Are you planning to participate in a coding bootcamp? That’s awesome! It’s a big commitment to make, though, and it can really disrupt your daily life. It’s a good idea to take some time before the bootcamp starts to plan out your approach. Doing so will increase your chances of sticking it out until the end, set you up to learn more effectively, and let you feel better while doing it.
This article can apply to any kind of coding bootcamp, but was written especially for people getting ready to join the Bad Website Club web development bootcamp. This free bootcamp by Jess and Ramón kicks off on 1/5/24!
Make a trade
It’s a bad idea to expect yourself to take on a major new commitment like a coding bootcamp while still maintaining every other part of your routine. What are you willing to let go of during this time period in order to make space for learning to code? Don’t just think about making time, but also about energy and exertion.
I often see people saying they’re going to give up recreation time, like watching TV, and replace it with learning to code. I don’t know how many of those people it actually works out for, but I can tell you, it didn’t work for me. That’s because, even though I freed up my time, cutting out my relaxation time didn’t free up any energy that I could use for hard mental work—instead, losing my “cool off” time made me more stressed than ever, so I wasn’t able to focus well enough to actually learn effectively, and quickly burned out and gave up.
Instead, try asking yourself if there are other commitments that you can cut back for the duration of the bootcamp. Can a project be delayed until after the bootcamp ends? Is there a hobby or side hustle that you’re willing to stop working on for a while? Can somebody else take over one of your responsibilities now in exchange for you taking on their part after the bootcamp? It could even be a matter of temporarily lowering the standards you hold yourself to, like giving yourself permission for your house to get messy during this time.
Prepare a routine
Make sure you know how many hours per week the bootcamp expects its students to study, both in class sessions and on your own. Where does this fit into your existing schedule? Choosing what to let go of might have already given you an idea of where the bootcamp will fit in your schedule.
If you can choose a specific time and place where you’ll do your studying, it should make you more likely to stick to the habit. This is also a good time to physically clear off your desk or otherwise prepare a good studying environment that will help you focus.
Think also about how you’ll pace yourself over the length of the bootcamp. It’s easy to dive in too deep at the start and then run out of steam before the end. If your bootcamp doesn’t provide deadlines for the assignments, maybe try coming up with your own plan about how many days to allot yourself for each round of homework.
Just remember that you can—and probably should!—adjust your routine once you actually start on the bootcamp, when you have more information about how much time the work actually takes for you to complete. Your personal pattern will probably be at least a little different from the “average” completion time. Everyone has their own pace, and it’s totally okay if your work time is different from someone else’s!
Anticipate setbacks
We always hope that life will be nice and let us focus on our goals, but when a bootcamp is months long, it’s just inevitable that at some point, life will get in the way and you won’t be able to stick to the schedule you planned. Or you’ll run into that one pesky assignment that you really struggle to complete. It’s okay! It happens to everyone! The most important thing is that, when this happens, you don’t give up. Believe in yourself and just keep taking whatever the next step is!
Maybe this is controversial advice, but giving less than 100% effort can actually be a valuable strategy to make the most of your limited time, especially if you fall behind. You may be able to catch back up by just not putting as much effort into the backlogged work. It’s much more effective to let yourself learn some of the material imperfectly than to give up and not finish the course at all!
On the other hand, does your bootcamp have a deadline for completing the program? If it’s like the Bad Website Club bootcamp and has no deadline, then don’t sweat it and just keep going at your own pace. There’s nothing wrong with finishing the program later than expected.
Or maybe there will come a point when you lose sight of your motivation for taking on the bootcamp in the first place. Think about that right now—why do you want to do this bootcamp? Is there a dream you’re chasing? Maybe you want to change your career to provide a better life for your family, or maybe you want to make a video game so that you can share a cherished idea with the world. Think about both what goal the bootcamp will help you accomplish, and also why that goal is meaningful and important to you. Then write this down, and put it in a place you’ll see it when you’re studying.
Consider your wellness
Besides being time-consuming, bootcamps can also be a stressful or exhausting experience. How will you look after yourself during this time? What can you set up now to make your self-care easier during the bootcamp? Maybe this means buying easy-to-prepare foods to make sure you can still eat enough even if you’re worn out, or starting a mood journal that you can use to monitor how you feel during the bootcamp. Think again about the routine that you’re planning, and make sure to book dedicated time to decompress and care for yourself in addition to study time.
Meet people
Does your bootcamp have a Discord, Slack, forum, or other way to communicate with classmates that you can already access before the bootcamp begins? It can be nice to start chatting there and get to know some of the people who you’ll be learning alongside! In my experience, it makes all the difference in the world to feel like you’re not in it alone, and the sooner you start building those relationships, the sooner you can reap the benefits of feeling like you’re part of a community. Plus, if you need to ask your peers for help later in the bootcamp, I find that it’s less scary to do if you already know some of the people.
If you’re joining the Bad Website Club bootcamp, then the Bad Website Club Discord server is a great place to introduce yourself, talk about your goals, and start getting to know your fellow learners!
Bonus: Check your foundational knowledge
This article focused mainly on how to prepare your lifestyle for the bootcamp, but you may also want to check how prepared you are for the curriculum. See if your bootcamp posts a list of prerequisites. If it’s a bootcamp for complete beginners (like the Bad Website Club bootcamp) then you probably don’t need to worry much about this, but you may still want to review this page from The Odin Project about computer basics and make sure everything at least sounds familiar. If your bootcamp is related to web development, then you might also be interested in The Odin Project’s lesson on how the web works to gain some extra context for the work you’ll be doing.
Good luck with your bootcamp, and please don't forget to take care of yourself along the way!
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