How to survive a coding Bootcamp

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved computers, or rather what I can achieve thanks to them. I have created music, designs, essays (awful ones in high school). At some point, I started to build websites -Wordpress in the room-, then I began to be more curious about the code behind websites, web apps, mobile apps, machine learning, artificial intelligence. I had opened a door I could not close anymore. Thanks to all the fantastic creators on Youtube, I learned about the different languages, frameworks, servers, software development methodologies, etc. But it was not enough because I still could not connect all the dots and actually build something myself.

In the last five years, Le Wagon has been a Bootcamp repeatedly recommended to me by developers, tech bloggers & entrepreneurs. Our baby was a month old when I thought, “why not! It should be fine…”.

Why I decided to switch career

Before joining the Bootcamp, I worked as a digital marketer for more than 6 years in the travel industry and co-founded a marketing lab agency. During these years, I also learned the basics of HTML, CSS, and the web, in general, to build data-driven marketing campaigns for my clients. On the side, I developed a taste for user interface design and user experience.

In my last job as a Marketing Manager in Chile, I used my basic coding and design skills to upgrade our prospects’ and clients’ experience and improve our brand perception in the eyes of an international elite audience. We were selling boutique fly and cruise expeditions to Antarctica.

Although I loved my job and the team I was working with, I felt I had reached a plateau, and there were no tangible options to grow faster and satisfy my thirst for knowledge. Of course, digital marketing and storytelling will always have a place in my heart, but I needed to add something new to my skills equation. Coding would be my next endeavor, and in fact, I was about to find the entrance to this new rabbit hole.

Three months after my daughter was born, my family and I moved to Madrid, Spain, for my husband’s studies. In the meantime, I joined Le Wagon Madrid Bootcamp to sharpen my coding skills and finally have the courage to build web applications. This was also an excellent opportunity to be part of a community of code learners and problem solvers.

Le Wagon Bootcamp

Before getting into the Bootcamp, I went through an interview and a 40-hour prep work to learn the basics of HTML, CSS, Git, and Ruby. During all this process, Fanny Rojon, Le Wagon Spain general manager, was available to answer any doubts I had and was ready to solve any possible issue.

Once in Madrid, I landed in batch #725 with 16 other lucky ones from 12 different countries (if I remember well), ranging from 18 to 40(ish) years old. It was a perfect mix of different backgrounds and realities that fostered friendship and support. I really felt lucky to be in the middle and share challenges and achievements with all of them.

I particularly appreciated the learning pace, which was fast but very well delivered by the teachers, TAs, and Kitt, Le Wagon’s learning platform, full of guidelines with best practices and resources. Each day started at 9:00 am with a lecture about a new concept, followed by code challenges we solved in teams of two (you and your Buddy). Then Out of the 9-week Bootcamp, the two last weeks were some of the most intense in my life, as my team and I were building Story Deck, a product that I pitched during the Bootcamp.

Le Wagon Madrid team helped us manage our coding vs. relaxing time throughout the process. They were very supportive and open to listening to our emotions and feelings (sometimes classmates can get tense over a line of code), especially Emilia Ivaylova, Marketing, and Event Manager.

Learn to code as a mom

Gosh…I guess this was the hard part. Being newbie parents is already challenging, and we had the “brilliant” idea to both study when our baby girl turned three months. And let me tell you, there were times when I had to breastfeed while typing on my computer whit my free hand. That position was the very representation of me being a mom and still trying to exist as my previous self, an unconditional learner. It was very uncomfortable (with my back pain) but weirdly satisfying.

If I could share what I learned during this coding Bootcamp as a mother, I would go for the following:

• Prepare your mind. Yoga, meditation, music, writing, reading, a glass of wine, etc. Pick at least one activity you know you can go to when you feel you need to. Breathing sessions throughout the day really helped me channel out any source of frustration and continue enjoying motherhood while learning new skills.
• It can be tense at home. Many factors may add to this tension between both new parents. Our case was mainly caused by sleep deprivation from having a newborn and the pressure from moving to a new country. Keep the communication open and honest with your partner, so you can support each other, and above everything, give all the love your baby needs.
• Get help. We were new to Spain and not very comfortable leaving our baby with someone we didn’t know, so we got a family member flying from abroad. Whatever your situation is, think about it. Help during that 9-week Bootcamp will surely be welcome.
• Trust the process. This is what we were told over and over again during the Bootcamp. Sometimes it was hard to understand new concepts. And the answer to our complaints was: “it’s totally normal if you don’t get it the first or second time.” I took that advice home, and I stopped feeling I was failing at being a good mom whenever I couldn’t sort something out.

Now, each person has very different experiences of parenthood within other realities. Here, I am just sharing what made sense for me. Keep in mind that you need to do what feels good to you.

Lessons for the future

It is well-known that women are under-represented in the tech industry. I think there are even fewer mothers in the field. Yet, we have a unique way of seeing the world and contributing to projects and society. As first caregivers, we raise human beings from their very first day in this world until our very last breath is gone. And as digital products are now such an essential part of our daily lives, we could learn so much from parents’ vision in the way we build code that handles interactions between humans and machines.

What Le Wagon provided me was just a taste of what I can possibly achieve as a mother. Think of it as a kickstart to a greater beyond. Not only has this been a great way to learn “How to learn to code,”; Le Wagon was also a fantastic human experience I recommend to everyone passionate about building great products in teams.

I wish there was a Wagon for my daughter too.