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<font face="Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif">Greetings all,<br>
<br>
You're receiving this email because you expressed an interest in
one form or another about joining what I'm calling (for lack of a
better title) a software engineering apprenticeship program or
process.<br>
<br>
I'm a strong believer in autodidacticism, or self-directed
learning; and this whole attempt here is really to solve a problem
my company has with finding and hiring qualified software
engineers. My goal is to provide you the syllabus, the basic road
map and instructions to plot your way through self-learning a
series of technologies. I won't be giving you many direct answers,
direct education or training, or really a lot of support. Instead,
what you'll get is like a treasure map, directions to the next
steps. You'll have to put in a considerable amount of effort,
time, and mental energy. However, I believe it's worth it. In the
end, you'll have a good grounding in a wide set of software
engineering skills.<br>
<br>
There are 10 folks currently involved. I also invited in 2 folks
who work for me at Golden Guru to assist me assist you. I don't
have 10 positions open to fill, but my plan is to hire the first
set of folks who build their skills up to the necessary levels.
That being said, I'm highly confident that regardless of open
positions at Golden Guru, if you get through the process, you'll
be able to leverage these skills in the software engineering
market, in well-paying and fulfilling jobs.<br>
<br>
So here's how this will work: I've usurped KPUG for this purpose.
KPUG is the Kitsap Perl Users Group. The goal of a users group is
to promote a particular technology or set of technologies, help
folks become masters in that area, and to promote the area's use.
I've registered each of you to the <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:kpug-pm@pm.org">kpug-pm@pm.org</a> mailing list,
which is how you're receiving this email. If you send an email to
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:kpug-pm@pm.org">kpug-pm@pm.org</a>, it'll be broadcast to all 13 of us, so it's a
great way to exchange questions and solutions.<br>
<br>
Each Monday, I'll email out some instructions about the next set
of things to do and learn. Most everything will include a series
of basic instructions, references to online materials, and goals
to accomplish by the next Monday. In nearly all cases, you'll
discover that you can accomplish the basic instructions fairly
quickly; however, I don't want you to do that. Instead, strive not
to do any instruction until you fully understand what that
instruction is. For example, this week, I'll be asking you to
build a virtual machine on your desktop or laptop. There are
several systems and programs you'll be installing into this VM.
Instead of just following through the instructions to complete
your VM, spend a little time Google-ing the names of the programs
and reading up on what they do. You don't need to be an expert on
any of them yet, but you should be able to describe what they are
and at a basic level how they work.<br>
<br>
This sort of thing will be a theme throughout the process. You'll
need to push yourself to dive. Fortunately, since software
technology built the Internet, virtually everything you'll need to
learn is freely available on the Internet. It just takes some time
Google-ing and reading.<br>
<br>
If at any time you'd like to drop out, please just email me or
unsubscribe from this mailing list.<br>
<br>
OK, and with that, I'll be emailing out the work for this week.
Welcome, and good luck.<br>
<br>
Gryphon</font><br>
<br>
<br>
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