Last week, I graduated from Fullstack Academy’s Full-Time Remote Bootcamp. It felt like such a whirlwind and it’s hard to believe that it’s already over. In such a short span of time, I was able to do so much, more than I ever expected to have been possible.
Applying
I applied to Fullstack without any real coding experience. I was sent an online coding assessment that I scrambled to prepare for. I used CodeAcademy to cram and learn Javascript. CodeAcademy is a good starting point for learning a language, but there a lot more excellent resources out there. After that online assessment was the technical and behavioral interview. As I was underprepared, the interview was tough and I thought I had bombed the interview but was somehow accepted into the program! I was grateful and confused but excited.
Looking back, I wish I had enrolled in the Fullstack Bootcamp Prep Program or some other more in depth program before applying. I definitely could have and should have prepared more for the technical interview.
Foundations
After accepting and enrolling in FSA, I started Foundations, a 4 week self-learning phase of the bootcamp. There is a checkpoint (test) at the end of each week of foundations (3 in total). Although the videos and lessons provided were great and taught me a lot, I struggled the most during this part. Even though I grinded daily for hours, on the first checkpoint, I did not do too hot. This caused me to go down a spiral of self doubt and anxiety. I had poured my all into learning coding but I still wasn’t doing well. I wondered if going into coding was a mistake. Maybe this wasn’t the path for me? What if I simply wasn’t cut out for coding? If I was such having such a difficult time with what was supposed to be the very basics, the foundation, of the program itself, how could I ever handle the actual bootcamp?
Clearly, I was able to get past all of my mental gunk and get through Foundations. What I did to get improve and get pass the phase was simple — I did less. It sounds counterintuitive, but as they say, less is more. Instead of studying as if it were working a 9–5 job, I tried to work in more productive, shorter bursts. I would watch a few lectures and then go take a break. If I got stuck on the assignment, I would walk away and come back to it.
What also helped was being smarter about my breaks. During Foundations, I was studying all day in front of a screen, and then during my breaks I would just change to a different tab and go on Youtube or Netflix. As a result, at the end of each day my eyes burned, my back would be sore, and I would get headaches. I was spending way too much time sitting down and staring at a screen. I was experiencing burnout both mentally and physically. After realizing this, I spent my breaks away from any screens. I changed my breaking habits and instead took walks, called loved ones, or went out to run errands.
Looking back, I should have taken advantage of the help that was provided. I would try and work through any parts that I was struggling with by myself instead of relying on the support. I think I could have saved myself a lot of time and stress this way. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
Junior Phase
Normally, Junior Phase begins one week after completing Foundations. After completing Foundations during the month of May, I was supposed to start the actual bootcamp in June. However, due to the pandemic, Fullstack decided to eliminate in-person learning and switch over to an all remote learning experience. I felt that I would learn best in a real classroom versus a virtual one so I postponed my start date to August, thinking that the pandemic in New York City would probably be better by then… Unfortunately the situation did not get better and I chose to just start the remote cohort in August.
Before the first day of Junior Phase I was really nervous about the workload. I had read reviews of Fullstack Academy that made it seem overwhelming and overly difficult. As an alum, I can say with confidence that some of the reviews that I read were way exaggerated. Yes the program is difficult and yes there’s a lot of work, but it is 100% manageable. You do not need to dedicate every waking hour of your life to code to succeed in the program. You will have time to destress and do things you like, hang out with friends, and have a real life outside of the bootcamp.
Junior Phase is definitely fast paced. Everyday I learned something new but the instructors were really helpful and took their time to go through all the questions. Sometimes though, it would take a little longer for the topics and certain technologies to click. This was okay though as I could always reach out to a fellow (essentially a T.A) or an instructor for further explanation. The schedule in Junior Phase would go something like a lecture in the morning, followed by a pair programming or solo exercise, lunch, and after would be another set of lecture and workshop. I really enjoyed the pair programming because I got to work with someone different everyday and each person could teach me something.
Looking back, I don’t think I should have worried so much about Junior Phase. After working with a lot of different people in pairs, it seemed that everyone had moments during which they felt a little lost. It’s okay to not fully understand the material right after lecture. The workshops exist to solidify understanding. Even if i struggled a bit at times, I left Junior Phase having learned so, so much.
Senior Phase
Senior phase was my favorite part of the program and the time during which I learned the most. Over 6 weeks I got to create 3 different projects — an e-commerce website, a hackathon, and a group project. The e-commerce website, called Grace Shopper, was a guided project. Every team was provided a set of goals and target features. Grace Shopper wasn’t the most exciting thing but it was a project that helped solidify what I knew. It was definitely cool connecting all the different parts that I had learned during Junior Phase to create a real working website.
The hackathon or as Fullstack calls it, stackathon, is a 3 day project over which you have full control. You get no script, no requirements, it’s all up to you. You’re given a very short period of time for the stackathon and you aren’t expected to make something flawless. For this project, I chose to work with a classmate and we created a react native mobile application. The overall functionality of the application worked but it still had bugs and I didn’t walk out of that project fully understanding react native. But that was more than okay. The project is a time to learn something new and jump into making something by yourself.
Capstone is a 2 week long project and is the majority of what you work on in senior phase. I was assigned a team after picking the fields I was interested. For capstone, my team decided to make another react native app (I was lucky to have had some experience with stackathon). During this period, I learned so much. Being able to work with people on an extended project truly taught me how to manage my time, learn new things and implement them fast, and communicate effectively. I really enjoyed this project because I learned so much and because it gave me a glimpse at how the day to day work as an actual software engineer would be like.
Looking back, it’s crazy how quickly senior phase passed by. It was nice to be free of the rigorous, tight schedule of junior phase. So was being able to work on real projects that I could eventually post on my resume and show to employers. Having independence really made the days go by quickly. Also, time has an interesting way of flying by when debugging a project.
Remote Experience
At first, I really disliked the idea of remote learning. I felt that in a virtual setting, I would be less motivated and absorb less of the material. However, that turned out not to be the case. Although I have no experience learning in person at Fullstack, if I were given the option now between an in person experience versus remote, I would pick remote. I learned a lot during my remote cohort and even in the virtual setting, the instructors were phenomenal. They did a really good job keeping the class engaged and making sure that we really understood the topics.
As my cohort was remote, I had a lot more free time than I would have had if I were forced to commute to actual classroom everyday. I live in Jersey and the commute one way is an hour+. That would mean that in an in-person cohort, I would’ve spent more than 10 hours a week just going to and from class. I think I would’ve been absolutely drained if I were to go in every single day. You can think of the remote classroom as WFH. It doesn’t really negatively impact productivity or work ethic. In fact, because of the remote experience I was able to have so much more free time and as a result a better work life balance and more productive working hours.
If there were one negative to the remote cohort, it would be the social aspect of it. I feel that an in person experience there would’ve been a lot more opportunities for social interaction. In a classroom, you go in and see people everyday and get to interact outside of the strict working periods. In a zoom room, it’s difficult to talk to people outside of the pair partner workshops and form friendships. It’s easy to go out and grab dinner or a drink with classmates after an in person class, but over the internet that’s not really a possibility. When class ends in a remote cohort, people log out and the interactions stop there.
Next Steps
Now that the bootcamp is over, the next step for me is to a find a job in the field. My day-to-day consists of working on projects, reading about technology, algorithm practice, and just prepping for the interview process. Although I can recognize that I still have a lot to learn, Fullstack was able to take me to a point where I feel that I can take off and stretch my wings.
I hope that my review was able to provide some insight and help you in whatever stage of the process you are in. You can do it!
Please feel free to ask any questions you have on LinkedIn!
Thanks for reading till the end :’),
Bryan