Look around you right now wherever you may be. You may not see it, but there are potentially millions of lines of code flying around you silently in the background at any given moment. From the phone in your pocket to the stoplight at an intersection, generations of brilliant developers have found solutions to make everyday life more entertaining, safer, quicker, smarter and convenient. Along with lines of code, there’s potentially millions of datapoints around you at any given moment, too. Keeping track of behaviors and trends to arm company decision makers with a clear path into the future.
At devCodeCamp’s online coding and data analytics bootcamp, we help fill the pipeline in technology with talented individuals excited to better their lives and play a specific role in the next generation of life online (and often offline, too!)
Starting on day one, students of our immersive and flex course options begin to learn the concepts, technologies, and languages relevant in the industry today to prepare them with the soft and hard skills needed for long-term career success. But because of how quickly the technology industry changes and progresses, relevancy in what students learn can shift rapidly, too. This is where devCodeCamp’s Head of Content Creation David Lagrange plays a huge role.
David is responsible for overseeing the content creation across all of our online bootcamp course offerings. His team’s main priority is to not only continue crafting new content that plays a specific role in the devCodeCamp difference, but to keep the course relevancy up-to-date with the ever-changing progression the industry sees overall.
We recently sat down with David to dive deeper into the crucial role he plays and the creation process it takes to maintain relevancy.
devCodeCamp’s Head of Content Creation Interview: How David Lagrange Helps Create the Path of Success for Students
devCodeCamp: What is your role at devCodeCamp?
David: My role at devCodeCamp is Head of Content Creation.
devCodeCamp: What exactly does that mean — what’s the overall main tasks you are responsible for?
David: Being Head of Content Creation means that I oversee the development of the courses we offer here at devCodeCamp. This role primarily consists of research, collaboration, and development followed by an iterative feedback-update cycle.
devCodeCamp: And how do our students benefit during the learning process from the courses yourself and your team build out?
David: The students benefit from the courses we build out in many ways. First, all content is scoped to accomplish the maximum amount of conceptually learning within the available time. Each course challenges the student to apply these concepts in real-world projects with the main emphasis on hands-on experience. Ultimately, this hands-on approach is key to individual growth in the respective field and concept retention.
As a student proceeds through the course, they are introduced to new technologies, concepts, and projects that build off what they have learned in the previous weeks. This provides the student with an excellent runway as they build up speed to take flight on their Capstone project. It is clear that complexity is only relative to the size of the step the student is taking, so we keep each step small and consumable. This allows the student to tackle more complex and impressive projects while keeping the learning/challenge friction point relatively the same.
devCodeCamp: How do students benefit long-term from our courses?
David: Learning the best way to problem solve and overcome challenges is the greatest long-term benefit. Here at devCodeCamp, we place a large emphasis on how individuals think and approach problems. By implementing the tools we teach, our graduates can feel confident navigating any challenge that arises on the job or within their personal projects. Often this problem-solving process starts to trickle into how they handle problems within their personal life as well! By defining exactly where they want to go and the steps needed to get there, we can see tremendous growth in all aspects of character, not just coding or analyzing!
devCodeCamp: When approaching a new course or specific piece of content you’re about to create, what’s the overall goal set in place?
David: When creating a new course or content, the overall goal is to create a course or project that gives the student the most real-world and hands-on experience possible. We want our students to begin their new careers on the day they start at devCodeCamp. From that day forward every concept, technology, and project they move through is directly related to their field of study.
Each day of a course is carefully designed to progressively build the student’s understanding and capabilities. To build a single day of the course, we take into deep consideration the previous and following day and confirm that all concepts or projects for that day fit perfectly with the progressive steps of learning. Next, when it comes to specific conceptual learning within lectures and guides, we make sure to break each concept down into easy-to-understand steps. This means being hyper-aware of where a student’s mind is at that point in the course and using words and metaphors that the student will understand and connect with. I have always approached that, to fully see and understand something, you must see it from multiple points of view. In essence, we want to provide a 360-degree view of a concept or technology to a student. This means explaining something in multiple different ways, seeing examples of it from many different angles, and practicing it in many different forms.
Lastly, we update our content to the current industry standards as often as it changes. When you take a course with devCodeCamp (even a course that has been offered for many years,) you can feel confident that you are getting the most up-to-date learning available. The final goal is to create thorough and consumable courses that follow industry standards, best practices, and in-demand technologies.
devCodeCamp: What are some soft skills our graduates are likely able to carry with them throughout their career?
David: Students get wonderful experiences improving their soft skills throughout the course by interacting with instructors, career service team members, and fellow students. Through their interaction with instructors, they receive first-hand experience conversing with industry professionals. Later in the course, students are required to practice and improve their presentational skills so they can best showcase who they are and what they are capable of. Finally, in career services, they are further taught interview best practices as well as how to project themselves socially and internally for the best results and mindset.
devCodeCamp: Starting out as an instructor with devCodeCamp, do you think having that firsthand experience plays a part in the creation process of the courses?
David: I believe starting out as an instructor has been key for me in course development and creation. I have many years of hands-on experience working directly with students on a day-to-day basis. This brings a deeper understanding of how a student learns best, accomplishes the most, overcomes challenges, and consumes content. All content is created with the student’s best interest in mind. One thing that I pride myself on is being able to place myself in the student’s shoes and see what it would be like to be learning that concept at that point in the course. This ensures that things are always explained in ways that make sense relative to their learning up until that point.
devCodeCamp: How important is coding and data for the entire future of the world?
David: I believe that coding and data will be an integral part of mankind for many decades. As we move toward further automation of everyday processes, we will continue to see an explosion of opportunities surrounding code and data analysis. Although its form will change over time, I believe we are still on the cusp of new technological discoveries. If you are interested in being a part of this new frontier, then you are in the right place.
devCodeCamp: As we come to our close, what is your absolute favorite part of your role at devCodeCamp?
David: My favorite part about my role here at devCodeCamp is being an integral part of a student’s growth and maximizing their potential. Although I may not interact directly with students as much anymore, I know that the work being done will directly influence their success as they enter their new career. I feel honored to be given the opportunity to outline, structure, and build the exact technologies and projects that will bring them conceptual understanding and enthusiastic creativity. It is my goal that every student is ready and confident to move into their new role after graduation. Along with this confidence to overcome any challenge, I hope our students feel full of excitement regarding what they will learn next and where they will go in this frontier of technology.
I would also like to acknowledge everyone who is a part of the devCodeCamp team. I feel blessed to interact and collaborate with everyone who is a part of devCodeCamp. The team is made up completely of people who are highly intelligent, driven, and most importantly, care deeply about the success and well-being of the students and people around them. We bond as a team over the opportunity to positively impact the lives of thousands of people coming through our courses or company. Making a difference in even one person’s life is making a difference in the world. What better job could you ask for?!
devCodeCamp: Finally, why do you think individuals should pursue their higher education with with devCodeCamp?
David: I think you should pursue a future with devCodeCamp if you would like to be a part of a higher learning ecosystem full of individuals who care about your success, prepare you for real-world scenarios and job experience, as well as provide the most professional, relevant, and up-to-date course content available.
If you are ready to get the skills you need to launch your career in code or data, reach out today to see how devCodeCamp is setup for that dream to become a reality in only a handful of weeks.
A special thank you to David Lagrange for his time and insight.