Tips for surviving (and thriving) in an immersive coding program
Published: 2019-10-07 14:04:44

In April, just two months before my 40th birthday, I left my dead-end career to start a six-month immersive coding program at Operation Spark, a Hack Reactor-like program in New Orleans, with the goal of getting out with a new career that didn’t have quite so many dead-end signs along the road. 

“It’ll be easy,” I thought. I’ve been to college, gotten my degree. Hell, I even taught myself to be a professional brewer once. How hard could a six-month immersive coding program be? Let me tell you, I had no idea.

If there’s anything to be said about the people that attend these programs, it’s that we are a diverse bunch with varied backgrounds. Some of us are older with kids, while others are just getting out of school. Many were in dead-end jobs with no future. But we are all there for the same reason — to make our lives better. And by the time you are where my cohort is — just three weeks shy of finishing up the senior phase — you have to have put in an insane amount of time and work, but you’ve also expended an unfathomable amount of emotional and mental energy. The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter, but there’s still so much to do before we break out into the sunshine..

Now that I’m nearing the finish line, I have had some time to think about how I’ve done it and the toll it’s taken, and I’ve come up with some tips for other people who might be in the same situation as me. These won’t apply to everyone — but if you’re reaching midlife, have a child or just looking to start a whole new career, you might find some of these tips useful.
###Nothing is hard. It’s just new.###
I’m starting off with an unoriginal mantra that has been drilled into our brains since Day 1. I’ve questioned it more times than I can say, but the fact is, it’s true. I knew nothing about coding when I started Operation Spark, so everything I’ve encountered has been new. And yes, it’s felt hard at first. Impossible, even. But the day will come when it all starts to click, and you have to trust the process. It’s been proven to work, and while I’ve had plenty of doubts, it’s effective and it works. 
###Get sleep!###
I mean it. Especially if you’re a little older like me. Like parenting, this program is young folks’ work. It’s exhausting, especially once you immerse yourself in the portion that takes up 11-plus hours of your day, six-plus days a week. If you don’t let yourself sleep, you won’t be able to recover. There just isn’t the time, and the program is too fast-paced. You may feel like you absolutely NEED to get everything done, even if it means staying up till the wee hours of the night, but a solid block of sleep will make it easier to absorb whatever new information that’s coming your way tomorrow.
###Trust the process###
It can be easy to question your sanity — as well as the structure of a program like this — during immersion. As one of my cohorts put it, “They’ve thrown us into the ocean to teach us how to swim,” and that is a jarring experience for anyone. New technologies, new theories, new EVERYTHING, is coming at you at a furious pace, and you will likely feel at times like you aren’t learning a thing. But you are. 
###Get plenty of Vitamin D###
Sunshine is surprisingly important, especially when you’re holed up in a classroom with 10 other people for 11 hours a day. Take the time to get out and remind yourself that there’s an outside world, even if it’s just to go down the street for a snack walk.
###Cry###
Okay, this one may sound weird coming from a 40-year-old man, but what I’m really trying to say is, allow yourself to feel the emotions that will surely come. If you try to suppress them, they’ll build and build and explode when you least expect it. You have to manage your feelings and emotions, and let it all out when you have to.
###Laugh###
You’re in a very serious, very hard program. So is everyone else in the room. You’re all stressed beyond belief, so remember to recognize the lighter moments of the day. Smiles and laughter are contagious, and it’s amazing what they can do to brighten your day.
###Hug your kid (or your spouse/parent/sibling/friend)###
As hard as this program has been on me, it’s been nearly as hard on my family. I leave at 8 a.m. and get home at 8:30 p.m. I get about 15 minutes with my 4-year-old at night before reading books and about an hour with him in the morning, assuming I’m not working on code before class. My wife has basically been single-momming it for the past three months, and she often sees me in my most exhausted (i.e. cranky) state. Reminding her and my son that I love them, and being reminded that I’m doing this for all of us, has been amazing motivation in the hardest of times. 

If you’re serious about learning a new career, a program like Operation Spark is a great option, but you have to give it all you have.