Coding Bootcamps? Just Go For it.

Learning to code in 9/12 weeks? Is it even possible?

I‘m a Coding Bootcamp alumni. Did the Le Wagon 9 week bootcamp, and the decision to commit my time/money into such a program was not an easy one.

A couple weeks is not enough time for us humans to master anything, but is more than enough time for us to be around people than can help us to break the wall and get the basis in the quest to gain a skill.

These programs are no joke in terms of intensity. The first weeks are very hard and painful. Somehow even the basic concepts of programming makes you wonder if you are actually suited to understand it.

Its painful, but that is the process of you actually soaking up all the new information. You have to keep in mind that it will click, keep going and don’t get stuck. It will click, it will all start to make sense….just keep these words on the back of your head.

Bootcamps are very intense courses, and the learning experience is completely different from what we are used to since a young age.

Everyone has a different learning pace, and this intense approach should be taken into account, specially in a time where ‘skills’ are so important.

What did I learn out of programming?

Most of the bootcamps have their detailed programs publicly available, so I’d rather share what I learned other than technically speaking.

When we fully immerse ourselves into something, it’s when our learning curve is steeper, maybe the ‘bootcamp’ way of learning things is the way it is going to be common in future years, but being myself an Economics Graduate from a top school in Portugal, I had absolutely no idea I could learn so much in 9 weeks, and this is something I’ll take with me for life. I know now that if I immerse myself 9 weeks into something, I can do it.

I had absolutely no idea I could learn so much in 9 weeks, and this is something I take with me for life.

The bootcamp’s teaching methods are guided towards very motivated students that really want to learn the most in a short period. And by that, it means that we as ‘bootcampers’ should be pro-active and pose questions in order to move forward.

The idea is to learn by doing, so its not really a matter of understanding everything right away, but be able to move forward and not get stuck, things will eventually kick in (again, this is something I kept saying for myself, and that was actually told to me from a fellow colleague).

The idea is to learn by doing, so its not really a matter of understanding everything right away, but be able to move forward and not get stuck.

These programs, in my vision, should be considered as a complement to whatever skills you already have.

In my case, as an Economics major, I gained a skill to complement others that I had learned in College and in previous professional experiences. I am now working as developer for a top Economic data website in the world, both worlds complemented itself.

If you have an entrepreneurial mentality, one of these programs can give you the skills that will help you to to expand that mentality into something ‘physical’.

Bootcamps give you the base for you to take off by yourself by allowing you to include the newly acquired skills into your life in a way that you find it most suitable.

Social side of things

The environment we are in can be a key factor when trying to learn something new.

Most of these programs attract people with diverse backgrounds but with a shared initiative and drive, which is pretty cool to be around. They all took time off to put 100% of themselves into something. Theres not a lot of things that can be more motivating than being emerged in such an environment.

Technology is evolving at a very fast pace nowadays, and in order to keep up is important to be evolved in a community. When you coming from a different field, its important to be surrounded with people that are already in the industry, and the bootcamps have this community around it that has a lot of value and can benefit everyone but specially when you are a newbie.

Most of these programs attract people with diverse backgrounds but with a shared initiative and drive(…). Theres not a lot of things that can be more motivating than being emerged in such an environment.

To conclude, if you are even thinking (and have the opportunity) to learn a new skill in an intensive way, being it programming, designing, hula dancing, whatever. Just go for it.