Tips for Succeeding in a Technical Bootcamp

Sleep is non-negotiable

This I believe is one of the biggest things. I had absolutely no idea how much of my energy was going into class those first few weeks until I caught myself nodding off at (checks the time) 9:40pm?! Goodness it was a shock to me. I was extremely tired and I decided that it made more sense to give into it instead of pushing through. Plus, I had to wake up by 6am in order to arrive to class on time. You will be spending many hours with you mind engaged on new material. This is doubly so if you had no experience in tech before your program. So, take care of yourself. And have some breakfast too.

Ask questions when you’re stuck

Again this goes doubly so if you’re new to tech. That code will not suddenly make sense if you stare at it long enough. It is absolutely not a crime to look something up on Google. Don’t worry about bugging your teacher either. They’re your teacher for a reason. And you came into your program so that you can learn new skills and hopefully land a new job. You’re doing yourself a disservice by not putting your best foot forward. I was lucky enough to have an extremely patient and knowledgeable teacher and I wish you all have someone like him.

Make some time for fun

I get it. Your program feels all consuming and it feels like you can’t think of anything else. Sometimes you enjoy your work so much you just want to keep going. Taking time to go over your work is important but please stop. If its for 30-60 minutes at a time during the day or sometime during the weekend, do something else that you enjoy. In my cohort, there was a poker game that ran through the time we had for lunch. I honestly regret not joining in on that once but I watched videos or listened to music during my lunch. Over the weekend I enjoyed video games, reading, and movies. A tech person is not all you are despite the new experience. Plus, you need to relieve stress cause pal it can be very stressful.

Don’t lone wolf it

Seriously don’t. My cohort consisted of 16 people from various backgrounds and experiences professionally, culturally, and technically. And not 1 jerk among them. It really made the program lively and fun from the jokes made to the new things we learned about one another. We got shuffled around a lot for partner focused exercises so that we can get used to talking together and solving problems together. It was great because you’d understand something that maybe someone else didn’t and vice-versa. When you explain things it helps you see where your knowledge gap is. Did you really understand how a CTE works or do you just think you do? It is great for you understanding and you go much further with support than you do on your own. Besides, making friends is awesome.

Practice your presentations

I cannot say this enough. We had 4 major capstones in our program as well as exercises and mini capstones we had to present on the same day. I’m someone who can get nervous about speaking in front of others up into the point I actually have to go up and speak. I know there are plenty of you who feel the same. Considering that we are in the time of a pandemic, going in front of people to speak won’t exactly be happening anytime soon but you’ll have to present nonetheless. Remember, these will be the same faces you see almost everyday. They’re not strangers. Take the time to practice presenting your project to someone at home or zoom one of your friends. Go over your volume, eye contact, slides, etc. In my program we had constant practice built in as well as time limits and recordings to look back on. I realize that I do enjoy presenting. I just get in my head a lot. Don’t get in your head. You’ll be fine.

Review your work

I mentioned this briefly earlier but it bares repeating. Look over the problems you got wrong on your exercises, homework, etc. Go to your teacher’s office hours and or go over it with a classmate. Can you make a problem similar to what you struggled with and solve it? Is there a blog where someone breaks the topic down? Matter of fact, do you finally understand something you struggled with? Blog about it or help someone else who is struggling. You learn a lot from getting an answer right. You learn even more when you get an answer wrong and you understand why. Make a note if you happen to make the same mistake over and over again.

Well I hope these 6 points will be helpful to anyone starting or in a bootcamp program at this time. Soon I’ll give an overall view on what my program was like, what I learned,enjoyed, etc. Is there anything you’d add to this list? What helped you with your program?