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@dwyl Apprenticeship in Creative Technologies (ACT)

<a href="https://unsplash.com/@craftedbygc" alt="Creative Writing - Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash"> <img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/194400/71594193-dc231c80-2b2e-11ea-973a-9e5cc0d1049b.png" width="800"> </a>

"The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react." <br />~ George Bernard Shaw

Everything¹ you need to know about dwyl's Apprenticeship in Creative Technologies ("ACT").

¹Our aim is to capture the answers to all questions relating to the apprenticeship in this repository. <br /> If you have any unanswered questions or anything is unclear, please open an issue! <br /> We know this repo not perfect and we need your help to make it better.

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Why?

Most companies/organisations only (want to) hire people who already have years of experience. Managers rationalise that it's too expensive and time-consuming to invest in training people who have little or zero work experience. On the surface it can be tempting to only hire experienced people for technical teams; after all someone else has paid for their past mistakes (learning). Experienced people have practiced their craft for several years, so they are more likely to get the work done faster, right? Evidence suggests it makes a lot more sense to have a mix of both experienced and people with a fresh perspective on a team.

<!-- ### Why Diversity is Essential in _All_ Systems A forest is not just mature trees. It has both established trees and new seedlings. Biodiversity and _sharing_ resources is _essential_ for a thriving ecosystem with [ecological succession](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_succession). The most familiar/popular example of having a range of experience is a _professional_ sports team. Successful sports teams are _never_ homogeneous in age or experience; there is always a _range_. There are _always_ more experience players teamed with newer less experienced ones. Youth System: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_system -->

The purpose of @dwyl's Apprenticeship is to help people gain real-world experience while developing the skills necessary to operate effectively in the creative industries. Our objective is to give people the opportunity to learn creativity, communication, teamwork and technical skills in a real world environment.

<!-- Obviously we would not put a person with _zero_ experience/knowledge on a team to work on a tough project. In the same way that new recruits in the army are not sent directly to the front lines without training! -->

Our Hypothesis

At dwyl we hypothesize that it's more effective to train people from scratch because:

• It gives people who are new to creative tech a start they would not otherwise get.
  • Getting a start in creative tech is the hardest part. @dwyl will help you leap over the first barrier.
• People who are new tend to have a "beginners mind" and are more "teachable".
• Avoids having to unlearn bad practices (like un-tested or un-documented work!).
• Instills the habit of continuous learning early in the person's journey thus avoiding "senior syndrome" (where people feel they already know everything!)
• They are more likely to pass on their knowledge to teammates (whereas most "senior" people "hoard" their knowledge out of fear of being replaced or as a bad habit!)

<!-- > NOTE: help very much help-wanted re-wording these bullet points! -->

What?

An apprenticeship is a system of training people who are learning how to do a job which needs special skill. <br /> see: wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship

ACT is an intensive learning program covering several areas that are relevant to working in the creative industries. Some of the skills are "life skills" that are essential for operating effectively both as an individual and as a member of a team in any organisation. Other skills are technical and specific to a particular role in a team. We encourage everyone to learn the fundamentals in all skills before choosing their preferred ones to master.

Some of the skills include:

1. Personal Effectiveness

@dwyl's mission is to "Empower people to maximise effectiveness, creativity and happiness." <br /> Maiximizing your personal effectiveness is the first step toward achieving your potential. Our App - which you will contribute to during your ACT - is designed to help you build and track the habits necessary for creative excellence. There are many ways you can contribute way more than designing UX or writing code! For now simply focus on the fact that you will be improving your personal effectiveness in a systematic way. You will be tracking and managing your time and energy to ensure you are applying yourself and working on the tasks that actually move you toward your goal(s).

2. Creativity

Creativity is the use of imagination or ideas to create something. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity <br /> Creativity is central to everything we do @dwyl and we are all constantly being creative. There are many ways of being creative, the first step is simply to think that you can be creative! If you already feel that you are creative and want a chance to develop your ideas and creative skills, please contact us! We need creative people who want to make things!

If you are stuck thinking you are not creative, we suggest dwyl/learn-creativity as a starting point.

3. Communication

One of the most valuable transferrable skills anyone can learn and apply to any area of their life/work is communication.

• [x] Asking questions! If you aren't asking questions you aren't learning. It's really that simple.
• [x] Writing - capturing everything you learn. Enhancing/improving/editing @dwyl's extensive library of learning guides and tutorials.
• [x] Sharing what you are thinking especially when you see an area for improvement!
• [x] Informing your teammates of what you are working on by consistently updating the task tracker (e.g: with update comments on a GitHub issue) has multiple benefits which compound over time.
• [x] Visual communication including graphics and video.
• [x] Language For any work / contribution or even communication should be used English.

4. Collaboration

<div align="center"> <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/IgUR1iX0mqM" alt="Pair Programming - Photo credit NESA"> <img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/194400/71603902-fc66d180-2b56-11ea-8bac-8486990e9ef3.png" width="800"> </a> </div>

How to work with other people in a team both in-person and remote. This is an incredibly valuable transferrable life skill that everyone should master. See: https://github.com/dwyl/remote-working

5. UX/Design Thinking

You don't have to label yourself as a "designer" or go to college for 4 years in order to think like a designer. You just have to observe the world and think: "is this user-friendly?"

There are plenty of examples of both good and bad design around us. You have the opportunity to improve the world and the experience of your fellow humans through design. What can be more exciting than that?

Read:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_thinking
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-centered_design
• https://uxplanet.org/user-centered-design-process-and-benefits-fd9e431eb5a9
• https://99percentinvisible.org/article/norman-doors-dont-know-whether-push-pull-blame-design/

6. Code

“Everybody should learn to program a computer, <br />because it teaches you how to think.” ~ Steve Jobs

We think everyone should learn how to (read/write/understand) code because it teaches you to think systematically and break down problems into small chunks.

@dwyl we write code to make useful things for real people. <br />

<!-- We don't write code for hedge funds and high frequency traders to [help rich people get richer](https://youtu.be/_HDFegpX5gI). -->

We do not expect all the people doing the Apprenticeship to write code for their career. But technology and code are at the centre of what we do @dwyl (as well as the world we live in) and we have found that knowing how to code is an essential skill to working effectively here.

<!-- In the same way that not _all_ people who are learning to code as part of primary school curriculum in schools will write code for a living. -->

“Whether you want to uncover the secrets of the universe, or you just want to pursue a career in the 21st century, basic computer programming is an essential skill to learn.” ~ Stephen Hawking

Who?

Anyone over 18 years old² w