10 Ways to be Most Efficient with Your Coding Bootcamp Projects

It has been about two months since I graduated Flatiron(a coding bootcamp) in Seattle, WA.

While I was attending school, I have seen various different groups and individuals implementing different libraries in their projects. Post-graduation, there is a lot on the list to do for the job search, and one of them is continuing to build on your projects to show off your skill sets. I thought that if I was to go back in time, I would try to include different skill sets as much as possible in my projects to save time. So I decided to share a list for any students to try implementing them in their projects as well as any tips regarding each project.

Often, coaches will not push to include everything you learn, for 5 days are short time to build a full project. To make it most presentable, I would recommend keeping the content simpler to minimize overlapping features and use more libraries. For example, filling in multiple pages can be hard. Make it a two-page app that shows you can build a multi-page app and build different elements/components on each page.

Recommended for multiple, if not all, applications:

1. Front and Back: API calls
   Starting in Mod 1, we learn to make an API call. I remember that it was not mandated in our project guidelines, but I would recommend trying to make API calls included in as many projects as possible. More practice and application will help you learn faster. Setting up your own RESTful API is great, but look into geolocation API, weather API, SNS API, etc.

2. Front: CSS
   Not every student is interested in CSS, but making your project professional only takes minimal CSS; such as aligning them in the center or dividing them into different groups. Students will learn to make a full application with front and backend. Sometimes it would feel like there just is not enough time to include 'prettiness' within the project. However, dedicating 2-3 hours per project can make your project a lot more presentable when you are done with the curriculum.
   If you decide to dedicate more time to CSS, try one project with vanilla CSS before you move onto the UI libraries. Find the list of components in the library and trying some of them out yourself helps you in the long run.

3. Front: Charting libraries
   Companies will want to know how well you can use different libraries. UI components such as button and grid are awesome as well, but experiencing different libraries for a piechart, bar chart, tables, and other graphs will come in handy. Try to make use of different libraries as well to find your favorite for each language.

Recommended to have at least one project including each on the list:

1. React: Hooks
   When you are moving onto React from Javascript, a large portion of the language will be very similar. I think it would be a good time to learn React Hooks and apply at least one or two useState and useEffect to get started. School curriculum does not include React Hooks, but if you take the time to read through the document, it is not too complicated. It is an update in the framework that you should be aware of.

2. React: Redux
   Even though this is briefly taught at school, not everyone used redux for their project. However, I highly recommend using this in at least one project, because it helps you get used to using HOC in your larger project later.

3. JWT
   It is rather simple when you understand it. When building a full-stack application on your own, applying JWT is a good chance to get an understanding of how they are connected and process on both sides. Also, using Postman will help you write the code faster in the beginning if you have not tried it yet.

Recommended to try including them to save time post-graduation, but it could be a challenge. However, all of them were seen in at least one project while I was in school:

1. React Native
   This can be a challenge, but a couple of students have made React Native for their final project. If you were comfortable with all of your projects in the past, I would recommend it as a challenge.

2. Socket.io
   This is a library build for two different apps to connect to each other. The simplest example would be messaging between two different users.

3. Deploy
   Not everyone ends up deploying their project for numerous different reasons. However, you will end up deploying something as long as you continue to be a programmer. Trying it will expose you to more technical stuff in the web that you may not have known about. Exposing yourself for the experience will return something to learn.

4. OAuth
   This is when you gain limited access to user's data on different accounts. An example is when different apps use your Google for a Facebook account to login to theirs.

More often than not, the students of a coding bootcamp are in the middle of the career-changing process. If you had minimal knowledge in programming prior to the admission, for a long time period even after graduation, only thing you will realize as you continue to study is that you hardly know anything.

To maximize your dedicated time to learn about programming, being exposed more and more into different things at school will guide you in self-learning in the future, even if you don't fully understand or successfully complete it at the moment.