My First Weeks at SDG

It was just two weeks ago on September 4th, 2018, that I first sat down in my seat in the back classroom of the Suncoast Developers Guild. I was the last new student to arrive, just a few minutes before the start of class. Nervous and excited, I pulled out my oversized gaming laptop from my backpack, ready to learn to write some code. Looking around, I could tell that most everyone was in the same boat as I was, hungry to learn, hopeful, and maybe a bit terrified. Those feelings have persisted through the first two weeks, and I feel much the same as day one.

Life at a coding bootcamp is not easy by any stretch of the word. The days are long, and the weeks are longer. Barely a minute of your time isn’t filled with confusion of how CSS FlexBox, or a JavaScript forEach loop works. Once you think you are beginning to understand how to do something, it’s time to move on to the next 5 things. Imposter syndrome runs rampant, with students (myself included) not feeling like they’re learning fast enough, or that they are lagging behind the other students. In reality, none of us know what the hell is going on, but we move forward bit by bit, day by day, and we’re miles away from where we were two weeks ago. Yesterday I turned in a working game of blackjack, structured with HTML, styled with CSS, and programmed in JavaScript. I’m working with three languages, and creating visually appealing and functional web apps. Two weeks ago I knew how to use p tags in HTML and that’s about it. I’m standing on the side of a mountain looking down at where I was. When I turn around and look up, it’s still quite the climb.

As I sit here at SDG, writing this before the day begins, I can only wonder what I’ll learn today. I’m looking forward to it. Much like the first day, I’m hungry to learn, hopeful, and maybe a bit terrified. Definitely a bit terrified. Here’s to another one!