Confidence is [‘key’]
How learning Full Stack Web Development technologies in a collaborative environment has affected this novice programmer
I’m sure almost all of you have had the thought, as you are scrolling through an app or a website: I wish I could make something like this. Maybe the curious bunch of those app enthusiasts even take the brave step to start an online coding course. Most online (free) coding courses I’ve taken personally seem pretty tame and simple in the beginning, and as you zoom through the tutorials explaining what a variable is, in the back of your mind, you start to plan how you will spend your millions of dollars once you code your first amazingly popular mobile app. Suddenly, the tutorials get inexplicably complex. You scour the internet and help blogs for some sort of assistance, but without anyone there physically for you to point at your code on your screen and scream “WHAT?” at, you are stuck. I have met that wall and felt that disappointment. I decided to make the leap to sign myself away for 14 weeks to a coding boot camp.
For anyone looking to seriously improve their actual applicative skills, I could not recommend the Coding Dojo, specifically the Dallas branch, more. The Coding Dojo program is centralized around the comprehensive online learning platform, which includes videos that explain macro level concepts of each new language, and is typically accompanied by a text summary and real snippets of example code. Even though the platform is thorough enough to guide the novice coder fairly well, the in-class Instructors and TAs really make this program effective. While they keep the lectures short, about two 80 minute lectures a day on average, the one-on-one unwavering support and global attitude of “if you need help, ask” is what makes the dojo an amazing and supportive learning environment.
As a person that has previously found consistent success learning solo, it took some time to get used to the chatty environment, but have since learned to embrace the collaborative spirit it was meant to foster, and consequently felt my guard and ego diminish. Though environments like this naturally breed competition, even from the first Web Fundamentals Stack, the Dojo philosophy emphasizes only struggling solo with a problem for 20 minutes, then asking others for help. It was hard for a proud and self sufficient learner to do this, as I personally find the line between lazy and efficient fuzzy when it comes to asking others for help in solving problems.
Essentially the most influential and powerful tool this program offers, in my experience, is its community. The fact that everyone around you has made both the financial and time investment to spend around 11K (depending on what city your program is in) and to average working 10+ hours a day for 6 days a week is the glue that keeps this program so strong and what makes it so successful.
Transitively, I felt the hardest part about the program is stabilizing the attitudes of others and the energies of others while in this stressful learning environment. I have been used to stressful learning environments from finishing a very challenging major in 4 years from a top university, and am comfortable learning subjects previously foreign to me, and have the confidence that the full understanding will come eventually. I definitely am privileged to have studied and existed under those circumstances, but I witnessed how it non-biasly this notion affects everyone, both in terms of ego and motivation to continue learning.
My experience in this program thus far has impressed and surprised me. The most tangible change this program has made in me is the exponential increase in my confidence towards programming problems of any sort. I feel now, with as much justifiable confidence as one should have, that I have the skills and problem solving methods to take in new problems or learn new programming languages effectively. For example, I recently took a look at a free online introductory tutorial to React Native that I had glanced at and given up previously before I started the program. Yet, looking at it the second time, armed with the skills and confidence from my 8 weeks of full stack programming immersion, I felt almost cavalier as I watched the tutorial in 1.75 x speed and swiftly produced a React native Android application with API calls in less than 5 hours.
Gaining that self confidence is one of the biggest hurdles of becoming a software developer. It is the breaking down of unknown, building that familiarity and confidence, and assuredly applying your algorithms as a solution many, many times over until it is habit that has helped this coding novice reach a personal assurance that I will be successful in this industry.