Owning the Process - Happy Bootcamp Story 64 of 100

When a coder first understands the process.

TL;DR: When we first learn code, we are stuck in a very rigid world of fixing broken syntax. Then, things yield to a different set of rules, where things are less rigid.

Changing The Rules

Coding can be ferociously unforgiving, at first. One comma out of place can bring down a million line program. So it's not hard to come to the conclusion that there is right and wrong, and the world is about knowing which is which.

We have to bring a bootcamper through this very unforgiving binary world, on the way to the other side.

We even block them off, in their own group. "Foundations" we call it. We tell them they have to know this stuff before joining us where the real world takes shape. Few months later, they graduate, and we don't even tell them that all the rules have changed, now.

Things Are Different, Here

After "Foundations" our students enter the real world of coding, where knowledge is squishy and everything does or does not work depending on whether it does or does not work. If that sounds horribly squishy - it is.

The happy story is that this squishy world where the rules are less rigid really isn't so squishy at all. There is a process. We follow the process. Things either work, or they don't, but you're not going to win this battle with knowledge - everything is it's own test.

"Oh, darn. That didn't work. Let's try to dig through the logs and see if we can figure out why." Right about now, the student who just crossed over from foundations is wondering why these guys are supposed to be smarter if they are fumbling their way through every single step of the problem?

Joyfully, we just let them watch as we experiment our way through, one test at a time.

No Rules?

In the coding world, some things work and other really don't. It can seem like there are no rules, sometimes, but instead there are so many rules that it's hard to even understand how to know if you have succeeded or not.

"I got it to work, but the other guys on my team claim my code isn't maintainable." What the heck does maintainable mean? Who judges this? The whole thing seems so squishy, so difficult to define.

Welcome to the world of coding.

On Being a Grownup

Getting through the bootcamp you finish assignment after assignment, realizing that there are 100 ways to do anything, and slowly coming to terms with the fact that this is a business of constant improvement, not one of good vs bad, right vs wrong.

First you get it working. Then you make decisions about what to make better, and you come to terms with the fact that you might not have even chosen the right thing to improve. A lot like life itself.

Right about the time when you graduate from the bootcamp - you have finished your Final Project where you come to terms with your adulthood up close and personal. Nothing is perfect, nothing is really done the way you had originally conceived, but it's good enough.

This is how the real world works. Welcome to the world of coding, now go get a job.