How to Successfully Learn in This Bootcamp

Learning Objectives

• General advice and how to prepare yourself emotionally
• Some qualities of the most successful students
• Classroom culture
• Overview of "grit"
• Overview of common student concerns

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Emotional Framing

• Things will not go as you plan

• Deal with chaos in your head. Being confused/lost is NORMAL. No one pays you because you know all the answers. The job is about jumping into confusion and being able to find a solution. Make a friend with discomfort

• The maximum point of learning is right at the edge of learning and panic.

• This experience is a rollercoaster.

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Successful students

• The most successful students find programming fascinating. They don't think of it as an obligation or chore.

• The most successful students go above and beyond what we teach. If there is something they feel they should know, they will go and learn it. If there is a problem for which they think they need more information to solve, they go and find that information.

• The most successful students don't wait for instructors to hand them the answer.

• Successful students quickly see that programming is not about learning a recipe, it's about developing a mindset to solve unforeseen problems.

• Hard Work: the equivalent of two 2️⃣ full-time jobs (~80 hrs per week).

• Be open and ready to receive constructive criticism

Classroom Culture

• Open safe environment
• Take ownership of your experience
• Check your ego at the door
• Empathy
• Be courteous calm and patient with others. Don't let the stress get to you!
• Don't compare yourself to others, compare yourself to who you were yesterday

Mentorship / Collaborative Culture in the Classroom

• Take care of each other
• Benchmarking: some are good at one thing, others at another. Leverage each other's strengths.
• Teaching is the best way of truly solidifying your understanding of a concept.
• Your classmates will be the best foundation for establishing a professional network in tech!

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Grit

• Jill's example is being used only because of the great photo. Her story is not unique.
• This is like three months of "cramming for finals"
• Watch this video on Grit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8

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Common Student Concerns

• I'm making a lot of mistakes

  • mistakes are a part of life as a developer

• I don't feel comfortable with the material

  • you probably will never feel the material is easy, but you should be able to do the work
  • by the end of each unit project, you should feel mostly comfortable with the material

• I feel good during class, but it's difficult to innovate on my own

  • There are three 3️⃣ stages to learning something:
    • Imitation (follow along)
    • Assimilation (repetitive simple tasks: homework and labs)
    • Innovation (build something new on your own - project time)

• Everyone at work will realize I know nothing

  • this is called the imposter syndrome, and it's very common
  • nobody knows everything, it's about how well you learn

• I don't "do" ➗ math

  • that's why we have the computer do it for us!
  • programming is more about thinking logically than doing equations

• What's the best practice? What's the one 1️⃣ "correct" answer?

  • Best practices change constantly and from company to company
  • If you think properly, you'll probably naturally arrive at a best practice
  • All that matters is "Does it work?"
    • A company that hires someone with 3 months of experience doesn't really care about code quality
    • Use your time to learn new technology or strengthen your problem solving

• I don't have a perfect understanding of everything

  • Class is set up to accommodate students of all abilities
    • We create lecture notes, homework, and projects so that advanced students can have something to work on
  • We make sure you understand at least the most important concepts
  • Only the people who write the specifications for the language understand everything about the language

• I want an amazing portfolio and to complete all my labs/assignments

  • all projects will be prototype quality - they are the start of a great idea, they won't be fully featured: most apps/websites take a team and at least 6 months to launch
    • You will only get a few days to work on a project
    • You are learning how to build things, it takes time
    • You're working on your projects on your own and not on a team

• Remember these things and don't be too hard on yourself

  • what matters is the ability to think and that you are learning
  • don't worry about completing every lab/homework
    • this is an adult learning environment thus we have a broad range of skill levels entering the course. We strive to have material for everyone to get the most out of this class.
    • Naturally, students who have already been coding for a while will get through more labs/hw. If you are newer to coding, many times you won't get to the bonus activities and that's ok.
    • You'll get feedback on your hw - if you are struggling, we'll coach you to help you get the most out of the material and this course

• You are trying to make a career 180 in just 12 weeks. This is a massive undertaking in a very short amount of time.

  • We expect you to work hard, but never to the point where you are sacrificing taking care of yourself
    • completing and sleeping for 2 hours is worse than sleeping and not completing
    • if you come into a new day tired and sleep deprived you won't be able to grasp the concepts as well
    • we have a lot of repetition and reviews built in to our curriculum, a lot of learning comes from practicing and repeating.
    • It's ok if you don't get something right away, or on the first day or week. A lot of concepts come together by the end of the unit.