Cloudflare guest speaker shares career and hiring insights

At the October 24th meeting WVCC had a guest speaker. Jonathan Spies is an Engineering Director at Cloudflare, Inc. and previous Co-Founder of Bypass Mobile. Jonathan gave WVCC students insights and advice into the hiring process, as well as what Cloudflare does as a company.

Cloudflare protects and accelerates any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. It is not a VPN, but similar by allowing computers in different locations to be on the “same network” via Cloudflare’s global network of 200 systems. Additional information about Cloudflare, Inc. may be found at: www.cloudflare.com / @cloudflare

Some of the keys insights he provided in the hiring process were:

1.     Many companies may provide a coding assignment to complete. Submissions will work. How will your submission stand out?

2.     Code organization, reuse code instead of cut and paste, again (Clean, Efficient)

3.     Incorporates Automated Testing

4.     Being a “T-Shaped” person (Know how to do a lot of things pretty well and do one thing very well.

Jonathan also talked about future demand areas for Technology Companies, which included Security, Machine Learning and aspects that support the Entertainment Industry (Video Streaming in Real Time, Network Integrity and Graphics).

Jonathan’s last advice was to “Be Curious!” – Learning how to learn on your own allows you to be one of the best. The best people can figure it out. He shared there is a great resource in just exploring Wikipedia and finding more out about things.

The West Virginia Coding Club appreciates Jonathan Spies investing in our students, helping them to be better prepared for the future and their future careers.

WV Coding Club Team submits App for Congressional App Challenge

WV Coding Club Team, Zack, Miriam, Caleb and Chase recently submitted an App they built for helping fellow teens and others to keep organized through creating and managing tasks. This team won the Congressional App Challenge last year for their App submission helping fellow West Virginia teens with resources to help with various personal challenges.

The Team’s App for this year, “Fantasky” can be found at www.fantasky.app. The presentation of their video can be seen below and found on our youtube channel (WV Coding).

To go straight to the video, click on video below or click the link here: Fantasky App Presentation

Presentation of the West Virginia Coding Club Team on October 15, 2020 on the App they created www.fantasky.app to benefit fellow youth and adults. The West ...

How to Ask Questions in Treehouse Platform

Here is a quick tutorial for those needing help with coding challenges and other general coding. problems while using TeamTreehouse Platform.

WV Coding Club - Online Meetings coming soon!!!

Due to the University of Charleston’s current Covid-19 policy, they will not be able to host any on campus gatherings or outside visitors throughout the Fall semester. Because of this, WVCC will hold Zoom meetings for all club members beginning on Saturday, September 12 at 10:00am. All club members are required to tune into this meeting! A link to the meeting will be provided on our ( remind system ) the week prior to the meeting, so check your phone for this important information.

Also, check our website calendar for additional club zoom meetings throughout the Fall.

Meantime, our coding team is putting the finishing touches on an app that we will be submitting to this year’s Congressional App Challenge Contest. Our plan is to submit it by the end of September which will give us plenty of time to make any last minute adjustments, if need be before the October 19 deadline.

If any club member has any questions, email me at danmcelroy15@gmail.com

WV Coding Club preparing for 2020 Congressional App Challenge!

Our West Virginia Coding Club’s team is busily at work (remotely) creating our entry for this year’s Congressional App Challenge! Planning to complete sometime in September . . . stay tuned! Our team won last year’s Congressional App Challenge with its entry that helps fellow teens in West Virginia with personal support resources. Even during these challenging times, our West Virginia Coding Club students are up to the challenge! To learn more about the West Virginia Coding Club, go to www.wvcoding.org

Students still learning Coding through WV Coding Club

Our West Virginia students are still learning coding through WV Coding Club (a non-profit entity) thanks to an educational format that was developed by the founders to encourage and allow for most of the learning to be done outside of the meetings. Through a partnership with an internationally recognized, United States based Technology Education organization, the students have access to online learning and challenges 24/7. The platform allows for WV Coding Club staff to monitor the students progress and provide feedback.

Dan McElroy, one of the WVCC founders, shared, “This is why we created the coding club. Our West Virginia youth can learn year round and develop the kinds of skills that not only can aid them in securing a good paying career, but a disciplined approach to problem-solving and learning as well.”

Even with West Virginia schools recently announcing they will stay closed for the rest of this school year, the WV Coding Club continues to be an opportunity for our students to learn marketable skills for the future. We look forward to when we can safely meet as a group face to face, but until then, we are continuing to work together to create opportunity for these West Virginia youth. To learn more about the West Virginia Coding Club, visit our website at: http://www.wvcoding.org

Big Thank You to Paul Van Dyk of Infor

Paul Van Dyk, operations manager at Infor, a worldwide Cloud based software company with an office here in Charleston, recently spoke at one of our club meetings. Paul gave our students a broad overview of Infor operations and what it takes to be an employee for Infor. His extended talk was punctuated with fascinating tippets from his knowledge of history and archeology and how he became involved in technology. It is not often that one gets to experience both a practical and expansive talk sprinkled with thought provoking content! Thank you, Paul! Our staff and students are thrilled that such a resource is close by!

WV Coding Club Meetings Suspended Until Further Notice

WV Coding Club meetings are suspended until further notice - due to the recent decisions of West Virginia Public Schools and the University of Charleston, based on responses to COVID-19 concerns. We will continue to monitor the future decisions of West Virginia Public Schools and the University of Charleston and then make a determination for the WV Coding Club’s future meetings. The benefit of the West Virginia Coding Club is that students will be able to continue learning at home with a computer or tablet and internet access.

2020 WVCoding Club Meeting Dates!

The West Virginia Coding Club has set meeting dates through July of 2020! We are excited about this new year and new opportunity to help West Virginia students learn to code and develop skills to be positioned for future jobs. The meetings are held at the University of Charleston Innovation Center, 2300 MacCorkle Ave SE, Charleston, WV 25304. Meetings will be held from 10:00am to 12:00 Noon on the following Saturdays: January 11 and 25; February 8 and 22; March 7 and 21; April 4 and 18; May 2 and 16; June 6 and 20 ; July 11 and 25.

VICTORY!!!

Congressman Alex Mooney’s office has informed WVCC that we have won the Congressional App Contest for our region! Congratulations to our coding team of Zack, Mariam, Chase and Caleb for their outstanding work!

Look for more app developments from our club in 2020!!