YWAM Information Technology - Education and Training - Comments

Interesting...

Donovan — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:58:53 +0000

Interesting find. I found that this has been ported to freeBSD as well. Just go to the ports tree: /usr/ports/editors/gobby and type: make install clean and you are on your way.

Using gobby with YWAMKB

crashsystems — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:14:44 +0000

Hmm... that password was sure difficult to figure out ;)

I think that the best approach to using this in meetings would be to use it with Skype, instead of as a replacement. I see it as more of a way to take collaborative notes, instead of normal chat. Think of it as more of a real-time wiki.

Alternatively....

tofirius — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 13:20:42 +0100

Have a look at http://www.w3schools.com/ for some free, basic online courses on many technologies (i.e. xml, html, css, etc.).

Chris Bischoff
YWAM Latvia, Communications
www.ywamlatvia.com

re: Interaction & Training

neo — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:31:33 +0100

Hi Chris,

I wrote another comment on training before I saw this blog entry.
Your idea sounds good. If you want to include Web Evangelism into that then you should contact Create International. I was in Perth when they ran a 1 week Web Evangelism Seminar there. Now I'm with Create as their "code warrior", like my big boss says ;)

So, if you're interested in that topic contact Create through the online form or drop me a line at [webev "at" createinternational "dot" com] and we can discuss the possibilities and I also will forward to Calvin.

Greetings from the MatriX,
neo

Some good points

R.Blevins — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 10:10:15 +0000

Hello CHong Ho,
You've made some good points. I have been seeking lately to include the Holy Spirit more in web development like I try and do in other areas of my life. For some reason it just hadn't occurred to me until recently!

The Holy Spirit will lead you to solutions and help you use those, but I think He also honors it when we strive for excellence in our giftings, and strive to develop those gifts. If someone is good at self-study and teaching themselves to use code they find on the internet, then you may never run into a situation where you can't (with the Holy Spirit) figure out how to do something. However, for those who do not work well this way, then more formal training (in the form of classes, like you suggest, or a degree) would be a better way to go.

We need to rely on the Holy Spirit more than ever before, but too often I have seen the Holy Spirit or even a particular anointing used as an excuse to not get more training (I've even used that excuse myself). (I'm not suggesting this is what you're saying by the way;-)

What's the point?

orasearch — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 03:15:42 +0000

Hi all,

I love this site....

Matt, what is your deepest desire of your heart regarding I.T. and world mission? Do you want to lead a full I.T. ministry somewhere? Do you want to lead a department? Do you see yourself having interaction with outside ywam I.T. leaders? How long to you see yourself in YWAM?

I am full believer of Holy Spirit led programming. You don't have to be so smart, you just need to hear God's voice and move under His anointing. He will give you all the revelation you will need to do the job (or God will send you people around you who can help).

What degree will do for you is:

- bring credibility to you and your ministry
- learning curve on new initiative will be shorter
- some practical experience (not a whole lot)
- a must in corporate I.T. world

If you want to learn programing, take any classes..... if you want to come up with a long term life style outside YWAM in I.T., then get the BS because in USA, AS or certificates don't mean much. I used to hire people and never even looked at people who didn't have a BS in CS.

Btw, if you want BS in CS, your math will need to be strong. It's not just programing.

These are just my opinion bro....

Blessings,
Chong Ho

Re: posted comments

matt0ne — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 01:26:51 +0000

I love how this question has led to me getting the background and educational history of a bunch of you. It has been really interesting to read your stories and learn from your mistakes and get your input and insight. Thanks a lot - it has been really exciting for me to come back over the past few days and read the new comments.

Matt

Study Advice

R.Blevins — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 19:26:28 +0000

I started college in 1991 in Sacred Music (basically church music from playing piano to writing for and directing an orchestra). I quickly realized that this was not for me and I went through several other majors (Chemistry, Chemical Engineering) before trying CSE (Computer Science Engineering). I assume CS is not much different and I quickly found out that if what I really wanted to do was program, that CSE was way too in-depth.

One of my first classes was how computer chips are designed starting at the most basic level. Admittedly a very cool class, but way more than what I really wanted to know. My favorite course was introduction to data types where we learned Pascal programming, and then later my C programming class.

I think that some kind of (Web) Programming/Development or some kind of Computer Information degree would suit what we do in YWAM most of the time better. Sometime in the last 10 years, I became aware of the term IT. I don't know if there are general IT degrees or not, but I suspect that it is something like CIS.

My own experience

stevewanless — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 19:58:41 +0000

Hey Matt,

After working with YWAM for the past 3 years or so, I have taken a break to do some IT training at a main stream place. I chose not to do a degree but a 9 month diploma in Web Development.
Personally I didnt want to be studying for ages, I'm 25 with a wife and 1yr old son and didnt want to spend the next four years buried in paper work and assignments most of which I may never use. Instead I decided to take the shorter, jam packed course, get enough training to get out the in mission field and go from there. In 9 months we have covered XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and some Action Script. It's allot to cover in a short time, but it has been great. I only have 2 months to go, most of which is spent working on our final project and then we are done.

I had planned on doing some more courses in the multimedia area, but I decided to focus on what I wanted to learn to get me in the door, and do my own further learning afterwards at my own pace.

The school I am at also does a Diploma in Graphic Design (they offer no degree courses). People come here and get the practical training, learn how to use the software, and turn out projects (9 month course too), other people go down to the local university and spend four years doing a degree in Graphic design - most of which is not spent on a computer but doing 2500 word papers on the art history of some font or something weird.

So you can go either way, focus on your main interest and the rest can come later, or stay at school for the next 4 years to get a degree - and still may have to do you won learning later.

Steve

re: self training.

matt0ne — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:39:18 +0000

As an IT guy too (with no real training & learned bits here and there) there is a definate draw to getting the broad training. Then I can be a blessing in any IT situation, not just the web stuff.
Reading each comment is making me go back and forth! Gonna have to see where God leads in this one.
Thanks for the advice.

This site is great!

re: classes

matt0ne — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:36:33 +0000

This looks very much like the program that I am interested in and your eventual situation is what I am afraid of: having spent a bunch of money and not being fully equipped. From what I know, the colleges that I am looking at are pretty good: Herzing and Madison Area Technical College. I think after reading this and some of the other posts I am more inclined to go with the web programming course.

Thanks.

re: Discipline

matt0ne — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 16:31:59 +0000

I think that discipline is my main problem. I like the structure that studying at school provides. I probably could set apart a couple of afternoons a week to focus on training myself.
Thanks for the input.

Study

alex.costa — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:27:12 +0000

I'm studying at the moment and I found a way that suits me in YWAM. Maybe my situation can help you decide on what to do. I have just started a BSc on ICT - Information and Communication Technologies. For me the only real option was distance learning so that's how I'm doing it, and actually that's my best way of learning. I'm self-taught in IT so I knew clearly that I needed some propper training as there was/is a big black-hole in my IT knowleadge. I also want to stay in the web programming side, and I have been learning and using LAMP for a while now, it's great, and I'm a great lover of OpenSource. Apart from studying for my BS in ICT, I'm also doing self study to get certified on Linux Admin, Zend PHP, and for the sake of the IT structure on our base and the continuity of it I'll start learning ASP .NET. So my development is not linked only with the degree but to my areas of interest and/or need.

On the LAMP front you could actually break it apart and self-study on each separate module, getting certified (on your own time) per module.

Linux - http://www.lpi.org/en/lpi/english/certification
Apache - I believe it's included in the Linux Certification
MYSQL - http://mysql.com/certification/
PHP - http://www.zend.com/education/zend_php_certification

Anyway...these are my thoughts, hope they can help you make you decision.

My experience...

tofirius — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 09:08:35 +0000

I did an Associates in Applied Business: Computer Information Systems with a Programming Emphasis. What that translated into was about 1 year of business classes (accounting, intro to business, economics & some other general ed. courses) & maybe about a year of degree-related courses (i.e. intro to logic & programming, a survey of various programming languages [c++, visual basic, java, object pascal], classes in database design along with sql, & systems analysis & design). What I found out at the end of my degree while working at an internship for a major US food company was that I was sorely under-educated for the real world of programming. What I learned, though, was that my degree made me just a wee bit smarter in my decision-making regarding website programming & set up. I'm still not a programmer & I really don't want to be. But at least at this point I can understand the technology enough to try to find the right solutions for different situations. To be honest, I wish there had been some YWAM school that would have given a 3-month intensive experience into programming because I honestly think that I would have gotten the same amount of content out of that, as I did from my 2-year university degree. I don't regret those 2 years, as I knew without a doubt that God had led me to do it. I just think that you're the reason why something needs to happen in this area of training in YWAM.

Bottom line, if you're going for a degree, I'd choose a 2-year degree, unless you're going to want to be a serious programmer... then go for the 4-year options. Make sure that you do some hard studying into the programs that your universities are offering. I found out that my university actually had one of the worst IT programs of all universities in my state. I didn't know that, as I was impulsive & just wanted to get started. I found out later, though, that there were other schools that had much more comprehensive programs.

Hope some of this helps. Bless you as you follow Him.

Chris Bischoff
YWAM Latvia, Communications
www.ywamlatvia.com

college or self study

neo — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 04:16:53 +0000

Hi,
my first question would be, do you want to study at a college? Or would you prefer to do a half day self study and half day ministry? That's probably something you should talk with God about.

However, I don't know what exactly "Computer Science" means but if you are disceplined enough to do some self study I believe with a couple of books you can learn the exact topics you want, in the order you want and in the depth you want. Well, I guess the down-side is when you run into problems there might be no one who can explain it to you.

Just some thoughts....
Hope that helps.

Greetings from the MatriX,
neo