About half a year ago, after being ravished by talent-blind money-chasing bosses who spits venom and swirls like cobras, also constantly low balled by companies and HRs just because my resume is more colorful than “Where is Waldo,” I have decided to get myself out the vicious cycle of low-paying jobs and unspeakable management dramas. I am the master of my own fate.
The first thing that came to my mind was programming Bootcamp. I used to love converting ideas and imaginations into reality by combining difference series of Lego into one final product. However Lego and I parted ways when puberty hit me hard, all of a sudden blocks and corners are not that suitable for humping. So getting into the field of programming felt like resurrection for me to rekindle my love for recreating my imaginations; I need to acquire the skill to dance the building blocks of the billion-dollar attention abyss such as Facebook and Instagram.
Perhaps my experience is relatable where you feel like the next thing you do is to sign yourself up with a programming Bootcamp, but before you jump into the pit of fire that’s hotter than the Mad Dog 357 Plutonium Hot Sauce, please allow me to share my two cents with you.
Overview
Expectation and goal
Knowing where you are going is the first step toward success. — no one
Regardless of whether it’s a famous quote or not, that holds true to almost anything you do. How would you be able to measure progress if you don’t even know where you are heading.
As for myself, I know that I have a working history that’s dirtier than Donald’s tariff, which suggests that I am a jack-of-all-trades. My skill set revolves around convincing, organizing and consolidating resources. As such, my ultimate goal was not to become someone who can code the classic “Snake” in 5 minutes as a Youtube challenge but to understand the language of “beep-boob-boop” thorough enough to bridge imagination with technicality and business.
There are more programmers in countries like India and China, where they could push out codes faster and perhaps better with less than 1/3 of the price. However that does not mean that we are doomed, good majorities of them are constructors, not architectures nor artists. So, on the top of my mind, my focus and goal are to get my hands dirty to get a crystal clear understanding of what the team will be building. Having teams and managers that overpromises with utter bullshit grinds my gear.
“What is that you are trying to achieve by joining the Bootcamp?”
Passion and Future
The car doesn’t operate without fuel, or battery, or your cattle’s dunk, or whatever hipster way you can imagine to power that car that brings you into the future. Still, you need something to push you through difficult times and troubled waters.
I used to think that I’m as versatile as Ditto, nothing is going to stop me from committing whatever fate throws into my face. It turns out, I was painfully wrong by letting the wind to decide my occupation. There were jobs that I hated so much where I wished I could rip my left arm, throw it with my right, and smear the blood all over my work while chanting in war-cry to claim dominance and frustration.
Although that being said, enjoy doing something does not make you successful, but being persistence will. So while the world is still an abyss as dark as the heart of the Littlefinger, you might as well enjoy what you do while the world is burning in Wildfire. (Damn it, GOT spoiler alert)
Programming isn’t for everyone. The reality of programming is to spend an unspeakable amount of time to look for the answer in Google, fixing bugs that came out of nowhere, and burn more time to clean and tidy up codes than actually writing them. It’s not that glamorous, Cinderella.
However, here is the silver lining; if you are someone who can spend three days straight up building castles and towers without rage quitting after hitting many metaphorical walls. Congratulations, the only limitation is your imagination, and as of how versatile the web is nowadays, your future is steadier and brighter than the northern star.
“Does diving into the chaotic seas of Google answer and Stackoverflow inspires the future you have in mind?”
Learning Pace
With a mother who’ve been teaching for more than 30 years, and I used to tutor primary and secondary school kids English to make a living, the word teaching isn’t much of a stranger to me after all.
While I can only speak for myself, I can turn information into reusable knowledge is through countless repetition and reiteration. Learning everything about full-stack within four months felt like shoving down 4 In-and-out Double-double within an hour without seeing the entire process in reverse. To be honest, only about 30% of the stuff is still swirling in my head like rancid canned soup, and the rest is being organized in the form of cheat sheets and notes in Notion(Hands down best note taking + task management app).
So learning is definitely a frustrating process. And while most programmers are not proficient at babysitting, you can’t expect a top-of-the-list programmer to hold your hands whilst you learn how to fall. The only thing that comes between your face and the floor is the reality. However, learning never is a one-way road; you need to be explicit about how people can help you. One should never sit on their whiney hiney whilst wishfully think that the answers shall bestow them like a low hanging biscuit on the neck. At the end of the day, it’s your responsibility to learn, and how much you get depends on how you approach the question.
If you find that the information is not within reach, the Internet is always there when you fall (mostly Google). And don’t worry if you don’t get it in the first place, you will have plenty of chances to revisit the topic while tackling other projects.
“Are you willing to learn humbly?”
Skill Sets and knowledge
Leverage it.
I can’t stress this enough. While joining the Bootcamp, I kept seeing beautiful souls witting when their codes are acting up like mannerless brats. I understand you can’t skip that part by pressing the start button, but what I don’t understand is that everyone lost all of their domain knowledge and living wisdom while going through the program. People were paralyzed by the fear that they aren’t good enough, they are failing, and their project is as shameful as “Wrecking Ball.”
Now, here is the reality, in general, programmers see themselves as a skilled loner, where the focus of their scope is to horn their programming knowledge to build the grandest castle there is. Don’t get me wrong. I have mad respect for anyone whose aim is to build and improve, especially those who wants to develop and progress for the greater good.
There is no wrong in focusing on one thing and do it well. Yet, when we take a few steps back, we can see that management, distribution of resources and the level of understanding towards the issue are also crucial to the success of any projects and businesses.
One can only go fast with their own 24-hour instead of operating like an async function. So, to get the most out of a stressed situation like Bootcamp, the best way to survive is to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Use what you know, and use them well to your advantage.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you’re going to go far, go together.
Part 2 is coming out soon, stay tuned for more!
Can I haz some claps?
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And for you…
If you managed to plow through this article without being scared off, leave me a comment describing how this writing made a difference for you : )
I am a Product / Marketing geek in tech, running a digital studio focuses on web experiences that converts customers.
I believe in building intelligent products, creating memorable user experiences and working effectively. Just come say hi to me on LinkedIn, Github, visit me on my personal portfolio page, or even shoot me a message on your interesting project ideas!
