DEV Community: Christelle Iradukunda

My experience in Bootcamp so far

Christelle Iradukunda — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 21:58:55 +0000

Before the Bootcamp, I was very worried that I will not manage to complete at least half of the work (ADC challenge). And I had a curiosity to know what happens there and how they work. Generally, many people worried about their inability to try something that they have never done before, especially in technology.

However, I have realized that it’s a common worry that everyone who is starting a new career has. Nowadays, technology is improving well and faster, when you join a company like Andela, you have to be able to be a faster learner and adapt to how to use those advanced tools. The first thing that surprised me is to hear during the pre-Bootcamp period, someone said that I was using the old version of javascript (es6) Yet I was still struggling with the one that they call old. Yes, I was using it but I thought that what they want is the product which is completed no matter the way you have used to build it.

In fact, when you are in a team of different people, it helps to learn from each other. Everyone brings his/her uniqueness and make a team strong, adds more skills to the whole team. I went in the pre-Bootcamp accepting to meet with amazing developers, but I was hoping that it will seem like I am in the group that we don’t speak some language. However, this is not how I found it.

This period of Bootcamp taught me many things, the first thing I learned that people gain new best skills in any situation that includes team working. They gain knowledge, have time to practice by applying that knowledge, get feedback from fellow team-mates, and reflect on what has been learned to make your task perfect.

To sum up, I found that everyone can learn and become whatever you want to be. You can use your creativity and problem-solving skills to explore and build amazing things! Not just for but also helping the world to solve problems. And I would encourage everyone who is passionate about coding to join Andela and at least take a look at how everything works there!

An interesting technology I encountered in preparation for Bootcamp

Christelle Iradukunda — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 17:37:37 +0000

Since I started to know more about programming, I use to hear many people talking about teams that worked on certain projects. And I was curious to know how a group of people work on the same project at a time and how each member takes a task and after merge everyone’s task to be one project. In the preparation of Andela Bootcamp, I had a chance to learn and use GitHub. A repository of hosting services. There were many tools that were my first time to use, but the GitHub was the one I was curious to know more about it.

I found this very interesting for the time that I pushed my first work. Many developers were so excited about it too. I have taught that when a developer makes changes, those changes are made directly to the repository. Another thing that I wanted to know how it works, is to take a system online and make some changes, and put it online with those changes you have made.

We have been told to follow the git workflow, by dividing the task into small pieces and create a branch for each work. I was not familiar with that as a beginner, I used to work on the task as a whole and then push it as it is. For someone who understands git workflow well, this is not how it works. Because I had to create stories on Pivotal tracker (Project management tool) and then use ID of each story to create a branch of the task which is going to be built.

However, as I worked on tasks, that’s how I received helpful feedback which helped me to know areas improve. I kept improving but when it comes to conflict issues, I use to create a new repository every day. All I had to is to try until I make it. I found that you can only remove or resolve merge conflicts on GitHub that are caused by competing changes, such as when two or more developers made different changes to the same line of the same file. Or you resolve the conflict locally on the command line by deleting the current changes or old changes, according to what you want to have.

The best thing about GitHub allows your work to share skills with other developers due the how easier is, to make documentation of your project on the repository. Moreover, it is one of the largest coding communities, using it can also provide wide exposure for your project and for you.

My reflections on Andela’s EPIC values

Christelle Iradukunda — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 21:11:55 +0000

For the first time I heard Andela’s EPIC values (Excellence Passion Integrity and Collaboration), I was just understanding them as they are. In the first two weeks of home study, I started to realize how Andela’s EPIC works, and how they should be implemented. Most of the time many people finish and submit works because it has to be completed. This is also true, but the key points to keep in mind is that what will be the output or result of the work, how long will it be used?

The way I take Andela excellence in the EPIC values is the mindset of having the big image of the work that you are working on and implement it by thinking about the final result. That time the quality of your work will meet the standards needed for your deliverable. Again this EPIC means that you are identifying the areas that you are good at, which shows you where you could be improved for the next iteration of the work. If you allow yourself to just do what is on your to-do list, it will be harder to find the time to think and have the big picture of your work.

Passion, passion could be defined as sacrificing your time and leave your comfort zone, and do what you are passioning about. If you are doing that, it’s your real passion, and if not, probably it’s not your real passion. You need to start making changes in your passion. I do believe that you can have passion to do something that you have never tried to do, but that belief will help you to make it the time that you will be having access to materials or resources in those particular areas you are passionate about. And it is normal that someone can fail for the first time while trying to do something, but that will be a part of learning.

Integrity means doing the right things in a good way, not because somebody is watching you, just because it’s how things are supposed to be. It's a personality that needed by everyone to deliver complete work with all requirements for it to be perfect. This is also another important thing that I found at Andela, where they set requirements for you, and then you do your best to include some additional functionality that did not capture on the to-do list. This is the best practice to make culture so that anyone who works with you will wish again to come back.

Collaboration is another key to deliver a good quality of the work, it is not just a simple work or event that happens and reaches to the end. Collaboration is a process that continues over time. The more team collaborate, the more quality of quality will be increased. A team that works hard it also motivates each member of the team. This helps everyone in a team to learn from each other, relationships become more comfortable, where everyone will be able to share and discuss ideas. At this point, results will be increasingly successful.

To sum up, if every person tries to follow the above Andela’s EPIC values, she/he will a better candidate that can work with any kind of diversity and also be productive.

How I demonstrated the Growth Mindset recently

Christelle Iradukunda — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 21:07:10 +0000

The first important note that everyone needs to write down, is that when you are facing a new challenge and being asked to do something that you have never done before, you don’t have to be afraid to step out. This will be the beginning of the better version of yourself. You will find more capabilities you don’t think you have, and you will never see that capability until to try them out.

Growth mindset is a belief of understanding that everything you want, can be developed through hard work and effort you put in. Sometimes, we discourage ourselves when we try to compare ourselves to others, and thus create some perceptions of seeing talents in those people, yet it’s could even be hard work. But nothing could be further from the truth. Talent is an inborn quality that gives you a smart way to do or smartly achieve something. However, hard work can be better than talent

I had an opportunity to do my academic internship at Andela, and it was Women In Tech Workshop program, where I have been trained to use advanced tools used in Agile software development. We use tools like Pivotal Tracker and GitHub to manage and to keep track of the project. I have also seen and learned how professional engineers develop and work on a project from the beginning up to the end, using those tools in an advanced way.

Therefore, I was curious to know how many people work on one project. Before I didn’t have that opportunity to take a look at that. And the funny thing is that some of my friend and classmates used to say that “Don’t do that internship if you want to stay in touch with your friends ”. But because I was curious to know that they do and how they do it, I had to do that internship and I made good progress, though it was more challenging to people like who are still struggling in java.

During the internship period, we have been told that we needed to use new releases of javascript as I have explained in Women In Tech Workshop blog, all of these were not easy. All I had to do, is to accept and understand that no one will do that for me. And also I found that it’s not only acquiring knowledge and new skills but also to foster the ability to solve problems and take on challenges.

I have learned two important things in this workshop, one is that there is a time you work on a certain task that you have given to work on, and you do it with much effort. Then after you received feedback that seems like you did nothing. Many times when this happens to me, I feel somewhere between mildly to extremely defensive. However, this contributes nothing to your work. What to do is take feedback positively and redo the task again. Another thing I have learned is that there is a time that you meet with a blocker that you are the only person to solve it. And many people have this problem. I realized that every time you meet with blocker and you have this mindset, that you will always have someone to help you, we will no longer be a problem solver on your own.

Now, I am attending Andela Bootcamp cycle 13, and I believe that all the struggles I went through in the internship period, drove me on the other level. And will use those skills and experience I got there, to build a product that meets all requirements. Though we meet with new challenged every day and every time, but the good thing to know is that "Life is a series of problem-solving opportunities. The problem you face will either defeat you or develop you depending on how you respond to them" Rick Warren.

I have demonstrated a growth mindset through the challenges and difficulties I met with, and don’t give on them. I couldn’t have done everything I have done with a fixed mindset. I tried to take feedback positively. Additional to that I think no one can keeping spend time on something that you are sure that it will be useless. It was all about learning and believe in myself that I am going to complete the task. If you are brave enough to start, you are strong enough to finish.