Coding is one of the greatest skills a professional can have in the modern age, and it opens up all kinds of doors in someone’s career, no matter who they work for or where in the world they are. With that being said, it’s no wonder that more and more people are eager to learn coding, only to realize it’s much harder than it seems. Keep reading to find out how you can best navigate the early experience of coding boot camps and how you can help others, too.
1. Determine Goals and Prepare
Figuring out your goals is essential before you begin a coding boot camp, especially since everyone’s goals are different, and some people register for boot camps as a hobby while others pursue it as a passion and career. You should understand which category you lie in and the level of competency you should have in your chosen language by the time you’re done.
If you’re in the boot camp for experience and to learn a skill, understanding the basics is fine, while, if you’re aiming to be a professional, you should be well acquainted with your chosen coding language by the end of the camp. To prepare, brush up on all the basics since boot camps regularly test these to make sure your foundation is well set.
2. Adjust Your Schedule to Commit as Much Time as Possible
When you’re in a boot camp, especially if it’s online, as they usually are, you’ll have to make sure you’re setting aside enough time each day to be able to study the things you’ve learned, revise them, and make sure you fully understand them.
You should also focus on practical applications instead of just theory, using the concepts you’ve learned to create new programs and try things you haven’t been able to accomplish in the past. The more time you set aside, the better your revision and experience will be, helping you get as much as possible from this boot camp.
3. Engage in Project Work
Bootcamps frequently ask people who have enrolled in them to do projects and work with other people, and, at times, some participants take this work for granted if they feel like it interferes with their studies or practical use cases. However, you should make sure you’re serious about this project work since coding in the professional context is all about working together and bouncing off of each others’ strengths while diminishing each other’s weaknesses to make a product that’s more than the sum of its parts. This project work will give you a valuable lesson in working with each other, especially when you don’t have the teammates that you chose.
4. Assess Yourself Regularly
Assessing yourself regularly is an important concept when it comes to programming. It is also the best way to definitively understand how beneficial the boot camp has been for you and how much more time you need to set aside for it. To accomplish this, you’ll need to use one of the many popular coding assessment tools out there, which will likely be provided in the boot camp itself. Using these tests at regular intervals will allow you to empirically see the progress you’ve made week after week and how close you are to hitting your goals.
5. Build a Resume
Building a resume is the last and perhaps most important part of being involved with a boot camp, and something the instructors and teachers in the program will devote extra time to. The certificate you receive after finishing the camp will be a sparkling sign on your resume, and you’ll have the help of professionals in making the rest of it and tailoring it to what you want to do, whether it’s applying for an internship or directly applying for a position. You’ll also be able to get training for the job interview, successfully finishing your transition from a novice to a pro.
Conclusion
Through coding, people have been able to make great leaps and bounds in societal progress, achieving things they never would’ve been able to otherwise through the power of software, programming, automation, and so on. Coding jobs are some of the best paying and most in-demand jobs in the world, and while more and more people try to learn it, knowing how to navigate the learning experience and performing as best as you can is the key to becoming a successful programmer.
Also, read:Â Using Block Coding to Enhance Learning and Education