This is why I traveled more than 7000 kilometers to attend a programming bootcamp.
After coursing three years of Physics and one year of Computer Engineering in Brazil I decided to attend a programming bootcamp in Europe. Some things leaded me to do some radical changes in my life and I’ll talk briefly about some of those, but the most important was that I stopped believing in an outdated educational system.
The professional which should be leaving college to contribute to our society is actually one more unprepared person to deal with real life problems.
From a perspective of someone who lives by and for the exact sciences: We all know that our world isn’t the same as it was 10 years ago, but some institutions are still trying to teach us about technology using 50 years old methods. What happens when the fundamentals we learn at University aren’t applied? Turns out that the professional which should be leaving college to contribute to society is actually one more unprepared person to deal with real life problems.
Since child I always loved three things: computers, astronomy and photography (I might refer to these three fields of study as my “lovers” on some parts of this text). I was always building something (at home and high school using LEGO® Mindstorms and Bioloid), reading something about Physics and the creation of the Universe while being an enthusiast on the field of photography. Therefore, I always wanted to pursue a career in one of those fields or maybe combine them all, why not?
Having that in mind, after finishing high school I started coursing Physics in a respected university, while also volunteering in some educational activities for public schools with the Astronomy Club of Brasilia (of which I’m a member since 2006). All was going pretty well until I realized that the only certain thing in my life was that I would end up becoming a Physics teacher. Don’t get me wrong, I was fortunate in having some great teachers in my life and I think educators are real super heroes, but for me being a high school teacher or college professor in Brazil wasn’t really one of my life’s goals.
Unfortunately because of that I got very unmotivated with the course, first for not having much perspective of a satisfactory job in the current Brazilian scenario and second because of outdated equipment (and methodology) used by the university. I suddenly started to see my educational path as a patched and winding road that would eventually lead me to a cliff. But I was also feeling the pressure of the disappointment I could cause if I just dropped out. Disappointment not only to my parents but worse… to myself.
So, I took the time to think about all that by doing a low-cost backpacking in Chile for a month. The bus left from São Paulo, took 5 days to get to Santiago due to unforeseen weather conditions and from there I went on a 22 hours journey to San Pedro de Atacama. Through Workaway I worked on a camping and a hostel serving guests, cooking and cleaning bathrooms, so that way I didn’t have to pay for accommodation and also had some time to hang around…
Of my three lovers, Astronomy was already a constant in my life with the Astronomy Club and by this time I was also finishing an online professional photography course at the New York Institute of Photography (NYIP), so I finally decided it was time to leave Physics behind and move on to a more “practical” area: Computer Engineering.
As stated at the beginning of this text, you might guess what happened then… But the thing is: I want to contribute, I want to be in constant movement, to feel like what I do matters. Don’t we all?
In one year coursing computer engineering I could do as much as if I saw a 5 minute video on YouTube about how to setup an Arduino board with an IR emitter to control your TV. Or better yet, an 8 minute video about how to use a TV remote to control an Arduino. That’s when I had my second moment of introspection about what the hell I was doing with my life.
By then I got the chance to go to Spain to visit my father so we could spend some time together. With some insights from him and my stepmother, it got to my knowledge the existence of the so called programming bootcamps. “But wait!” you might say, “Don’t you have those bootcamps in Brazil?”. Well, of course we do, we are not savages. But, my goal was always to find a way to live in Europe. I don’t want to create a family in Brazil, but that is a subject for another article. I’ve been to other countries, I’ve seen and lived on Brazilian cities other than my current own. I know what I want and won’t give up.
Also, as you might have realized nowadays every idea that becomes successful is copied, and most of the successful ideas in Brazil and other southern countries are born based on models already tested somewhere else in the north hemisphere. So, I started looking for one of those bootcamps that weren’t so new and already had some reputation and people talking about it. That’s when I found Ironhack.
Ironhack appeared to have a similar proposal to other bootcamps in Spain but I was inclined to it for being less expensive than the others. Basically, the proposal is: you will learn how to develop full websites and web applications from scratch using the latest tech trends, in 9 weeks. It’s a pretty audacious thing to say, I give you that. Well, I’m on my 5th week of course and have to say that it was one of my life’s greatest investments (the other one was my photography course and you can read about it here) with awesome return in knowledge and practice.
I can say that I am currently fully capable of developing some ideas that never got out of paper because I didn’t even know where to start. I’ve tried to learn by myself, with free online courses, with paid online courses (actually one from Codecademy), but nothing compares to being more than 12 hours a day coding non-stop, doing pair programming, being in a class with other 20 people with the most different backgrounds and experience levels. This is my GitHub if you’re interested in seeing some of the stuff we do at Ironhack: @thebinaryfelix.
If you want to improve your learning process you have to truly commit to what you’ve learned in class.
“Wait, go back a little… More than 12 hours a day, you say?” Yes, we have about 9 hours of class and pair programming, but every day we also have the so called daily exercises. If you want to improve your learning process you have to truly commit to what you’ve learned in class and finish the daily exercises doing your best. This implies being almost 14 hours a day coding non-stop.
I don’t know what will happen after I finish this course, if there is a possibility to get a visa and come back to Spain to work or I’ll go back to Brazil and stay there until another opportunity presents itself. In any way, I’m sure that now I’ll be able to put in motion some projects that have ripped from me some tears of frustration for not being able to develop them. I am also very happy with myself because now not only do I know what I want for my life as I also know what I can do.
**Updated**
E agora o Ironhack está chegando à São Paulo! Para saber mais, acesse: www.ironhack.com
