Here's to My Second Act
Published: 2021-09-13 03:13:44

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title: Here's to My Second Act
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I believe that life works in mysterious ways and somehow the things that are meant for you will find its way. Well at least that's what I think for now at least. 

I turned 30 in May and to be honest I felt reality set in and kick me in my teeth because I have turned up nowhere in life. 

I know. Cliché. 

It's not for lack of trying or anything. I dabbled in university for a little bit, worked a bunch of odd jobs, WENT TO A CODING BOOTCAMP (of course this would have had to pop out somewhere, gotta stay relevant) -- failed that, lost some money investing... but here I am now, square one. 

I want to bring your attention to the aforementioned (fancy word) bootcamp that I attempted back in 2017, when I was a fresh 26 year old, naive and overeager to compensate my past failures and redeem myself to the world. I set foot in their fancy building with all the hope in the world thinking that I would build the next big thing and change the world, and along with that, my life. 

I would love to say that none of the fault was on me, but I would admit that the bootcamp, as well as I, failed each other. It wasn't a horrible experience, but neither was it an enriching and fulfilling one. I came out of the bootcamp the way I entered it -- clueless. It highlighted the fact that perhaps I was just in love with the idea of being a developer. This gradually turned me off being one almost completely. 

Remember what I said about things that are meant for you will find its way? 

My friend had recently developed an interest to code and was thinking about going to a bootcamp, the very same one I had attended. He reminded me of myself years ago; that feeling of raw excitement and passion et cetera. It sparked something inside me to reflect on my life. 

"Hmm, maybe it's not too late to turn to code again."

As the days passed I found myself filled with dread about the thought of attempting the same bootcamp a second time. I just couldn't see myself doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I did not think that it was the right environment for my nurturing. All hope seemed to be lost, again. 

That was until I read a post on Dev.To about this new-age "bootcamp" called Perpetual Education. One of the students wrote about his experience with his struggles of coding and the difficult journey he chose to undertake before finding his path to Perpetual Education. It was if I wrote the post to myself.

Clicking on their website I thought I was going to be blitzkrieged with stock photos of people coding or some other form of fancy marketing and arbitrary high salaries thrown in my face to entice me. 

Nothing. 

Just a video (well, a bunch of them) of the instructor himself, Derek, and his associate, Ivy, who just spoke on a different way of learning how to code. To be more accurate, a a design-thinking process in learning how to code for the web, breaking it down to its bare bones as to the hows and the whys of creating what we often see on the Internet. Within a couple of days I found myself sitting in front of them, virtually, for an application interview. I found myself feeling like I was talking to a couple of friends! Later that day I spoke to that same student who wrote the post, and he spoke in great length about his positive experience with the course. A two-hour long conversation about how he went to being just another frustrated wannabe developer, to actually being able to create something to show to the world. I think that was the time it really clicked in my head. I was hooked.

That was just about over a week ago and I now find myself navigating through the first week generally unscathed, more so gradually reframing my mind for the upcoming rigours of the course. I don't think that I have yet to regret signing up for the course and I can only find the best things to say about it. 

As far as I'm concerned, this course makes me feel that I am ready to the on the path of being a full-fledged developer, and I want you to join me in my journey. Here's to my second act, cheers.

If you were at all interested in some part of my story, here's the link to Perpetual Education:

https://perpetual.education/ (you gotta start somewhere!)