I'm nearing the end of the first week of boot camp. It's been great so far: I'm meeting fellow technologists, learning new skills, and doing my best to stay engaged in class. Today was our first test for these 15 weeks. It covered Scrum and Agile methodologies. I was pretty worried about it, but it ended up being a little bit easier than I thought. I ended up scoring an 80/100 which is not bad, but could be better. For my purposes, it will suffice. Tomorrow will be Professional Development day, which entails a 1-on-1 Zoom session with a career coach to help with polishing my resume. I think it also covers soft skills and branding. I hope it goes well.
I haven't had an actual job since 2013. In 2012, I was in an accident that left me almost paralyzed, and I suffer from the residual impact of that accident. The year after it happened, I tried to get a job working in a restaurant, but it ended up being too physically taxing so I had to quit. That is why I'm trying to get a job in tech, because I cannot work a physical job. But enough about that!
Right after I finished the test, I saw an article somewhere that said, "Is Agile a joke to a modern dev?" which alarmed me since that's what I just finished up learning, but I say it's better to have the experience and not need it, instead of needing it but not having it. The phrase "the right tool for the right job" comes to mind, and that is how I think about coding (+ I guess life) as well.
It sort of seems like a lot of the people in the boot camp are already fully established in their careers and living in high-end locales, which leads me to wonder why they're even in the class in the first place since it's supposed to be geared more towards people who are trying to land their first job in tech. My current approach is, "one day at a time". The experience has been a fast-paced challenge, and will get even more so in the coming weeks. I feel pretty equipped to handle whatever it throws my way, though that may change on a day to day basis. But overall, I feel like I'm committed and able to adapt pretty well. We shall see. In the meantime, I'll keep writing and updating my progress. Thanks for reading, Hashnode world!
- Elizabeth