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Video Games, Tech Careers without a Degree, and Being British with Andrew Chalkley
4:14 with Andrew ChalkleyIn this episode we’ll be talking to the thought leader, class clown and Treehouse teacher, Andrew Chalkley.
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Hi I'm Craig,
welcome to the Treehouse Show.
0:00
The Treehouse Show is our weekly
conversation with the Treehouse Community.
0:02
[MUSIC]
0:05
In this episode we'll be talking to
the thought leader, class clown, and
0:10
Treehouse teacher, Andrew Chalkley.
0:13
So how did you get started in technology?
0:15
>> I think most people in tech
got started by playing games.
0:18
Sort of like playing the NES,
the SEGA genesis, or
0:22
Mega Drive as we call it in the UK,
and playing games like that.
0:25
And then when I was at school there
was a few kids my age who were
0:30
starting to program things.
0:34
So I wanted to be the creator of things,
rather than just a consumer of games and
0:37
things like that.
0:41
>> Okay, so you made your own.
0:42
>> Yes, so I started making
very simple things at first.
0:44
>> Like what?
0:47
>> So
I did a basic conditional statement like,
0:47
if the name was this then I would say,
a particular insult,
0:51
personal or something like that.
0:56
So it was just enough to
really get me hooked, and
0:59
enough challenge to say,
okay, I can get this.
1:03
>> That's awesome.
1:06
So I know that you teach several different
languages here, what do you teach here?
1:07
>> Yeah, I teach JavaScript and
SQL predominantly.
1:12
I've taught some other things
while I've been here but
1:17
those are the two main things.
1:20
>> Do you know other programming,
I mean, obviously, you know QBasic.
1:22
Sounds like you were talking
about some basic earlier.
1:24
Do you know other programming languages?
1:26
>> Yeah, I migrated from QBasic to
Visual Basic and then PHP and MySQL,
1:28
and then I went on to Ruby and Java,
>> Wow.
1:33
>> Objective C, a bit of Swift and
1:37
JavaScript obviously is in there
when you develop for the web.
1:39
So yeah I've had a patchwork of
languages throughout my career.
1:43
>> That's right,
>> A polyglot.
1:49
>> Yeah.
1:50
>> If that's what that means, a polyglot.
1:50
>> So you've picked all that stuff up in
1:51
college?
>> No-
1:53
>> In fact,
1:54
at school there was no form
of programming lessons.
1:55
It was just a group of us getting
together and just having fun.
1:58
>> Cool.
>> And it was a hobby of mine, and
2:02
it just so happen that we can
have a career in this thing.
2:04
>> Yeah.
[LAUGH]
2:08
>> So, through all my career I've been
2:09
self-taught, I've taught
myself these languages and
2:11
it's been challenging but
also been super rewarding too.
2:15
>> Right, so that's why you know all those
different languages is through necessity?
2:19
>> Through necessity and
2:22
most developers will learn more
than one language out of necessity.
2:24
So say for example, if you .NET developer
and you're developing something in
2:27
the back end, you're probably
build the web page on the HTML and
2:32
some CSS and definitely JavaScript.
2:35
>> Cool, if only there were a place for
everybody to learn all those languages.
2:38
>> Yeah.
>> That you just mentioned.
2:41
>> Yeah.
2:42
>> So the students would like to know-
>> Mm-hm.
2:43
>> What is something that
you can share with us that
2:45
they won't learn in your courses?
2:47
Something about you.
2:48
>> Okay, so I'm British,
you know that already, right?
2:50
>> Mm-hm.
>> [LAUGH]
2:53
>> I heard that.
2:54
>> Yeah.
2:54
>> Yes.
2:55
>> I'm going on.
2:55
So there's often a challenge,
the way I pronounce things sometimes.
2:58
>> [LAUGH] Yes, there is.
3:02
>> So I have been adopting American words.
3:04
>> Okay.
3:06
>> So I say router instead of router.
3:07
So we said router in the UK
cuz you're routing packets.
3:10
Why wouldn't you call it router,
right, no router even?
3:13
>> I see that problem all the time
like the other day at lunch,
3:17
you tried to order something.
3:19
>> Yeah.
3:20
>> What did you get?
It looks good.
3:22
>> A lamburger?
3:23
>> A what?
3:24
>> Lamburger, yeah, so I have to put
on this excessive American accent for
3:25
people often where this is or what is up
places to understand what food I want.
3:30
>> [LAUGH]
>> So even a hamburger, I've gotta-
3:35
>> [LAUGH]
3:38
>> Have the burger bit on the end or
3:39
else people don't understand me.
3:41
>> You sound like you've
lived here your whole life.
3:42
>> Sure.
3:44
>> Yeah, so we work in an open office, and
3:45
one of the hazards that
we see happens to be you.
3:49
You like to scare people, isn't that true?
3:54
>> Really?
3:57
Aah!
4:01
[LAUGH]
4:01
[MUSIC]
4:03
>> Thanks for watching the Treehouse show.
4:08
To get in touch with the show,
reach out to me on Twitter or
4:09
get us up in the Treehouse community.
4:11
See you next time.
4:13
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