Metal Toad University

It started with my Dad. He was recently laid off from Comcast after almost 30 years. He wasn't sure what to do with himself, but since he's the one who first showed me code, he has experience with publishing his own podcast, and he has decades of technical expertise in the telephony biz, it only made sense to me to get him into web dev. While thinking about this it occurred to me that over the years a few other friends of mine had expressed interest in what I do. These were all friends who were bright people stuck in lousy jobs. Wanting to share the career that I love with my friends and family, I posted this on Facebook:




I was overwhelmed at the response I got. Before I knew it, I had 6 students and 3 volunteers who wanted to help. I realized that my house was no longer the best venue for this so I approached Joaquin about letting me do it there. In return, I branded it Metal Toad University. Once I started really advertising it and telling people about it the number of students jumped up along with the volunteers. The first class had 9 students along with 3 absentees (We're getting together soon to watch the recording so they can catch up) and 5 volunteers. More people are becoming interested in being students and the demographics are across the board. Ages range from 13-62. Previous occupations range from Project Manager to Rail Yard Mechanic. If you or someone you know is interested, send me a little note with your Google+ username and I'll get you added. Next class is January 3rd!

EDIT: The first class video is up: