My opinion: The Best & Worst thing about a coding bootcamp.
I want to start out & say that I’m very grateful for my opportunity to be a student at Flatiron School. Obviously I’ve learned a lot about software developing but in this blog I don’t want to talk about that. Instead, I want to share the things that I enjoy most/least about this experience, some things that I’ve learned about myself, & the biggest challenges I’ve faced along the way.
The Best
Community.
The best thing about my Flatiron experience no doubt is the community & the friends that I have made from that. I’d say the most important thing if you want to succeed & remain sane during a coding bootcamp is to make the initiative to be involved & engage with your classmates. I would not have made it this far without my cohort & when we do finish our bootcamp a lot of that credit is going to go to them. Before Flatiron, dealing with pandemic was extremely challenging for me- loneliness, depression, & anxiety were a daily struggle & this cohort has been the cure to that!
The Worst
The lifestyle of a bootcamp student is the farthest thing from sustainable.
Other than writing these blogs I’d say the worst part about doing a coding bootcamp is how intensely you have to adjust your priority list. My social life is non-existent & I hardly have a personal life either(netflix doesn’t exist anymore only Eric’s lecture videos). You do have to sacrifice a lot to be successful in a bootcamp but if I’m ever feeling down about that I remember that it’s only temporary & it will be so worth it in the end.
It has taken a toll on me mentally & physically.
Because all of my energy is dumped into my brain I’ve noticed that when I’m not working on code I’m less engaged in outside conversations with friends & family, tired virtually all the time no matter how much sleep I get, & I’ve lost almost 10 pounds since I started at Flatiron(not the good kind of weight loss). Before bootcamp having a healthy lifestyle was a priority of mine, eating well & staying active is a hard thing to balance now.
How to Combat the Worst
Learn your pace.
One of the biggest takeaways thus far from bootcamp is how to pace myself in an environment such as a coding bootcamp. This takes a lot of self-awareness but once you get it down it can really be a remedy to all of the stress.
When you hit your wall the best thing to do is stop & do something you enjoy or fucking chill.
While it’s so important to get your work done & understand the material it’s equally if not more important to take care of yourself. Taking breaks is huge especially when you get stuck. My go to for a bug break is throwing on some headphones, listening to music, & taking a little walk!
