The initiative to create a more diverse digital space grows stronger daily. Organizations and upskilling programs seek to teach and help their community keep up with an exciting, challenging, and ever-changing industry. Many of these initiatives have taken the form of coding boot camps in recent years.
A coding boot camp is an immersive, full-time school or apprenticeship where participants learn to write software programs. The curriculum usually covers a specific programming language or skill set (e.g., full-stack web development or back-end development).
Also, as the name suggests, the coding bootcamp is rigorous and usually runs for 9 weeks. Therefore, many students can easily spend 40-plus hours each week studying and learning the curriculum. Consequently, that leaves little time for holding down employment while attending bootcamp. Also, many bootcamps require an upfront cost in tuition that may set students back $3K – $5K+ for their attendance at bootcamp.
So, why do folks subject themselves to such an intense experience? Students who complete the coding boot camp attain a hard-earned, newly acquired skill set.
Some coding boot camp graduates seek to make career changes, find work as software engineers, or decide to take the entrepreneurial route and create their own startups. In addition, many students consider their time at coding boot camps an exciting, challenging, and life-changing experience.
I am in the process of preparing for a coding boot camp. When I was a complete newbie learning how to code, it took me a year to teach myself how to write programs while also holding down a job as a paralegal. I decided to pursue a coding boot camp experience because it fits my learning style of being immersed in whatever I’m learning.
It has been a long, hard road to this point in my learning-to-code journey, filled with setbacks, moments of clarity, and lessons learned. Here are three tips to help you prepare for your coding boot camp experience.
1. Read all the things
Many coding bootcamps will keep an updated blog highlighting student projects, open houses, and workshops on their website. Also, reading about the bootcamp alums may shed light on what previous bootcamp attendees are up to after graduating bootcamp.
Some alumni may keep a standalone blog about their daily activities and challenges while attending bootcamp.
If the coding bootcamp is local to you, participating in a workshop or a meetup sponsored by the bootcamp is a great way to meet the instructors and students. It’s an opportunity to get a feel for the kind of environment you will be a part of and to ask questions about what they look for in prospective students.
2. Do the pre-work, but don’t stop there
Pre-work is usually what coding bootcamps assign to prospective students to familiarize them with the toolset and programming language used throughout the curriculum.
The pre-work may consist of 50-100 hours of coding tutorials and bug fixes. But go beyond the pre-work! The more practice (building your own app, open source projects, workshops) you can get under your belt before your first day at coding bootcamp, the better.
3. Know your learning style
No two people learn the same way. Coding bootcamps are immersive, and this format may be intense for some students. Know your learning style and see how that matches the boot camp’s teaching technique and curriculum.
Do you want to change careers or learn the skills necessary to build your own software idea? Through all of this preparation, laying out a vision or even creating a vision board can help you map your path and understand how attending a coding bootcamp fits into helping you achieve your goals.
What advice would you give to someone considering a coding bootcamp?