Hello World
Tags: webdev, bootcamp, learning
Published: 2023-09-24 13:03:52

Hello there! (HI MOM)

The sole reason for the existence of this post is the Learn in Public movement I have stumbled upon so happily (go check it out if unfamiliar with: [](https://www.swyx.io/learn-in-public)).

## **Bootcamp or not?**

I have recently graduated from an intensive 2 months long bootcamp with Le Wagon and start now my own, without the training wheels I had up till now. For those hesitating to follow a bootcamp or not, know that there is an incredible amount of amazing resources for free online (check [](https://www.freecodecamp.org/) and/or [](https://www.theodinproject.com/)). In my particular case, 2 elements were of the essence to decide for a bootcamp and that was **time** and **network**. For the time aspect, I am 34 and stuck in a job without any intellectual challenge, and although my coworkers and even manager are fantastic, it was an obvious dead-end that only served the purpose of paying my bills, so there was (and is) a sense of urgency in switching to something I can see a future in.
On network, the bootcamp I chose after some selection boasts 22,000+ alumni and an active community which gives a nice footing in the industry (although you can also get involved in open-source, go to meet-ups if in a big enough city).

## **The first day of the rest of my life**

Now begins the daunting march to get a first job in the field, what appears to be the most difficult one to get. 
Despite applying to a couple of extremely interesting offers, I believe I need a few fundamental skills before diving head first.
Despite a really coherent and well-made bootcamp curriculum, testing was merely mentioned and I do want to become more fluent in TDD, test and debugging in general for example.

## **Post-bootcamp learning**
According to the Learn in Public philosophy, I will, starting from now, publish regularly to develop _

> a habit of creating learning exhaust
_
So in addition to some Codewars katas resolutions, and with the inspiration of some posts (like this one: [](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-kickass-new-software-engineer-raymond-gan/))
I will post about:

- testing and debugging (expect Minitest, Rspec), 
- vanilla Javascript (and a daily account of the 30 days Javascript challenge ([](https://javascript30.com/)),
- building a basic and simplified Ruby on Rails
- some delving into CLI and Git

It might be imperceptible through the screen, but I feel so excited to start a life-long journey of learning and this thought really gives me hope in the future!

This first week, I'll dive into making very small apps as the French certification exam takes place Wednesday and Thursday and requires defining persona, prototyping, building and deploying.
Also also, I opened a Medium account as well but in the end decided to post here as it seems more relevant, if you have any advice on that, do share!

I believe every path is potentially unique and there is no best way to do but if you think of any recommendations, please do mention it in comments, your opinion, if subjective, could raise something I'm not even aware of!

And as a favorite youtuber would say, _it's not goodbye, it's never goodbye, it's see you later!_