Meet Ammon King, Woz U Expert Software Developer Instructor!

Ammon King is an expert Software Developer instructor at Woz U! Read about his experience, the field of Software Development, and our program in this instructor spotlight.

It ‘s no secret that the job market and the demand for tech talent are exponentially growing. For instance, the employment of software developers is projected to grow 24 percent over the next ten years, the employment of application developers is projected to grow 30 percent, and employment of systems developers is projected to grow 11 percent (bls.gov). Companies across all industries are struggling to find qualified tech talent and are actively seeking solutions to fill their technical gaps. In essence, the job market has never been better for someone seeking to enter the field of software development and computer programming.

At Woz U, our dedicated and knowledgeable instructors educate students on the necessary skills to enter the technology field quickly and affordably. Our instructors pride themselves in going above and beyond for their students, and we pride ourselves in our star instructors!

Meet Ammon King, one of our online and on-site in Scottsdale, AZ software developer instructors. In addition to his years of experience, Ammon makes class interesting for students (and staff!) by keeping everyone guessing on his new hair colors and unique Halloween costumes.

Ammon dyed his hair green and yellow to meet Steve Wozniak!

Ammon’s Halloween 2018 coding costume!

For those with little to no background in software development, Ammon is an especially valuable instructor to have by your side.

“Ammon is the patron saint of newbies and patience. He has an incredible knack for taking a complicated lesson and making it relatable. Without Ammon teaching, I’m not sure I would have made it through class.”
– Scott Shetley, Software Developer graduate. Watch his student spotlight on our blog here.

To highlight Ammon and his courses at Woz U, we conducted a short Q&A. You can also watch out for monthly informational webinars and meet him in person by visiting our events page after this read!

About Ammon:

Where did your passion for technology stem from?
I was young and bored, breaking my parent ‘s new computer is great incentive to figure out how to fix it. Then I realized I have never stopped breaking things so I need to know how to fix them! I am also a tinkerer with a strong desire to understand how things work, once I started writing software as a teenager I never really stopped because there is so much to learn.
What are some of your hobbies outside of technology?
I am an avid reader, a rabid Lego collector, a I occasionally have time to make costume helmets. I am also a big Star Wars fan, with a Boba Fett shrine in my office.”
Why did you decide to start teaching?
I realized that programming comes naturally to me, and not everyone has that same talent. I am primarily a self-taught developer and can sometimes forget the many hours I have put into my own research and learning; knowledge was not as accessible when I was learning. Now there is almost the opposite, there is too much information out there, which is why the availability of teachers and mentors is vital to someone starting out on this journey.
Do you have a favorite programming language?
JavaScript! It is a great learning language and has a crazy amount of depth as well. There ‘s always new frameworks and plugins and exciting things in the JavaScript world.
Can you name every color you have dyed your hair recently?
Blue/green pink, purple, rainbow, maroon, red/yellow, gray (which turned out bluish)

Ammon King and his wife with rainbow hair

Ammon with maroon hair

Ammon with red hair

About the field and Ammon ‘s courses:

Do you feel the software development field has changed since you entered it?
There are more options, which is great but also a lot to navigate through. IDE ‘s (integrated development environments) are getting better, more lightweight, and easier to use; browsers are becoming more standardized for what they support. The day I had to no longer develop for IE6 (Internet Explorer 6) was the day the world got better.
How do you see the field changing in the near future?
I don ‘t think we are in a landscape where anyone can only know how to do one thing; on top of that, speed to market is increasing. Features are rolled out to applications on an almost hourly basis, which means that the development ecosystem is much more complex than it used to be. The ability to speak across disciplines will become much more valuable than only focusing on one aspect of development. The rise of DevOps (development and operations) and SecOps (security and operations) and DevSec (development and security) and all of the other new acronyms mean that groups that used to live in different ecosystems are now working closely together. This means that being able to understand concepts and languages of other areas is pivotal.I also think that degree-based learning needs an overhaul, for the same speed reasons above. Learning the basics of a language and not getting an immediate return or career advancement means being left behind.
What can students expect to learn in your course?
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java (if applicable), as well as all of the little tidbits I have picked up over the years by making many, many mistakes. One key benefit of our software development program is that students can come back and learn new programming languages through the Woz. For. Life. program for free, for life. I have many students who finish the Java program and come back to learn JavaScript or .NET the Monday after graduation!
What would you like to tell prospective students who are new to the technology field?
Knowledge is an investment of time and effort; you get out what you put in. It is also OK to make mistakes, nobody writes perfect code. Even then, you only write better code from first writing bad code.