Going to Bootcamp

I’ve been approached repeatedly in the last few months by people who are considering

Point one - would I recommend it to a friend? Reservedly, yes. It of course depends on the friend. If they’re just looking for something to spend some money on because they don’t like their job and they are a bit interested in coding, then no, no I couldn’t. If, however, they were motivated, intelligent, obsessive, literate, a bit interested in maths and had pursued courses like codecademy.com and rubymonk.com until they were boring friends at dinner parties about their favourite Ruby methods then, yes, I would recommend it.

(and if they’ve got the wherewithal to track down and email grads, that puts them in the latter category I’d say :D)

The course is as easy or as hard as you make it - so make it as hard as possible, learn as much as you can, and you will succeed afterwards. Nothing worthwhile was ever easy.

Regarding the GA course, I honestly cannot comment having not met a GA grad or any of the tutors, or seen one of their teaching sessions. My impression is that GA is more structured, while MA is more reactive and unstructured. Do investigate further - and also bear in mind that these places change often. Startup culture!

Final advice(s) - two points from Apprenticeship Patterns, which is a cool book to pick up when you get spat out the other end of a bootcamp.

Unleash Your Enthusiasm - the best thing you’ll have going for you is not skills or knowledge, but how much you love your new career. Don’t be ashamed of this - loudly tell everyone around you how much fun you’re having, always and everywhere. Cynicism is so 20th century.

Expose Your Ignorance - you know nothing - be proud of this wonderful fact! Every time you hear or read something you don’t know either make a note of it or (preferably) stick your hand up and ask. Learn to enjoy being uncomfortable, out of your depth and ignorant. It’s how you know you’re doing it right!

One from me (if you can) - teach. As soon as you feel a bit more comfortable with a topic, try teaching or helping someone else with it. Nothing like it to expose more ignorance and embed knowledge.~