You’ve got this. You can do it!
Since submitting my application, the past few months have sort of been a whirlwind for me. I remember receiving a phone call at the start of the year from the admissions team to discuss my application a bit more and to let me know of what the next steps were. I remember how friendly they were and how after the phone call I received an email with the information about what we had discussed and additional information they suggested I look into. Before I knew it, I was being invited to my Pair Programming Interview.
I decided to book a few days off work to fully focus on mentally preparing myself for this interview. I had done a few more Codewars Katas to ensure I understood Ruby. I read blogs and information on how to read and decipher error messages. I was preparing myself all the way up to the last minute before my interview. Looking back, I realised I should’ve loosened up a bit more. I had gotten myself so worked up and when the interview was happening I realised it wasn’t as stressful as I had made it out to be in my head. I think it was the thought of interviewing for something I had no experience in had put me in a negative headspace. I had forgotten my reasons for applying, I forgot how much fun I had when doing the Katas and Codecademy. Luckily the Maker’s interviewer helped me feel a bit more at ease and I was able to prove to myself I was capable of doing the interview. After hearing I had passed, I had the biggest smile on my face. I knew I made the right decision to apply.
Fast forward to the start of the pre-course. I was both excited and anxious, excited because it was a fresh new start, and anxious because of the unknown.
Pre-Course Week 1
Firstly WELL DONE to myself for being able to complete this week without having too much difficulty. I was able to go through the teachings quite well, and even really enjoyed the week 1 challenge. I found it quite rewarding knowing that I was able to use what I learnt to complete the challenge. Even though the answer was correct I wasn’t getting the green tick, I found myself starting to get frustrated. I decided to take a break, re-read some of the course material and eventually found a way to solve the issue. I thoroughly enjoyed week 1 and found it really fun using what I had learnt to solve the challenge. That week made me realise I had made the right decision. I couldn’t wait to see what was in store for week 2 and 3.
Pre-Course Week 2 & 3
Wow. Firstly week 2 started off okay until Ruby wouldn’t install onto my laptop. Boy did I start stressing. I had previously decided to buy a new Macbook as my old one just wasn’t installing homebrew or any of the other developer tools needed. After that splurge and now not being able to install Ruby properly onto my new Macbook to complete this week’s challenge, my mind went into overdrive thinking about every worst case scenario. I was extremely grateful to the coach as she helped me solve the issue and even helped put my mind at ease that I didn’t make a bad decision with buying a new Macbook. Week 2’s challenge started off okay, once you got your head around what app to use and when to use the terminal, it went a lot smoother.
The difficulties however, did not happen until after halfway through the chapters. Let me just say, I honestly did go into week 2 and 3 with this mindset that it would be a breeze as I had done a lot of Ruby Katas, I really underestimated those challenges. The questions started to get longer and needed more time to actually break down each question into the concepts of what was required. Week 2 and 3 really allowed me to look further into myself and my learning style and how I dealt with difficult questions and difficult errors.
I think my biggest obstacle was learning how to think analytically, breaking down a long question into smaller manageable chunks and actually converting the question into a logical step by step, which I could then convert into code. I had to stop myself from coding straight away and actually read the questions fully. In addition, I learnt not to stress about not knowing what concept of coding is needed, but learning how to actually research about what concept I could potentially use.
These challenges really pushed my boundaries of my old way of studying and I really appreciated it. Yes, having a load of errors continuously coming back at you can be frustrating and can even overwhelm you, but learning to take each error bit by bit, solve and try again really made me appreciate the work I had done once the code passed all the tests. I recall actually doing a small celebration dance when I had solved the questions, and that added to my satisfaction of choosing this career path. That feeling of joy and happiness was like I had won an Olympic medal, I felt so proud of myself, and that sense of pride and achievement was something I had not felt in any of my previous jobs before.
Actually creating code for real world Ruby projects also helped me see what your code can produce. One of the biggest things I needed to remember to do was take breaks. I noticed how I would go on for hours trying to solve a code because I had wanted to finish a question before taking a break; or how I would be staring at the code for hours on end to only take a break and be able to figure it out only after I had a break.
Those 2 weeks also pushed me to break out of my shell and actually reach out to my peers. I was so scared and nervous about posting a message on Slack, but knew that if I had spent a long time trying to fix my code and I couldn’t figure it out, I needed to reach out to my peers. If I hadn’t, I would for sure not have been able to move on to the next question or even complete week 2 or 3.
Those weeks really pushed me to learn a lot about myself. I even felt a bit behind as a lot of my peers seemed to know a lot more than myself, but my mentor had helped me to change my perspective and not compare myself to my peers but to myself. To recognise that I had done the work too, and not bring myself down. That’s when I started to understand Maker’s holistic approach, as I wasn’t only learning coding, I was also learning about myself.
Pre-Course Week 4
How quickly time has flown by. Again a lot happened to me this week. I had finally had my last day at work, tried out TDD and rspec for the first time, and had a pair programming session with one of my peers. So many emotions and thoughts went through my mind this week.
Firstly, I had finally reached the last day of my job. That in itself was confusing. I think mostly the thought of now closing that chapter of my life was a bit overwhelming. Yes, I had been wanting to leave, but I had worked in the NHS for almost 7 years so to leave that place of comfort did leave me feeling sort of numb. I was both excited for what was to come, but scared about leaving that safe space. However, all those thoughts did disappear the next day when I focused on completing week 4’s challenges.
Learning how to create your own rspec was a bit difficult at first, but after talking it through with a peer, we both started to understand the concept and how to go about achieving the results we wanted. It did put a bit of reassurance in my mind to know that other people in the cohort were feeling the same as me, and were going through similar things too. I think one of the biggest things to take away from this week, is to know that everyone on the course is here for the same reason, we are all trying to learn and there is no harm in reaching out and helping others.
The exercises were difficult, but I think I’m understanding that yes it may be difficult but it does not mean it’s not doable. I just need to breathe, research the concept and trial and error. Trial and errors, I have learnt to appreciate them and not take them as mistakes but rather guides to how to improve my coding. Still a learning process but I am learning.
We started to create our CVs this week. Initially, I was thinking isn’t that too early, but then realised it’s a good way to make note of what you need to improve and develop. Gain what you need from this Makers course, learn what I need to, push myself further, and achieve and strive for more. Hopefully, I can look back on what I’ve achieved and add more to my developers CV.
But anyway, it’s the start of the course next week. I’m as ready as I can be, I’m looking forward to this, I’ve got this, I can do this, I’m scared but as I recall Will Smith saying:
“God placed the best things in life on the other side of fear”
