I’m a Udacity Android for Beginners Graduate

This week, I officially graduated from Android for Beginners!

Now, you might be asking yourself, Jessica, you majored in engineering. Why are you so excited to graduate from a beginners program?

To which I would respond, What happened in your life that made you hate fun?

Though seriously, I wanted a course that would get me up-to-speed with the basics of developing for Android quickly. And since I’m no Java programmer, I decided to go with the beginner course.

Overall, it was a great experience. I now have a better understanding of how Android and iOS Development differ, and I don’t feel like a total n00b when my colleagues mention things like “intents” and “toast messages.” I even got to practice my Japanese skills in translating the in-class example app, Just Java. Two birds, one stone, there.

The final project in the course was to create an app that teaches a user five things. The app I built imparts very important knowledge…the knowledge of select superhero facts. After all, with the popularity of superhero movies these days, people should really know the original backstories of the characters seen onscreen.

The design is very simple: two TextViews, an ImageView, a ScrollView and a Button. When the button is pressed, details on either Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, Spider-Gwen, Squirrel Girl, or Doctor Strange appear on screen. And because I couldn’t help myself, I also included some logic to ensure the same hero wasn’t picked twice in a row.

You can find the whole project on my GitHub.

Moving forward, I’m trying to decide between returning to the iOS Developer Nanodegree and continuing progress there, or teaching myself Java so that I can go deeper into Android development. Ahh, decisions, decisions.