DEV Community: Santiago N

Post-Boot Camp

Santiago N — Tue, 04 May 2021 21:29:02 +0000

My Bootcamp

For about 6 months I endured the LC101 Bootcamp in North West Arkansas, let me tell you, it was not easy, not only because it was truly a challenge but in my particular case I had to stay after work in the office to attend classes since there are no internet providers where I live.

I must say this was a great experience with so many takeaways, so much new knowledge, met some amazing new people, got motivation to pursue a better career and life, all of this without putting any money from my own pocket. Truly insane. Could not be more grateful.

All of these things were possible because of the LaunchCode foundation, all the companies and people that contribute to them and from a personal point all the incredible teachers that brought this out of the charts energy to push us to limits we did not know we have.

There were 2 teachers per group, one of them is amazing at writing and sharing experiences right here in dev.to I highly recommend following him and reading his blog posts I promise you will not regret it, he is the one and only JC Smiley a guy with one of the biggest hearts I've met.

Thanks to all of the planets aligning, putting some effort in and my fellow student's help I made it, just about a month ago, this bootcamp was over. A very hard to explain experience which I shall try to dig into the best I can.

So what now? At this present moment we had the opportunity to follow up with a second program called "Liftoff" where we are mentored to excel with our resumes, interviews and basically be the people that you want to hire.

Part of this is developing our own project, which I thought to myself ok this shouldn't be that bad right? I just got through the course and I'm good to go.

Well guess what, I was very mistaken, in fact I feel like the ground where I stand just crumbled because I realized that I honestly don't know as much as I thought. So now I have to put some hardcore time and energy to keep learning what I already maybe should have known and expand my horizon.

Before I go on, let me say this, coming out of a bootcamp does not mean you are a pro, you are taught a lot of things in a very short period of time, creating a foundation of knowledge, it is entirely up to you to keep learning, practicing and investing yourself otherwise this was all for nothing, you will loose what you were taught and bam even worse of a learning curve ahead of you.

Right now I'm in the stage trying to balance my life with learning, regular life stuff and all the things that are involved in making a career change. Not easy at all. Maybe for some it is, this is not the case lol.

I believe that in this life only the hard things with big sacrifices are worth it and this is one of them. Even though I'm struggling big time, I will continue down this path because at the end it will pay off, maybe it takes me longer than others, maybe I don't even make it but I know I tried and every night that helps me sleep, knowing that I didn't quit just then.

Little Advice

As a recent graduate I'm fresh with the issues that come at this stage so here are some basic pointers:

Keep learning by yourself no matter how small
Put in the time, create a habit of it
Stay focused on the end goal. Why are you doing this?
Take needed breaks knowing that they still contribute to your path
Life is life, things come up, but still try to stay on track, perseverance is key to everything

Bootcamp Done. Next Steps Into A Tech Career

Santiago N — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 22:37:47 +0000

So it has been a long time since I made the time to write something on here, the reasons? Maybe I was busy, maybe I didn't actually take the time to do this or maybe I was fighting some inner conflicts that made me hold myself back.

Alright, first thing first, let me give you a little background... About 4 weeks ago I finished a coding bootcamp I was doing since October. It was definitely a challenge but totally worth it and without it and my awesome teachers I would not be here.

This bootcamp was absolutely free for me, online and possibly the best experience learning I have ever had. A huge thanks to LaunchCode who organized everything in NorthWest Arkansas (they do them in many other places so please look them up) and to everyone who has sponsored and keeps sponsoring their activities.
Not only this but the teachers were out of this world, honestly super grateful for this experience, may need to do a separate post to truly express my gratitude.

Ok, got off topic for a little bit there, getting back to the main thought...

After this bootcamp we have an option to be enrolled in a program called "Liftoff" with our teachers guiding us through personal projects, training us for future interviews and most importantly making us feel like we are bringing something to the table, as many already know, impostor syndrome is real and will mess you up.

So, right now I am doing this program and creating a personal project, but I have to admit it is actually harder than the bootcamp was. Probably because now it is truly up to us to show our potential and push forward, keep learning by ourselves exploiting every resource that we can.

VERY big challenge this is, at the moment I am trying to adapt to all of this. When you work all day and you know you have to keep working I tell you, it is not an easy task, even if you enjoy coding, being a newbie like me, you have to do a lot of research, spend time figuring stuff out that you don't know and much more.

I won't lie, if I didn't have such great mentors behind me, motivating me, pushing me, annoying me lol I really don't know where I would be. One of the best advice I can give right now at the stage where I am is find someone that you like to hang out with and ask them to be your mentor.

Reflecting and looking back, it can be hard to believe how far I've come and looking forward how much I have left to go.

Here are some of the big takeaways that keep me sane:

--Focus on yourself
--Be proud of what you have accomplished no matter how small
--Do an activity that takes you away from everything
--Lean of people you look up to

That's all for today folks, hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading.

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New Grounds, Jump Into A New Career

Santiago N — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 21:46:02 +0000

The other day I was talking to one of my teachers at the bootcamp I'm doing right now and we were at the topic of bringing the A game and what will happen after the bootcamp.

It came to my attention that I do not have any true expectations after the course is over, you know just casually hoping I'll be able to find a job but whatever happens, happens. This is pretty crazy from my part I think, I discovered I've lost motivation slowly, falling into the comfort zone.

This is probably the first time in my life I am in this place, finally feeling some peace of mind, trusting in what I do at my job, money is not great but it works for my current lifestyle. So, yes, the comfort zone is nice.

After thinking about this so much and trying to reach a conclusion, it hit me on the face, I'm scared. I'm scared that I will not succeed, that I won't be able to be a provider, that I will disappoint people at my current job because they need me, IM SCARED that I don't have a safe to catch me if I fall anymore, I'm on my own with responsibilities that only I can take care of.

Let's Be Real

I must say, society puts so much pressure on each individual, even if we don't realize it. Truly unbelievable, mostly because we live to pay for things that maybe at the end of the day are not a necessity but they become these comfort things that we do not want to loose, they help us soften the actual circumstances.

It may be hard to explain but, think of this, if all the money you made was put towards things that made your life better but aren't the things that you want, for example, investments, education, insurance, fixing your car/house, whatever you make it. These are things that in the long run will make your life better but it's not as cool as getting a new tv, going out to eat or buying video games.

So now here I am... Trying to gather the strength and motivation to be better, to beat my fears and concerns. To make the leap of faith, for sure this will take me a while to prepare for but at the end of the day, if we don't follow our dreams, what are we? Just some pieces of meat getting by? I don't know. I'm real tired of just getting by and fell into a comfy spot, now I got to get out.

Truly dang lol. This is a lot of inner fighting and reflecting, maybe to some it comes easier to see, to me, it's hard sometimes to really know what is happening deep inside my head.

Sum It Up

To you out there, if you got this far.
You got this, take your time but not too much lol, opportunities come once and you have to hop on the train, sometimes not being ready better even, most of the times not being ready but that's the magic, once you get through and look back. Man, you would be so proud of yourself.

I believe it is worth taking a shot, if you fail, you fail, try again. Trust me, coming from a control and calculating freak like me, I've done it before and got beyond my imagination. Now once again I am summoned to adventure. Well, here I go.

Rise From The Ashes

Santiago N — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 03:50:51 +0000

We all had a rough 2020 and will most likely have a rough 2021, yeah not a very inspiring start right? I try to be a down to earth person and that sometimes can play against myself leading to negativity or lack of motivation. But, I am here to tell you that because you have a complicated beginning it does not mean it will always be that way.

It is my belief that we life hits us the worst it is when we grow in gigantic steps even though at the time we don't realize it. As we are going through the motion of time and facing challenges that drive us to our limits, we become stressed and can't wait till the rain passes, a lot of us really fall deep in a hole and have to struggle to climb out.

Once this is all over and we can look back with a different set of eyes, we may be even grateful that we had to go through such tough times because those lead to a greater purpose, a bigger picture that we do not yet understand. Surpassing a tough situation prepares you for the next and so on, without an end, we will always have to face mountains that's just life.

Since I can remember the phoenix is my favorite mythical creatures as it reflects what we go through as humans.
We must rise from the ashes, always, learn from the past, become stronger and smarter, no matter how hard we get hit, it can be a long process but we have to come back, we get to be better.

As a society and having so many ways of connections with each other, we have to rely on each other, help others, you may not change the world but you can change an individuals worlds with just some words or a minimal action. No one know what the future holds so why not try to make the effort to improve what we know we can.

My Journey

I've been facing so many monsters in the last couple of years that took all my energy and at the present I'm exhausted with no expectations, it's like being just a body that works, eats, sleeps and repeat.

Absolutely no emotion or joy during the days, the longer you go on a status like this, the harder it is to snap out of it.

After having some deep conversations with very close people, it gave me the strength and will to change and improve my lifestyle, my mental and physical health.

Keep in mind this is just the beginning of a journey, everyday I put my energy into taking things differently and breaking the bad habits.

Finding activities that you enjoy is fundamental, playing a sport, going out for a drive, calling someone, you must feed yourself with things that bring you up, fill you gas tank a little everyday.

None of these are easy tasks but they have to be done for your own good, we have a choice everyday, we can either stay how we are or put efforts into evolving and growing, as humans we have unique capabilities and the fact that we don't take advantage of them for good is just a terrible thing.

I realize that this does not have much to do with coding but sometimes something different comes in handy. Thank you for reading and hope that it was worth your time.

Becoming A Developer: Did You Make It? Will I Make It?

Santiago N — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 02:15:40 +0000

It all comes down to applying the knowledge you acquire right? You can absorb so much but at the same time if you don't use it then what's the point?

Right now I'm going through a coding bootcamp and it truly has been great so far, definitely challenging everyday and time consuming. In my opinion I have been keeping up pretty good, having my ups and downs like everyone else but when you are in one of the downs... Man let me tell you it is not good.

Personally the worst part for me is balancing the bootcamp with the rest of my life, finding the energy and time to complete the task at hand gets tough and tougher. It's true when you're parent's tell you to enjoy being in high school because after that it becomes real.

My situation is where work is very stressful and has nothing to do with technology so the only exposure I get to code is the one I put myself into, this makes it hard because in my own time I enjoy doing other things to relax and instead I am supposed to constantly engage into code even if I don't feel like it just because it is the only way to go. Here comes the exhaustion and loose of will to keep pushing.

I think that it is very important to become part of this awesome community and learn from everyone, learn from their journey, their mistakes and help each other out. This is one of my biggest motivations from all of this.

So my question is... to whoever is out there. What is your trick? How do you do it? Did you make it?

Thank you for reading and looking forward to your input

if statements by a n00b

Santiago N — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 17:38:59 +0000

Alright everyone I consider myself a noob due that I have started coding not too long ago, here is my simple explanation for if statements.

So when someone tells us about an IF statement what do we think about? A condition right...? Just as we communicate this is the same thing.

If certain to scenario/condition happens then I will do this...

This is what it looks like in code:

if (condition) {
your code
}

Pretty simple right? So if the condition that we want is met, then it will execute the code your write in there, if NOT then it will just skip it. Let's look at something a bit more descriptive.

if (today === Friday) {
Party!
}

I bet you understood that one huh. Alright now, there are a bit more tricks to this like I'll show below.

ELSE:
This basically is a code of block that executes after the if statement IF the initial condition is not met.

if (today === Friday) {
Party!
} else {
How many more days til Friday?
}

ELSE IF:
This one would be like adding another condition to check after the first one is false. As we can see below, if today is not Friday or Thursday then we want to know how many more days until Friday.
The final else only executes if the 2 first conditions are not met.

if (today === Friday) {
Party!
} else if (today === Thursday) {
Ok, keep pushing, just one more day
} else {
How many more days til Friday?
}

I hope this helps out whoever needs it.

Thank you for reading.

An Unexpected Journey

Santiago N — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 23:27:56 +0000

Yes, I realize I stole the title from The Hobbit, although in this case it justifies itself.

This October I started a boot camp hosted by Launch Code with the goal of learning how to become a developer.

Let me start by explaining that this was something unexpected (as the title says) for me, one day I received an email promoting the boot camp so I decided to sign up just because, no knowing if I would like it or I would be able to make it all the way to the end, which this is also yet to be seen but I feel pretty confident about it.

During this first month I had some ups and downs due to not having enough time or being hard for me to keep up with the pace of the course, regardless of this something in my mind clicked and at this point I was able to let go of my distractions and focus and devote 100% to the boot camp. Right now all I think about is coding and getting as far as I possibly can.

I do need to point out that this happened because of the great team leading the boot camp, constantly motivating us and helping with whatever we need, it certainly is unreal how a group of strangers can have such a drastic impact on someone's life.

To this present day, I am immersed in this journey and cannot think of anything else but to see the results in the future, my current goal is to become a great developer and help out, collaborate in the community as it was done for me.

Now for the fun part...

A few things I have learnt so far

Keep Pushing
I know it is a common piece of advice but so true. If you really want something then pursue it, grab it, take it, DO NOT stop even when it gets hard, once you break that limit within yourself, you will pass the next challenge and the next. This is all about looking back and reflecting what you have already overcome, so why would anything stop you now?

Ask For Help
This one is particularly hard for me because I do not like to ask for any type of assistance or help of any sort, so now I am forced to do it regardless I like it or not and if I didn't then I probably would not have made it this far.

Put In Your Time
Practice, research, watch videos, whatever it is you prefer but get into the field, anything that is related to what you're learning in better than anything else. It doesn't matter if it is something you already know, keeping your mind fresh with all that knowledge should be your ultimate goal.

Participate
Even if you are quiet and have a hard time speaking where there is too many people, no matter, push yourself out of the comfort zone, join in events, talk to strangers, ask questions, talk about life, engage in meet ups, I know it is not easy but there is a reward at the end of the road even if you can't see it yet.

I'll drop one of my favorite quotes that many probably know:
"Do or Do Not, There is No Try"

That's all I got for now, until next time and thanks for reading.