As a touring musician, I have, should I choose not to spend it in the thrall of a drunken stupor or the following hangover, an inordinate amount of free time and I made a conscious effort to utilize it to the fullest.
The drummer in my band, who has also dabbled with programming since studying CS in college, had told me about the edX course MIT was offering on the Python language and I decided to sign up for it, even though it had already started a week prior. I felt that with the support of a friend in the class as well, I could possibly pull it off, even with the distractions of tour-life.
Phil: Why a class on computer science / Python?
Mike: As I stated before, the subject matter was very interesting to me, but beyond that, I felt that with enough time and dedication I could begin to earn an income from coding and possibly even supplement my income while I was on the road.
After much time and consideration, I see how lofty an ambition this was, especially without a formal education in the subject, but I have always had perseverant spirit, and work towards this goal with daily strides and small victories. The more I learned about Python, the more I liked what it stands for. Aside from being a huge Monty Python fan, I really admire the Pythonic ideals and its desire to be readable. I am constantly amazed at how powerful this language can be.
Phil: What worked for you in this class / what did you do to succeed?
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