Startup Programming and Management (ENTR-925-0)
This course provides students with an introduction to web development and software engineering project management. Students will learn the • key concepts involved in modern web programming; • the essentials of the Ruby on Rails web framework; • core principles of agile management and agile team methodologies; • best practices for hiring and managing developers; and • Hands-on experience with several product management tools and online resources. An interesting aspect of this course is that the course itself has both technical and agile management aspects woven right into the course. Key highlights include: • The class agenda will be managed visually during class using a project management tool like Pivotal Tracker or Agile Zen. • Lecture sessions are mingled with in-class computer lab sessions, so that students will gain hands-on practical skills. Each session is therefore a combination of brief demonstrations, lecture material, and labs. • Students will participate in class-wide “retrospectives” to help steer the class, much as a software team would. • All labs introduce the concept of “pair programming” to the students, so that they can a sense of what it’s like for a software engineer to be working on a team that adheres to agile practices. The instructor for this class is Jeff Cohen who is representing and offering the course through The Starter League. This class is recommended for students who currently (or in the near future) are starting web businesses and require the development of an MVP. This class is also recommended for students who want to work in start-ups and need to understand the programming aspects of the business in order to communicate with the technical team. A mandatory $250 computer rental fee is required for this course. Students will also learn how to set up their personal computers in order to work on coding between class sessions