Time has flown by but gone in slow motion at the same time for me! I mean, is that even possible?
Probably not LITERALLY but nonetheless, I say this as I am in my 4th month of 10 months in coding bootcamp. In this amount of time I have cried, been at the top, the bottom, somewhere in between and just completely lost! And though I’m not close to being done yet, I have some wisdom I’d like to share with those just starting out on their journey or considering attending a coding bootcamp. When I look back I see how I have grown and I feel like these 5 tips help me find my center when I’m off.
1.) You know more than you think you do.
When I first starting off with coding prep-work I thought, man if It stays like this I will for sure fly through the course. Little did I know that once school was REALLY in session would I begin to second guess my decision to start.
I sometimes felt like, with all the information I was taking in, that someone had unleashed a firehouse when all I asked for was a cup of water. Some days I felt like, I’m not sure I retained anything I learned and then next thing you know I had to complete and project based on what I just learned! What I realized though is, as I began to work on my project I remembered way more than I was giving myself credit for. I mean yeah, I forgot some stuff and had to get some help, but overall I was doing my project! The labs and reading I has completed was there in my subconscious. I often second guess myself and allow “imposter syndrome” to set it.
2.) Don’t be afraid to BREAK IT.
In the words of the timeless Ms. Frizzle, “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!”
I have to remind myself of this ALL THE TIME! It’s okay when code breaks or you make a mistake! It’s any opportunity to learn how to troubleshoot and fix the problem. That’s our jobs as software developers is to FIX the problems. So, for me that was a mind adjustment of learning to welcome the errors instead of dread them. We get paid to figure those things out.
3.)Surround Yourself with support.( Peers, family friends, etc.)
Coding bootcamp is NOT easy, at least not for the majority of us. {sidenote: There is this one guy I know who started in my cohort and is about to graduate!} It takes time to learn something completely new and to move at a rather rapid pace. You are covering a lot of material in an accelerated amount of time. Having a good group of people to support you and cheer you on is so important because some days you will need it. For me, I have my cohort lead, a few of my peers and some of my squad members from Career Karma. These are the people I go to when I get stuck or need help understanding concepts. We are all going through the same rigorous process of going from newbie to the skills of a Jr. Software Engineer. Having a group that can relate is essential.
I also have my family and friends for my emotional support and mental health. I let them know how I’m doing( truthfully) in school , good or bad, and they are there to help when I need it. This may seem small but it goes a long way. Without those groups I’m not sure I would have made it this far and have the strength to continue.
4.) It’s okay not to know everything.
Hey, what can I say. That’s life. No one person knows everything and with a field like technology where its constantly changing…..let’s just say you better get use to being a student. But if you like to learn, like me, this means you won’t grow bored as a Software Engineer. I use to feel like I had to know everything already and if I didn’t the teacher would be shocked. The good news is-(at least at my bootcamp) you’re not expected to know it all. What a relief!
5.Learn.Learn.Learn.
Don’t stop learning and don’t be afraid to supplement your education. There are buttloads of resources available to us on the world wide web! Use them. Harness their power! Pick up different material on the same topic. For example, I have a bunch of courses on Ruby on handy. I have gone though some of them and have gotten new tips or inside from each source. Since Ruby is such a user friendly coding language, there are soooo many ways to do the same thing which is pretty neat. My personal goal is to become a great software engineer in multiple languages. In order to do so, learning must be my way of life.
