Hi, My name is Alex, and I just Graduated from a Bootcamp.

Well, it’s over. Four months came and went, and now I have something called skills. Skills in languages that, less than one year ago, I thought I’d never have. Skills with learning languages like Java or Swift. Frameworks like React Native or Rails. Four months; that’s how long it took me to complete my @Makers experience. And you know what? I loved every single moment of it.

When I first started coding in May, my most significant achievement was to be able to create an HTML document and get it hosted up on one of my domains. These domains I bought from large companies like Squarespace. At the time, I thought that was it. That’s what I’ll be able to do. For me, it was a small victory. But I also felt that I wouldn’t be ready to dive deeper, due to something I call “perceived programming complexity”.

I’ve lived with PPC for a long time. I was always into technology. Whether it was when I built my own computer or I (rudely) created a phishing site of Facebook to trick my friends, I always enjoyed fiddling with tech. However, I was told by many people like family or teachers that coding was difficult. It required knowledge in Math. It needed complexity that they felt I didn’t have. So I never pursued it.

I followed a different path, met different people, had different experiences. However, I never stopped wondering, what if? Thankfully, that one day in May, where I was able to host an HTML document online, I felt such joy over something so simple. There was a little bit of debugging. There was a bit of googling. But finally, I was able to do it. I look back now, and I think about how simple it was; now after four vigorous months of coding, and creating applications that are actually complex, I’ve become the person I admired to be.

I’m a software developer.

Last Wednesday, we had a careers fair where we got to meet multiple companies. The companies ranged from start-ups working with the NHS to large corporations dealing with a petabyte of data. Now, I’m not a socialite. I usually struggle with these kinds of occasions. I went to a screenwriter festival last year that was very similar, and I just couldn’t bring up the courage to interact with new people. However, on Wednesday, I was chatting with everyone. I cared about leaving a great impression. I even brought business cards!

Regarding reflection, I’m really proud of myself for being able to network. It’s such an important skill to have and to be able to do it successfully is a challenge. My next goal in my programming career is to develop the soft skills required to stand out from the rest. If you have any tips, I’d love for you to share them with me!

So, it’s been a week since I graduated and I’m enjoying my time as a recent graduate. I’ve been focusing on several things that I want to accomplish. I’ve been getting into Machine Learning, learning TensorFlow with JavaScript. I also wanted to experiment using site generators like Gatsby.js. I’m also trying to learn Python from the ground up, where I’ll also dive deeper into frameworks like Django. I believe that’ll be my main project this week. I’m going to create a real-estate website where you can search for property listings; it doesn’t sound like much, but I believe it’s very real-world; a project that wouldn’t surprise me if my job required me to do it. I’m also avoiding re-creating todo lists for a while (if ever again).

I’m also participating in #AdventOfCode! I just discovered it, but it’s a celebration of Christmas, where you try to save the Holidays writing code in whichever language you prefer. It’s quite tricky and is much more algorithmic than I am used to. However, it’s rewarding when you finally solve it, even if your code is quite confusing and doesn’t make much sense. But at least you’re saving Christmas, right? I definitely encourage you to sign up if you haven’t already, and participate.

## My Day One Solution for Counting All of the Numbers - Tricky!
with open('input.txt') as input_text:
    count = 0
    for line in input_text:
        count += int(line)
    print(count)

I’m sad that my time at Makers has come to an end, but I’m also quite relieved to have graduated. It’s been a wild ride. I’ve met some brilliant people, and yes, some rude people. I’ve learned the importance of collaboration, and how crucial it is to have evidence for your accomplishments. I’ve learned to code, and I’ve learned how to learn. I’m excited to see where I’ll be going next, and with my job applications now sent, I look forward to growing as a developer. I’m only a Junior Dev, but I’m finally feeling like I’ve done it. I found my path, and all I got to do is stick to it. I know I’m going to make great things.

Thank you for reading.

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