Schedule of Activities
We provide our students with accommodation, individual and classroom instruction, and fun events and activities so participants can get to know the country and each other.
Welcome Dinner Orientation
Week 0
The night before class starts, the students and teaching staff will get to know each other over a traditional Colombian dinner. Everyone will get the chance to sample some of the favorites of Colombian cuisine, like Mondongo, Sancocho, and Ajiaco.
Parque Arví
Week 1
After a week of hard work, we'll take a day trip to Parque Arví - a verdant nature preserve right outside of Medellín. Transportation to the park is provided by the famed Medellín Metrocable - a renowned feat of urban planning that has improved the lives of working-class people in formerly far-flung areas of the city. Students will get to experience how average people live in Colombia on the way to the park, which has hiking trails, a farmer's market, and amusement park attractions.
Guatapé and El Peñol Day Trip
Week 2
Guatapé is a man-made reservoir in a vast valley that forms a beautiful inland archipelago. Students will have a day to hike up El Peñol, a large rock formation that provides a stunning view of the valley, explore the town, and participate in watersports.
Atlético Nacional Soccer Match
Week 4
During Week 4, we'll attend a soccer match and cheer on Medellín's own Atlético Nacional - the winningest soccer club in all of Colombia. Atlético is the most popular team in Colombia and plays frequent matches against local and international rivals at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium.
Coffee Plantation Tour
Week 5
Students visit a local coffee plantation to watch and understand the process of making coffee. The guided tour covers everything from cultivation, harvesting, processing, distribution and ends with a final tasting.
Graduation Night
Week 8
Eight weeks goes by so fast with the right people and experiences! One final bonding over a night out to send everyone off with their new friends and an awesome new skill.
Optional Activities
Students will also have free time to explore the country on their own. Unguided exploration time is scheduled into the curriculum so students can visit some of Colombia's other attractions on their own:
- Cartagena
- Parque Lleras
- Salsa/Bachata Dance Classes
- Weekly Spanish Classes
- Medellín Free Walking Tour
- Pablo Escobar Tour
- Jardin Botanico
Course Curriculum
This eight week curriculum prepares students with little to no experience programming for work as a professional web developer upon graduation. Applicants will be screened for their desire and ability to understand concepts in an accelerated learning environment.
Pre-Course
Programming Fundamentals I
Students will learn the fundamental building blocks of any programming language. Variable types, arrays, conditional statements, and loops will be explored in Ruby.
Week 1
Programming Fundamentals II
The course kicks off with a deeper dive into the remaining fundamentals of programming in Ruby - hashes, blocks, and nested loops.
Week 2
Object-Oriented Programming I
Week 2 begins with an introduction to Object-oriented programming topics: objects, classes, instances, and inheritance.
Week 3
Object-Oriented Programming II
Students put their knowledge in practice by programming board games and card games using OOP concepts.
Week 4
Databases, SQL, & Active Record
During Week 4 students learn the importance of databases in a web application and how to read and write to them.
Week 5
REST & MVC Architecture with Ruby on Rails
This week is a big milestone for students. They learn HTML/CSS and making RESTful HTTP requests - the core technologies of web applications. Students also begin working with Ruby on Rails for the first time and learn the principles of MVC web application architecture.
Week 6
Ruby on Rails Deep Dive
Students strengthen their grasp of Ruby on Rails by learning advanced topics and building practice projects.
Week 7
jQuery, the DOM, and Javascript
Week 7 introduces students to the Document Object Model which controls the browser and everything a user sees on a webpage. Students learn to construct and manipulate webpages in the browser.
Week 8
Week 9/10
Capstone Project
In the final week of instruction, students independently build a project of their choosing. This is their chance to put everything they've learned into a final portfolio project to show friends, family, and employers.
job preparation (Optional)
Have an extra 2 weeks? Stay with us in Medellín for job preparation workshops and interview preparation practice. One of the unique features of Destination: Dev is that we prepare our students to work as freelance web developers in order to live as digital nomads. We'll spend time preparing you to find freelance work, as well as preparing you to interview for traditional junior developer positions if that is your goal. You can also feel free to use our house as a home base during this time to travel more across Colombia.