A Software Dev Bootcamp Grad’s Final Thoughts

Straight out the gate I should note this will be the first blog I actually put some thought into. This has been a career pivot for me from a highly successful career in the wedding photography industry. When we were asked to write these blogs for our school, I knew it was for some SEO for the school/ourselves under the guise that it would benefit our future employment potential. Thing is, I already have really bomb SEO from my photography side, there was no way these blogs would ever compete with that.

However this feels like a good time to put a little thought into one of these for future people looking to make this switch. So here is a little shortlist of the things I wish I knew going in:

GIVE YOUR WORLD A HEADS UP

• My social obligations really had to take a back seat to this. I told my friends and family, those who could usually rely on my being a phonecall away that I would no longer be available during the set 8–5 schedule I created for studying. Being intentional about telling people this really helped in creating an open space to learn.

PUT THE TIME IN

• I really wish I had given maybe another 30% to this schooling. It would have helped me out so much in the long run. I took afternoons off, didn’t look at anything on the weekends, didn’t study more while on trips etc. Having a better grip on the concepts into later evenings would have helped so much in reviews.

MANAGE COHORT FRIENDSHIPS BETTER

• I’ve always been highly skilled in making friends and building relationships, both online and in real life. However within my own cohort, I really struggled to connect with people. We had a discord chat I was invited to pretty early on, but my own laziness had me always feeling behind in learning, and my own stubbornness always kept me from asking for help to catch up. I would highly recommend becoming as tight as possible as you can with classmates to help feel IN this whole thing.

TIME MANAGEMENT

• The days when we used a pomodoro timer to manage breaks and give ourselves little mental rests proved to be our most successful days. It was a little more work to keep up with and feel like you’re making progress, but the benefits were far superior in terms of information rention.

MUSCLE MEMORY

• In the same vein as putting the time in, I wish I had disciplined myself better with regard to daily coding. As soon a day or two would go by, it would feel like I lost all the memory of programming. Just like any foreign language you might learn, it requires consistent use to stay fluent.