Looking through my first learning plan was a laugh. I was obsessed with my career and scared of the future. I feared giving up and well… I’m here, fixing up some of the last pieces on my Trello board. I’m “ready” for “graduation”.

I mentioned anxiety as a core skill that needed work. The main narrative that I heard in speedbacking was that I need to stop worrying/apologizing for nothing. Whilst anxiety is a lifelong adventure, hearing that repeated loosened the grip on the narrative.

There were some positives too. I wanted to learn and to teach. Winding back the clock I think that might have been a throwaway line to keep my homegroup facilitator happy. Now that I’m staring down the finish line, I realize the parts of the tech that I’m most comfortable with are from the days I helped a pair programming partner.

I correctly identified that I’m a practical learner and Dev academy has been good for that. Whilst I didn’t survive long at university, I’m now wishing there was a part two to Dev. I’m not done learning through doing! Post Dev, I need to incorporate these elements that have allowed me to thrive. Inventing my own kata and challenges to stretch both my technical knowledge and strengthen the parts of core that I have found most helpful.

I committed to taking breaks. I still have a ways to go on this front. This skill will be all the more important without the facilitators around to ask for help. ON that note, I committed to asking for help and here, I have improved. At some point it really sunk in that I paid a 5-figure sum for this experience and there was no point in struggling for any amount of time (I’ll have plenty of time to do that in the real world!)

By bootcamp I was still wondering if the tech world had the right job for me. Outside of my learning plan I also had a one on one with Rohan to raise this concern, I did not like the term Software Developer. He answered one of my questions:

At the time I was defeated. That was until React/Redux. I thought I was going to be spending the rest of my life filling out Vanilla HTML & CSS boilerplate. With JSX/TSX not only can I spin up a creative project, but I can do so fast. The thought of executing somebody else’s vision at a TradeMe, Xero or a Powershop doesn’t seem so utterly monotonous.

Again, I was worried about my passion waning. Now, I’m in a position where I feel like Dev is holding me back from really exploring my curiosity. I have to hand in assessments when I want to play with all the new technology, from APIs to AIs.

Wow. So inciteful, I can’t believe I wrote this. I should give myself advice like this more often. It’s exactly my experience of Bootcamp. The one week I pushed myself to code on the Saturday as well as the Sunday I was destroyed by the following Friday. Even if it was productive and means I am finishing up my assessments early that extra day was absolutely not worth still feeling like I haven’t quite recovered now, two weeks later. After Dev I would like to commit to taking a day away from the screen weekly, for life.

I identified that I was getting a lot from reflection. Well, that hasn’t changed. With a bit more practice I’m finding reflection leads to a more open awareness throughout my days. I’m always a better human if I wrote a diary entry the day before. Not only that but I’ve built up some of those “core stories” that can be spun into a narrative in the interview setting.

Reflecting, if I was to give Louis any advice on day one of bootcamp: Keep an open mind, you only have 15 weeks to dev, you’ve got your life to learn JavaScript.

Unlike previous posts I haven’t had as much time to sit with and reflect on my wellbeing plan. I know I haven’t put as much of it into practice as I would like.

I was worried about stress, and that came up more than ever during our first large group project. We had too much fun on the first day, and after a dressing down from the facilitators, far too little on the second. It appears we still have a way to go finding that balance here.

Whilst I have been eating better than ever, I haven’t followed my plan as much as I’d like around the home. That was always going to happen in the final weeks of Bootcamp. That said, I’m excited to see my partner again after graduation.

Reading over the goals I set, I have found the right balance of school and relaxation for the most part. I called my Mum on the weekend, I called my best friend, and I’m better for it. Today, during mindfulness I noticed my mind was particularly clear and in control. New high score, I meditated so hard, actual namaste. 🧘