Just fyi, there were two posts on my tumblr that were obviously spam.  Sorry about that!  Also, I have not stopped blogging =D

I have another blog about coding and my life as it is today in the works.  I’ll unveil it once I return to DevBootcCamp in late January.  I’m excited =D

After a month at DevBootCamp’s summer cohort, it became apparent that it would be in my best interest to defer to the Fall January cohort.  As a true newbie I simply could not keep up with the pace of the DevBootCamp summer program.

The first week of DBC we went through the basics, in hindsight I should have taken furious notes to retain the importance of covering these fundamentals.  By the second week, we had been given exercises that we were supposed to accomplish while pair programming with another student.  I must admit, I paired with students who had either an engineering background or had previous knowledge of other programming languages.  Unlike me, they were not true newbies.  Although the pairings went well, in hindsight I did not assert myself.  I would let my partners drive, while I sat back and let the information come over me and away from me.  By the end of the second week I was behind and it was too late to move forward with the rest of the pack.

My third week at DBC was spent reviewing the fundamentals while the other students learned about Test Driven Development and Rspec.  Although I was learning, I could see the group run ahead of me.

The first day of the fourth week made me shudder.  Shereef Bishay announced that we would be assessed on our Javascript knowledge on Friday and that the studies of the week would focus on Databases.  I was still processing the fundamentals!  Although I did not want to defer, the teachers made it clear to me that it would be in my best interest.  The truth is I deferred because I just did not get it.

I am now alone.  Although I have a plethora of resources to help me prepare for DevBootCamp’s fall January cohort, so many questions are bubbling up in my heart:

1.  What do I do from now until Jan 28th?

2.  Who do I go to when I hit a wall?

3.  How will I stay connected to the DBC cohorts?

4.  How can I ensure that I am truly learning?

5.  What must I do now to keep up with the pace while at DBC?

I do know some of the answers:

1.  What do I do from now until Jan 28th?

Program everyday and push it to Git. No exceptions.

2.  Who do I go to when I hit a wall?

All the people who have generously offered me help and have touched my mind as only great mentors/teachers can: Robert Fletcher, Marcus Phillips, Natasha Murashev, Michael Chen, Terrance whose last name I do not know, Steve Huffman, Alan Andrade Cestelos, my fellow boots of the DBC summer cohort, and my fellow engineers at Granicus.

3.  How will I stay connected to the DBC cohorts?

That has not proven to be a problem since I deferred from DBC in early July ‘12.  In fact, the social aspect of DBC has been a rather enjoyable distraction.  I have no fears or anxieties about staying connected with my fellow boots.  They are a loving and fun  bunch.

4.  How can I ensure that I am truly learning?

That has truly been a bitch.  My ability to focus has been SUCH AN ISSUE.

5.  What must I do now to keep up with the pace while at DBC?

I need to program 10 hours a day, 6 days a week.  It seems as if that is how it has to be.  Also, I have to make everything I do public so I stay accountable.  It’s the only way for me to stick to my pursuit.  It’s the only way.

A great visual resource To Understand Object Oriented Design.  You’ll have to pay a membership to lynda.com to watch it, but it’s totally worth it.