“Do you know that part on your resume where they ask if you have any special skills? Well, it's the thing where they ask you to list like, 'yoga, Spanish, water skiing, Photoshop.' I feel like I don’t I have any special skills." - Hannah Horvath
It's time to develop some skills.
I went off to college with the grand idea of being a film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. (Nevermind that I was making this decision right as print journalism was about to implode.) Four years, tens of thousands of dollars and one bachelor's degree later, I took the route taken by most recent college graduates with a communications degree. I took a marketing job.
While marketing was never my first calling or even my second (Rolling Stone journalist/Woodstock attendee/Hunter S. Thompson groupie, 1969-1975) or third (bookstore/bar owner), I have grown to appreciate my stumbled upon profession. In addition to paying the bills, marketing has allowed me to express my creative inklings and explore my love of technology which brings us to the point of this post.
I've dabbled with HTML and CSS for the past two years, first with our now defunct wedding website and currently with my company's website, with varying degrees of success. This winter I decided to take my hobby to the next level and enrolled in The Starter League's HTML5 & CSS3 class.
Unlike a community college course or online tutorial, the folks at The Starter League believe in a collaborative and passionate learning environment where egos are left at the door and questions are encouraged. This was most evident at the student orientation where groups of six were asked to build the tallest freestanding structure with dry spaghetti noodles, string, tape, and a marshmallow. Our structure wasn't too successful (see top photo) but the exercise (borrowed from a TED Talk) challenged us to be curious, persistent and open -- characteristics I know I'll need to get through this class...and life.
The 10-week class ends in March and while I can't say that it will turn me into a front-end developer, I can say that it will make me think differently about day-to-day challenges and perhaps give me something to put in the "special skills" portion of my resume.
Photo via The Starter League
