Attacked! My survivors story: Udacity/Bertelsmann Scholarship story.

Warning this article is not for the faint of heart. May 2, 2018 was a day that changed my summer; it was the day I was accepted into the Udacity/Bertelsmann data scholarship. Boy was I happy! May 8th couldn’t come soon enough. Prior to the course starting we were sent info to join the slack and Facebook channel. Now, I will be honest in telling you that Data Science was new to me I had to google online what it was. I figured great since I am unemployed and (looking for a career change) maybe this will keep me from stressing about everyday life.

12:00 a.m. May 8th I check the Udacity website and my scholarship was open for business. YES! I was ready to learn. I glanced through the syllabus and notices that Statistics was the first lesson I immediately started it within minutes. Statistics (or Stats as I call him)and I fell in love.

We would see each other about every day, before I knew it Stats and I were going on dates and I even introduced him to my family.That was until life got in the way. Broke and in debt 😔I had no choice but to move in with family. Within a couple of weeks I was packed and saying goodbye to my place and also to the course because I needed a mental break. It would be about 2 weeks before I could get back into the grove of things. Thank goodness it’s self-paced and you can take a break and not be punished. A couple of weeks later Stats and I were breaking up💔 however we did promise to keep in contact. He yelled to me “until we meet again my love”.

It was summer time and nothing like taking a break before diving into programming. I am what you will call a novice. The weather in my part of the USA was becoming extremely hot. Seriously! Even the roads were buckling. It was so hot that I had no choice but to sleep with the windows open until one night while I was sitting at the computer desk all of a sudden I was attacked, ATTACKED! I could not believe it.

I started yelling then I realized that something was covering my mouth I then tried to take my hands and reach for something to help get this horrible, horrible thing off. Sadly I couldn’t do anything I was in such a state of shock that my body couldn’t move. I was paralyzed by fear. FEAR! I finally managed to slowly free my hands and run out of the room only to fall over my shoe. I lied on the floor and cried in a fetal position until I couldn’t cry anymore. I then managed to pull my entire body into the bathroom; looking into the mirror my body and face was almost unrecognizable.

Why God? Why me? What did I do to deserve this? With what little strength I had left I managed to turn off my laptop, grab a snack and yell 🤬WTH was that. I’ll tell you what it was it was lesson 25 of Python. Yes, I know I wasn’t physically attacked however there were times I felt defeated. Oh how I wanted to give up and instead go hang out with the cool kids in my neighborhood (you them the 7 year/old’s 👧🏻outside playing on their cellphone). Anyone else felt frustrated and wanted to give up 🤦🏻‍? A show of 🙋🏻.

No this is not to scare anyone from learning programming this is just to say that there will be challenges in taking this course. Even though times may get hard just remember that more than likely you are not alone. Remember to take breaks and don’t feel guilty about it. If you need help Kathleen (Udacity moderator) and those of us who are student leaders are here to help you. Also, refer to outside sources there are plenty of good Youtubers and courses that are free. Even though we are competing for a spot I do not want to see anyone fail. The dumbest question that I didn’t ask was the question I didn’t ask. 👈🏻 Yes! life will get in your way. Yes! you will fall down. Yes! you will cry. Yes! you will laugh. But just remember we are almost at the finish line.

Well guys I hope you’ve enjoyed my experience, I’ve had a great time learning and meeting new people from all around the world. Hopefully when I get a passport and travel I will get a chance to meet some of my fellow online classmates. But, until then I will wait for my future employer to see my resume and say “Hey this lady is just what we need”. 👩‍💻

And who knows maybe Stats and I will hook up again 👫 because right now Python is not being very nice 😞. Good luck everyone and even if I am not chosen for the second phase I’ve enjoyed the ride even though it was bumpy at times.