• - Command line
• - Git
• - Github
• - Github Pages
• - HTML
• - CSS
• - node
• - npm
• - Bootstrap
• - SASS
• - Jekyll
• - Gulp
• - Heroku

That would be 13 technologies introduced in just the first week! Whew. Thankfully I grew up on DOS machines and command line has continued to be useful for troubleshooting on Windows machines ever since, so using the command line on a UNIX system was basically just reconditioning my brain for the difference in commands. Really, the same goes for HTML and CSS. Both were technologies I dabbled with for fun growing up and never really forgot, just like riding a bike! The rest, however, were going to have to be learned... and quickly.

At first it seemed crazy to me that our instructors would introduce new technologies every single day while I was still trying to wrap my head around what we had learned an hour ago. This is where that "learning how to learn" phrase really came into play. All of this tech, while new to me, would make things easier for me in the long run. For example, that simple little website I set up for prework and spent literal days fiddling with CSS elements on would have taken me minutes after learning more about Bootstrap and SASS, not to mention setting up a Gulp workflow to automate repetitive tasks (and its built on JavaScript! I got my intro to JS without even realizing it!).

We set up package managers like Homebrew and npm to help us get started down this new path of becoming a full stack web developer. We learned about node and hosting our apps on Heroku. We set up our homepages (yes, the one you're visiting right now!) with Github Pages. By the end of the week I was exhausted, but it wasn't until I had some time to reflect that I realized exactly why so much got crammed into the first week. We needed it. I needed it. All of it. There has not been a single piece of tech that we covered the first week that I didn't need.

Here's to next week. Bring it on. I'm ready for more!