From basic HTML to React in 10 weeks — the coding bootcamp reality
When writing this, I have handed in my 10th project at Technigo bootcamp just about an hour ago. I now have a moment to reflect and realize what a huge progress I’ve actually made in these 10 weeks that have passed. It’s easy to forget this when you’re in the middle of something intense, but it is super important, in order to stay motivated and in order to actually feel proud of yourself. So why should I feel proud of myself then? Not just because I’ve handed in project #10, right? No, not because of that, at least that’s not the main reason. But because of the fact that I have gone from knowing just a very basic amount of plain HTML 10 weeks ago, to now building websites and apps from scratch using React. How cool is that?
10 weeks ago, I was super happy after finishing my first week at Technigo coding bootcamp. I was full of new impressions and new knowledge, and I had started to learn more about HTML, CSS and how to use Flexbox. I had also been introduced to my fantastic team that I will work with during these 24 weeks. They have, during the last 2+ months, really made me understand why team work makes dream work, but that is something I will cover in another article very soon.
I was very happy and enthusiastic but also quite overwhelmed after these first collaboration days, and didn’t understand how I was supposed to actually learn any programming within just a few months, since I found CSS challenging enough at that time. A couple of weeks later, we were supposed to create a business website, and that was the first time I built a project where I actually used a touch of JavaScript. Believe me though, that when I say a touch, I really mean a touch. I was more than happy to be able to toggle some paragraphs in a form, but that was all for then. Keeping that in mind, I am actually proud when I tell you that the project I have handed in this week, is a survey tool built with React, with several components, all built from scratch. The survey itself sure is quite basic, but still, with the knowledge that 10 weeks ago, I was a girl who knew how to create a header and a footer in HTML, but not much more than that, I am eager to see what I can achieve in the next few months.
I know that there are a lot of people out there who has doubts when it comes to coding bootcamps. They aren’t sure whether you can actually learn enough in 24 weeks to be able to work as a developer. Sure, I can understand those doubts, because 24 weeks is a short period of time. I have another way of looking at it though. If you are able to learn this much in 24 weeks, that shows beyond every doubt that you are able to process information and adapt to new situations and new requirements very quickly. It also shows that you are willing to take on tasks and projects without having all the knowledge served beforehand. That is something that will be of great use afterwards, when working in tech, because I know for sure that a programmer can never know everything about coding, so what can be a better way to prepare for a life as a developer, than a coding bootcamp, which can be described as a high speed roller coaster which goes faster every single day?
