I just wrapped up my last review for my web development bootcamp - and the thought hit me, I never thought I would be here. Not that I didn't think I survive once I got going (though times do get tough in the middle!) but I never thought I would even do a bootcamp in the first place. Here is something crazy, I applied to Flatiron School without even having looked at single code tutorial online or watched a how to video... It seems like now kids are born knowing they want to code, meanwhile, my grade school "computer" classes brought me years of The Oregon Trail and that spelling game where they cover up the keyboard and you have to race the clock to type out words. Needless to say, coding was never on the table. But I had a break between jobs that only 2020 could bring and an inkling to try it.
At the start of the bootcamp we were encouraged to embrace the uncomfortable and told that things would get uncomfortable. And uncomfortable they did. While some people thrive on the thrill of debugging, I constantly felt like I was wrong, then more wrong, then less wrong, then the wrongest and at some unknown point I could stumble upon something that put me in the righter direction. But the concept that I was "wrong" and didn't know how to get myself out of it to be "right" was sometimes overwhelming. I think it's safe to say I would have given up before even applying if I had started down the tutorial route.
I come from an art and design background so I am used to the only limit to "right" options being my own imagination, my own creativity. Does this shade of pink go with this particular shade of coraly orange? I like it, so I think it does, so I'm right. But if I didn't like it, I have a whole rainbow to pick from. At first debugging seemed so black and white and so limiting. Fast forward to the end of the bootcamp experience, I have had some good practice hanging out in the "wrong" camp while debugging and I now see that there are many approaches to problem solving. And I imagine that within the complexities of a large scale program and in a workplace environment, there are many more creative ways to lay out logic and problem solve along the way. If bootcamp was about getting comfortable being uncomfortable, I am looking forward to my first job in web development to keep me on my toes and once again challenge me to the uncomfortable!
ps - portfolios are very important in my previous career and I was somewhat surprised to find out they are important in the code world as well. Curious if anyone has any ideas on a compelling way to marry a design and technical portfolio? Thanks!
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