Yes.
Why? I learned how to learn, and I was surprised by how long it took me to nail down the process. It’s been almost 10 years since I’ve been in a formal academic setting, and even then I did most of my learning through my homework. Bootcamp didn’t necessarily have “homework” that I could rely on, so I had to totally reconstruct my learning process, but for the better.
When I first started bootcamp, there were TONS of resources thrown at me for reference. We had live lectures, technical reading, recorded lectures and endless labs (exercises based on the reading material). I initially tried to check everything off in chronological order, but quickly fell behind because there was literally more content available than was possible to review in the allotted timeframe. I’m talking about 100+ hours of video/reading to get through in 5 days. Literally impossible.
One week in and I felt significantly behind (because I was). I knew that I had to change my approach if I wanted to stay afloat. I would get an hour into a video only to realize that I had been daydreaming for the last 20 mins….not exactly productive.
I found that I was able to consume AND retain more material by reading rather than watching videos. I hit the books hard every day to prepare for lecture and it paid off immediately. I was able to get through the material and practice problems before lecture, which let me get the most out of the live sessions.
The biggest lesson for me through all of this was that I need to make sure that I am consistently evaluating my own processes for maximizing productivity. Just because I’ve been doing something the same way for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best way.
It felt borderline ridiculous to be googling “Productivity Tips” or “Influencer Workflows”, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t pick up on some great tips and applications that have had a large influence in maximizing my daily productivity.
I’m grateful for the overall experience and I look forward to applying this to new facets of my life!
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Top comments (2)
I'm in a bootcamp now and already I feel a little more confident with learning. I'm only working on the pre-work right now and start part time classes in Oct. A lot of people put down the bootcamps but for a lot of people it's a bit easier to learn plus the networking help for those less socially inclined is a bonus as well. I'm stoked.
Congrats on your journey! I'd be happy to answer any other questions that you have.