curriculum

Welcome to the Techtonica curriculum!

Techtonica is a non-profit project of SocialGood that offers a software engineering training with a need-based, sliding-scale, subsidized tuition and stipend scholarships for intensive tech training and job placement for unemployed or underemployed folks. For more information, please see our website: Techtonica.org

Program participants will learn to do full-stack web development using JavaScript. What bootcamps and Techtonica have in common is the fact that they are intensive training. However, bootcamps can be pretty passive classroom learning and they cost $15,000+ for the students.

Techtonica aims to be more like the workplace to make the transition into the industry better—instead of having an instructor constantly guiding you (which you won't have in any software engineering job), you are given a general schedule of topics and assignments (see our curriculum repo for an idea of the resources provided) and you're expected to figure out what to do on your own or in collaboration with volunteers, mentors, tech groups, and other participants. We’re making Techtonica’s program as hands-on and project-based as possible to best prepare you for work in tech.

Jump to Curriculum Table of Contents.

Volunteering:

If you would like to contribute to the curriculum, please sign up here, then choose an issue in the to-do list.

Get started:

Choose an issue from the TO-DO column that seems right for you & leave a comment for Techtonica staff. If you know someone connected to Techtonica, they may be able to add you to our slack channel. If you are here for GHC or Hacktoberfest, message Cristina, Ruthie or Sarah and say you'd like to pick up the issue.
In the issue, you should find a link for a lesson outline and for our resources about the topic.
If it is in the "TO-DO" column, that means it is available, even if there's an "assignee".
To create an outline, fork the repo or commit directly onto the main branch. Here is a topic outline template that explains what we need for each section.
To edit a slideshow, you'll need to request edit permission by clicking View Only > Request Edit Access, or message Alina. If you are logged into an account ending in @gmail.com, you can simply make a copy, edit, and transfer ownership to techtonicaorg@gmail.com when you finish. Either way, save on top of the sample template used in the slide, and cut any slides you find unnecessary.
To make a video, one effective solution has been to record your screen as you explain the lesson slides to the learner. An alternative can be a video found online that covers all the objectives of the lesson in a way suited to beginners.
Here is an example of a great lesson trio: MongoDB Slides, MongoDB Lesson Outline, MongoDB Video.

While working:

Comment in the issue if you have a question, or send a slack message.
People are welcome to team up on an issue. If you see someone is already assigned but you want to help, leave the other assignee a message on the issue about collaborating.
Please note the due date! Any amount of help is appreciated, but if the deadline approaches and you won't be able to complete it, please leave a comment about your progress and unassign yourself from the issue so someone else can pick it up. If you forked the repo, go ahead and make a pull request with what you have, and transfer ownership of a copied slideshow to techtonicaorg@gmail.com.

Completed curriculum:

Place a "completed" label on the issue once you've completed it, make a pull request to Techtonica/curriculum main, and leave comments about your work if you like. Grazie Mille!!

We'd love your help in improving this curriculum. See CONTRIBUTING for details.

The following is the approximate sequence of the topics during the program but is always being tuned and optimized so if you have questions, please open an issue.

Week 0 - Pre-Work
Week 1 - Onboarding & Developer Tools
Week 2 - Webpages: HTML & CSS
Week 3 - JavaScript Fundamentals
Week 4 - Intermediate JavaScript and React
Week 5 - Web APIs
Week 6 - Databases
Week 7 - Advanced JS and React
Week 8 - Testing
Week 9 - Eventonica Project
Week 10 - More PERN & Review
Week 11 - Data Structures & Algorithms
- Data Structures
- Algorithms
Week 12 - Final Assessments
Week 13 - Career Week!
Week 14 - Project Prep Week & Electives
Weeks 15+ - Final Project
Independent Topics
Optional / Elective Lessons

Week 0 - Pre-Work

Before beginning the program, participants meet weekly for 4 weeks to learn JavaScript fundamentals. Participants should memorize common JavaScript built-in functions within the first month.