On Saturday – Mar 25th – Freddy and I taught a boutique workshop to six magnificent people. We didn't intend for it to be a boutique workshop, but we learned that 2 weeks is really tight to promote a $400 event.
And you know what, it was better this way.
Having six people was great. We could banter and hang out, everyone could get to know everyone, we could help everyone individually if they got stuck. Typing code is a harder problem than you'd think, and finding typos is the hardest.
I think this was the 6th React & D3 workshop we've done, and it was my favorite. We improve the content with each iteration, we get better at teaching, and we get more relaxed.
You know, I think less than ten is my favorite audience size. When somebody asks a question, we can go on a tangent to answer. With a small class, it's easy to gauge everyone's interest, and we can spend more time answering great questions. And because the class is small, people feel more comfortable asking questions.
With more questions, our workshop becomes better for the audience. We help them and not an abstract version of them.
That's why on Saturday people didn't learn just about React and D3 and building data visualizations. We talked at length about Redux, MobX, and approaches to state management. We talked about setting up a new project (always use create-react-app), strategies to fetch and organize data, and we even broached some deep CompSci topics.
It was great ?
My favorite quote of the day was: "I learned a lot"
But I didn't get it on camera. ?
You see, I wanted to give vlogging a shot. I want to try my hand at vlogging. I think it's going to make my coding videos more interesting.
And holy shit is vlogging harder than it looks!
You look at vlogs and you think "Oh, it's just idiots running around with cameras saying random things" and yes, that might be the case on Snapchat, maybe.
But to make a real vlog, the kind that stays on YouTube forever more… damn.
Here is a list of things you have to always keep in mind. I didn't think about all of these, and now I know I should.
- The camera should point at person talking, always
- You should spend more time on camera
- Think more selfies with other people, less camera pointing away from you at other people
- When a scene transition happens, you have to narrate it
- Said narration should happen on camera, not behind the camera
- Mind the light. People's faces look dark real quick
- Background noise is louder than you think
- Camera on automatic aperture and shutter speed never makes the perfect decision
- You don't have time for manual aperture and shutter speed
- You think autofocus found your face, but are you sure autofocus found your face?
- Don't configure your mic manually. Your settings are wrong because you set them up in a quiet environment.
- Mic settings do not travel well
- It's easy to take long shots of things that don't drive the story
- Those long shots take a long time to edit and cut down
Basically, I should improve my camerawork and my narrating.
But the workshop was great. Can't wait to do the one in Chicago in May. We already know how we're gonna make it better.
Continue reading about A boutique React & D3v4 workshop – and my first vlog
Semantically similar articles hand-picked by GPT-4
- Things I learned from doing my first workshop
- Online workshops are MORE interactive than in-person workshops
- What I learned from teaching StubHub about React and Redux
- Livecoding #35 - A New Site for reactd3js.com
- Reactathon 2018 was a hoot ❤️
Learned something new?
Read more Software Engineering Lessons from Production
I write articles with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them. Fueled by lessons learned over 20 years of building production code for side-projects, small businesses, and hyper growth startups. Both successful and not.
Subscribe below 👇
Software Engineering Lessons from Production
Join Swizec's Newsletter and get insightful emails 💌 on mindsets, tactics, and technical skills for your career. Real lessons from building production software. No bullshit.
"Man, love your simple writing! Yours is the only newsletter I open and only blog that I give a fuck to read & scroll till the end. And wow always take away lessons with me. Inspiring! And very relatable. 👌"
Have a burning question that you think I can answer? Hit me up on twitter and I'll do my best.
Who am I and who do I help? I'm Swizec Teller and I turn coders into engineers with "Raw and honest from the heart!" writing. No bullshit. Real insights into the career and skills of a modern software engineer.
Want to become a true senior engineer? Take ownership, have autonomy, and be a force multiplier on your team. The Senior Engineer Mindset ebook can help 👉 swizec.com/senior-mindset. These are the shifts in mindset that unlocked my career.
Curious about Serverless and the modern backend? Check out Serverless Handbook, for frontend engineers 👉 ServerlessHandbook.dev
Want to Stop copy pasting D3 examples and create data visualizations of your own? Learn how to build scalable dataviz React components your whole team can understand with React for Data Visualization
Want to get my best emails on JavaScript, React, Serverless, Fullstack Web, or Indie Hacking? Check out swizec.com/collections
Did someone amazing share this letter with you? Wonderful! You can sign up for my weekly letters for software engineers on their path to greatness, here: swizec.com/blog
Want to brush up on your modern JavaScript syntax? Check out my interactive cheatsheet: es6cheatsheet.com
By the way, just in case no one has told you it yet today: I love and appreciate you for who you are ❤️