My Journey Through an Online Coding Bootcamp
A synopsis if you would call it that, of my journey through this crazy thing we call coding boot camp.
So I’d like to start this article with the preface of I go to Lambda School, take classes from 9 pm-12 am, work full time, and have a two-year-old daughter. Life gets a little hectic at times but perseverance makes anything possible! I started my journey in July of 2019. I was working jobs to pay the bills, had to work 40 hrs a week to make ends meet, and wanted a way to get a degree in something that 1) I knew had job security and a high salary range and 2) That I could learn on the side of working my day job. So I started looking into online courses. I started taking business management classes at Penn Foster and liked the idea of online learning. BUUUT I hated it. I wasn't really learning anything and a degree in business management wasn’t going to take me much farther in the career path I was already on. So I finally stumbled across a youtube video called White Board Friday’s ( link to the one that got me interested in Lambda if you couldn't decipher that).
So this is where I got interested in the world of online programming learning, and what a whirlwind it is. There are hundreds if not more coding boot camps out there now. Lambda stood out because of the ISA and structure of the course. They state you will pay back 17% of your income if you make >50k and only when you land a job in the related field of study. This was my way into a degree without taking a new student loan but also gave me the ability to have a structured environment to study. This was very important to me, my thought process was that it was worth it to have a rigorous schedule to study, because I know myself and I probably wouldn’t be able to learn without a schedule. ( I know I’m weak, but hey I don’t judge you).
So I started my journey by going through freeCodeCamp.org. As I wrote in my last article I would highly suggest doing FCC as your starting point in any journey. After doing the pre-course work for Lambda and FCC I began classes. Boy did they through you in the fire from the beginning. They start you at with the basics, Git flow, HTML, CSS, LESS, and basic JavaScript. I thought I had a handle on all of those but boy was I wrong. It was pretty difficult going through things like flexbox and for loops, but eventually, you get the hang of it. After the basics, they bring you into your first framework React! Now React is a special framework, made by facebook, that allows you to create single-page applications from the client-side. It will pretty much be your main foundation throughout your time at lambda, you will spend the most amount of your time learning React, and rightfully so. The best thing about this is if you get a solid foundation on a main use framework, then you can really learn any framework or language much easier.
After you get your foundation on React you move on to the backend building a server and API’s. This will allow you to connect all of your knowledge together and become the Full-Stack Unicorn that you were always meant to be. A real Zuckerburg. A chance to get your own show on HBO in Silicon Valley. Render the next form of white bread. You get what I am saying.
I will say most of the coding boot camps promise the same thing now. Take our course and don't pay us until you find a job. The trick here is to read the ISA that they offer. Some don't care where you find a job, it can be doing anything but you’re still on the hook for the amount you owe. Lambda does promise that you will ONLY pay back if your job is in a related field, now it is a little bit of a grey area there, but nothing comes without a caveat. If you are wanting to break into the tech industry, or are at a dead-end job and wanting the first excuse to jump out the window, here's your shot! Jump out right out into that tech space.
“Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” -Dylan Thomas
As always get out there learn something new every day and never stop learning! The only way to get from where you are is to take the first step forward! Don’t ever feel discouraged and prove someone wrong, even if that someone is yourself! Hope everyone has a happy holidays, gets out of their comfort zone, and tries something that scares them every day!
