After almost a year, my time at Flatiron Academy is coming to an end. Following are some of my thoughts about how things went:
Biggest Challenges
Prework!!! I had a tough time getting through the prework prior to my class starting. I started off well enough, but soon the labs got very difficult. I made the mistake of working on a lab for hours before asking support for help. I was on vacation in Hawaii for part of my prework and I spent a couple of afternoons at Starbucks trying to get through just one lab!
The support staff was very helpful and friendly. And they told me about a debugging tool: Pry. Up to that point the curriculum hadn’t mentioned this. Once I had this tool, things definitely got easier! After stressing out I also found out that after about halfway the lessons were optional - this was good news as I didn’t think I was going to complete the entire prework (I did complete it). The funny thing is, the prework seemed much harder than the actual curriculum. Maybe this is a way to weed out less motivated students?
Biggest Surprise
I enjoyed working on my computer and the online learning experience. I was worried about staying motivated and engaged not having a physical classroom and contact with others, but having the structured curriculum and online classes worked great.
Other than the challenges of getting through the prework I didn’t need much help from support to get through the labs and projects. However, they were responsive and helpful the times I did need them.
Favorite Activities
The class sessions were really enjoyable. It was good to have interaction with my awesome instructors and classmates. It was also very helpful to go through some of the labs with the class and be able to ask questions.
Completing the curriculum and labs. The coursework was well structured and fun to go through. I also enjoyed the labs, although they were frustrating at times. It always felt like I was learning and progressing, and the structure kept me motivated
Interesting Things I Learned
How to debug issues! Learning about Pry during the prework really opened my eyes to the benefits of seeing how things work. Throughout the class I was an avid user of Pry / Byebug in Ruby and console.log / debugger in JavaScript.
What I’m Looking Forward To
I’m looking forward to continuing to code, improve my projects, and continue learning on my own. I also hope to apply my skills in a web development career!
Advice for New Students
- Ask for help sooner than later. The support staff is friendly, responsive, and quite helpful.
- Participate in class and ask questions. This really helped my understanding of the topics.
- Work on extra projects / bonus materials / videos / etc. There are lots of extra resources and the extra practice was helpful for me.
Thank you to my instructors and the Flatiron Academy for an awesome experience. I’m happy that I learned so much and enjoyed the experience at the same time. I will miss the fun routine of learning and passing the labs as well as my classes, instructors, and classmates. Hopefully we will keep in touch. Thank you Flatiron Academy for a great experience!