My Most Recent Challenging Learning Experience

The question of my most recent challenging learning experience is a very easy one to answer. I have only ever failed one challenge three times in a row, and I have only ever had one challenge that has stressed, discomforted, excited, irritated, frustrated, and stretched me to my limits. I could have used more adjectives to describe this challenge, but I am sure you get the message. This challenge is the *drum rolls* Andela Bootcamp.

On Monday, the 28th day of August 2017, I embarked on my fourth attempt to successfully scale through the Andela bootcamp and make it into the fellowship. I guess you can call me a veteran of sorts in the context of this boot-camp. That is not necessarily a good things as there are downsides; the major one which is the shame I feel when I see former boot-campers who participated in previous boot-camps as I, and who got into the fellowship. I know I shouldn’t feel shame because some of them had a great deal of prior experience before they got in, and I have only been in the software game for eight months, but I still can’t help but feel shame. The good aspect of being a “veteran” is that I know what works and what doesn’t work. I have also gained extensive knowledge from the previous boot-camps which put me at an advantage over the “green” boot-campers.

As Andela strives to do every boot-camp, there are changes in the format of this present boot-camp cycle. This is meant to reduce the advantage experienced boot-campers, like I, have over “green” boot-campers and to ensure that the boot-camp does not become too predictable. Thriving in the face of constant change is a requirement of an aspiring Andelean. The major change to this cycle was that there was pre-boot-camp work, given to the boot-campers a week prior to boot-camp. The boot-campers were to create template pages for the recipe application we were told to create. This led to a challenge of working from home, which historically, I have not been good at. The challenge was to ignore distractions at home and work diligently, and efficiently. I completed my work and I am very proud that I was able to surmount this challenge.

To conclude, just as I surmounted my first challenge, I am ready to conquer the challenges ahead. I look forward to the next two weeks. Till next time, stay blessed folks.

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