STHU: Happy Coding-bootcamp Story 97 of 100

Silence, on my part, has made job seekers happy, when they are graduating students.

Shut The Heck Up, Pete. STHU. A paradox - help a student get their happy story.

8 students, suddenly stuck on a coding problem

8 students working on a coding project, together. Suddenly - they are stuck. It's a problem. What move to make, next?

Doesn't seem right for an instructor to remain silent when it would be so much easier to just tell them what to do next. Don't. They've got this.

When a student graduates - it's the interview that gets him the job. And that's a smell test - you want the candidate who smells like she knows what do - without direction.

If you want to create a successful coder in the marketplace, the careful STHU is necessary, to get there. That moment can shift a person's entire self image, toward a confident. "We did this." Many such moments, in turn, solidify the effect.

Layers

One can't judge a whole world by a few hundred students, but if I could - I'm here to report to all - it's a pretty terrific world we are moving into.

The population I get to see is diverse in almost every way. A common thread seems to be courtesy and respectfulness. So what is missing? The surly, opinionated know it all. Never see that person, despite a lifetime of learning to expect him/her around every corner.

But respectfulness creates it's own challenges. The happy story is when I can STHU long enough for so many bright individuals to break through their own layers of politeness.

Their proposals are tentative, at first. Then they become easier, with time.

Can You See Yourself This Way?

Not sure who is learning more, here? Is it me as a surly opinionated boomer learning STHU as per the kind and respectful approach of my students?

Or are they learning more by activating their own ability to think for themselves even when it's a pain point?

The test is the coding iteration itself. When each of us sees ourselves as a kind of director of this or that [coding] iteration, we can confidently experiment our way through all manner of challenges.

It's a nice bargain

Nobody has to join coding bootcamp to learn to talk, or STHU, or whatever it is that makes us valuable in 2025 or 2035, making a career for ourselves.

For me, the happy story is learning from each other. I get to learn by STHU.

They learn by taking charge.

It's a cool deal. Lessons from 3 years of instructing in a bootcamp.