In it to Win it-Coding Bootcamp Advice

I hope everyone has been enjoying my millennial career transition journey. I am really enjoying documenting all of the ups and downs and look forward to diving into more tech-specific topics in the future. If this is your first time checking out my blog series, I would encourage you to look at my previous check ins here.

I have officially SUCCESSFULLY completed my first month and a half of coding bootcamp. I can not express how incredibly proud and humbled, I have become from this experience thus far. I would like to highly encourage others to consider transitioning their career into the STEM field as well. During this check-in, I will share 4 tips that will help you as you embark on a coding bootcamp or even taking the leap to get that first, second or even third degree within the STEM field.

Tip~#1. Mentally Prepare for a lifetime of learning.
As soon as you make the decision to work in the tech field, wrap your head around the idea that you will truly have to embody the phrase “lifetime-learner.” Technology is ever changing and in order to remain competitive, you will always have to be researching, practicing and embarking on a ton of self-study. I would encourage everyone to become self-aware and figure out how they learn best. This will be your best asset as you embark on your program/self-study journey. Personally, I learn best by observing, reading then applying the material. As a visual learner, lecture slides from class have been a saving grace along with the help of countless solid YouTube videos that I actively screenshot to add to my notes. As soon as you wrap your head around the idea of constantly learning new things and find your learning style, you will be light years ahead when your program actually begins.

Bonus~Tip 1
It’s totally awesome to learn practical skills and build really cool projects during your program. However, Please Please Please, do not forget about learning computer science fundamentals. If you want to become a dynamic/well-versed programmer you will need to possess a solid understanding and balance between theory-based concepts and practical skills. Personally, on Saturdays, I have been teaching myself a plethora of concepts from data structures to algorithm analysis and everything in between. The stronger your understanding of these topics, the more confident you will be when it comes to interviewing as well.

Tip #2~ Buy your Domain Name/Familiarize yourself with GitHub
These are two specific practical tips that will ease your program jitters if you take care of them sooner rather than later. Securing your domain name is a great idea because this will be one less thing you have to worry about as your begin to develop your portfolio site. Also, GitHub is an amazing widely recognized industry resource that allows you to publish projects amongst your peers and even future employers. In the beginning, it honestly started a little rocky, however, I have found my stride with the tool and enjoy sharing my mini projects with others.

Bonus~Tip 2
Make a conscious effort to work on pushing your code to GitHub especially on the weekends. This will signal that you are passionate about the field outside of school hours.

Tip~#3 Time Management is crucial.
I have found utilizing my time before class to be an amazing learning hack and allowed me to dive deeper into concepts I may have struggled with. You are the most alert first thing in the morning and able to truly maximize your day. Also, if you are considering taking on such an immersive bootcamp experience, I would limit outside work and activities. Personally, I learned within the first couple of weeks of my program, there would be no way I could fully commit to my part-time job. I made the decision to cut my hours down to one day a week. I figured the short-term financial sacrifice would be worth having an extra full day to study. This is the time to be super selfish with what you devote your time to and develop a strategy that will allow you to learn the most in a condensed amount of time.

Bonus~Tip 3
Make sure during these long days you are nourishing your body with a healthy breakfast and also try to take a walk or do your favorite exercise at least 30 minutes a day.

Tip~#4 Build/Keep a positive foundation
This is one of the most important tips, I could share with all of you. Will the journey be hard? Absolutely!!. All of these challenges are exactly why I love programming. You have this super unique opportunity to use both your left and right side of your brain from solving super multidimensional logic-based problems to designing some of the most stunning applications.

During those frustrating times, it is important to be kind to yourself and speak positively about your abilities. For example, during my commute to school, I repeat my the following mantra to affirm my abilities( I am logical, I embrace the challenge, I am a problem solver, I fear nothing). This has done wonders with growing my confidence and outlook on this experience.
Bonus~Tip 4
Establish relationships with those in your cohort, chances are you will have to collaborate with them on projects and network together as jobs arise post bootcamp. You don’t want to be the person that no one remembers or gave off negative energy. By establishing relationships with my classmates, I have learned of alternative learning resources online and a few of us have even started a Saturday study group.

All in all, I am inching closer and closer to the halfway mark of the course and honestly, this has been the best/most mentally challenging educational experience of my life. I in no way want to scare anyone away from bootcamps, but I would reminisce if I didn’t provide an accurate portrayal of the amount of sacrifice, determination and hard work that goes into making your experience successful. Can all of this be done? Most definitely!.

Hopefully, the tips above will help to ease some of the frustrations and stress as you get adjusted to a totally new way of thinking. Also, remember as my mentor in my head @myleik always says “feelings are not facts”. You will have those moments when you second guess everything, but just understand that only you have the power to shift your mindset and change your reality.

If you are enjoying these check in’s please leave a comment below, I would love to hear from anyone that’s going through a similar experience within the STEM field. Always you can follow me on Instagram- porscha_r_johnson and here on Medium. Have an awesome week ahead!!