Reflections

What are three new things you have learned about yourself and your ego as a result of the core learning?

I have learned to adopt a not yet mentality and not get disheartened or down on myself when I’m learning new and hard stuff. Instead of thinking that I am not smart enough I’ll get in the mindset that I can and will learn it, just not yet.

My ego can sometimes make me feel like I am cheating when looking at someone else's code because I feel that I need to come up with it myself. I have found that this is a great way to learn and should not think of it as cheating, as long as I understand what the code is doing and I'm not just mindlessly copying it.

I have learned that sometimes it is better to step away from the computer and take some time to figure out a problem and not sit there and bash my head against a proverbial wall. Taking time away allows my mind to rest and find solutions much easier.

What are the role of values, empathy and self awareness in learning and programming?

Your values are what you place importance on so if one of your values is learning than you are more likely to put in a lot more effort when learning something new such as programming. Empathy is needed in this industry as programming can be incredibly frustrating, and chances are that you may be working with people that are feeling a lot of pressure and frustration. This is when having a high level of empathy can allow you to understand these feelings people may have and allow for a better work environment. Lastly self-awareness relates back to my previous point that programming can be frustrating. It is important that you are self-aware enough to understand when you might be frustrated and take some time away before this becomes an issue.

What has surprised you the most about the core learning?

That our brains physically change as a result of our learning and and that new pathways are constantly being altered.

What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?

Raising my level of self-awareness, self-evaluate, and doing this consistently.

Why do you think we, a programming school, are spending so much time focusing on core learning in a web development bootcamp course?

As this will allow us to work better as part of a group and as individuals. Therefore, making us more valuable to a company compared to a person who knows how to write code but not work well with others. This is turn will make us better fit in a company and have a higher chance of being hired.

Does the time you spent studying core learning here feel like a waste of time? Should you have just used that time to practicing programming instead? Justify your answer.

No, it does not feel like a waste of time, the core content is tough sometimes and requires a lot of thinking but I can see the massive amount of value that I get out of it. It has already raised my level of self-awareness and I can see how this can really help later on when starting is this industry.

Preparing for Bootcamp

What is your long term goal and/or career pathway?

My long-term goal is to become a successful full stack web developer or software developer. If I am able to combine my passion for aviation with my passion for computers and programming that would be the ideal situation. I am hoping that Dev Academy can set me up with the skills required to get started in the industry so that I can start working towards that goal.

What do you think your biggest strengths and limitations will be in Bootcamp?

My strength that I discussed in Sprint 2 was that I am an eager and quick learner, I believe this will be a great strength to have during bootcamp as it will mean I am more focused and should pick things up fairly quickly. As I am loving learning how to program my motivation will remain high during bootcamp.
My limitation was that I can get distracted and veer off topic and I have noticed that this has sometimes happened during foundations. As I am spending all day on the computer, I often find myself on YouTube watching some videos while “taking a break”. This has reduced my productivity by a bit and I will need to reduce the frequency of this happing during bootcamp.

What do you think your biggest non-technical challenge at Bootcamp will be?

I think the biggest challenge will be to stay focused for the 9 weeks, I work well with a group, I don’t have too many issues presenting in front of a group people. As bootcamp will be intensive, there will be less time for slacking off and relaxing so I will need to make sure that I keep a healthy balance as not to fall behind on the material.

What non-technical skills - human skills - would you like to see developed in yourself while at EDA?

One human skill I would like to see improved is my ability to give and receive feedback, I don’t have too many issues with receiving constructive feedback, however I sometimes struggle with giving feedback. I feel as though I don’t want to hurt the persons’ feelings when giving feedback. I have been working on this during foundations and feel as though I have improved already.

What are your expectations of yourself on Bootcamp?

First, I will use the recourses available to me to figure out a solution on my own, this will include Googling and the Rubber Ducky method. If these methods don’t work, I will take some time away from the problem, go for a walk and clear my mind. If I am still unable to find a solution than I will contact peers or facilitators to try and figure out a solution. Generally, I will try and go to my facilitator with a solution rather than a question. My expectation for myself during bootcamp is that I will stay focused, work hard and successfully set myself up for an interesting and exciting career.