Learning Habits for SE Students. Part 2
This week will mark my 12th week in coding Bootcamp. It has been a long road, with many twists, turns, and loops(zing). During these pressing times, we have had to adapt to new ways of learning, managing our time and so much more. In this blog post, I am here to share some of my experience as a soon to be coding Bootcamp graduate and offer some advice for those who may be onboarding a new journey.
Expectations and Reality.
Coming into this Bootcamp amid COVID-19 was a bit of a culture shock. For someone who has not taken online classes before now, there was a bit of a learning curve. There are so many things to consider when transitioning to online learning that must be taken into account. Things like having a comfortable space to learn, free from distraction to balancing your home and work life can be pretty daunting at first. Though, not all is bleak! Some ways I managed to tackle some of these problems were by:
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- Creating a schedule: Giving yourself time dedicated to only working on code with no distractions can help build your discipline when working from home. I can attest to the fact that it’s pretty easy to get distracted by your new favorite show that you just discovered on Netflix, or that new video your favorite YouTuber uploaded, simply because well… its nothing but a few mouse click away!
- Taking breaks: In conjunction with the previous point, taking breaks is just as important. Whether you are stuck trying to grasp a concept, complete a deliverable, or just downright tired, a break helps bring clarity to whatever may be hindering you. In other words, try to spend less time staring at your screen when you’re feeling lost. When we take some time to wind down and temporarily break away from our computer screens, our subconscious minds are doing work in the background trying to solve the problem at hand. This is the ‘AH-HA’ moment a lot of developers have when coming back to solve problems.
- Comfortability: Being physically comfortable can play a huge role in your ability to learn. Simply changing the layout of your desk or doing some research on how to properly adjust your chair can help in being able to code longer before you decide to take your next well-deserved break.
Mental Health
As someone who struggles with anxiety, having a hold on mental well-being was a slight challenge due to not only whats going on in the outside world, but also doing my best in something new to me. Sometimes you may feel hopeless when you’re not feeling to understanding a concept, or imposter syndrome when you feel like you’re in overhead. That’s okay! These feelings are things that even highly skilled devs may feel from time to time, so you are not alone.
- Meditation: Taking time to ground yourself after class or even during a short break between learning is a great way to reduce stress a boost your mood. One of my favorites moments in Bootcamp were some of the guided relaxation and meditation portions we would do before a code challenge. Give it a try before your next code challenge!
- Connect: Its easy to think that you’re the only student that isn’t understanding are moving along as fast as you might hope. More often than not, some students feel the same! It’s important to connect with your fellow cohort mates when you’re having these feelings of doubt. For me, sharing my experiences with others has brought me more clarity than I could’ve imagined, helping me pinpoint what to focus on and different strategies to tackle problems in my code.
- Sleep: When in a full-time coding Bootcamp, I found myself staying up at ungodly hours trying to complete assignments, do labs, and research. I learned the hard way that this can lead to not maintaining information at all, due to lack of sleep. At a certain point, our brains aren’t even trying to take in information, it needs some rest!
Reaching out for help.
Knowing when to reach out for help is one thing I struggled with. When you are struggling its easy to lose sight of what it is you’re finding difficulty in. It may be the syntax of the language or even the concept itself. Whatever it may be, it’s important to spend an appropriate amount of time working on your problem-solving skills before reaching out for help, making sure that you what it is you’re not quite understanding. One concept that was brought to my attention by one of my instructors was “Bloom’s Taxonomy”.
- Bloom’s Taxonomy: is a structured concept that helps in building your problem-solving capabilities, as well as pinpointing at what point we are struggling. When approaching an area of confusion, I would repeatedly read this hierarchy and find the area that I’m in.
- Not only does this help with learning but it also aids in helping your instructor and coaches know better about how to help you!
Linked below are more blogs and resources to help you succeed in your step into the coding world. Take care!
Get Yourself a Mechanical keyboard. -https://medium.com/@taevonjordan1/get-yourself-a-mechanical-keyboard-ff443433a036
Learning Habits for SE Students.- https://medium.com/@taevonjordan1/learning-habits-for-se-students-c97f94b8043a
Bloom’s Taxonomy Wikipedia -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_taxonomy#:~:text=Bloom's%20taxonomy%20is%20a%20set,levels%20of%20complexity%20and%20specificity.&text=The%20models%20were%20named%20after,educators%20that%20devised%20the%20taxonomy.
10-Minute Meditation For Anxiety
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-6f5wQXSu8&ab_channel=Goodful
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