The following is based on my experience as a Flatiron student and is offered up in all humility. Some of what I write to you I sensed from the start, but most of it I did not understand right away, and looking back, wished I had. This is not meant to be articulate prose or necessarily a well written blog post, rather, just some thoughts that may be helpful to the successful navigation of the course, while gleaning the most substantial return.
Positive mental attitude and approach to the course is a must.
Collaborate with your fellow students but avoid side channel chat negativity. Negativity breeds doubt and doubt is the enemy of clarity and purpose. You will need to be clear thinking and purposeful in your work to be successful, and it does involve work. You can’t buy knowledge and skills. As with anything, what you get out of this course of study will be in direct proportion to how much of yourself you invest. So, banish all doubt and pour yourself into the curriculum and code.
Take responsibility for your learning.
See the item above and ask yourself – How bad do I want this, and what am I prepared to do to achieve it. You are in charge of your own learning, no one can learn for you. Be pro-active and invest mightily.
On Googling…
A big part of this course is teaching you to find answers independently. I didn’t get this at first, and initially my problem-solving abilities suffered because of it. Learn to phrase searches well using specific terms, then scan and filter the results for the answer you are looking for. These are the keys to effective googling. It’s about practice, and the best students get very good at rapidly googling for answers. They are like Google Jedis. Make no mistake, it is a necessary skill throughout this course and in the industry, so embrace it.
Read the documentation.
As was true of myself, if you are new to programming, the documentation can be difficult to read and understand. The best I can say is, it gets better with practice. If you avoid reading the documentation and blow it off, it will always be difficult. Read the documentation, absorb as much as you can and move on. If you blow off the docs your skills will be the lessor. Your ability to read docs will affect your ability to scan and filter search results as well.
Binding Pry, Console log, and Debugger.
I didn’t understand what binding pry was all about at first and it didn’t seem very useful, so I blew past it. This is a mistake. Take the time to learn to use these tools to figure out what’s going on with your code line by line and remember to ask yourself the right questions. What do I expect this line of code to do, what is it actually doing, what is the return value of this method or function, etc. Slow down and focus on these principles when you get to that part of the curriculum, it will pay big dividends.
Ask A Question. Ask many questions but take a moment to be thoughtful about it.
There is no such thing as a stupid question, but there is such a thing (I think) as a poorly worded question. Hitting the AAQ chat with an exasperated text about how you don’t get it just slows the process down. Doesn’t help you and doesn’t help the Tech Coaches help you. Take a deep breath and take a moment to phrase your question, articulate your question well. Be ready to paste code and error messages in such a way as to clearly communicate the problem. I have actually answered my own question in the process of taking the time to phrase my question. Don’t take your frustration out on the TC’s, be nice, be patient and don’t alienate yourself. The TC’s are a lifeline for you, make them your friends. I have had a couple TC’s take me under their wing because they saw how hard I was working, taking responsibility for my own learning, and exercising thoughtful etiquette in the AAQ chat. The TC’s are invaluable resources second only to your cohort lead, so learn the protocols (like closing out your AAQ question when it’s been handled). It can be difficult but start in the chat and don’t be demanding about screen shares. It is important to understand that the TC’s will avoid giving you the answer at all costs. Their purpose is to lead you to the point where you see the answer, not just give you the answer, it’s part of the learning process. And very important to note, the encouragement I got from the TC’s helped me double down, refocus, and got me through the tough patches.
Problem solving and error messages.
Take the time to attend the Study Group on reading error messages. I did it twice. I can’t emphasize this enough. Don’t panic, learn to read the error messages and use them as a problem-solving guide. And oh my gosh… google your error messages. I can’t say enough about googling error messages!
Tough Concepts.
Understanding self and understanding this will happen. If you are just starting the course with no frame of reference, I’m not speaking philosophically here. When you get there, you will know what I’m talking about. These are difficult concepts to wrap your head around, but do not get discouraged. These pieces will fall into place as you continue to work and learn. Don’t be afraid to do some extra reading or a tutorial or two, it’s worth the investment. If you are like me, you may feel like you can’t move forward without a complete understanding of the tough concepts. Not true. In fact, it is continuing to move forward that facilitates a solid understanding.
These are just a few tips, in the hope that something here will help another student to get as much out of their learning experience as possible. I would like to encourage all students… don’t quit. Quite a few quit, and I came close once. (It was a TC who talked me down off that ledge.) You can do this if you want it bad enough. The questions are – how bad do you want it, and what are you prepared to do to achieve it?
Only you can answer those questions but understand that it’s worth the effort and so are your dreams and aspirations.