Closing Thoughts on Big Nerd Ranch’s Front End Web Class

I posted a few thoughts while I was attending the Front End Web class last week and I figured I’d put a cap on it with some final thoughts.

Disclaimer: If you happen to find this post and don’t know, I do in fact work for Big Nerd Ranch, so yes I’m partial but these are still my honest opinions.

Who is this class for?

Like other BNR books and classes, there is an expectation of some experience. You don’t need to be an expert by any means for this class but you should be comfortable with the basics of web design, hosting and how the web works. If you are looking for these beginner skills I’d recommend Code School and/or Code Academy.

With the basics taken care of, this class provides an accelerated but thorough tour of modern web development and the toolchains that you need to know. The class is great for people like myself, who have a history of web development but have been out of the game for a few years or mostly focused on the backend systems. Others who would find value include those who are looking to jumpstart a new web skill set for a new job or project.

Having a full week to escape the distractions of work and personal obligations really enables you to focus on the class at hand. Combine this with guided lectures and an experienced instructor to answer questions and discuss patterns, really elevates the value to “priceless”.

The Syllabus

The table of contents titles don’t really do justice to the details of each chapter. In total we build four separate projects:

• The first had us work with HTML5, CSS and JavaScript to do a moderately complex layout of a slideshow like page that included animations, responsive layout and modern markup techniques.
• The second project was a Coffee Order system the helped us use HTML5 forms, Bootstrap styles, and JavaScript to communicate with a backend via AJAX.
• The third project was a chat app, that utilized web sockets. For this app we not only built the front end but the backend too, in Node.js.
• The fourth and final project was an EmberJS app that would have us catalog monster sightings. Ember is a big framework but I think the book does a fair introduction. We got to work with a relationship of models, and executed all the big features.

I thought the chapter and project progression went really well. There are some who might prefer to end with Angular or React instead of Ember but the good thing to know is the early class concepts give you a great JavaScript foundation to build on so you’ll be empowered to experiment with all of those projects and more over time.

That is a core value of Big Nerd Ranch classes that I really agree with. They teach you from the bottom up so you can understand how things work and not just how to assemble/configure things.

The Extras

There is lots of open lab time at night. You are encouraged to bring a side project to work on. While I did make some progress on my own project, an Ember Wiki project (I have some basic models and forms working, all backed up my a Firebase persistence layer), I did have to dedicate some lab time to the book itself to make sure I kept up.

In the afternoons we’d have time for a walk around the resort and on some of the days we even arranged for a shuttle van to take us to some of the exhibits, like the Birds of Prey and the Butterfly Center. Considering how focused we are during the class, these excursions are very welcome and a great way to clear your head and get a second wind.

Final Thoughts

If you want to learn a new technology, in this case Front End Web Development, and in particular if there is a time-sensitive nature to your needs it’s hard to imagine a better environment than a Big Nerd Ranch class. The ticket price does include lodging and food for the week so keep that in mind when shopping around or putting together a formal company request. If you have any questions, feel free to contact training support. They’ll be happy to help you out.