The first thing I have learned about myself and my ego is that I can be very self-critical and I compare myself to others who have more experience than me. I know logically that with practice I will get to a place where I feel more confident, but I still get that feeling of not being good enough from time to time.
I have also learned that I can and need to be okay with not knowing things. It is in fact a gift to not know something, because not knowing something means it’s something you can learn, and learning is always a positive thing.
Lastly, and most valuably, learning about neuroplasticity has given me the confidence to push through hard tasks and to know that it is possible for me to understand it, even though it may take a while to sink in.
Your values, ability to empathise and self-awareness play a huge role in your day-to-day life, so naturally they have an impact on the way you learn and program.
Learning is a challenging but rewarding process, and if you come to it with the values of not being attached to a particular outcome or not wanting to always be right, your learning journey will feel like less of a struggle.
Similarly, if you approach programming with self-awareness, you are less likely to get stuck in your head and know when to seek help and assistance. Empathy with also allow you to recognise when someone else perhaps isn’t understanding something, and to help them without judgement.
What surprised me the most was learning that companies don’t necessarily want to hire the most experienced coder, and that they would prefer a well-rounded person who maybe has less experience in coding.
The most challenging part of the core learning was publishing my thoughts and feelings for others to see. I enjoy writing, and write in a journal most days, but the idea of letting other people read what I have written was a bit daunting. However, I have now learnt to let go of the fear, which is rather freeing.
Because to function in the real world, you could have years and years of programming experience, but if you lack self-awareness, empathy or are generally just difficult human to work with, people aren’t going to want to hire you. The core learning has allowed us to look inwards and examine our strengths and weaknesses, and held us accountable for creating new positive habits, all of which are invaluable.
Not at all! I think it’s great that the course has a focus on core skills as well as tech skills. I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the core topics, as they provided practical steps we can take to be more mindful and self-aware, such as journaling and creating good habits.
My goal is to gain experience as a web developer, eventually working for myself, building websites for individuals and small businesses. I would also like to eventually use my experience to set up some kind of programme that offers coding and general computer usage classes to those who otherwise wouldn’t have access to a computer or a classroom.
My strengths will be my ability to empathise with others and to stay calm in tough or stressful situations. Bootcamp will be hard, but I will try to remain level-headed and keep an open mind when approaching new tasks. My limitations will be being intimidated by other people who know more and are able to grasp concepts more quickly than I am, even though I know logically this is not a helpful way to think.
I would like to work on being more comfortable with speaking in front of a group of people. It is something that I have always struggled with, to the point that I chose my university modules solely based on which ones didn’t involve doing a presentation… which, err, was probably not the wisest choice I’ve made. Since then, I’ve had a bit of practice with speaking in front of groups at my previous job, but I’m still not super confident doing it.
Before seeking help, I will make sure I’ve gone through problem-solving steps and techniques to see if I can solve the issues myself. If I’m still not getting it, I will make sure the code I do have is clean and readable, then ask either one of the other students or the teachers to give me a pointer on what the next step I could take is.
I will manage the workload by always making sure I arrive on campus a bit early to settle in and write down my goals. I will also give myself enough time to complete tasks, so that I don’t end up leaving things to the last minute.