Writing from Lisbon, our Digital Communications Officer has embarked on a nine-week coding odyssey, & he is taking us with him. With coding bootcamps popping up left & right, you may have considered one for yourself at some point. His journal entries lift the veil on these bootcamps & share his first-hand experience at Le Wagon, a leading crash course in coding for people of all backgrounds.
The first thing I learned? There’s a reason they call it a bootcamp!
Flow, conditionals, arrays, iterators, hashes, symbols and so much more…all in the first week. I really can’t remember ever receiving this much input in such a short amount of time!
But somehow, these amazing teachers are not just nerdy coders. They know how to teach you everything you need to know while really caring about each participant. The program is simple: everyday, a new topic.
It begins with a lecture, followed by exercises, then live coding, from morning to night. It’s truly learning by doing and makes every lesson stick in your mind. Each class, we have a new buddy to work with, which builds a positive group dynamic. But there’s no way to get around the fact that every day you ride an emotional roller-coaster.
During our orientation, they warned us about that roller-coaster and, yes, it definitely takes you from pure desperation to feeling like you and your code rule the world, an unexpectedly spectacular feeling.
It’s not all about code. A big part of the experience is getting to know the awesome minds and different points of view that joined this program. People from all over the world coming together is just a special experience!
So, on Friday, with our first week behind us, we finally celebrated our progress with Chinese food and beer. Even though we all come from different walks of life, everyone managed to keep up the pace. But, if somebody does slip, they won’t be left behind.
Exited to see what’s coming up next!
