Conquering the JavaScript mountain, one step at a time
It’s been another whirlwind couple of weeks at coding bootcamp, and it’s been tricky finding the time to sit down and put all of my new thoughts and experiences into another blog post. For one, I find I get so absorbed in my work that I often don’t notice the time passing, and before you know it, it’s bedtime! Other times, I am simply enjoying what I am doing so much that I don’t want to stop.
However, it’s still important to find a good life balance and taking the time to rest and process, and so I’m making sure to also still find the time to see my partner and friends, go to my kickboxing class, and do other creative pastimes (like making paper cranes!).
These past couple of weeks have been very interesting for me, because it’s the first time we have embarked on learning an actual programming language - JavaScript. For me personally, I always knew it would be challenging. I do not have a very mathematical brain, and I still vividly remember dreading the maths exams in school many years ago.
So, on a cold autumn Monday morning on the first week of the JavaScript module, I felt nervous as I sat down at my desk. Would I understand the material? Would I be able to keep up with the class? If I struggled to learn mathematical concepts as a knowledge hungry child, would I be able to learn now, as an adult?
However, I needn’t have worried. As soon as the teacher, Mark, started the class, I was immediately reassured. Clearly an expert in the field - no surprise there, after all, all of the teachers at DevelopMe_ are amazing! - Mark is also a brilliant and empathetic teacher who really sees each and every student, and clearly cares about their learning process. As the day went on, I felt really encouraged. And sure, it would be challenging at times - but the worries I’d had before the class started that morning, about not being able to learn, were all gone. I felt then that with hard work, I could still do it.
After all, we all have to start somewhere, right? You take the very first step, put one foot in front of the other...
...and you begin walking, taking it slowly, one step at a time...
...and slowly, but surely...
...you find yourself closer and closer to the top of the mountain.
I truly believe that with hard work you can eventually learn anything. And with hard work, I made a lot of the challenges work. And when you see the result of your hard work in front of you, and it does what it’s supposed to, and it’s bug free - you really feel like you are at the top of the mountain!
Before the course started, I read a very inspiring book called Grit, by Angela Duckworth. The book argues that with hard work - grit - you can learn and become skilled at anything. There may not be any shortcuts, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible - in fact, the book is very encouraging in that it argues that as long as you are willing to put the work in, you will get there in the end. I would recommend this book to anyone who have something they really want to do, but think they cannot do it - you most definitely can!
