What is Dev Shack Coding Academy?

Welcome to Dev Shack Coding Academy — your shortcut through the maze of becoming a self-taught JavaScript developer.

I’m Justin, and I stumbled into the world of software development out of chance, not initially by choice.

I went from studying a Bsc Sports Science to starting a software driven business and then later working as a software engineer. My journey has been anything but conventional.

My vision for Dev Shack Coding Academy is to leverage my unique path and the lessons learned to help accelerate your own learning journey.

Whether you’re aiming to start a career, build your own app or you are simply curious about programming, I want to help you reach your goals.

In this article, I will briefly outline my own journey into software development, why I started Dev Shack Coding Academy and what you can learn from me.

Unintended Beginnings

Learning how to code was never part of my intended plans.

Originally I pursued a Bsc in Sports Science. When it came time for me to apply for university at the end of high school, I had an important decision to make.

Being young and not entirely sure what I wanted to dedicate the next three years of my life to, I chose something that I was genuinely interested in at the time.

It’s crucial to point out: my focus was far from the tech world. I was set on Sports Science, not Computer Science.

From Student to Entrepreneur

As my degree came to an end, in my third and final year, another important decision was looming up ahead.

The 21-year-old me was burnt out from exams and studying. While many of my peers were applying to continue their studies, I started forming ideas of my own.

Deciding that I needed a break from academics, I thought it would be a good idea to venture into the unknown. To follow my curiosity and start my own business.

Teaming up with a friend, we spotted a unique problem in the student market and jumped on the opportunity to solve it. We were inexperienced in the business world, little did we know that we were in for a rollercoaster of a ride ahead.

The Pivotal Choice — A catalyst

In order for us to turn our solution into a product, we needed to build custom software.

Believing myself to be capable and resourceful, I decided to learn how to code myself. I wanted to build the software on my own. In hindsight this decision was naive as it was pivotal.

I was young and enthusiastic, I went all in. I found myself going down the path of a self-taught developer.

This was the turning point that marked my challenging yet transformative journey into software development.

From Novice to Educator

I started with zero knowledge and persevered through confusion, overwhelm and uncertainty to reach a level of competency where I started feeling more confident in my coding abilities.

During these years, I attempted to build my own SaaS products. I did freelancing for a while and then eventually applied for my first job at a tech orientated company. I managed to land a role there as a senior software engineer.

Along the way, I have learned a lot, I have made many mistakes and encountered a lot of obstacles. From the beginning, I constantly drove myself to continue learning and become the best developer I could be.

My self-education was extensive and I learned a lot about software development, as well as a lot about myself.

When working in the corporate world I noticed that I gravitated toward teaching others. I found myself naturally sharing the lessons that I learnt along the way.

Starting Dev Shack Coding Academy

These experiences fuelled my decision to leave my corporate job and dedicate myself to teaching. Dev Shack Coding Academy was born out of my desire to help streamline the learning process for others.

By taking the knowledge, experience and skills I have acquired, turning them into structured lessons, tutorials and courses — as well as building a supportive community — I aim to help students fast track their coding journey, avoiding the mistakes and pitfalls that I encountered.

What will I be teaching?

I personally have the most real-world and extensive experience rooted in a JavaScript tech stack. This is where I believe I can add the most value.

Whether you are looking to handle front-end or back-end development, I will be producing educational resources that cover most of today’s modern JavaScript use cases across the entire stack.

These are the skills that I envision covering in the academy.

• JavaScript Fundamentals: Mastering the basics and advanced concepts of writing code using JavaScript.

• Frameworks and Libraries: Diving into client side development using frameworks like React and Angular.

• Server-Side development: Learn to develop and manage server-side code using Node.js.

• Databases: Understand how to utilise and manage databases with MongoDB and PostgreSQL, ensuring your applications can handle large data efficiently.

• Full-Stack Web Development: Combine front-end and back-end knowledge to build complete web applications.

• Mobile Development: Explore the fundamentals of building mobile applications that are both functional and responsive.

• DevOps Basics: Get introduced to CI/CD practices to streamline your development process.

• Cloud Services: Learn to deploy and manage applications using cloud infrastructure.

Alongside these hard skills, I will be weaving the timeless core principles of software development, things like:

• DRY, Modularisation, clean code etc.

• Different design patterns.

• Debugging and problem solving techniques.

• Software design and architecture.

Besides technical prowess, there are the softer, but equally important skills that go a long way to ensure success in the tech world:

• Learning How to Learn: Develop strategies to efficiently learn new programming skills.

• Navigational Guidance: Receive insights on what to focus on at various stages of your learning journey.

• Mindset Shifts: Learn how to reframe your mindset to overcome challenges and enhance your chances of success.

• Motivation and Persistence: Gain techniques to stay motivated and maintain progress throughout your learning journey.

• General Career Guidance: How to master working in a team, choosing the right company and finding your unique set of strengths.

How Will I Deliver This?

Teaching Philosophy

I am convinced that my learning was most efficient by building my own projects that mattered to me. I believe practical application is the most effective way to absorb and retain new skills.

Experience and Evolution 

Over the years, I've developed and refined my teaching approach through producing lessons and courses for platforms like Udemy and YouTube. I needed this time to hone my skills in delivering content on camera but also in structuring logical, coherent courses and mastering post-production techniques—skills that were once completely foreign to me.

Multimedia Learning Materials

Understanding that different students have different learning preferences, I provide a variety of learning materials, but my primary forms will be:

• Video Tutorials: Engaging, concise videos that explain complex concepts in simple terms and demonstrate coding techniques in real-time.

• Written Content: Detailed articles and step-by-step guides for those who benefit from reading at their own pace.

This is an ambitious project for me. I plan to roll out the entire full stack JavaScript path that I have learnt over the years. Draining all my knowledge into bits and bytes that will be presented here on substack.

I will have to do this one phase at a time. I will start right at the beginning with fundamentals and work my way up from there.

Who is this for?

Anyone who wants to learn software development using JavaScript.

Whether you want to start a career in tech, or you want to build your own application or else you are just curious. I can help you.

From beginner to intermediate, I believe my experience and lessons will add value to your learning journey.

Looking forward to unfolding the curriculum and community one step at a time.

Happy Coding,

Justin