First Hack-A-Thon

BR Avery
BR Avery
Sep 8, 2018 · 2 min read

Today was our first hack-a-thon at boot camp. I was pretty anxious going into the, not really sure what to expect. Once we arrived, we were assigned to small groups and given 6 1/2 hours to make a social media site similar to Twitter. As soon as we set off to work, I learned a few lessons really quickly.

The most obvious lesson to me was that we really have learned A LOT in the 4 weeks we’ve been in boot camp. A month ago, most of us could barely navigate through the terminal and had no idea what it meant to “puts”. But today, not only are we rolling through the terminal like we’ve been doing it for years, we were also working our way through Rails with some pretty impressive success.

A second lesson I learned during the hack-a-thon was that I still have a TON to learn! Yes, I’ve come a long way in 4 weeks, but there’s still SO much to learn! Typical me, I couldn’t help but compare myself to my peers as we worked our way through today’s challenge. It was pretty evident to me that although I need to applaud my growth, I also need to find new ways to make MORE progress. I have 49 days to make sure I’ve learned what I need in order to reach my goals. 49 days. There’s not a day to lose.

Finally, after today’s hack-a-thon, it’s more evident to me than ever just how much people in the development community are happy to share and work together. Not only does the nature of the job require a great deal of collaboration but I’ve also found that most of my new friends and acquaintances are willing, even happy, to go out of their way to help you along your own.

Today was rough but today was powerful. I am humbled from our hack-a-thon with just how much I still have to learn and yet I’m more motivated than ever to redouble my efforts and make these next 49 days count far beyond my expectations. It’s all about staying optimistic, focused, and mentally tough.