Halfway checkpoint. . .
For those unfamiliar with my journey, I am in the middle of a 6 month code school boot camp style program. What does that mean exactly? . . . I'm trying to fit 2+ years of school into what you could comparatively say is one season on "the ice" from my previous life. This may sound crazy to some people as an adult with a mortgage and bills, but compare that to the alternative of part time nights and weekends for 2 to 4 years for a similar level of experience.
Now don't get me wrong, there are certainly short comings in both directions of education but few things can give me this much actually on screen computer coding time with actual people and problems at such a regular and intense pace. I feel fortunate that I have done some actual language training not all that different from this before but that was 10 years ago. My brain certainly took a while to warm up to this speed and even some days still shuts down by 2 or 3pm.
Initially it was super hard to give up my life, focus on this so much day in and day out. 3 weeks in I started to forget about the real world, had better concentration in the off hours to get stuff done. 6 weeks in I started to wain a bit and really miss human connection. 8 weeks in started to realize that I have human connection right here in my class. These are your people now, these are the folks that understand your journey. I send reassuring texts sometimes to loved ones letting them know I will be back soon, back to "reality" and more normal and regular contact.
Financially it's good and bad. You give a lot up to save for a 7 grand course but then when you're actually IN it there's a lot of self applied pressure to not f*ck that investment up. Harder sometimes is the reality that you don't have money while you're actually in school. You can't really work while you're in it. The rock stars in the class can certainly swing it if they needed to, but us average Joes really have to commit most hours to just hanging on. The bonus is that you have such little free time it's easy to not fall into normal spending habits. If you're able to commit enough time to meal prep on the weekends you can set yourself up to not spend anything. The internships are generally not paid so you have to be prepared to not have money until the end of the program, not just the end of the course work. You can certainly work after your internship each day but that's also going to affect your performance there if you're so tired each day that you can't be a positive and engaging employee.
So here I am, just over halfway... I am surely exhausted. I feel I'm failing on so many levels daily and every now and then you do something or know something that you didn't know yesterday and you have to stop and enjoy that feeling for even just a moment. THAT is what will get you through. Keeping a distant view of the entire experience is helpful. Those days that you get so focused and/or bogged down by something you sometimes forget that this is more about "learning to learn" than it is learning every detail.
I'll come out of this "knowing" 3 new coding languages sure. The reality is I'll come out of this hopefully more prepared to teach myself another and another and another as I find jobs that require different skills or projects that steer me in new directions.
Some things I wish I had done earlier...
- Talk to your teacher... as in like a human not just as your teacher. They are there to support you and have seen so many go through your journey. They get it! Don't be afraid to be open or honest about where you at in the process.
- Don't overfill your schedule. Meetups and study sessions will come up that you didn't know about and are super advantageous to your exploration and growth as a programmer.
- Try to take time for you. Even if it's just 10 minutes to stop and breathe. Just do it. It's important. Typically I am good at doing this but in school I've struggled with doing it on a more macro level.
- Take breaks from homework every now and then, but if you need to feel productive use that time for resume' building, or internship searching, retweeting tech blogs or writing your own! This tends to make me still feel productive even if I don't feel like coding at that moment.
In then end, hang on tight. It's a crazy ride and we'll see how I feel about this end of course work and again at the end of the internship. But for now it's a fun journey!
For those unfamiliar with my journey, I am in the middle of a 6 month code school boot camp style program. What does that mean exactly? . . . I'm trying to fit 2+ years of school into what you could comparatively say is one season on "the ice" from my previous life. This may sound crazy to some people as an adult with a mortgage and bills, but compare that to the alternative of part time nights and weekends for 2 to 4 years for a similar level of experience.
Now don't get me wrong, there are certainly short comings in both directions of education but few things can give me this much actually on screen computer coding time with actual people and problems at such a regular and intense pace. I feel fortunate that I have done some actual language training not all that different from this before but that was 10 years ago. My brain certainly took a while to warm up to this speed and even some days still shuts down by 2 or 3pm.
Initially it was super hard to give up my life, focus on this so much day in and day out. 3 weeks in I started to forget about the real world, had better concentration in the off hours to get stuff done. 6 weeks in I started to wain a bit and really miss human connection. 8 weeks in started to realize that I have human connection right here in my class. These are your people now, these are the folks that understand your journey. I send reassuring texts sometimes to loved ones letting them know I will be back soon, back to "reality" and more normal and regular contact.
Financially it's good and bad. You give a lot up to save for a 7 grand course but then when you're actually IN it there's a lot of self applied pressure to not f*ck that investment up. Harder sometimes is the reality that you don't have money while you're actually in school. You can't really work while you're in it. The rock stars in the class can certainly swing it if they needed to, but us average Joes really have to commit most hours to just hanging on. The bonus is that you have such little free time it's easy to not fall into normal spending habits. If you're able to commit enough time to meal prep on the weekends you can set yourself up to not spend anything. The internships are generally not paid so you have to be prepared to not have money until the end of the program, not just the end of the course work. You can certainly work after your internship each day but that's also going to affect your performance there if you're so tired each day that you can't be a positive and engaging employee.
So here I am, just over halfway... I am surely exhausted. I feel I'm failing on so many levels daily and every now and then you do something or know something that you didn't know yesterday and you have to stop and enjoy that feeling for even just a moment. THAT is what will get you through. Keeping a distant view of the entire experience is helpful. Those days that you get so focused and/or bogged down by something you sometimes forget that this is more about "learning to learn" than it is learning every detail.
I'll come out of this "knowing" 3 new coding languages sure. The reality is I'll come out of this hopefully more prepared to teach myself another and another and another as I find jobs that require different skills or projects that steer me in new directions.
Some things I wish I had done earlier...
- Talk to your teacher... as in like a human not just as your teacher. They are there to support you and have seen so many go through your journey. They get it! Don't be afraid to be open or honest about where you at in the process.
- Don't overfill your schedule. Meetups and study sessions will come up that you didn't know about and are super advantageous to your exploration and growth as a programmer.
- Try to take time for you. Even if it's just 10 minutes to stop and breathe. Just do it. It's important. Typically I am good at doing this but in school I've struggled with doing it on a more macro level.
- Take breaks from homework every now and then, but if you need to feel productive use that time for resume' building, or internship searching, retweeting tech blogs or writing your own! This tends to make me still feel productive even if I don't feel like coding at that moment.
In then end, hang on tight. It's a crazy ride and we'll see how I feel about this end of course work and again at the end of the internship. But for now it's a fun journey!
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