Deciding to change my career, that’s a really big deal, and in many ways the hardest part has already been done. Decision made, course chosen, fees paid, pre-course completed (just…).
And so here it is, Tuesday 19th April 2022 — day one at Makers. We start on a Tuesday as it’s Easter weekend, and yesterday I was wracked with nerves which meant headache and nausea and a heavy preoccupation. I had the first day nerves and I had them bad.
What am I going to wear?
What will people think of me?
Am I going to be OK?
Obviously I planned my timings carefully — didn’t want to leave that to chance, and I arrived at 9:10 (not too early, not too late). The building is classic East London brick warehouse, and really very welcoming — Ash at reception is super friendly. I find some of my cohort and say an awkward “hello” — then a few of us go to make tea. to be honest I don’t really want tea, I want something to do.
We make our way to the second floor to begin our makers course — Eóin is our coach this week. We begin with housekeeping and hellos, the the course is outlined and we enter what is really the main theme for the day — what this bootcamp actually is, what it isn’t, how we will be learning and why that is. This is a 12 week course in learning how to learn. There is no tick-list. There is no better or worse — this is the experience of being faced with problems, and being scaffolded while we learn how to access and use the tools we need to solve them.
I leave the day feeling hugely affirmed. Affirmed by my cohort — what an excellent, warm, empathic and friendly group of human beings but also affirmed by the choice I made to be here. To be at Makers. This is not 12 weeks of “learn this and then you can”. This is a change of mindset and an immediate immersion into being a developer starting today.
Am I better developer than I was yesterday?
Yes — I have sat and pair coded in person. I have faced a problem that stumped us and our coach for long enough that I felt encouraged. And was then solved by my pair. I have been told that the most important thing is my well-being, our well-being, our togetherness — not just this cohort on this journey, but also onward into the future of my career. Today feels like the beginning of the next bit, more than the beginning of now.