Is it sensible to work full-time alongside the Makers Academy pre-course?
Tags: Ruby, Bootcamp, Makers

Is it sensible to work full-time alongside the Makers Academy pre-course? EB Sep 9·5 min read

Me, taking on more responsibilities.

TL;DR

Makers do not recommend working during the pre-course, to avoid you having to retake it. However, in my experience working full-time alongside the Makers pre-course is entirely possible. If you have few obligations outside of work, I would also describe it as sensible.

Pre-pre-course

After accepting a place at Makers, I had 3 weeks before the pre-course start date. Each week I received an email discussing topics like mindset and organisation. Lovely.

The last pre-pre-course email required some effort on my part — setting up my machine as a development environment. I have a newer MacBook with an M1 chip which could not be corralled by the easy step-by-step guidance provided. There were many guides online and none of them seemed to work for me and my M1 chip. The googling continued. Relief finally came from one passing suggestion, which was 100s of comments deep on a forum post of someone struggling through the same thing as me.

Lesson learnt? I wish I had recorded the steps I took and the suggestion and comments I found, so I could have shared this clearly for the next person struggling. Sorry if that’s you, you’ll have to google for yourself, but the sooner you’re familiar with stackoverflow the better!

Week 1

I decided to start getting up at 06:45 each day. Morning routine; run, feed the cat, shower, dress, make a cup of tea, and log on to my personal laptop about 45mins ahead of needing to open my work laptop.

For Monday, this was over-zealous (slightly neurotic?) as I knew to expect the arrival of pre-course materials around 10:30am. So instead,I upped my Codewars Honour that morning.

45mins each weekday morning really took the pressure off evening work. I completed the Week 1 learning objectives with just mornings and a couple of relaxed evenings.

Lesson learnt? Loads! Using the command line fluently, git, and more generally about version control. The week’s challenge (Command Line Mystery) was genuinely enjoyable.

Week 2

Weeks 2 and 3 were for solidifying Ruby knowledge. There were 10 chapters of study materials, each with a quiz at the end. Although we simply needed to complete all 10 chapters by the end of week 3, it was recommended that we complete chapters 1–6 in week 2. I was hoping to be a bit ahead of that schedule as I knew I had too many social engagements in Week 3. However, I followed my routine of 45mins in the mornings and relaxed evenings, and ultimately finished up on Sunday, right on schedule.

Week 2 was also the week we were offered the chance to find a mentor from an earlier cohort. From the list of mentors, with little else to go, I reviewed their github accounts and chose someone who’s code seemed complete but easy to read whether this approach worked, or just luck my mentor turned out to be a lovely person, an enthusiastic developer, and a calming presence on my Slack for the weeks ahead.

It wasn’t easy to meet my mentor during his weekday Makers hours because I was also working during that time, but he thankfully agreed to meet at the weekend, taking some time out from his weekend challenge.

Lesson learnt? Ruby ruby ruby ruby.

Week 3

This week my manager had arranged leaving drinks for me, which was coupled with a rare day in the office. The commute meant no morning work and the evening similarly, was not spent quizzing. The day and night were genuinely lovely though. It was strange to finally feel connected with my colleagues, just as I’m leaving them (remote working tip: meet once in-person as soon as possible!)

I also had family and social commitments this week. For the first time during the pre-course, I worried about fitting everything in and needed to put in some late evenings. Thankfully, I live with a supportive partner who took on the majority of household duties, freeing my time for study.

Again right on schedule, I finishing chapter 10 on Sunday evening.

Lesson learnt? If I like the material, and I’m in the zone, working into the evening is natural, enjoyable, and a great way to put in the time to gain proficiency.

Week 4

The last week of the pre-course had a 4 item to-do list:

Fizzbuzz — pair with someone from the cohort Codewars — get my score up to certain level More Ruby — 14 exercises Github CV

I was one of the first in my cohort to put out a request for a Fizzbuzz pair and quickly arranged a convenient time with someone for Tuesday. So I put that from my mind until closer to the time.

My codewars score was already above the threshold needed (check!) So, on Monday morning, I made a start on the Ruby exercises, and this was the main focus of my week’s efforts.

I spoke with my mentor about the Github CV and ultimately convinced myself to spend a brief time giving it an outline, but to mainly schedule for myself to update this towards the end of the course.

Lesson learnt? Codewars is addictive. Pairing is exhausting but has the major benefit of presenting you with another view point, more/different knowledge, and maybe the added bonus of making a friend along the way.

Summary

The expectations for each week of the pre-course were made clear, and were achievable. The peers from my cohort were also responsive if anyone needed help. These facts combined made it easy to plan each week and achieve what was needed by the week’s end.

I was fortunate to have few time commitments: no commute with a remote job, no major household responsibilities with a supportive partner, no late nights of employed work with a supportive manager and colleagues. However, I finished the pre-course without stress and only minor worry in week 3. I had kept up hobbies, and connections with family and friends. I hadn’t managed to go much beyond the curriculum, or explore things that particularly interested me, but I have a whole life ahead of me as a developer to be doing that…