Preparing For Andela’s Pre Bootcamp Exercises

Iwuchukwu Chijindu
Aug 28, 2017 · 3 min read

It all started on the 19th day of May 2017. This was the day I typed my first code using Python language: print “Hello World”. It was typed with Python version 2.7. It has been a lovely and exciting moment, learning all without a deadline.

Fast forward to last week when I got the project to work on with regards to Andela’s Bootcamp 26. The pre Bootcamp week has been demanding, challenging, and interesting as it exposed me to a whole lot of new things like version control, Git, Github, Trello, Pivotal Tracker, and slack. It was really challenging as I have not used 90% of all those technologies before.

What? Can i do all these?

Let me start with version control system and Git. I remembered my first Github repository and the second one. It was quite a mess. Poor commit messages, poor branching, etc. This past week was an awesome moment for me to learn how to use Git using the links sent to me by Victoria Offoma, the Bootcamp facilitator. I was opened to git workflow and Github workflow, which if followed properly, makes your repository clean and neat.

It involves having a development branch and a feature branch. The feature branch is the house for new features you are working on, while you merge it to develop branch after working on it, opening a pull request, and working on the feedback gotten. The master branch, as the name implies, it’s for the final release of your project. It is where you merge all the features you have been working on.

It was really challenging for me to understand how all those things work. I ate around 3 pm last Friday on my quest to learn it. I created over 7 repositories because I was having issues pushing each of the branches to Github. It was a eureka moment when I found out what caused my branches not to show on Github: I didn’t push the branch to Github before creating a new branch.

I was very happy to understand the git workflow. I also hope to improve on my git usage as I get more feedback.

Using Pivotal Tracker and Trello was another thing that gave me a tough moment to use. On Trello, a mistake on the board you were invited to may cost all other users a lot, as they will get a wrong message on things to work on.

Prioritizing stories on Pivotal Tracker, the stories to push to the icebox and the ones to stay on current iteration was a challenge for me to learn. It really helped me when I asked a Whatsapp friend (I have never met him before) who helped me to understand how it works. He taught me when to click start, finish and deliver. He also showed me how to make use of tags. It is a very nice software for developers.

The one I won’t forget to mention is learning CSS and HTML in 2/3 days and delivering a project with it. I slept very late last night trying to design the pages. I was happy that at least, I had something to present. With the feedback I got from my LFA, Mr. Ladi Adeniran, I will still need to improve on my HTML and CSS skills. Another challenge tonight.

It has been a great journey. Every new challenge and difficulty is a step towards becoming better at what you do if you have a growth mindset. I believe it is never late to learn new things. Andela is also making it possible.

This is the most recent challenging experience I had. More on the way.

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