Aaron interview, Page 1/2
1. In general, who can attend your classes? What kind of programming experience must the participants have?
Aaron Hillegass: The courses assume different levels of experience, but all assume that
the student is bright and motivated.
When you name your company "Big Nerd Ranch", you tend to get students
who are comfortable with who they are. I spend a lot of time with our
students, and I am consistently surprised what a pleasant group they
are.
2. Describe to us the nature of the classes. How does it work exactly? Is there any student participation in the process of the teaching?
Aaron Hillegass: Each class is a series of about 25 modules. Each module includes a 25
minute lecture and a one-hour hands-on exercise. Each class comes with
a student guide and a CD of materials. We break for meals, and we take
a walk in the woods every afternoon as the post-prandial grogginess
sets in.
We carefully limit the size of the classes to no more than 16 students
so that each participant has easy access to the instructor.
We don't try to sell the technology. If you are at the class, we
assume you have bought in -- a sales talk would just waste everyone's
time. In fact, we try to demonstrate a tools weaknesses. For example,
during our PostgreSQL class, we go over the official TODO list so that
the students know exactly what is missing.
3. Which are the most popular classes you host for Mac OS X and which ones for Linux?
Aaron Hillegass: Introductory level classes are always more popular than advanced
classes, so it is tempting to eliminate the advanced courses
altogether. Our students, however, really appreciate that there is a
place where they can go to learn the tricky stuff. Also, we really
enjoy teaching heavy classes.
"Cocoa Bootcamp" and "Core Mac OS X Programming" are only offered on
Mac OS X. If you take our PostgreSQL, Python, PHP, or Apache class,
you can choose the platform that you want to work on. We have both
Macs and PCs, so some weeks we have Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and even
Windows in the classroom. We really enjoy the opportunity to see other
operating systems in action.
These days, many students bring their own laptops. This enables them to
work in the exact same environment that they will have when they return
to work.
4. Do you have plans to expand your classes to other subjects?
Aaron Hillegass: We are always looking for new instructors and new topics to teach.
This year we will add classes on Perl, Asterisk, and Administering
Mixed Linux/MacOS/Windows Networks.
Table of contents
We try to address the needs of many different audiences. For example,
our "PHP 5 Bootcamp" (taught by David Sklar, author of O'Reilly's
"Learning PHP 5") requires only HTML experience. "Core Mac OS X and
Unix Programming," on the other hand, is for experienced programmers
who need a deep understanding of how Mac OS X works.
