Roadmap to how I learned to code
Software is self-discovery
This Article is dedicated to my mentors Alasdair and Steve o( ❛ᴗ❛ )o
It took me a long time to come up with this roadmap, and it took a village to help me get here. (＠＾◡＾)
After partially completing my boot camp and entering the Software Engineering space, I started suffering from Imposter Syndrome. I was overwhelmed by the number of things I had to learn and by how I had to learn them.
I was told that the “Agile” way was for me to build my own training plan and to learn on my own because a structured approach was considered “Waterfall.” I was provided links to Microsoft Docs and was told it’s normal to struggle for days without understanding them. After I’ve been hired, there were some conversations about my lack of technical knowledge, and I’ve been provided with feedback on my personality. I was told I shouldn’t show the skills of a “principal” (soft skills) until I became a superstar coder. Suffice it to say, at this point, I started to doubt my choice of selecting Software Engineering as a career.
I am my mental health („• ֊ •„)
How I dealt with my anxiety was simple in a way — I allowed myself to get fired and make as many mistakes as possible. I allowed myself to not listen to them and to pursue my goal as a developer regardless if I could do it or not. It’s awful to be in this situation, but my mental health was on the line and protecting my mental health is the same as protecting me as a person.
“The diversity of the team leads to better problem solving and better products” — Steve
Later, I found people who explained what the Agile methodology stands for — collaboration and pairing. And what I could bring to tech is my diversity, my unique way of thinking and my interaction with others.
“Tech is a people’s problem rather than a tech problem” — Alasdair
I found acceptance, love and understanding. They would say things like,
“Of course you don’t know that…there’s nobody to teach you…Come here.. Let’s do this together!”
or
“Don’t even look at that piece of code… you don’t need to understand that yet”.
Everything changes once you find your home in tech. You can easily point out what’s wrong and what’s right for you and can start to help others. Picking your environment is crucial to becoming a great developer, so make sure it’s a supportive place for your growth wherever you are. (☆ω☆)
This Article and many others I’ve published are to support Software Engineers, women engineers, minorities and anyone who would like to learn to code.
Remember, you don’t need to fit tech. Tech needs to fit you.
Gambatte! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
