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Millicent A. Obwanda
Millicent A. Obwanda

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Life Post Bootcamp(Moringa School) & Impostor Syndrome!

PS. Views and Opinion are derived from my personal experience.

...

So... I woke up at 3:00 am today, hands on ready to continue hacking my latest project, brushed my teeth, took a shower, then got a snack! Somewhere between snacking and getting my IDE up I got the itch to check my social media, I started with WhatsApp, just to see what people have been up to since I last checked(12 hours ago).

Avoid Social Media When You wake up

While at it, I see a post that catches my attention, and ends up throwing me into a thinking space. I know it's not a good practice to check social media when you wake up... But here I am, staring at my phone, and lots of thoughts going through in my head...

Am I on the right track?

I find my self, for the first time in my coding career, questioning my path. While I agree that it is perfectly okay to question yourself,once in a while. I mean it triggers growth, but for my case, this is the very first time ever since I started coding that I find myself wondering whether I'm really made up for coding.

Impostor Syndrome

But still, Am I really on the right track?

I mean, I love logic, and I sure do love solving complex problems and I enjoy transforming ideas into designs, and finally into a final interactive product using codes, but am I in the right field?

The plan

Let me take you back to 2 months ago, when I graduated from the coding boot-camp (Moringa School), I knew that after boot-camp, I was going to put myself out there. I thought I was ready to start job hunting... I was confident in myself. Fast forward to a few days later, I realized that I needed to take a minute, breathe, put my thoughts together, and come up with a solid plan.

pause, plan, do

Expectations...

Boot-camps teach you how to learn, and it is an illusion to be swayed by the idea that you are supposed to get a job immediately after you graduate from a boot-camp. Nobody talks about the importance of taking a break to evaluate, plan and move forward. As graduates, the idea of getting absorbed immediately sells more than the idea of taking a pause.

What Happened?

I found myself doing the opposite of what I had planned to do. I mean...

Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.
John Lenon

Well...

Life happened! I took a break, took time into introspection, and blocked any form of noise that would,make me feel less at the moment. I went solo for a few weeks, finished working on my portfolio, started working on an eCommerce web application, while continuing with my learning and oh, got a job as a junior dev in a startup!

Happy face

My take

From my personal experience, my biggest challenge has been shutting down all the noise of what is expected of me, or rather, what I expected myself to be doing, and using the time to channel into planning! I really needed to take a pause, and remind myself that somewhere down the line I was going to question my path, for me, that somewhere happened to be today!

Eyes on the prize

Reminder

I cannot stress enough the importance of taking breaks when you need to, and if you ever find yourself questioning your path, be reminded that it is okay. Don't ever let self doubt and fear rob you of what you could have been. Whether you're in tech or any other field, so long as your heart is fueled by your passion, keep the hope a live, keep your eyes on the price!

Last but not least...

Continue learning. Keep on going on!

Sincerely,
AtienoObwanda

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