The Rising Coder - Bootcamp Precourse
Tags: javascript, beginners, bootcamp, codenewbie
Published: 2022-09-02 17:27:45

Hey! Thank you for checking out my first blog about my journey into the world of tech! I am planning on updating this series each week with what I've been up to and my reflections of that week. 🙌

## Who am I? 
I'm Christopher and I'm currently a Trainee Software Developer, about to start my journey on the [Northcoders Bootcamp](https://northcoders.com/). I was born in Warrington, but raised in Macclesfield in the North-West of England. 

Before starting my journey with Northcoders, I had studied Business Economics in Japan from 2016 - 2020 and upon graduation returned back to the UK and worked as a Japanese-to-English Translator/Localiser. 

## Northcoders - Who, Where, Why, When and How? 
[Northcoders](https://northcoders.com/) is a 13-week intensive software development bootcamp that teaches their students to go from being a coding newbie to landing their first Junior Software Developer.

I first got to know about Northcoders in 2021 through LinkedIn, and had put off the thought of joining until July 2022 because I thought I was never cut out for this kind of job. 

Fast forward to March 2022, I had begun self-teaching myself through Udemy courses & FreeCodeCamp but felt that I lacked structure, support and motivation. And so, I decided to seriously put my head down and went for Northcoders at full force. 

Upon completion of Northcoder's Entry Challenge Preparation material that they require their students to complete because Northcoders are serious about making sure that the students joining have both the aptitude and drive to succeed at their bootcamp. I booked in for Entry Challenge 1. 

For the keen eye that noticed I labelled it as "Entry Challenge 1", that's right, I failed my first Entry Challenge!

The mentor that listened to my explanations of my logic and JavaScript code felt that I would struggle to join the cohort that would be starting next week, and looking back, they were completely correct! But, they did not discourage me and instead advised me to apply in a fortnight to brush up on the fundamentals, and I passed the second time around!

## Reflections
The biggest takeaway from my preparation for my journey at Northcoders is that the fundamentals of problem-solving and consistency/persistency are the most important aspect of embarking on your journey as a Software Developer.

Firstly, if you are able to consistently put in the time to learn and persist with your growth then you will be an amazing Software Developer. 

Lastly, being able to develop a strong foundation of problem-solving skills is equally just as important. This is because it makes the process of building up projects from the ground-up that much easier when you start to break the entire idea into manageable pieces. 

## Thoughts Going Forward
If you have reached to the end of my first blog post, thank you again for coming to read! I am really excited to document my journey into the world of tech and creating a trail for possible future Northcoders Bootcampers to follow!

### Socials
Feel free to give me a follow on any of my socials down below!
* [GitHub](https://github.com/clam119)
* [Dev.To](https://dev.to/clam119)
* [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-lam-792b90161/)
* [Twitter](https://twitter.com/anipi119)