these steps when you run into a problem:

1. Troubleshoot! This is how you learn to code: through your fingers.
   • Are there syntax errors?
   • Did you validate your code?
   • Can you reproduce the error reliably?
   • Any theories?
2. Using the proper terminology, search for solutions online;
   • And learn to recognize the quality of a search result;
3. More troubleshooting!
4. Talk to a rubber duck;
   • It seems silly but just talking through a problem out loud will often lead to a potential solution. The mind is funny that way.
5. If you're still stuck, ask for help (and be respectful of someone's time) from:
   • your classmates, using the #fall-2021 Slack channel (so others can benefit from the discussion);
   • outside nerds, such as forums, Discord servers, etc;
   • your instructor, keeping in mind they will ask you if you've attempted any of the above steps.

Slack best practices

• @mention someone if it's important or a direct reply to someone's message. This will send the person a notification (by default) but don't overuse it.
• Can your question be answered by a classmate? Consider posting it in #fall-2021 instead of a Direct Message. The answer will probably be of use to the rest of the group (don't forget to work the problem yourself, first).
• Don't wait for someone to be online before asking them a question. Just ask the question and give the person some time to respond.
  • The goal of asynchronous messaging apps is to provide enough information so that someone can help while you're offline.
  • Think like you're sending an email (asynchronous), not live chatting (synchronous).
  • Examples of flawed Slack messages:
    • "Hi @tony" (and then nothing after)
    • "@tony I'd like to ask a question" (and then nothing after)
  • Examples of great Slack messages:
    • "I can't figure out how to move this button to the left. Any ideas? Screencap attached! Here's a link to the GitHub code! I think it's a problem with line 25."
      • You've been staring at the same code for awhile. Others haven't. Point them in the right direction.
    • "@katy Free at 5pm for a strategy chat? If not, I'm free tomorrow during lunch."
      • Providing backup options reduce the need for back-and-forth discussion.
• Want to meet any past grads? Post a message in #general.