So you’ve decided on taking a coding bootcamp.

Photo by Nicholas Greenfield

You’re about to embark on a journey of discovery and growth. Code is a tool that can be used in many industries, and it is quickly becoming something of a “common knowledge”. In the future majority of people will know how to code one way or another. Good bootcamps are designed to guide you to learn how to learn how to code and be able to do it quickly. Technology moves fast, and being able to pick up new languages, frameworks, and design patterns is imperative to stay relevant as a developer. It can be stressful, it can be challenging, I know the feeling, I graduated from Code Fellows bootcamp in 2015. And I’d like to share with you a few things I learned and applied, some of them I applied during the bootcamp, and some I learned only in retrospect.

Things to remind yourself daily:

We tend to forget the situation we find ourselves in, so try to remind yourself of these things daily, and it will be a good reset for you when you’re stressed out.

1. What you’re doing is difficult, and it’s normal to struggle, in fact, if you’re not struggling, that means either the bootcamp you’re in is not designed for you, or you’re not pushing yourself hard enough.
2. Bootcamps mainly teach one thing, and that is “how to learn” and fast. This is not a university course, we are packing as much useful information into your mind as we possibly can in hopes to set you up for success as a developer. It’s normal if you’re not able to grasp all of the information. But this is just the tip of the iceberg, when you graduate and go into the field, you will have to keep your “always learning” state of mind turned on, because the landscape we call technology is constantly changing, and fast!
3. Get ready to say no to friends and family in the time you’re devoting to this bootcamp. In these accelerated programs you reap what you sow, and missing even one day can mean that you’re missing out on a whole technology. Dive deep, and be relentless in your hunger to learn during your bootcamp, and the results will show.
4. Most full time bootcamps are around 3 months. Put that into perspective, it is a very short amount of time, so be the best student you possibly can for this short period of time. Push yourself to learn as much as you can, it will be over before you know it.
5. Commit to a language(JavaScript, Ruby, Python, CSS) or framework(React, Rails, Django, SCSS) that you like during the bootcamp, but don’t worry, it’s not something you have to keep forever. During the bootcamp you learn about many technologies and don’t necessarily dive very deep into how they work under the hood. Find a technology you enjoy and become good at it, learn it inside out. This will help you immensely during projects, and even more during the job search.

Tapping into the industry:

Taking a bootcamp is only the first step to your path to a career change. During your bootcamp you can also immerse yourself in being a part of your new tech community, and this will be imperative for you during your job search.

1. Meetups! There are so many amazing meetups hosted at some of the best companies to work for. This is an amazing opportunity to network and pick the brains of people in the industry.
2. Find a mentor! This is probably the most over looked thing for people getting into the industry, and not just from bootcamps, I mean in general. Mentors are your tool in order to reduce the amount of time you spend in the plateau period of growth. Most industry leaders are very open to grabbing a coffee with an interested individual, reach out to them through LinkedIn.
3. Open source! Some of the best ways to get noticed or stand out in interviews are being a contributor of the open source community. Find a project on Github that interests you and check out the issues page, there might be a problem you can solve in there!

Continuing your education:

The learning doesn’t stop after your bootcamp. 3 months is not enough time to make you an expert, but it’s enough to get the ball rolling. It’s up to you to continue the momentum that you have gained with this introduction.

1. Bootcamps are incredible for learning standard technologies in the industry and how to use them, however, they don’t always dive deep into how computers work fundamentally and the data structures/algorithms that allow us to write code more efficiently. I recommend pursuing online classes, my favorite is the Open Source Society University, which is a self-paced computer science “degree” based on university curriculum through a collection of free online courses.
2. Staying up to date with what’s going on in the industry can be challenging, usually different languages and categories in software can have various resources. I think Hacker News does an excellent job of compiling news from different categories with developer readers in mind.

Lifestyle tips and tricks to keep your mind and body healthy:

In order to perform at the best of your abilities, we much keep our vessel healthy and happy. This is especially important during stressful and intensive learning periods.

1. Sleep! This is the most important, because of how sleep can impact our learning. (‘http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory')
2. Eat well and make sure to drink the right amount of water throughout the day. 1–2 16oz glasses of water in the morning right when you wake up helps hydrate you and your brain right away. (‘https://www.businessinsider.com/executives-drink-water-when-they-wake-up-2016-9')
3. Try to get out in nature at least once a week. The intensity of a bootcamp is psychologically and mentally challenging, so being out in nature and the sun for a few hours at least once a week was super imperative for my mental and physical health. If you can walk barefoot on grass, definitely do that as well! (‘https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3265077/').

I hope these help you on your path to becoming a software developer and compel you to contribute to the worldwide community of developers.