Water Must Flow Uphill
This is an interesting, and inspiring too — I think, narrative on how I surmounted the recent intimidating hitches I have had with theAndela rigorous recruitment process. One reason I feel so motivated to share this story is how much growth mindset I exhibited. I mean, I’m happy about how I didn’t give up over the daunting challenges that dared my resilience almost to the finish. My story is a typical paradigm of water flowing uphill. Writing about the whole endeavour from the start up till now is my ardent desire but more desirable is not boring you with too much at a go. So, I won’t keep the best for the last, I will rather just give you the best.
The end of my interview that Wednesday saw me in a new kind of unprecedented anxiety. My experience at the interview was quite overwhelming. By all means, I loved the Andela standards! I resolved that Andela was — still is- where I wanted to be. What made me anxious was that a self-evaluation of my performance at the interview screamed into my skull the mantra that I was not qualified enough to proceed to the next stage — the bootcamp. Also, even if I made it to the next stage, who knows what the next task would be? Would I be able to manouevre again? If I would drop out of the whole process, what stage exactly would it be and what task would it be? All these questions raging through my cerebral cortex heightened my anxiety and threatened my resolve.
My anxiety led to a new surge of curiosity which propelled me to find out online even more about Andela. Consequently, I stumbled across an active Nairaland thread about Andela. Many applicants and some Andelans are on this thread. On this thread, many questions I had perceived were answered. The answers somewhat put my mind at rest. For that week, I was not able to contribute to the thread yet as I was a new Nairaland member. I was, however, opportuned to meet someone there who discussing with gave me a broader comprehension of what was to come next — although, I still could not anticipate Andela immersing me into foreign pools like ExpressJS, Mocha and Chai.
Few weeks sequel to my anxiety, I got a bootcamp mail. So much excitement in the air, it was. I was practically beaming with smiles for the day. I went through the bootcamp preparatory resource that was sent. I explored some of the online resources and I was waiting for the bootcamp challenge. I knew I was not ready but the wait was killing me. No thanks to my curiosity.
At last, bam! Came the challenge. At first, the whole thing looked overwhelming and sent me only one message — “AbdulAzeez, this time you have bitten off more than you can chew”. I read the Bootcamp Challenge pdf over and over again. To my skill level, all these API stuff was nothing but utter balderdash. But to me, it wasn’t time yet to throw in the towel. Here, water must flow up the hill. YouTube was my immediate brother, afterall. Again, I rushed to the cybercafe to download video tutorials on ExpressJS, TDD and Mocha. Why cybercafe? Well, because the dust had just been off my Andela application when my phone decided to explore the aquatic realm on its own accord. Of course, my Nairaland friend was also helping me with guidelines even when he had his own challenge to complete too. It was a selfless service from someone who didn’t know me form Adams.
I learnt to use Pivotal Tracker and created a board on it. That was not as challenging as using Git to guide my workflow, anyway. Using , not understanding, Git was pretty difficult for a long time because I couldn’t pinpoint its primary essence. Having to learn and apply some of these new concepts was not easy too as I was concurrently occupied with a teaching appointment which afforded me only my night rests , although it was almost reaching its tail end. I struggled through completing the challenge one which I submitted on Friday. I knew I had flaws too.
The challenge two was more daring. I tried learning ExpressJS alongside Mocha again but I was discouraged when I saw how much progress my Nairaland friend had made just on Sunday. I thought of quitting cycle 34 and apply for a new cycle in which I would be well-versed and conversant with all these new frameworks. On second thoughts, I pressed on.
On Wednesday, I felt almost ready to start coding. Lemme just learn a few more things and start, I thought. Time was going. I was far behind. On that Wednesday, my mum came back home really sick. I took care of her and suspended the rest to the morrow. Little did I know that the sickness would grow worse. She was rushed to a private hospital on Thursday. The doctor told me harshly that my mum might die and he wouldn’t let her die in his own hospital. That Thursday night, Mum was referred to a general hospital. I was with her all the while till she got well on Sunday. With all that on my mind, Andela bootcamp cycle 34 was an impossible story. The hilltop was gaining more altitude. The hill was getting higher but the water was getting father from its source.
When I checked my mail on Sunday, yesterday, I felt overwhelmed. I did all the necessary things. Today, I came to the bootcamp pessimistic. However, after asking my LFA what my status was and he said I still stood a chance, I feel optimism building up in me again. Now, I’m off to a good start on setting up my server and doing other necessary things. I solidly think I can still make it through. Thanks to Funsho, my LFA and also the two learning facilitators. So, gradually, water is flowing uphill.