#problem decomposition

Welcome back, dear reader.  The first week of Launch Academy's Summer 2014 cohort (the final 10 weeks of in-person problem solving and project building) is now history; one chapter in a book I hope to continue writing for many years to come.  History was always a favorite subject of mine in grade school.  Some kids found it boring, and sure, there were those periods of slow, plodding changes.  Man learns, over many years, how to plant crops and settle down in one place for a while - evolution.  

Evolution is the norm and evolution is great.  But what's really fascinating to me about history are those periods of rapid, sweeping changes.  Revolution!  Defying traditional systems of rule, reshaping social norms, introducing ideas that will manifest over centuries.  Washington, Robespierre and Marie Antoinette....those are the most compelling stories, right?  And in the history of my programming education, now is undoubtedly a time of revolution.

As summer approached I began questioning my decision to attend Launch.  Is it worth the money?  Worth the time and effort?  Is this the best way to grow into a well-grounded programmer?  The answer to each is a resounding yes.  So, in this one week, what has been so revolutionary?

Launch Academy has done fantastic job of bringing a truly diverse group of smart, motivated people together and pushing them to solve problems.  The most important things that we've learned in our first days here have not been new Ruby or Git syntax (although there's been plenty of that), but rather how to approach engineering challenges.  Have a tough problem that's making your head spin?  Don't you dare touch that keyboard.  Grab the whiteboard and diagram what needs to happen.  Use flow charts, and use plain English.  Now, pseudocode.  What are the end user's needs?  What smaller parts can we break this down into?

Think you've wrapped your head around the problem?  Good, but how well do you explain it to others?  Can you go up to the appropriate level of abstraction based on your audience?  Can you practice patience and put your ego aside in order to learn another, maybe better, way apart from what's comfortable to you?  Of course these aren't shocking concepts, this is common sense.  But common sense isn't always common, and the magic of Launch is in ensuring the implementation of these techniques.  It's one thing to preach the virtues of this flavor of critical thinking, but it is another thing entirely employ it out of necessity.

In our cohort's first week nearly everyone has put in 5 consecutive 10-12 hour days, and while we may end the day drained, enthusiasm abounds the next day.  Case in point, I'm now sitting at Mission Control writing this post on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with a room full of fellow Launchers, marked up whiteboards and code-filled text editors.  There is no requirement that we be here on weekends, only our desire to get better.  We are struggling together, learning from one another, and becoming practiced at applying these methods to challenging programming puzzles.  We've heard firsthand, from senior engineers like RBM's Johnny Boursiquot, about the importance of these problem solving and communication skills.

This is the value of Launch Academy; immersing yourself each day in not only the technical knowledge of web development, but in the mindset of pragmatically dissecting and producing solutions for problems.  Those are the abilities that employers want.  To know one technology or another is an asset, but understanding how to analyze, solve and communicate effectively is invaluable.