Hi,

Context:

I'm a non-tech person, who recently completed my program at McGill. Since the world is rapidly changing around AI, I think it is going to be essential for everyone to know a bit of coding. Sure, web development might get replaced by AI, but you need some coding experience to create anything of value in today's world: Train an AI model, Create an application use AI APIs, etc.

Problem:

Coding can be learned entirely online. There are enough resources available (edX, coursera, udemy,codeacademy). But I am someone who struggles completing self-paced online courses. So I was looking for in-person Montreal DT based coding bootcamps that teach you Python from scratch, with no coding experience. There are a bunch of programs (Le Wagon, etc.), but all of them are shit expensive. Like 12-15k, which I think is crazy for a BootCamp.

And when I dug in, most of them simply offer the same projects and learning pathways as free or cheap ($20/30) resources online.

Solution:

So I am looking for a study group of people who seriously want to study coding. I already have some people who are interested, but I'm looking for a focussed group of 10-12 people. It has to be a small group to be effective. We can also do other fun stuff like weekly bike rides around Montreal, and other fun stuff

Core Objective: But just to clarify, the core objective would be to learn coding. Socializing would just be a fun byproduct. Just saying this because don't want to attract people who mainly come for the socializing aspect of it.

Timings: 2 days a week (6pm to 9pm on Tuesdays and Fridays). Starting 3rd week of August.

Location: At McGill or Concordia, but sometimes we could hang around in cafes and stuff.

Cost: $0. It'll be a free study group. Obviously, if you decide to buy any udemy courses or subscription to codeacademy, etc, you'll pay for that.

Requirement:

1. You need to have 6 hours a week for this and be really motivated to come. Not looking for people who come for like 3 weeks and then lose interest. As that will be demotivating for everyone. So, I would personally make an effort to select and invite only people who I think are likely to stick around and genuinely motivated. I'll put up a short form here.
2. Ideally you should be a Senior or Postgrad, since I'm looking for people who are genuinely motivated to use their skillset in the real world. But this is not a hard and fast rule.

I have shared the idea with a few people, and I'm getting a lot of traction. So might end up creating 2 groups of 10-12 people. But the idea is to keep it a very small group of people, who are most likely to persist and complete the journey (3-6 months). Hence the form, and selective invitation process - ONLY FOR PEOPLE WHO'RE HIGHLY MOTIVATED. Would happily rather do a 6-7 people highly focused group, than have 3 people who're half interested. The entire goal of this is to push each other and keep accountability, otherwise everyone can self study at home. So again, only sign up if super interested and motivated to learn coding.

We also need a volunteer with coding experience who can come once a month to answer our questions. If we don't find anyone, we can mutually agree to group hire someone for one session weekly, or simply decide to help each other.

If you're interested, kindly dm "interested" or share your feedback. I'll drop the registration form link here in a while.

Cheers.