It’s All About Mindset
The mind is a powerful thing. As I enter the fifth week of code bootcamp at the Suncoast Developers Guild Academy, I have to continually check my mindset. This program has been very difficult. I’ve spent many hours a day doing nothing but learning how to write code. Often times I’m coding until 11pm or later. Now this isn’t all bad, because I love learning this skill and am finding it very enjoyable. But I’m also exhausted.
I’ve learned so much thus far. I can put together a nice looking static webpage with HTML and CSS in about 20 minutes. And that’s pretty cool! This is not something I could have done 5 weeks ago. We are starting our second week of React and it is starting to make a lot of sense. I can now make websites that are interactive! We’ve been tasked with making several games, one of which being Minesweeper. While these projects are fun to build, working hours upon hours and struggling through it is tough. Thankfully my instructors have reminded me that programming is hard. I’m not supposed to understand it right away. I’m supposed to struggle. I will never know everything there is to know about programming. I’m supposed to feel a little lost sometimes. A big part of learning to code is learning how to find some answers on your own and when you can’t, ask a good question that helps solve your problem. Because ultimately that is what we will have to do when we get a job.
My advice to any new developer is to adopt a strong mindset as you begin the journey. Having a strong mindset will not only help you learn as much as possible, but will also make the process so much more enjoyable. Learning a difficult new task is what you make of it. It could totally suck, or be really awesome. Sometimes, even, you have to get through the suck to get to the awesome. My personal mindset is like this: 1) Don’t be so hard on yourself 2) Embrace code problems as a fascinating occurrence 3) As long as you know more today than you did yesterday, you are doing just fine.
Number 1 is super hard for me. I generally understand and catch on to new things quickly, but building these projects has tested my patience with not only my computer and Javascript, but also with myself. I have a tendency to be very hard on myself and will not stop until I completely understand something. But beating myself up for forgetting a comma or writing get instead of post when working with an API (this caused about an hour of frustration), is not productive. Learn from mistakes and move on. This leads to number 2.
The feeling of wanting to flip over a table can be strong when writing code. Everything can be going fine; you’re writing code a little at a time, saving and committing to GitHub often, then you write something new and your whole app is broken. Man, that’s a bummer! First reaction is to throw your shaking fist in the air and scream, “WHY CODE GODS? WHY??”. But I’ve learned from my instructor/mentor Gavin to instead say to yourself, ”Hmm, that’s super weird. I wonder why that just happened..”. I’ve really taken that advice to heart and framing problems in this way will make your life so much better as you learn to write progressively more complex apps.
Lastly, just keep learning! It’s easy to get frustrated and feel like maybe you aren’t progressing the way you wanted/expected. But every time you write a snazzy new line of code without having to reference an earlier project or DevDocs, celebrate that shit! When you’re first starting to learn how to code, so much time is spent being completely baffled as you begin to write a new app. So when something works, dance like nobody is watching! Or high five your friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, mom, dad, dog or cat. Somebody! The important take away here is to make sure you recognize that you got this, you’re learning more and heading in the right direction.
All-in-all this program has been intense, difficult, and really rewarding. There is a huge time commitment and you have to be ready to sacrifice some time that would normally be spent with friends and family or just relaxing. As long as you know this going in, I think it really is not that bad. The feeling of accomplishment when you complete an app makes everything worth it. To also know that you are broadening your knowledge base and getting ready to join the workforce as a Web Developer is also an amazing feeling. You of course don’t need to have the same mindset as me, but hopefully reading how I approach this program and find success can help you as you begin the journey to becoming a Web Developer. Always remember to keep your mind right and keep leveling up!
