6.00.1x Done, MOOC Reflection and What's Next

I know I've been disappearing for a while, but most of that is simply due to my self-enforced social isolation necessary for coding mastery...Just kidding :)

Finally I'm done with 6.00.1x!!

When I hit the submit button for the last problem, I felt I've accomplished a great deal. Yes, it's my first official foray into coding, but the final exam has been challenging. So if you're thinking any 101 class is supposed to be easy, do be prepared to work hard on this one! The course in my opinion rushed to cover object-oriented programming and trees, which I believe leads to my struggle with finishing the last problems. When I read the final exam was only supposed to last 3 hours, I did wonder if I'd done something wrong in the course (my record was closer to 3 hours per problem). My loving boyfriend, who happens to be a software engineer, wonders why I look so vaguely confused about linked lists and such, yet can work on certain problems on the final (no he didn't help me out!).

This course taught me how to program. And how to complete a MOOC. Critics complain few people actually complete courses they started, and it's not an easy deed. Not without certain best practices.

It needs persistence. Even just a bit everyday. I spend 0.5-2 hours everyday listening to lectures, doing finger exercises or working on problem sets. Plus I make sure that I am focusing on one class only. It's very tempting to do more than one at a time and hope that you can somehow squeeze everything with a full-time job. However it's not a sustainable strategy given most MOOCs are still university classes. Something I found is you can register for more than one, listen to occasional lectures at more than one, but really need to work on exams and assignments for only one. That is, if you really want to get something out of the MOOC. Focus pays.

I'm currently thinking of what's next for me to learn in coding. I've started 6.00.2x but am thinking of technologies I may want to learn in the long term. Web? Data science? Feel free to suggest in the comments.