5 Ideas to Survive and Thrive in a Software Engineering Bootcamp

If you are reading this I am going to make two assumptions: 

  1. You are learning to code. 
  2. You enjoyed Andy Weir's first novel and/or the movie adaptation of The Martian. 
3d surreal mars style landscape
@kjpargeter

I'm a huge fan of all of Mr. Weir's work. It just so happened I was reading The Martian at the start of a 15-week Fullstack Software Engineering course. I began to notice how many similarities I felt between Mark Watney's struggle to stay alive on a barren planet and my own struggles to stay afloat as an intense workload wave came crashing down on me. Fortunately for me, while the bootcamp workload pummeled me it did not cause bodily damage. Unfortunately for The Martian's leading man, Mark Watney, the communications antennae that penetrated through his thoracic cavity caused his companions to assume him dead and leave him behind whilst escaping a violent martian windstorm that nearly stranded the entire crew. But I digress...

Now let's get to the reason you are here... 

5 Ideas to Enhance Your Coding Bootcamp Experience

Survive a coding bootcamp with grace and ease with these survival strategies in your tool belt.

#1 - ask for help

If you are stuck on a problem or a lab for longer than 20 minutes - YOU NEED TO ASK FOR HELP! Seriously. If you are paying for your bootcamp, use their resources. Ask your instructors. Ask your colleagues. 

#2 - read the README 

I came into bootcamp having already spent a couple months learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on my own. I was naive and a little overconfident. I dove headfirst into the labs but couldn't figure out for the life of me why I wasn't passing the 'tests' built into the course lab work. Without fail, the information I needed was to be found in the README. A shocking revelation, I know. 

#3 - look before lecture

I discovered it's more important to glance at the material quickly rather than try to develop deep understanding of the concepts presented in this bootcamp.  Take a cursory look at the day's labs and modules before lectures. Early in the program I felt I couldn't continue to learn new material if I still felt "stuck" on something or hadn't felt I had "grasped" a concept. 

My advice... keep chugging along. If it doesn't make sense or you don't grasp it, don't stress! Look at the related modules before heading into lectures. Review the materials again after lecture. By the third time through the knowledge will finally crystalize. Trust that it will all make sense later.

#4 - it's ok to fail 

I mean I sure hope you don't fail out of bootcamp! 

What I mean is... expect to fail your code challenges. I placed an inordinate amount of unnecessary stress and anxiety on myself in preparation for the code challenges in phase 1 and 2. 

Bootcamp is NOT school. 

Let me repeat that for the folks in the back row. 

A software engineering bootcamp is NOT SCHOOL. If you fail the first time you take a code challenge you are not going to be held back. Guess what? You get a second chance to retake each and every code challenge! How un-school-like is that?! 

Here's what happens in each phase:
  • Mock Code Challenge 
    • Usually on the Wednesday of the second week of the phase
  • Your instructor will review the Mock Code Challenge with you and your cohort. 
    • Usually later in the afternoon that same day or early the next day.
  • Code Challenge 1 
    • Usually a day or two after the mock. 
    • PASS: Hooray! Now it's time to get a jump start on your project. 
    • Non-PASS: No big deal! Keep practicing. You'll get a chance to retake another code challenge in a few days' time. With some more practice, YOU GOT THIS! 

#5 - relax and have fun 

Seriously. If you aren't having fun learning this stuff then find yourself a mantra. Repeat it until you believe it's true. 

There are some days you might feel down. You might be comparing yourself to others in your cohort or to folks further along in their development careers. Force a smile if you have to. Make joke with your cohort in stand up or stand down if you want to. 


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