42 Piscine Day 25 — (Last Day Before Final)

Edit: This is part of a series that culminated here, Next post. Previous post.

Edit2: I consolidated all the posts of the piscine daily posts here

Edit3: You can read up about what it’s like as a cadet at 42 here

I’m an emotional mess, no good reason for it but there it is. Nearly teared up a few times, I think the stress mingled with other past emotions pushing them to the surface.

The lab has been quieter than normal today, some people are still studying for the exam, but others I think are enjoying their last day here, spending time with friends, taking in the sunshine things like that. We’ve also been cleaning because if your room isn’t clean during the final you will be pulled out of the final to go back to your room to clean. I’ve basically packed up everything and given away whatever doesn’t fit in my bags.

I also managed to have a chat with Jamie today, she is the resident Mom here. We talked about how our learning style here helps to prepare better candidates and how many of our cadets have gone on to big things, even recently. Some of the companies taking on interns were the biggest names in the business. She also strongly encourages us to volunteer at networking events instead of merely attending them, a brilliant strategy actually. Sometimes being an ambassador (volunteer guide) who shows around MVP’s will really help you to be prepared for technical interviews as well, as many of the executives who come to check out the school will ask those sort of questions ahead of time, often at a deeper level than a recruiter would, and even more often these are the sorts who are the bosses bosses. Really cool stuff, got me even more excited about the opportunity here.

That said my confidence in my ability to pass the exam is small, I suppose we will find out after. The saying goes that fear and excitement are two sides of the same coin, well mine feels more like fear right now. At least I know what I need to work on next, overcoming that so I can continue to learn.

Tomorrow I’ll update how the final went and how the BBQ was, then I’ll make a post mortem post about collective things learned, what the overall experience was and tips to prepare and get in. Until tomorrow.