At AnnieCannons, we teach Grid as the first tool to use in layouts. It’s designed for laying out web pages. Flexbox is useful when the space between elements is the most important thing to maintain (as in a navbar). Grid is used for everything else.

Periodically, we get a student questioning our approach. I’ve also had other developers question what I teach.

The longer and bigger question is why is everyone pushing back on Grid as the appropriate method for web page layout? Flexbox must be right because that’s what I learned in bootcamp, and that’s also what every influencer is saying, so it must be right.

The answer is complex:

• Flexbox is what was taught in bootcamp 10 years ago (because Grid was not well supported).
• Those bootcamp grads have gone on to teach bootcamps now.
• Those instructors have never upgraded their CSS skills because they are too busy chasing the latest in JavaScript.
• Those instructors figure that Flexbox is fine, because they know and understand it, and it’s a supported spec, so why bother with something that may not give an obvious and immediate benefit?
• Because they haven’t learned what Flexbox or Grid are good for, they can’t articulate the difference to their students.
• Another generation of students learn nothing but Flexbox, and so we go forward.

Unfortunately, around the cycle goes again, with developers never moving on from Flexbox because their influencers haven’t told them to do so.

In order to get Flexbox to work for a grid-like layout, one must apply either a width (wrong) or flex-basis (better!) to each cell, thus killing the “flex” in Flexbox. If you have to do this, why would you use anything but Grid?

I am the first to line up behind “keeping things simple” when teaching beginners a development world which is nothing but nuance and complexity. One of the best things we can do as educators is draw a bright line between use cases. Why do Flexbox layouts persist? Beca**use our current bootcamp instructors can’t articulate why Grid is best for grid-based layouts. ** Are you kidding me?

Hopefully I’ve outlined some easy bright lines you could share with your students. Please stop telling students that “Grid is really optional, and we don’t know the difference between the two, so just learn whatever.”

I agree with this, most of the time.

But we are driving a standards-first and trauma-informed curriculum.

AnnieCannons trains, prepares, and connects individuals who have experienced human trafficking to sustainable careers in tech.

We rebuild our students' confidence in themselves, reignite their joy of learning, and provide an environment where they may trust their community to teach them the economic skills to obtain and keep a career in a field with reasonable pay.

For those reasons, we can’t teach to the latest hottest technology. It has no track record and may not be there tomorrow. Therefore, we teach the basics: semantic HTML, foundational CSS, and vanilla JavaScript. After they learn vanilla JavaScript, we introduce them to a bit of React, plus connecting to databases and APIs (making them “full stack” for the employers who value such things).

Our students are all races, genders, and ages. We accept them as they are. As such, it is part of our values to teach accessibility from the start, integrated into their code, starting with semantic HTML.

Our students learn to start with HTML, then apply CSS, then apply JavaScript sparingly over top to provide the levels of interactivity required and no more.

We are writing this curriculum now. Our students are learning this curriculum now, and they are thriving because of it.

I arrived at AnnieCannons with the goal of creating the best bootcamp curriculum on the planet. With our small and mightly team of amazing instructors, student success managers, and career development managers, we are succeeding and growing our standards-first, trauma-informed curriculum.

Whether you’re learning how to code at a bootcamp or through academia, there are only two things you ultimately get from the experience.

First, you get an amazing network of friends who are committed to helping you early in your career.

Your institution’s alumni program offers assistance with resumes, job searching, online webinars, and an institutional name that gives you something in common with other graduates. Some programs partner with specific employers, waiting to hire graduates.

Sometimes the alumni program has a time limit on it, particularly with bootcamps. Take advantage of this. You’ll never have anyone else who can be this helpful in finding you a job.

Second, you learn how to learn technology.

Your tech education starts expiring while you’re in school! Techniques you learned early in the program may be out of date by the end. (They may also teach you dated techniques, but that’s a rant for another time.)

If you don’t keep learning and practicing your tech skills, you’ll be out of the field. Within 6 months, your education is dated enough that it will be hard to jump into the workplace. In a year, you’re completely out of date and will have a significant learning curve to jump back in.

But I’m watching video education from X provider in class – I could do this on my own without school!

True. But you don’t get the two items above, which are extremely valuable to getting into the field quickly.

Furthermore, someone curated those resources. They told you what resources had the most value. They are teaching you where to look when it’s time to learn a new skill. They are choosing resources that are (hopefully) factually based, up-to-date, and reflect current thinking in the field. Anyone can post videos on YouTube and post courses to Udemy… and they frequently do. Boasting 75 hours of learning time does not make those materials good. It just makes them long.

When people say you could learn X on your own and you don’t need school, they are correct. School offers you the structure and accountability to get it done, though. And you’ll never get the resource curation, alumni network, or practice in learning that you get at school. Consider this as you’re trying to decide how to get into the field.

The scammers are getting really good. I’ve been looking for a job for quite a while. And this shows up in my inbox today!

Dear Jen,

I'm Ashley Brian, Human resources manager at Love Classic Fashion.
We are currently seeking an innovative and dedicated graphic designer to work via a remote base that can work either part-time or full-time.

I saw your profile on Indeed.com and I was impressed by your experience.
Here at Love Classic, we are always looking to grow our teams with talented people and achieve great things together.

I think that your expertise in graphic design would help us in the project we’re working on. I’d love to tell you more about the opening position and learn a few things about you as well.

I am available anytime between 9:00am
5:00pm (EST), Monday through Friday.

Work hours or Shift: Monday to Friday, 8:30 am - 5: 30 pm.
Position Pay Range : $25 - $50/ hr
I hope you have a great day.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Ashley Brian, SHRM-SCP | Love Classic
Human Resources Manager
3760 Arlington, VA 22203

This email came from info@loveclassicjobs.store

Sounds legit, other than that graphic design thing, doesn’t it? Let’s go through how you can check on this.

a. info@loveclassicjobs.store – take the end of that email address and put it in a web browser. What do you get?

OK, well… maybe they use a different URL for job hunting?… because they get so many applications a regular email doesn’t work for them?… which is why they’re emailing me and asking me to work at a low rate?…

b. Love Classic is a clothing store with a basic website. No idea why they’d need a graphic designer. If you check their career page, there is no job listed.

c. SHRM-SCP is a HR certification, so this makes sense in the name. He/she is a Human Resources Manager. But in the first line of the email, she/he is a Human resources manager. Also, do HR managers do any recruiting these days? Maybe if the job is small enough, I guess?

d. If anyone is listed on LinkedIn, it’s a HR manager/recruiter. Put “Ashley Brian” in the search, and you turn up zero results. Zero! There are Ashley Bryans, but no Ashley Brians.

e. And did anyone else nearly miss the address line in the signature? “3760 Arlington, VA 22203” No street name. Cool cool.

For a long time, scammer emails were fairly identifiable. They didn’t write well, with lots of misspellings, odd phrasing, and strange requests.

Now with AI, scammers can sound perfectly legit. The problem is that they still might not know how a US address works, or how to check someone out on LinkedIn, or how to double-check the email address’s matching website.

What hasn’t changed is that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And I assure you, no one has ever wanted to hire me for my graphic design skills. 🤣