kansai gaidai

Kansai gaidai university Hirakata city japan 2001 

Life after a web dev bootcamp (part 2 of 2)

While interning I was able to build two sites from the ground up. I taught myself how to overcome obstacles and how to work on my own.  Then I realized that what I had learned at the web dev boot camp was way too much and its impossible to learn10 languages and be proficient in 3 in a matter of 3 months; basically you are just introduced to how the language works.  I think that is why most employers don't see that as a real life experience.  Employers like that you made that decision, and you went through the rough time at the web dev bootcamp, but I think that is not enough in a competitive tech field. 

Being in a competitive tech world I think one of the advantages I have is my arts degree; and having some understanding of web development. I realized that most people don't have or haven't experienced their creative side. That is where I come in. My ability to see colors and color combinations and layout is one  of my strengths.  This is where I began to be more self confident. 

I am getting a variety of experiences from interning in the tech field. But I think I still have a long way to go. The question I ask myself over and over again  "is it better to get a real degree or attend a bootcamp? I guess it all depends of your curriculum, your knowledge, your age, and how much coding experience you have prior to the bootcamp. If you have some background from high school and college; of course you will succeed and get a job right a way. But if you are  a slow learner,  I think the chances are much much less to get a real job. You will succeed but perhaps it might take longer than expected... I think that all depends how much effort you put in to it and how much discipline you have. 

Now the question is how long do I wait? Until I run out of funds? Will the next bubble will keep me from reaching a dream job?  Not sure, I guess only time will tell. And for me, I will have to find a way to combine both, tech and arts.  I guess the only thing I can do to find that job is to continue learning and teaching myself and looking for places or people who can help me answer a question or can guide me to the right place. Perhaps my answer is to create my own team and my own business (job).

Life after a web dev bootcamp (part 1 of 2)

It has been about 10 months since I finished a web dev boot camp with Coding Dojo in Mountain View, CA. It was awesome and quite a 3 month experience.  Life after the boot camp has become quite interesting. 

The interesting part of it was I thought I knew all about coding but in reality, I knew only a part of it. 3 months is just enough to be introduced to coding and for the student to pick up what they think it fits best for their life and of course if they have some back ground in coding, coding will be easy.  For people like me that don't have experience it can be challenging and is still challenging for me.

 The challenge reveled itself when I began looking for a job. 100% of the time minimum requirements for a Jr web dev is 2 years of experience. I always thought that what I built while at the bootcamp was going to be good and enough since there were so many projects (you are told at the boot camp that you can use your school work as part of your portfolio but in my case was not enough and most prospective employers want real life experience "coding") I began to feel a little disappointed and frustrated, wondering if I did the right thing going to a bootcamp. Doubts began to cross my mind and my financial situation became difficult, I was broke. I think there are so many different points of view and the tech field is always changing. So I needed a new strategy and to forget what people had said while at the boot camp and make my own choices and my own research. 

While conducting my research I found that what I need it was a real coding experience - I mean in a real life situation. Not just from a classroom standpoint.  So I decided to start as a freelance  helping some of my friends who needed updates on their sites. That it seemed to help somewhat. It gave me a bit more experience talking to clients and prospective employers. That did not last long since I still needed it more experience deeper that just updating websites. So an internship crossed my mind. I remember when I worked at the Arts department at Cal State San Marcos and I used a lot of students to help with the department. That always works. 

So I started looking for internships. Found a couple of them.  Interning, I think, was the best decision I made after graduating from the bootcamp. Interning with Socos and Committing helped me to get my confidence and feel more secure of the decision made to go to a dev web boot camp. 

To be continue...

My coding experience in a nutshell.

My experience at Coding Dojo was better than I anticipated. I meet the most nicest  and coolest people, that made the time go fast and all worth it. My days were long, 12 or 13 hour days followed by long weekends. Most of my time was either spending coding, reading or driving 72 miles a day, from San Francisco to Mountain View. Soy Latte's became my best friend in order to keep up my energy and to keep up with all that was being learned.

The best thing I liked while at Coding Dojo was all the good and healthy snacks that were provided.  I believed that in order to be smart and sharp, good food is a must. My favorites were the bananas and the pears. I never felt low energy; maybe because I was conscious of what foods to consume in order to keep up a sharp brain.



At week nine, I had to prepare wireframing for the last project, that will be presented on graduation day. I spent a few days brainstorming on how I was going to have a site done in 3 weeks, on top of what else needed to be finished the course of at the boot camp.




After the wireframe was completed on week 10 www.dognate.org was created.  The project was very ambitious so I decided to ask a few of my classmates if they wanted to participate on my project. This way we all could put to the test what we've learned at the program and what ever else we could learn from each other, but the most important is the experience working with other people.


Demo day and graduation, finally arrived.  A lot of anticipation, exhaustion, nervousness, relief, all feelings were included that day. The thought of what I have learned for 12 weeks was mostly in my mind. From day one I was clueless of what was being taught, then the algorithms were introduced and I was shocked. I was shock from not knowing what I was doing or what was an algorithm. After a few weeks I started to understand what was an algorithm. Now I see them everywhere. This is when I understood about web development and what it all meant.

Now I can say that all was worth it. The long days, short nights, fast lunches and not enough time to eat. The long commute, the traffic and sometimes no time to breath. Fixing, learning and trying to decipher bad coding. But the best part of all is now I can say "I am a Jr. Web Developer and can't stop coding!!"

8 weeks later.... After bootcamp started.

 Its has been 8 weeks since the boot camp began. Two full months have passed and we have learned so much in such a short time. We've covered JavaScript, Ajax, NodeJS,  and now Ruby the last section before we start with our final projects.

The classes are so much fun, especially when we had Sensei Choi (founder of Coding Dojo) come visit us at the Dojo and teach us  all about coding.







Student participation is a must (don't be afraid if you don't know the answer, it's ok; we are all here to learn)!!! Solving problems on the white board helps us interact and see how much we have learned. Think, think, and think!!!!!

Algorithms are one of the most important subjects taught in the bootcamp. Explaining our code and algorithms in front of the class is definitely going to prepare us for future job interviews. My advice; prepare beforehand if you don't know anything about algorithms so that it is easier for you while you're in the course.

One of the most important parts of the day while at the bootcamp is exercising or taking a moment to stretch and to move around every so often. Believed me; after sitting for a few hours you start feeling the chair become a part of you.

Group activities help us interact, move around, and learn from each others experiences.

Coding Dojo: 3 weeks after

It's been 3 weeks since the boot camp started. Indeed so much to learn and of course now I understand that meaning of "Boot Camp".  

At Coding Dojo the environment is relax and yet fast; the classes are awesome and the people are so cool. I enjoy how much the teachers do focus on what's important for the students to learn. 

The TA's from over seas are just an extra luxury help, (thanks to  video conference) our questions are answered fast and or extra help is there when we need it the most, even during late nights. Which is fantastic because of the time difference.

Coding Dojo knows how to balance the classes from having morning lectures, sports day, speakers coming to talk
about their experiences in the tech field and of course can't miss the fantastic lunch break where we get to mingle and talk, daily!.

I feel that I am getting the best of it; in 3 weeks got to learn HTML, CSS, MySQL, JQuery, PhP and the most difficult part of all, Algorithms. 

Introduction: First day of class

One of my first work prior school was a small video "self introduction". Of curse could not resist to be silly to lose up the nerves. But at the end, I was more nervous with the video submitted.