Pros And Cons of Preparing for Bootcamp With Online Lecture Courses
By: David Jaworski
Tags: Beginner, Beginners Guide, Programming, Bootcamp Experience, Bootcamp

Pros And Cons of Preparing for Bootcamp With Online Lecture Courses

Not long ago I was considering web development as a career and I started to look into ways that people break into the industry. Developers seem to fall into 4 camps when it comes to learning how to code; CS degree, code bootcamp, online video courses, and self-taught. For the purposes of this blog, I will focus on code bootcamp vs online video tutorials. I chose to do both, and I’d like to identify how online coding has benefitted my bootcamp experience as well as point out some pitfalls to avoid.

My Story

When I committed to going down a web development career track via code bootcamp, I knew I wanted to develop an understanding of what I was getting myself into, before diving head first into an intensive program. I started with Codecademy and tried doing Berkely’s introductory CS course. I looked up programming books, and finally came across an online video course on Udemy that was highly recommended on reddit. The course creator was a bootcamp instructor and adapted what he would normally teach in person, into an online video lecture course. The course covered everything from building responsive front end pages to integrating a MongoDB database into your backend web application. I learned an immense amount of information from the course and felt like I had a clearer picture of what it takes to develop an application. From that experience, I have some thoughts on how best to utilize this type of resource to prepare for a bootcamp and how bootcamp differs from the online learning experience.

Big Picture, Not Mastery

Online video tutorials are a great way to develop a foundational understanding of how web applications are built and how the respective languages function. I felt a lot more confident coming into bootcamp knowing what the general structure of web application looked like. I didn’t concern myself with trying to have a perfect understanding of every detail when it comes to web app development. This is an opportunity to build a solid base of understanding, and to identify the things that you will need help understanding. When I was studying on my own, I had a hard time understanding how ejs files integrated with routes written in an index file, which was something I knew I’d need to get some support on when the time came.

Learn By Teaching

While I was taking a deep dive into all things software development, I was explaining the concepts and ideas to my girlfriend. Fortunately she was patient and curious enough to let me describe what I was learning in depth. This was motivated by the fact that I was excited by what I was learning and I wanted to share, but I quickly found that trying to explain new concepts to her helped secure my own understanding of what I was learning. This significantly increased my ability to talk through coding solutions and problems with teachers and students in bootcamp. Whether you’re in bootcamp or preparing to enter one, the opportunity to teach others is invaluable to building a rock solid understanding of new concepts.

PRACTICE

I fell into the trap of learning through watching, rather than doing and that is my number one regret from my time before bootcamp. The tricky thing about learning how to code is that just because you can comprehend what you’re seeing, it doesn’t mean you can do it on your own. The online course that I worked on was semi designed for you to code along, but that still wasn’t enough for me to feel comfortable recreating some of the more complex ideas, like incorporating post requests into your express routes. Although I wasn’t learning with the aim to be a fully functional programmer, some practice on my part would have helped me reinforce the ideas better.

That pretty much summarizes the lessons I learned preparing for bootcamp. Now for the experience of actually being in a bootcamp.

Bootcamp

I am four weeks into Flatiron’s Software engineering program and I have a lot of positive experiences and lessons that I’d like to share. To start, no matter how much you prepare, it’s hard to simulate the demands that will be placed upon you. Bootcamps are truly immersive experiences, to the point that I’ve literally started dreaming in code. If you are considering a Flatiron program, don’t let that scare you. The staff is very aware of how intense the experience can be, and do an excellent job of minimizing the stress by facilitating a supportive community. Going from studying online videos, alone in my apartment, to a campus of 60+ students that are all in the same boat, is a significant improvement. Finally, the curriculum is challenging without being overwhelming. The instructors are very careful to share the most knowledge they can without passing students limits. Overall I’ve had a very positive experience working through Flatiron so far, which leads me to a couple of lessons I’d like to share on how to get the most out of a bootcamp.

Ask Questions…

Possibly one of the greatest benefits of participating in a bootcamp is the opportunity to ask questions in person, with people who really know what they’re talking about. Compared to self study, where I would rewind the same moment over and over to grasp a hard to understand concept, the opportunity to have a back and forth dialogue significantly shortens the time to comprehend new ideas. However, make sure you don’t just ask about solutions, ask how they got to their solution. Same goes for unusual error messages; focus on where and how they gather information to understand the cause of a bug. This way you’ll equip yourself with the tools to solve complex bugs on your own!

Collaborate

Bootcamps are an excellent place to learn how to collaborate with others to solve problems in a software development context. Utilize the opportunity to practice describing your ideas using accurate technical language, opening yourself up to new perspectives for approaching problems, and teaching each other along the way. Honing your technical communication skills can be extremely valuable to employers, so be sure to develop them while you have the opportunity.

…Don’t Ask Questions Too Soon

This is the major pitfall that students in bootcamps have to take into consideration, don’t ask the questions before you’ve worked through the problem and exhausted your own resources to solve it. You can learn a lot by solving problems on your own, and struggling to a solution has more value than someone offering the answer. Run your own searches on google, read over documentation, and check stack overflow, just like you would in a real job. That said, a good instructor won’t give the answer away without working through a problem and offering guidance to the answer.

If you choose to go down the bootcamp route to learn how to be a software developer, I would recommend putting in some time to prepare. Explore online resources that will allow you to develop a broad perspective of how web applications are built, work on fundamental coding skills, and start telling anyone who will listen about what you’re learning. Once you’re in a bootcamp ask good questions, collaborate with other students, and struggle well, before asking for help.