Signing up for a coding boot camp can be an entirely exhausting experience for a newbie. Meeting up with deadlines while trying to give your best at something so relatively new to you can be draining.

But in a good way. Being presented with these challenges forced me to get my hands dirty with code and also identify best practices and issues to avoid.

For me, motivation and commitment are my key drivers. One cannot work without the other. Motivation was what got me into the boot camp in the first place. Commitment will see me through. Knowing what motivated me to go into this field and referring back to it at any time I feel disconnected is one way to to beat it.

However, these are not enough. Being able to figure out solutions for the challenges, asking questions and being open to feedback is one of the many ways I have adapted to the fast paced environment.

Over the past 2 weeks, I have been building an app given to us by Andela. This has required me to learn (most within hours) practices and solutions which I have had to implement with my code. Accepting that I did not know some certain things has pushed me to ask for help from my colleagues and not feel belittled by it. Adaptability has to do with overcoming the fear of not knowing, but rather breaking it down into understandable portions and applying solutions.

Like Charles Darwin said, “Its not the strongest of the species that survive,but those more responsive to change”.

Have you ever had the feeling of wondering “what’s next” after finishing a major life event? Well, that’s how I felt after finishing university. I knew I didn’t want to pursue a career that I wasn’t passionate about so I took year of self discovery which led me to programming.

I was coerced (several times) by my employer at the time to try out for Andela’s bootcamp when she saw how interested I was in software development. She even encouraged me to at join the Andela Learning Community (ALC) to which I owe my building blocks .

After a couple of tests and an interview, I found myself in the midst of the most talent developers I have ever met, all in one place. It was so intimidating that I almost convinced myself that I didn’t belong here. It was kinda embarrassing at first to bring up my shortcomings in Git while others were struggling to connect their databases with their APIs they have created. I think that was the first time I had ever seen an API in action.

But one thing I am grateful for is the patience of the facilitators and how willing they were to help out despite me being a novice. Not only did they make us understand the technical know-how of programming, they also taught soft skills that are absolutely essential not only in our career but in our day-to-day life.

It was and still is the most mind tasking workout I have ever had. From learning how to manage time given to you , delivering outputs and tasks that must be deemed world class by facilitators and all the while embodying their EPIC values(Excellence, Passion, Integrity and Collaboration), there is every guarantee that you’ll take home at least a thing or two.

With a wide array of resources to choose from, one can be overwhelmed with where to start from when beginning their journey as a developer. When I was struggling to get out from tutorial rut, I was introduced to Coderbyte.

Coderbyte is a web application where developers regardless of their skill level can go to and practice their programming/coding skills.

While I wouldn’t say that my experience with Coderbyte was all that pleasant as some days required my will power not to smash my laptop out of frustration. But with each passing day, I realised that with each challenge, I learnt something new that would help out with the next. Not only was I improving in my logical skills, viewing other user solutions to the same challenge exposed me to the various ways I could approach a solution.

Coderbyte has been a huge help during my journey and I would recommend it to anyone willing to up their coding game. But use at your own risk.

Happy coding!

How to be EPIC — A short guide

Excellence, Passion, Integrity and Collaboration. These are the 4 values if found in an individual or an organisation can change the course of the world if they are willing to do so.

Being excellent is to give your very best regardless of the situation you’re in. I have had situations where I was selected for a particular task not just because I was good at it but due to the fact that I was willing to give my best even if I did not know how to do it.

But what if your best isn’t good enough? I guess that’s where passion steps in.

To me, being passionate goes along with being excellent. If you are good at something but just don’t enjoy it, you would eventually fizzle out. But believing in what you do goes a long way.

Integrity is a hallmark of a person. It doesn’t matter if you are great or passionate at what you do if you lack integrity. Integrity goes way beyond just honesty. It’s about if people can count on you. Its about consistency.

Collaboration is basically two or more people working together towards the realisation of a particular goal. A team in which each individual embodies the values of excellence, passion and integrity is guaranteed to reach the end goal by collaborating.

Being epic means pursuing mastery and perfection in what you do as well as being accountable. Its something you embody and what people can notice as a part of your character.

Well, it depends on the perspective you decide to look at it. We all encounter it at some part of our lives. What matters is how we respond to it; as an opportunity or as a dilemma.

Aspiring to be a software developer is no joke. Manoeuvring through the different languages and learning the different rules and structures can be a bit of a pain. What hurts the most is being rejected by various companies due to my low skill levels. However, persevering and finding someone who believes in you makes the journey all the more worthwhile.

Many of the greats, Steve Jobs, Mandela, J. K. Rowling; have had to go through troubling times which has shaped them into the people we know them as today.

Take a minute and imagine if they decided to quit due to the trials they went through. Would Apple Inc. ever existed? Would South Africa be free from the Apartheid? Would we have been blessed with the Harry Potter series? (This I cannot imagine).

These individuals have demonstrated what it means to have a growth mindset. Their ability to persist in trying to make their dreams come true, their courage to overcome their failures and setting high standards for themselves are just some of the many behaviours of someone who has a growth mindset.

Yes, failure sucks, but to me I take it as an opportunity to improve on my flaws. Only then can I be the best version of myself.

Graduating from university with a biology degree and making a career switch into software development can be really, really hard (well, in my case). At first HTML and CSS does not seem so bad. CSS made me so excited like a child gifted with their very first colouring book. My insane career switch did not seem so crazy after all.

Then entered JavaScript… and all hell broke loose.

It was time for me to make a choice… will I give up hope and believe that I was not meant for this line of work or will I suck it up and give it my all?

It all depends on my mindset.

There are two types of mindset; a growth mindset and a fixed mindset.

If I had a fixed mindset, I would probably quit right then, give up hope, grumble, complain and probably would not be writing this post.

Luckily for me, my belief that anyone has the power to learn anything they set out to do has had a profound effect on me. Not only in making this career change but dealing with the curve balls life throws at me.

One effect in particular that this belief gave me was being able to recognize my strengths and weaknesses. Applying my strengths to various projects has allowed me to gain mastery of them and increase my confidence levels.

Accepting my weaknesses, however hard it is, was one step in overcoming them. Asking friends, mentors, and family how I could improve on them and acting upon their suggestions made me invincible (kinda).

So how are my JavaScript skills right now? Not perfect, but learning to enjoy the learning process and seeking help from the gurus has made it so much easier.

I first got to know about this tool when applying to Andela’s boot camp. Having never heard of it before, I remember binge-watching their YouTube videos to get an idea of what it does. I finally dismissed it as a fancy to-do app for software developers.

How wrong I was. It was so much more than that.

Not only does it breaks your project into friendly executable chunks but allows you and your team to be aware of what you have left on the drawing board.

Being able to integrate your GitHub repo is a major plus. Creating branches of every feature of your project from your stories and linking them to your GitHub repo to track the changes is one of the brilliant features I like about this tool. It is the fuel that drives the collaboration of the team.

The best part is going back to the drawing board and realising you finished your project much earlier than expected and getting the rest you have earned.

The first letters of these words spell EPIC. These are the core values that make up Andela.

When this word flashes through my mind, I immediately think … ‘an embodiment of awesomeness’.

I think of someone who is a go-getter regardless of their situation or circumstance. I think of personalities such as Michelle Obama and Mandela who embody these values.

The EPIC values of Andela starts as a journey from betterment of oneself to uplifting others. This system has made it grow into a world class organisation which has started to put Africa on the face of the tech map.

E for Excellence: It has to do with putting in your all in a positive way to produce great results. It is aspiring to do more.

P for Passion: You absolutely believe in what you can do and how it can positively impact the people around you.

I for Integrity: Being honest with yourself and others and holding yourself accountable.

C for Collaboration: As the African saying goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Collaboration is the fabric that keeps the team running.

Together these values can positively aid the growth of a person, organisation or country to greater heights. We would be no longer burdens to ourselves and others but rather contribute to the growth of the world.

Being a huge supporter of cultivating these values, I can’t help but wonder how beautiful such a world would be to live in.