Why my bootcamp blog failure lead to bootcamp success!
Tags: javascript, react, beginners
Published: 2020-03-09 19:44:18

Trust me, no one was more disappointed by my lack of blog posts about the bootcamp than I was! However, as my dad always taught me, every cloud has a silver lining. So what was my silver lining?

To keep it simple, I've broken this down into 3 sections:
<ul>
<li>Why stop the blogs?</li>
<li>The silver lining</li>
<li>What's next?</li>
</ul>

So let's get into it...

####Why stop the blogs?

It kind of happened by accident actually.

After my second week, I had already written most of week 2's content. Then as I was prepared to post it middle of week 3, I fell sick! I'll spare the detail, but I was bed ridden for a solid 4 days. The last thing on my mind was posting a blog...sorry!

Then having missed a couple days of the bootcamp, I felt behind. I wasn't, but it didn't stop my brain from going into overdrive to try and 'catch-up'. This meant by the end of week 3 and going into week 4, I still had only posted about week 1.

I told myself that I would catch up at the end of month. Oh how I had no idea that going into month 2 would be when the workload ramped up!

As soon as month 2 started, I was 3 week's behind, I made the decision to not stress about it and focus on my development solely. To give you an idea of what that meant for me; I would arrive anywhere from 7am-9am, structured activity until 5pm, and then I would stay as late as 9:45pm some nights.

I simply wanted to get the most out of my time there, as I wouldn't have this opportunity again to sit with knowledgable devs every day, all day. Unfortunately, for my knowledge gain, the blog suffered.


####The silver lining

I can't begin to explain how much I learned over the 8-weeks I was there!

Once I stopped stressing about posting the blogs, put job hunting out of my mind and focused on learning, learning, and more learning, I found my rate of progression sky rocketed!

I will say I am lucky that I come from an educationally STEM background, it has meant my way of thinking is very aligned with coding.

I would see similarities in what I had previously learned, just using different terminology, so I skipped a few learning curves which was a pleasant surprise!

So although I didn't get to stick to my goal of writing the blogs (or have much of/any social life for 8-weeks), making the better decision for my own growth has lead to me being significantly more prepared for the market and I feel confident in taking that next step!

####What's next?

Get a job!

As simple as it sounds, that truly is the next step.

I have learned enough to be confident in my applications (something I notice is a huge barrier in this industry for junior devs), and I'm really excited to take my next step in this career journey.

####Quick Summary

I think the most important thing I will say for anyone considering a bootcamp, or this industry; be prepared to learn and enjoy the learning process, because it won't ever stop!

I truly have fallen in love with learning these new technologies and can't wait to continue learning them better, and even more.

Over my time at Kodiri, I managed to dig my nails into many different technologies and I really feel like the more I discover, the more I realise how many there are out there!

I was fortunate to spend time learning bits and pieces of:
<ul>
<li>JavaScript</li>
<li>React</li>
<li>NodeJS</li>
<li>ExpressJS</li>
<li>Redux</li>
<li>Firebase</li>
<li>HTML5</li>
<li>CSS3</li>
</ul>

If you want to see how I've used any of those technologies, check out my [portfolio](https://alexanderjstewart.co.uk)

####P.S.

I will be writing a blog detailing more about what we covered in the bootcamp for anyone interested in reading that :)