Foundations Reflection
What are three new things you have learnt about yourself and your ego due to the core learning?
I learned that I can code things, even without knowing how, just being able to use my problem solving skills and the internet. During the whackamole stretch material, I had no idea how to do a timer, but through some research and perverance I was able to get it going...Really showed me that I can do alot if I just keep pushing. Bringing me to my next point, during the neuroplasticity and growth mindset learning, I learned that anything is possible to a point, I can learn and gain new skills, it just requires attention, effort and willingness, it was a real eye opener. And my last point being I shouldn't be so hard on myself, its okay to not know something, its just something I haven't learned yet. I thing being tough on ones self is good to a certain degree, but you got to sit back and take note of it, and make sure that it isn't stopping you from pursuing something.
What are the role of values, empathy, and self-awareness in learning and programming?
I think for programming all these things are important. As a programmer you work with others, being a good team player is definitely something that will help achieve results, having empathy for others and seeing their point of view, ultimately will come together to form a better result. Values like contribution, courage are things we have learned during foundations, and taught how important they can be for coding. Being self aware of your emotions is definitely a must when it comes to learning code, concepts get complicated and coming back to that point of having a growth mindset, really helps cool those imposter syndrome thoughts.
What has surprised you the most about the core learning?
I will be honest, when it came to the core learnings, at first I was just in my head, I want to code, teach me code...it wasen't until maybe the second or third core learning, that I realised how valuable the content is and the more I've been coding the more I realised how relevent they are to learning and becoming a developer.
What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?
I am a perfectionist so I would say keeping within the time boxes set out. Some of the core learnings, you had to be self critical, take note of your strengths and weaknesses and how they could impact you going forward. It wasent so much challenging but more eye opening, and then writing about it, getting the thoughts to paper/keyboard, is what I found time consuming and a little challenging aswell as having to do some self analysis. Knowing that others will be reading it also made me want to write well.
Why do you think we, a programming school, are spending so much time focusing on core learning in a web development Bootcamp course?
I would say because it is relevent. I can see why it is a massive part of foundations before the bootcamp kicks off. All the content is important for the career of a developer, and it touches on alot of the aspects of cooperation, mindset, emotional awareness just to name a few. All relevent content someone needs to know to become a good developer, training in things that dev teams in the workforce want.
Does the time you spent studying core learning here feel like a waste of time? Should you have just used that time to practise programming instead? Justify your answer.
My initial thoughts were yes, but soon after I realised its relevence and importance so its a big no from me. The growth mindset stuff I found very empowering, content that I needed to hear again even though I already had a rough idea on it. I thought the entire foundations was a good balance of coding, and core learnings that benefit developers and helps create great developers.