Top 5 tips to succeed at Makers Academy

So ahead of starting Makers Academy to learn coding in 12 weeks, I’ve asked half a dozen alumni and teachers what their top advice would be for succeeding in the course and making the most of it. Here’s the top 5:

1. Be persistent — the best predictor for success is not previous experience nor even brains, but persistence and dedication, according to one of the staff at Makers. It takes tenacity to figure out how to fix bugs and overcome programming hurdles without throwing a hammer into your computer screen. On the bright side, it means the key to success lies in our own hands and heads :-)
2. Team up and share — you can improve your retention rate a lot by explaining to others what you’ve learned, and by pair programming. An alumni told me he absolutely hated pair programming at the beginning, but now he regretted not having done more as he missed out on some learning. Also, don’t be shy about working alongside more experienced programmers, whom you can learn a lot from.
3. Try hard, but don’t be stubborn. When you encounter an issue, take an honest shot at solving it by yourself — once you’re in the corporate environment you’ll need to be autonomous, so best to learn to sort things out without leaning on others too much. However don’t waste 4 hours trying to solve one bug — call for help and ask for it when needed, otherwise it will slow you down and you’ll be missing the whole point of being in a school!
4. Clear your schedule — be ready to spend your days, evenings and weekends coding, coding, coding!
5. Stay healthy-the advice I’ve received in this department spans from “do yoga, eat right, sleep enough” to “you should drink loads of beer and play ping pong”. Mmmh. Choices, choices.

Hope this helps, my fellow computer whisperers.