Whether walking to class, sitting on the RTS bus, or internally contemplating the risk-reward of E.Coli while waiting in line at Chipotle, it’s much easier and more enjoyable to just open up an app and stare down at my phone.
And I’m certainly not the only one.
From the productivity-obsessed people checking email, exam results and Nobel Prize application statuses to the socialites flicking through Instagram photos of filtered girls at Mid and swiping through potential soulmates on Tinder and/or JSwipe, apps are as commonplace as single-ply toilet paper is in campus bathrooms.
It’s hard to believe that all of these addicting apps started as nothing more than an idea.
An idea for making life faster, easier, funnier or just plain better.
Maybe you feel like you have that next idea. You scribble designs on scraps of paper, doodle potential logos and figure out which two words you can smush together and remove vowels from to make the name. (AppNamr, there’s a good one.) You search the app store once a week to make sure nobody has created your prized app while you were too busy studying or bagging groceries or being hungover.
The thought of actually turning that bright idea into a tangible application can be pretty daunting. If you don’t know how to code, it’s virtually impossible to move past the paper and onto the real screen. You’re left feeling like a schmuck with a useless idea.
In the words of the great As Seen on TV commercials of the early 2000’s, “There’s gotta be a better way!”
Gainesville Dev Academy is here with that better way.
Gainesville Dev is a local program that teaches you how to develop applications for web, mobile and desktop. Every semester they host an 8-week or 12-week accelerated bootcamp for all the future app makers out there. And guess what? No coding background is required.
Unlike a lot of the rigorous coding programs out there, instructor Justin Dennison makes the learning experience both laid back and enjoyable. He understands the struggles of beginners and makes the process as unintimidating and approachable as possible.
Dennison encourages students not to wait until their app strategy is completely perfect, but to dive right in and get started.
“Make something,” said Dennison. “Don’t get bogged down on every detail. Add a feature, learn a little more, add a feature, learn a little more.”
The class is held within a frisbee toss of a Pizza by the Slice plate from campus at the new Infinity Hall and is filled with people of all different ages, backgrounds and skill levels.
Upon graduation, students can either use the new skills for their own app development or be matched up with a position at a local tech company.
“I feel like we’ve been given all of the skills we need to make an app happen,” said Chad McGinnis, a recent Gainesville Dev Academy graduate. “I feel really confident that I could make it happen.”
If you’re tired of just daydreaming about a future tech startup, telling only your closest friends, your confidant professors and the strangers you meet waiting for a Later Gator, now is the time to make it happen. Let Gainesville Dev Academy help you turn your idea into a reality.
Just remember us little guys when everyone is staring at your app in line at Chipotle, okay?
