Time stops for no one, and week 12 was the last week of teaching at the Bootcamp and we look forward to the weeks upcoming, where we embark on our 4-week project!
This week's writing will be a bit different because I won't cover the days during the week but just one day, the Thursday.
Thursday was very different because we were told to pick a new language and do whatever we wanted with it. We picked Python because why not!
My group and I quickly tried to understand the documentation: how to do for-loops, arrays and other various things in Python. I have to admit Python is much more human-readable than JavaScript and I would definitely like to take some time trying to learning it in the near future!
We decided to make a simple Hangman game in the terminal and after some help and more reading, we were finally able to get it to work - and we were chuffed!
Then came the end of the day, and we came together as we normally do, for some final words and then the usual sign off. Chris Meah (the CEO of the School of Code) had some words for us. He made a parallel between the Thursday and one of the first few days in the Bootcamp and reiterated that understanding concepts is the most important thing and that syntax was secondary.
The first time we heard him say that, it didn't mean anything to us.
This time, it meant so much more. We were hit with a realisation that within 12 weeks we had such a solid understanding of coding concepts that we were able to apply the concepts to other languages and manipulate them to our will. Concepts are what make developers, computer languages and syntax are just simple tools that developers use.
And then it hit me.
It is the end of the Bootcamp.
Yes, we still had four more weeks until the Bootcamp officially ended, but our learning was effectively over and we are due to be assigned to our groups to work on our final project.
But it really is the end of the Bootcamp.
Then it dawned on me how impactful the Bootcamp has been on me. The School of Code education style has been holistic, to say the least. We were constantly pushed in order to learn one of the most difficult skills and pushed to apply what we have learned by working with other people in teams.
It's tough to admit, but the School of Code has taught me how to embrace discomfort (or rather seek it) in order to grow - I am both disappointed and proud of myself.
Why am I disappointed? Because I ask myself, why hadn't I pushed myself the way I am now, prior to the Bootcamp? Why didn't I come to my current mindset without a guiding hand? Questions I won't get answers for, however, I am proud of myself for getting here in the end, and I plan to seek discomfort going forward.
I also realised at that moment that the School of Code and all of its quirks (squats, energisers etc.) had become a part of my comfort zone and that I was once again, due to be thrown into the wilderness of discomfort soon to look for a role in the tech world. And I feel ready.
A shorter read than usual I know, but I only felt like writing about that one moment because of how impactful it was. Apologies to anyone who was expecting the usual format! Back to regular scheduling next week hopefully!
If you're still reading, thank you so much, I hope to use this blog to post and share my journey and any useful knowledge I gain throughout my journey! I would love to connect with other developers to see what they're learning and learn from them - you can connect with me on:
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Email: mohamedcodes92@gmail.com