"The encouragement to build real projects, be creative, and incorporate what I've learned so far, even from previous courses, allows me to get invested in the work, and be excited about showing it to people."
--Nellie Bridge, Web Services Manager
OST Student of the Month -- Nellie Bridge
Nellie Bridge has finished the first two courses in our brand-new PHP/SQL Programming Certificate, offered through OST and the University of Illinois, and she's currently working on the third course, PHP/SQL 2: Relational Theory and Logical Design. She also finished Learn Object-Oriented Programming using Java and Linux/Unix 1: The Unix File System.
Special Offer
Enroll in the first three courses of the PHP/SQL Programming Certificate, and you'll get the upcoming fourth course FREE when it is released in July.
Not valid with any other promotion -- See below.
Here's what she has to say:
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I manage a web services department where we are developing a number of
web applications that use PHP and MySQL. I have been wanting, for a long time,
to better understand how they work (as well as other things like DNS and System
Administration) in order to better communicate with our programming teams and
server consultants to facilitate progress. I have been learning not only
vocabulary, but how things work, which has made me more effective and
understanding as a project catalyst. My co-worker and I are both enrolled in
OST, so we are able to learn together and help each other troubleshoot. Our
being able to diagnose and describe problems before asking someone else to solve
them makes development much more efficient. We are also now able to make some
repairs and improvements to our current websites without having to ask an
outside party. Beyond my job, I would love to practice writing PHP and MySQL
programs because it's fun, and although sometimes very frustrating, also very
relaxing in a certain way.
I like being challenged to solve problems on my own, so the sandbox environment is perfect for me. The start page that shows how far along I am in a course motivates me to keep going. I have a big sense of accomplishment when I finish a course, or a final project. The encouragement to build real projects, be creative, and incorporate what I've learned so far, even from previous courses, allows me to get invested in the work, and be excited about showing it to people. Smiley faces are much better than grades, and the instructors are really friendly. The "extra credit" challenges are fun too, even if I am not always ready for them. And of course, it helps to know that if I hit a dead end, I can e-mail my instructor for some advice. The tools' accessibility from anywhere is very convenient. I have worked on my classes in many locations, even while traveling. The amount that is covered in each lesson, objective, or quiz, is also usually an appropriate amount to do at one sitting. Overal I found the CodeRunner/Sandbox very easy to use: following along with lessons, switching between modes, and saving, uploading and previewing files. The environment feels very real, and the built-in URLs are handy for sharing my projects with others. |
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