Trying to condense a 24-week bootcamp journey into a 7-minute read might be as tough as the bootcamp itself, but let me try. About me. I am a techie, with a fairly long “been there, done that” career in the industry. And in the autumn of 2020 (autumn in Singapore? Use your imagination, I say) I was at the peak of my anxiety and general unhappiness with being the rat on the wheel, and the wheel was getting more slippery with each passing year! It was then that I decided to take the plunge and do the Le Wagon bootcamp. I was very clear about WHY I was doing it - my driver was a creative itch to build new things and use software skills to build them. I was also clear about WHY NOT: for me, the pull wasn’t to get a new job or build a new career - if those were to happen, well and good, but I wouldn’t fret if they didn’t happen, yet I could still walk away with new knowledge and skills that I could tinker with and use to keep me rejuvenated and excited about my life. Enough about me. About the bootcamp and my ride, from here. First lesson learnt: it pays to do the pre-course prep work well. I had initially underestimated the load and complexity of this piece, and had to ramp up exponentially before the selection interview with lead instructor Miguel. Frankly, I wasn’t happy with how I fared at that interview, but luckily, Miguel was generally ok with my skill and knowledge level, and I got through. I chose the part-time program that stretches over 24 weeks. Obvious reasons: I had to balance across the demands of a regular day job and my family. The intensity of a 9-week stint of back-to-back sessions looked intimidating to me, so I chose the part-time course - and it worked for me. I must admit that at the start of the bootcamp, it felt a bit strange when the classroom sessions seemed to be so “light” on theory, and the constant nudge to work on the challenge exercises. My initial reaction was hey, how can I do this when I haven’t fully grasped the theory? Adapting to this learning-by-doing regimen needed me to double down on paying close attention to and understanding the recorded videos that we were expected to see before each classroom session. At night, I started doing the exercises showcased in each recorded video lesson, before starting on the classroom session challenges. I focused on getting each flash card answer right, even if it took multiple attempts. I realised I had become rusty at retention, and had to ramp up on repetition and practice. After about 3-4 weeks of doing this, I got much better at learning by doing and I got to a point where I was able to complete some of the challenges before the next day’s session started. Hard, bull-headed effort was finally paying off. And I realised that familiarity breeds other things besides contempt and children: self-confidence which then leads to wanting to do more. Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed about the bootcamp was the challenge exercises - their variety: a mix of brain-teasers, games and real-life needs - they were never boring. End-of-course project. I started with a deja vu feeling - am I ready to do this yet? And at the end of the project, I realise now that there two crucial factors that made us succeed and achieve what we set out to build and built in 14 days: - a very sensible and pragmatic assessment by our teachers, of the products we pitched to build, driving a fine balance between creating new, interesting value propositions while not trying to go to Mars in 14 days - followed through with continuous mentoring, as well as refinement and critique of each product as it took shape; and - having a framework to follow in actually doing the project, which drew upon a broad canvas of tools and methodologies; this made teamwork and planning easier and more effective, leading to productive, rapid builds in a controlled, coordinated manner. This was particularly important during the weeks where Covid restrictions meant everyone working remotely, without the natural benefits of “common ground” classroom sessions. Well, that’s the story of the ride, in a nutshell. Not only did we all survive, but we emerged with new wings to fly, perhaps eventually to soar. I realised that each one of us students had a different reason to do this bootcamp - some came to self-actualize, some to improve upon what they were already doing, some to change careers and some to gain first-hand knowledge akin to learning “what goes on inside a kitchen before opening a restaurant”. I believe that our bootcamp education satisfied each of those drivers with its unique mix of content, method and teaching. For those who stay through the rolling credits part - I take this opportunity to thank my teachers Miguel, Prima, Grace, Ann and the all-round support from Liana before, during and after the bootcamp. I could write a whole chapter on how great each of them are. But I will suffice it to say thank you, and I hope that I can live up to the trust and confidence that they have shown in all of us. | 