Thirdly Reflections.

One Month at Makers Academy

So it’s been a month.

The most wild, enthralling, challenging and wonderful month of my life.

I’ve learnt about hashes, and salts. MVC and DRY. Sinatra, Capybara and RSpec.

I’ve drunk an unhealthy amount of coffee; but done an equally healthy amount of yoga.

I’ve met the most incredible people, and had the opportunity to work with someone new everyday.

I’ve laughed, coded, died a little inside, and then been prouder of myself then I have ever been before.

It’s been a hell of a first month.

The pace has been perfect. It’s challenging, but the spiral learning means the leap from one step to the next is never too hard. Everything builds on top of everything else, which means that while you’re learning it seems like your making slow progress. But when you stop and reflect on how far you’ve come in such a short space of time, it’s truly unbelievable.

Don’t believe me? Go check out how the complexity and quality of my code has changed over the last four weeks:

Week One - Airport Challenge
Week Two - Takeaway Challenge
Week Three - Rock Paper Scissors
Week Four - Twitter Clone

Crazy Right?

The guys at Makers Academy have built an environment that almost forces you to succeed. And it’s not just the quality of the course, but everything else that goes with it. The daily meditation sessions have gone from being a strange quirk, to an integral part of my day. They provide a real opportunity to check in with yourself, while the twice weekly yoga, allows you to exercise out all the code related stress.

We’ve also just starting getting mentee’s from the cohort below. It’s crazy to think we’re already in a position to be guiding a new group through the course. This is another strength of the Makers program and one I can not speak highly enough of. Our seniors have been incredibly helpful, both with coding issues, but also wider insights into coding. I hope we can be just a useful to the cohort below.

I can not offer any higher praise than to say this course has surpassed every one of my expectations so far. For anyone who is interested in learning to code, I would have zero hesitation in recommending Makers. If you are willing to work, you will not find a better environment in which to do it.

The course is only going to get harder from here. Next week is Javascript week, and our first chance to learn a new language. Its going to be a challenge but one I think I’m ready for.