Tag: Epicodus

Learning the truth about code school graduates

The intention of this post is to give some insight into Epicodus from a content perspective. As many people have already said before, you get out what you put in.

Learning what jobs code school graduates are usually qualified for has been a wake up call. When I first learned about code schools, I immediately thought they were a good way to get my feet wet in programming and get me into that Junior developer role. However, I was skeptical and I did a fair amount of research. Ultimately, my choice for code school came down to price. Currently, I am attending a code school name Epicodus. Epicodus is a beautiful place to grow as a person and a developer, but I’ve come to realize that merely doing the course material and showing up everyday will not be enough.

Recently, I was talking to fellow students from higher classes and they were pretty blunt in explaining that there is a lot of gaps in the Epicodus courses. Outdated information, skimmed concepts, and a lack of ability to pump out new content. These all contribute to the idea that Epicodus graduates may not be qualified for a Junior developer role, strictly from following along with the course material. I believe I’ll be fine, but that is do to a lot of outside work. Thanks, to my lack of financial ability I have been fighting to stay at Epicodus, including going to college full time and working as well. My weeks for the past two months have been 70+ hours long, and I’ve started to feel it. However, all my classes in college are centered around programming so the skills I have been building outside of Epicodus range from JavaScript to Java to PHP/SQL.

Okay, so I should be fine (let’s hope haha), but what is the reality for other graduates? I believe that without a proper amount of drive to push past the course material future graduates will ultimately be disappointed when graduation day arrives and the job search begins. There are plenty of ways for you to get extra reps outside of class. This could be slightly changing the course material for the day and reworking it, working on side projects, or taking Udemy/Coursera/PluralSight courses that correlate with the current language being taught. My dad made a good point the other day, he said ‘all it takes to surpass your peers is putting in 1% more effort’.

I’m gonna run with that idea and add that I believe putting in a little extra effort also compounds over time. It’s hard to notice the fact you’re making small inches forward, but a month later or six months later. The results of slightly more work will be a defining point of your growth as a developer. This is not a guide on how to get rid of your bad habits so that you can become more productive, hell I don’t think I would even be qualified to suggest anything. My solution to putting in 1% more effort was not by choice, but due to circumstance.

To wrap up, I’m glad I was informed of this knowledge gap early enough that I could keep a close eye on my progress. My goal going forward is to be at Epicodus 7 days a week. This will be tough, but it feels necessary. There is another clear benefit as well, since I’m taking three programming classes at Portland Community College (which makes me a full time student) it would also help me stay on top of my school work.

Coding Bootcamp

The next 6 months..

Starting Feb. 7th, I will be attending a coding bootcamp for Mobile Application Development. The bootcamps name is Epicodus and it will be held in downtown Portland. Epicodus is known for implementing a growing style of programming, called peer-programming.

Peer-programming, is when two programmers work together, to increase efficiency and reduce errors. The best part about going to a peer-programming bootcamp, is having to constantly communicate with other campers, and having to adapt to my partners skill level.

Every day, I will be partnered off with another camper, and that implies at some point I will be partnered with someone more knowledgeable and less knowledgable then myself. I like this idea for a couple of reasons..

  1. Explaining code to someone else will be a valuable skill later on..
  2. If I get stuck at some point, my partner may be able to bail me out, explain why something is done, and hopefully fill that gap in my understanding.

Now, at the time of writing this post, I’m a couple days from starting my Epicodus journey. However, there has been obstacles. The most prominent one, and the one that never seems to stop is money. The reason why I hit this obstacle so hard and without time to swerve was due to a lack of knowledge.

I’ve never had to be so diligent about my finances, and how I spend my time. Because I’ve never done anything like this before, and no one I know personally has. People talk about mapping their own course, well I’m really trying to do just that. A few days ago, I gave this entire commitment (time/money) a lot of thought. The conclusion I came to is simple. I want more from my life, and I’m tired of waiting for it to happen.

My advice, for attacking the money obstacle..

  1. Be very thorough in how you calculate your upcoming expenses.
  2. Always add room for unexpected costs.
  3. Don’t assume anything until the money is actually in your hand.

I thought I had been thorough, then my financial aid ended up being 1/3rd of what I got the semester before. That was tough. When I tried to adjust to the amount I was getting, it no longer worked. However, the next day brought a lot of positive encouragement.

When I woke up, I still felt pretty depressed. I mean someone could say, well you don’t need a bootcamp to be a software developer. That’s absolutely true, but I wanted to commit myself. Not hope that later on, I would find my way to the goal line. Well, my phone rings. It’s my old boss, she tells me that they are moving forward with rehiring me and the paper work is being finalized.

Armed with that new information, I started readjusting my finances, and although I didn’t have the next 6 months worked out. I was able to lock up the money for the first quarter of the bootcamp, and put a pretty big dent in the rest of it. Good, mission accomplished.

I’m telling this part of the story, because I got thrown a curve ball, and you will probably will too. A six month, 40 hour a week, bootcamp is going to challenge you. Adapting to those challenges, then overcoming them are powerful skills to develop. Lastly, I’ll leave you with some wise words..

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” – Mike Tyson