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General Assembly Software Engineering Immersive

Hello All, instead of posting my normal content relating to cars and/or trucks, I will be taking a deeper dive into my daily life, particularly regarding the software engineering immersive program that I am currently undergoing, which is a technology bootcamp. For a couple of months, I am going to sway away from discussing different sectors within the automotive industry while I focus strictly on technology, but automotive is not going anywhere so stay tuned for big announcements following;)

What Is It?

Currently I’m completing General Assembly’s Software Development Immersive, which is a “12 week award-winning program that has expert instructors and career coaches, and connect graduates with 19k+ hiring partners to get them jobs at A-list companies.” It is slated as your best course for career transformation. The company boats 9,000+ hires, as it states that they are the leader in placing their grads into high-growth, and high-pay tech jobs. Yes, this is all accomplished within 12 weeks. I’m sure you’re asking, “Are these jobs guaranteed?” Of course not, but the company is quite confident. Continue reading as to “why?” after this quick infographic below illustrating what you can expect from this program.

Im currently entering into my 5th week of this program. On our first day, a General Assembly employee bursts in our classroom, after getting another graduate hired, and asked, “Did you guys here about our last cohort?”, which had ended a couple of months prior. We had no clue what she was referring to but then she claims that their last cohort had a 93%+ hire rate. Impressive right. Thats a way to bring some motivation if you had any doubts before. Who knows if this was the truth, but they were all very excited and I have personally heard from some earlier attendees about the jobs that they received after the course and some even during the last week or 2 of the course ending. Before this starts sounding like a fantasy world where you can spend the 3 months and someone else can spend 4-5 years getting a computer science degree and you both end up with the same job (very possible), I’m going to break things down a bit.

Tuition Options?

First, starting with cost, I feel that the tuition share agreement is the best payment option and allows many people who can’t afford it to have a chance at something that can be life changing. It is not yet available in all states, but it’s a great option if you are not trying to pay $14k(approximate tuition cost) out of pocket and upfront(or in a few payments).  Focusing on the $0 upfront income share agreement, it is structured very fair in my opinion. You are only required to pay an upfront $250 deposit until you land a software engineering job (ex: web development, full stack, etc) and depending on your location, entry level is probably hovering around $60k and above.

So if you don’t land a job, you are not at the hands of a huge loan that you cannot afford and most importantly, you’re not out of $14k+ that many pay to take the program. If you have additional experience in UX/UI design, and/or other skills for that matter, your pay can be a lot higher.

Income Share Agreement?

As far as General Assembly not offering the income share agreement not being offered in all states, specifically New York at the moment, I believe that it has to do with the amount of jobs being offered and the amount that are vacant. Here in the Greater Atlanta Area, the tech scene is taking on massive growth along with an abundant amount tech jobs that have yet to be filled. Whether it’s startups, fintech companies, or larger corporations, there is a massive demand for tech jobs in many industries here. I’m not sure of the availability in other cities and states in respective to the amount of tech workers seeking employment.

Adding to the tuition share agreement option, applicants are also subject to a more strict batch of pre course work, along with an evaluation to see if you are prepared and can be successful at this program. My pre course work (estimated to take 40 hours if you have prior knowledge) took me at least 60+ hours, and thats literally. Going through the pre course work, I decided to take notes and continue to reference them even when the program started so that I could truly retain the information, just as I would with another language until I could demonstrate it effortlessly.

Negatives?

The only negative to this income share agreement is that the total amount paid for the course increases to approximately $20,000, instead of the $14,000 that you could sign up for up front after getting accepted. Although this $20,000 will be paid for over a multiple of years (small monthly payments ranging from $300-$800 per month), depending on how much income you are making per year with the lower end being around the $50k end and the upper being $100k+ end.

That is where the trade off comes in, as you decide whether you would want to pay $14k up front or $20k over a multiple of 3-5 years. Simply put, both options come with what some will see as a hefty price but when compared to the average college tuition for 3-5 years, it is significantly less. So is it worth it?  My simple answer: Yes, but its not for everyone and also depends on how much time you willing to dedicate!

What does it take?

Personally, as I’m approaching week 5 in the 12 week program, I would say that it is well worth it. This may not be the same for everyone else. There are so many factors that go into this decision and realizing if it is worth it for you or not. First off, the program is 12 weeks long and runs on a very strict schedule, from Monday – Friday (9am-5pm). All of my cohort(class) had to quit their jobs, and/or whatever else they were doing including school, etc. This IS NOT just a 9-5 job for three months. Ample time is required outside of class for this program to be worth it. You get what you give. Currently, it is very normal for me and my “codemates” to spend another 20-40+hours outside of class per week, on top of our current 9-5 days.

Being Prepared?

Handling this amount of work in such a short period of time is life changing mentally, physically, socially, and financially of course. Savings is required as it’s almost impossible to take on a full time job during this time. Knowing how to handle stress and pressure is also very important, as there will be a lot of ups and downs during the course. Another importance is your family and support. Your time will be very limited during this time, so just be prepared to be a bit disconnected during this time.

For me, personally, I had no real coding experience before starting the pre work for this program, but doing a lot of studying in the year prior to signing up for the program certainly helped with knowing different technologies and frameworks, and what they were used for. Regardless, free time gets pretty scarce during this time of development. It is extremely tough to stay consistent with a certain level of focus each and every day in this program, as it’s basically like learning a new language. So, being prepared is very critical.

The Daily Grind?

Each and every day has a structured schedule that we are given at the beginning of the cohort. The days normally start with lecture, or a quick meeting if it’s project week. Throughout the day, we go through enormous amounts of material, but it’s never just a lecture. Practice, practice, and more practice! Daily learning on how to structure, develop, and implement responsive webpages and applications from the ground up. This is where General Assembly separates itself from just trying to read and learn to code online, or even while pursuing a 4 year computer science degree while spending meaningless time on classes and material that you don’t need or ever use again.

As the saying goes, if you want to learn Chinese, the fastest way is to get dropped directly into the middle of China! This is the exact same. You’re being thrown right into the programming fire everyday, but in a good way. All of the new information learned is always directly followed by practice, as you jump right into the CLI(command line interface) and your IDE(integrated development environment). HTML, and CSS fly by within the first couple of days and then you will be jumping directly into Javascript. After that, you are off and running, and thats when the real challenge starts and the bulk of the course begins.

Is It Really Worth It?

All in all, I think it is definitely worth it if you have a passion to work in tech, whether to create your dream company or to work for another. This is the case, but this immersive program is not something that you spend a little time on and make it into a small side gig. If that’s what you’re looking for, then programming may not be ideal for you. It takes intense focus and dedication to be successful in the field. One mistake can crash an entire program, or maybe even delete an entire database and cause the company to crash. What if someone deleted the entire database of Uber drivers because they told the computer an incorrect command? Of course this would not happen, as their infrastructure has too much sophistication for that to happen, but the company would literally be out of operations for who knows how long and this would cause the end of one of the biggest companies that the world has ever seen.

If you’re not passionate about it, and that goes for anything in life, then you shouldn’t waste your time and/or money. It is also only worth it if you have time. This point needs to be emphasized. For example: If you have a family and can’t afford to quit your full time job, this is not a good idea. I’ve found that many who go through these programs don’t have many responsibilities at the moment, or they have wonderful supporters around them who help them throughout the duration. The immersive is very time consuming, and some may find it easier than others, but the amount of time that has to be put in is undeniable.

In a quick rundown, within 5 weeks, I have learned HTML, CSS, Javascript/jQuery, started creating our own servers, learning node, express, mongoDB, certain data structures and science, and so much more underlying information. This is not everything, and has taken massive work outside of class along with in class work and lecture. Just 5 weeks ago, I wouldn’t even know where to start.

Why Would You Put Yourself Through Such a Daunting Task?

For me, taking this leap was about being creative and bringing my ideas to life, as I push to provide immense value to this world for decades to come. My friends have always told me that I have all of the ideas, but to me they meant nothing if I could never bring them to life. I avoided obtaining these skills for the simple reason of believing that they were too time consuming, or that it was too old to start now, or simply because of me believing that I didn’t belong in that time of environment (the common imposture syndrome). Whether you’re a cook, waitress, sales associate, truck driver, garbage truck operator or whatever it may be, you can be successful not only in this program, but in this career field as a whole.

All of these technologies are fairly new, relative to our society, and if you spend 10+ hours a day on something while someone else maybe spends a hour every few days, you will be amazed at how far you can go. If you are thinking of a career change, or simply love the tech field and need this sort of structure to learn, I will highly advise taking General Assembly’s Software Engineering Immersive if time and your situation persists. You will also hear the phrases “Web Developer”, “Full Stack Developer”, etc associated with software engineering as a lot of the knowledge intertwines.

Youtube Series Update?

Last but NOT LEAST, stay tuned as this will be just an intro to these blog and content posts regarding my Software Development journey. I aim to produce this content for the remaining 7-8 weeks in the course, while also producing content beyond the program as I work on different projects and aim to connect with like minded people in the industry. In the upcoming posts, I will link a youtube video that goes into depth about my particular General Assembly Immersive location, in the Greater Atlanta Area. Stay tuned, and be blessed!

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General Assembly Software Engineering Immersive

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EV & AUTOMOUS TAKEOVER

Decades ago, many suggested that by 2012 the world would be well into the electric, self- driving, and flying car phase. We aren’t quite there yet but the industry is rising, and the noise is loud!

Electric and self-driving vehicle manufacturers are drooling over the positive impacts that the segment will have on the world. Not only are EV’s and self-driving vehicles better for the environment, but they also drastically lower oil and maintenance costs. Along with this, what is considered to be most important, autonomous vehicles have the potential to completely eliminate human driving errors that cause some 90% of all vehicle accidents (according to a 2013 study conducted by Stanford).

Resulting from the hype, electric and autonomous vehicle registrations are up 55 percent worldwide and the total number of electric vehicles also rose to approximately 3+ million cars, up from 2 million previously. The China vehicle market leads the way with 1.2 million EV’s on the road, followed by the US with 750,000 (These numbers were found in a recent survey conducted by the Centre for Solar Energy).

It’s easy to see these statistics and think that we are witnessing an EV and autonomous “takeover”, especially considering all of the news and hype surrounding the industry but not so fast! Taking into account that there are approximately 260+ million vehicles registered in the US, EV sales are still quite low at only about 1 million, which is not even 1 percent of the total.

According to Bloomberg, this will change drastically by 2040, as 54 percent of all new vehicle sales are expected to EV. If this information proves to be true, and the growth continues at the current rate, we are still decades away before EVs amount to majority of the vehicles on the road. Yes, the sector is positioned for enormous growth, but there are many factors that have slowed the worldwide adoption of electric and self- driving cars.

The first, small, factor that didn’t allow the sector to get going sooner rather than later were the regulations. People feared cars being able to drive themselves with no assistance, although human error causes 90+ percent of accidents. People want control, but because of the millions of miles worth of testing, people are very close to feeling that as the technology continues to advance. Electric and self-driving vehicles are one of those things that has to be almost perfect to even launch, let alone gain worldwide adoption.

Contributing to these safety hazards, the batteries that power these vehicles have been a major issue and concern over the years. Not only have they resulted in many vehicles catching fire because of faulty batteries, but the charging and driving capabilities have yet to meet expectations. The technology is here, but it has yet to be fully figured out. I personally know multiple people who won’t yet settle for a Tesla or electrical vehicle because of the battery ranges. Constant travelers have problems with the time that the batteries take gain a full charge, along with the distance that they are able to drive without having to find another charging station.

Problems such as these are reasons that companies such as Tesla are just recently taking huge strides. Tesla launched 15 years back, in 2003, and not until 2012 did they launch their flagship vehicle, the Tesla Model S, and started toward mass production. Yes they launched the (first) Tesla Roadster in 2008, but only selling 2,500 isn’t enough to make any noise during this day and time.

Concluding, many industries can almost disregard the alarming and many false reports that claim the EV and autonomous takeover is here. Oil, gas, mechanics, and even independent auto shops will be in high demand for decades to come. Yes the takeover is coming, but there is still a lot of time to get prepared or even contribute to the greatness thats coming!

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One of the most exciting developments to happen to cities in decades is the arrival of autonomous (self-driving) vehicles. Major companies and startups have funneled billions of dollars into the development of the hardware and software that power autonomous vehicles. There have been more than 160 deals including investments, partnerships, and acquisitions totaling approximately $80 billion dollars relating to self driving projects.

Now, the big question is, “Are set-driving cars safe?” In March, a self-driving Uber struck and killed a pedestrian. Shortly thereafter, a Tesla Model X was involved in a deadly crash near San Francisco. Although auto-pilot was engaged, Tesla claims that the driver was at fault. Claims of this sort have left the self-driving community uncertain about the safety of these vehicles. This is true, but more and more self-driving cars are being deployed. This, in turn, raises the possibility of a accident taking place involving a self-driving vehicle.

Self-driving vehicles have already been put through millions of miles of road tests, and experts say that the technology clearly has the potential to be safer than human drivers. The positives of these vehicles versus human drivers is that they don’t drive too fast, they don’t text and drive, they don’t drive drunk, and they don’t fall asleep and drift into oncoming traffic. They are very good at detecting and avoiding obstacles, while monitoring around the vehicle 360 degrees. They are also able to take in much more information and they don’t get distracted. That factors makes them safer drivers than humans, but if the systems are not working correctly then this raises a lot of question.

Self-driving vehicles require a lot of maintenance to make sure that these systems are always functioning correctly or the ending result could be disastrous for the riders, possibly ending in a death. This is what leads to the extensive road testing, and this kind of testing is the only way that self-driving vehicles will become safe and widely used on roads throughout the US and abroad. Drivers and riders need to know that self-driving cars aren’t perfect today and they should recognize the liability of using self-driving features. It is really important and should be mandatory for auto makers and self-driving vehicle companies to make this clear to all drivers and riders, which they currently rarely do because they fear that people will not use their vehicles if this was clear to them, but these companies should assume responsibility instead of blaming “human error” on each accident that occurs. This is a big step in establishing trust, and these companies need to start being accountable. Although this “phenomenon” is here to stay, there is still a lot of progress to be made.

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Lamborghini Urus Release

During the next few years, the public will see many astounding vehicles coming to the market. This is truly the most exciting time in history for new vehicles, as electric and self-This is true, but does not mean that gas vehicles are going anywhere anytime soon. This brings me to discuss the 2019 Lamborghini Urus, which is my favorite vehicle to date. As manufacturers have continued to raise the bar, my favorite vehicle continues to change. I have been a car fanatic as long as I can remember, but lets get to the facts.

The Lamborghini Urus isn’t Lamborghini’s first SUV, as they have experimented in the past with vehicles such as the LM002 model which was released over two decades ago and reminds you of a military style Hummer. Advance to today’s time, the Urus is literally the Lamborghini of all SUV’s. As of now, the top competitor is the Bentley Bentayga, but some may argue that there is other fierce competition on the market such as the Maserati Levante, Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7, Mercedes G-Wagon, and Land Rover Range Rover. Although this is the case, I think that the Urus and Bentayga are in classes of their own because of the performance.

The Urus boasts a top speed of 190 mph, which tops any of its competitors above. Although this vehicle doesn’t boast autonomous capabilities, it is still rumored to have Level 2 driving assistance features that will likely take over at low or moderate speeds. This vehicle will have a 4.0 v8 engine with twin turbochargers.  Along with this, the output will sit at 641 horsepower and boast a 0-60mph of approximately 3.5 seconds as well. Overall, this SUV tops all others in performance and will be a sight to see on the roads. Im excited to hear about the feedback on this vehicle once it releases to the public. For more, visit the Lamborghini site or others that have covered this topic. Thanks for reading.

https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/models/urus

https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/4/16734854/lamborghini-urus-suv-650-horsepower

https://www.caranddriver.com/lamborghini/urus

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Tesla Semi (Disruptive)

Recently I touched basis on Elon Musk and the unveiling of the new Tesla Roadster, but today I want to speak about the new Tesla semi which I feel  will have a much greater economic impact in our world today. Although we are still seeing the beginning of the electric car craze, the space in “electric car” manufacturing is much more crowded than that in the “electric semi” manufacturing.

I see the Tesla semi as being highly disruptive in the trucking industry upon launch. As some many know, there is currently a semi truck driver shortage. One of the main focuses of Tesla is to make the driver feel more comfortable driving their semi than they do driving any other. 1) The driver sits in the center, not on the left or right like other traditional vehicles. 2) There are no blindspots, as cameras give a 360 degree view. 3) This Tesla semi also boasts to support an auto pilot system. 4) 30 minutes of charging will provide the truck with 400 miles in driving range. These factors are all reasons why a driver or fleet owner would absolutely prefer the Tesla semi over traditional trucks. There is no transmission, no emissions treatment, and they also boast that the brakes will never have to be changed because of the components. This is all game changing in this industry and I’m excited for this launch and to see where Tesla takes things next. I’m not only a car enthusiast, but ALL vehicles need love and care including semis too;)

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Lucid Air (Tesla Comp?)

Lucid Motors is supposedly developing a 1,000 horsepower all-electric luxury sedan. I say supposedly because there is still no exact date or time frame for the release, but according to a test driver of a prototype, many of the functions and features are yet to be complete. Although this is the case, I’m sure Lucid Motors isn’t worried as the company has one of the best engineering minds on their team, British auto engineer and the former chief engineer behind Tesla’s Model S Peter Rawlinson.

Regardless of all of this, I have taken an in-depth look of the Lucid Air in pictures and video and I definitely think that Tesla will have some steep competition in their sedan sector. This vehicle boasts an enormous amount of inside space, while also providing back seats that fully recline. On the outside, the Lucid Air will be significantly smaller than a BMW 750Li or a Mercedes 6550, but will still provide much more interior space and legroom in the inside. Also, you couldn’t be Tesla’s competition unless your vehicles are equipped with autonomous driving as well, right? The Lucid Air is looking to boast everything that a Tesla provides plus more.

Some of my favorite features of this vehicle include the speed (of course) and the amazing interior (design and space). This vehicle has been tested and ran at 217 mph, as a luxury sedan. The inside of the vehicle is said to have the feel of riding in  a private jet. With the looks of it, this is true. I’m not going to talk much about this vehicle until we get closer to a launch date (2019 or so.)., so I’m still on the Tesla bandwagon for now. It will be very interesting to see how the Lucid Air unfolds going forward.

If you’re really interested, this is a good video to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfgNwaGwAm4

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Elon Musk is one of the most influential people in the world today, but i’m not going to go talk about many of his other endeavors included his previous involvement in Paypal, or any of his other current endeavors including SpaceX and The Boring Company. This post is all about the enthusiasm surrounding the new Tesla Roadster, due in 2020. *Read Below*                                                                                                       The McLaren 720s has made headlines recently, but all of this ruckus has died down since Elon Musk decided to bring a surprise guest to Tesla’s semi truck reveal. Here comes the new Tesla Roadster, when everyone thought that the Tesla Semi trucks were all that Elon had to offer. This machine boasts a 0-60 mp/h time of 1.9 seconds. This is unreal, and Musk says “It’ll be the fastest production car ever made. Period.” This makes sense as Musk is a rocket scientist (literally) haha. It is also projected to have a 620 mile battery life along with a 250+ mp/h top speed. With a price tag of approximately $250,000 (so far) this is looking to be a “smackdown on gasoline vehicles.” In comparison, the new Bugatti Chiron boast a 0-60 mp/h of 2.5sec, top speed of 250 mp/h, an approx. 250 mile tank, along with a 2.2 MILLION dollar price tag. Super car manufacturers will be on their heels if Tesla and Elon Musk pull off this feat and follow through. Get ready! I will be!

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Things That Go Fast !

All of my life, i’ve been a big time car enthusiast. Early age video games greatly contributed to me liking things that go fast (e.g. Need for speed, Gran Turismo, Midnight Club, etc). In my early years, I truly wanted to become an airline pilot, as I loved planes and constantly traveled back and forth from North Carolina to New York to visit family. It was even to the point that I received a model airplane for Christmas one year. Long story short, i’ve always been a research junkie as well and my dreams of becoming an airline pilot dwindled once realizing how many hours of flying time I would have to put in to become a commercial pilot haha (although I could have still accomplished it but I wanted to have most of the fun at a young age;)). 

This all leads to me currently drooling over the new 2018 McLaren 720s, the fighter jet on wheels as it is referred to. This vehicle is insane. It even has a transforming Speedometer (it changes/transforms to an entirely different shape when switched to sport mode.) Being able to purchase a McLaren has always been a goal of mines, but this has truthfully made it a priority haha. Material things honestly don’t mean much to me, as i’m more fond of  valuable experiences and bringing joy to others, but the McLaren 720s is hard to not mention. This machine packs a twin-turbo v8 engine that pushes out 720 horsepower. Although this vehicle sounds insanely expensive (starting at approx. $284k), you can still purchase about 10 of these for the same price as ONE new Bugatti (crazy right). In conclusion, today is 11/14/17 and hopefully it doesn’t take me forever, but with all of the hard work that i’m dedicated to completing now and for decades to come(to help solve many problems and make people’s life easier), I hope to be able to purchase this vehicle with no problem. I will love to look back and read this blog post during that future time.

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Vehicle Repair Knowledge

Important: There are always repair businesses in your area who are willing to waive your deductible entirely, meaning you wont have to pay a dime out of your pocket for vehicle repairs. 1)  Very worth it to do a thorough search of repair businesses in your area to get the repair and cost that is BEST FOR YOU. 2) Servicing your vehicle should always be YOUR CHOICE and in YOUR CONTROL. *read below*

These great businesses do this by lowering the cost of your repairs (e.g. agreeing to complete the repair for $3,000 instead of $4,000 so that your insurance pays $3,000 and you no longer have to pay the $1,000 deductible). NO, THIS IS NOT ILLEGAL! YES, THIS CAN SAVE YOU MONEY! NO, THE INSURANCE WILL NOT INFORM YOU OF THIS! There are many establishments who will be more than happy to work with you and gain a new customer. 

#auto #autorepair #business #insurance #autoinsurance #problem #money #entrepreneur #vehicles #entrepreneur 

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Everyone with insurance has the right to pick the auto service location of their choice, and can also shop around for a better repair price than their insurance body shop offers them if they don’t want to pay that high deductible! Beat the system the right way, don’t let them beat you! 

#key #knowledge #informthepeople #information #insurancecompanies #game #autorepair #autoindustry

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It has also amazed me how all of the “big” insurance companies have not taken the time out to inform their insured customers how their auto service location, price, and convenience is ALL UP TO THEM, not the insurance company.

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It was amazing to me how many auto service businesses and auto service customers had the same problems, along with constant frustrations with the industry on a daily basis. 

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I worked as a manager for a premier paint and body shop in the Atlanta area. The experience was the best I have ever had in my professional career.