As of right now, i am not entirely sure what direction my journey will take. I have always liked the idea of working as a game developer but my mind is open at this point and i would not like to close the door on any other opportunities that might arise. I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of doors and options this will open up for me.
I like to think of myself as someone who is determined to finish any assignment put in front of me, once i know the task that needs to be carried out i tend to find a flow state which is very beneficial and effective. Another strength of mine would be my relaxed personality which brings me a few positives like not pacicking when something goes wrong or even lack of fear of being wrong, i like to ask questions and make sure im on the right track, sometimes i can be the person who asks that silly question not many others will ask due to fear of looking a little dim where as for me i prefer to make sure i know exactly what im doing and if that means i have to ask lots of questions then so be it.
One thing that i need to work on is making sure i read and understand everything properly, sometimes i need to take my time and reassure myself that i am doing the correct tasks, i am working on this aspect of my study plan.
The journaling aspect is something i would like to improve, i have never really implemented anything like this in my studies before. I remember at uni writing notes and studying them if that counts, but i think journaling is a little more complex than that. Having to revise and re run what i have just learned by myself was somewhat new to me and im still in the developing stages of this skill.
The plan is to focus the harder and bigger workload at the beginning of the week so that when it comes towards the end of the week it won’t be all piled up.
As of the beginning of week 3 i will have the whole week to dedicate to the dev academy course. I will be looking at 8hrs per day + a little extra if needed.
Luckily for us we have a lot of help outlets in the course with lots of people willing to help which is something i plan to take advantage of when i need it.
When it comes to working with others, i have never had an issue with group activities as i like to and would say that i prefer to be in the group environment.
I believe we all come from different backgrounds and upbringings and we have all picked up different sets of skills along the way and even if we have different learning paces we can all learn or abstract something from each other and maybe adapt it to our way of learning.
While working with people and groups my whole life i have learnt that a good path to succeed in connecting with a group is having a good base of values.
Respect, Kindness and flexibility are my base for tackling any group activities.
Respecting every individual whether they are a student, a facilitator or community representatives.
Treating everyone with the respect you would like to be treated like.
Kindness and manners a free so its a great thing to excersise i believe, people already have enough stress in their life , the last thing they need is someone being rude and nasty to them. I like to prioritise the social aspect of things when working in a group, if everyone feels comfortable and welcome the productivity and efficiency will be very good.
I used the term flexibility in the sense of keeping your mind flexible, always be open to listening to others’ perspectives and ideas.
I love the idea of borrowed learning which is essentially everyone learning something from everyone else even if its only a small intake and to be able to practise borrowed learning you need to be open to others’ ideas of course.
Whenever things begin to build up and it gets a little tough i will try to take short breaks to clear my head and make sure to stay hydrated. There is also the discord help group which i will make sure to use if needed.
When i find myself having a tough time or stuck, i will try to go through my notes and fix the issue on my own, however if that is not enough i will not hesitate to contact any of the facilitators on the discord public channels or even in private.
Respect first and foremost , i think it is essential for people to treat each other with respect regarless of each others’ position in the community. Guidance is another thing i expect from the Facilitation team, i have faith that these facilitators will teach us and push us to bring out the best version of ourselves during this coding journey.
I work night shift cleaning on weekends, therefore on fridays and saturdays i go to sleep in the afternoon and i get home around 8am. I have managed to get my sundays off too now from week 3 onwards i will not work sundays, giving me an extra day of availability for the course .
My goal has been to eventually get into the game development industry but i understand that it might take a while and a longer path than expected. The reality is that i will be happy to get into the programming world to begin with and make my first experiences in any part of the industry. In the earlier sprint i answered something similar as i still intend to to stick with my initial goal, but i am aware that it will take some time and i am excited for the challenges to come.
From what i have heard, bootcamp will be different to the foundations, it will include more scheduled learning and more teamwork based learning. I believe that i work better with a group than on my own specially in study situations. I think studying alone has shown me some new flaws i was not aware of, for example , the first couple of weeks i kept getting distracted and my attention span was really bad, i have noticed some progress in this regard but i also think that being in a group environment will help me with this aspect too, by having to interact with people and not being alone for long periods of time where my mind wonders off and i have to meditate to bring it back to focus. It has been a long time since i had studied by myself like i do now during foundations that i did not realise i excessively took advantage of the freedom remote study brings. I am really excited to begin bootcamp as i think it will benefit me a great deal because i am more comfortable with team learning and my people and teamwork skills will be one of my bigger strengths this bootcamp.
This is one hard questions as i think there will be many different challenges that i will have to consider. Staying on top of the material can be a good one, considering that sprint 4 kicked my butt and i struggled with that week's workload. Adding the fact that apparently bootcamp is harder than foundations makes me believe that i could encounter difficulties during the bootcamp period. Another non-technical challenge that might be hard is keeping focused for nine weeks, even though i believe that being in a team oriented environment which will help me stay focused and enjoying the course, i am aware that i cannot lose sight of my goal which is to complete the course and find work in the industry. Nine can be a really long time if you are in discomfort and panic mode constantly, that is why i believe that being in groups will help me not only with the tech side but also the well being aspect of things as i will feel a lot better about my learning.
The skill i would like to develop further is my reflective skills and self awareness. I feel like i am still not used to constantly reflecting on work and myself but i understand the importance of it and believe that i will benefit a lot by improving these skills. I think this should be one of my focuses this bootcamp, i would like to keep looking back on my work and behaviour during the work, what was good and what was not, question my assumption and develop my strengths along the way.
From what i heard , i think that bootcamp will have more support than a discord channel like we had in the foundations. I got the impression that it was going to be similar to a class in the more traditional way, where we can interact with the support right there and then, instead of asking a question and get a reply a few hours later when you have already found the solution. I really hope i am correct in my prediction of how bootcamp will work because i felt a little frustrated at times during foundations and having to ask a channel and waiting for a while was very intense and nerve wrecking. If it turns out to be different, i will not complain either, i think we need to prepare for whatever it is that bootcamp will bring and i am really looking forward to it.
I plan to be more strict with myself when it comes to time-management and deadlines. I have other commitments but this is a priority of mine right now so i have to prioritise it and focus on managing my time a lot better than i have been doing in foundations. Even though i have not exceeded any deadlines yet, i do not plan to stay at the same level of time management because i expect bootcamp to be harder and more intense and i want to be prepared for it. Setting daily and weekly goals to myself in order to stay on top of the work and i will buy a calendar to hang up on the wall so i can keep track of the deadlines given to us.
Managing myself will be another challenge i will be taking on when i start bootcamp at Dev academy. I plan to keep myself organised, open to feedback from peers and facilitators and maintaining a calm and chill attitude during the entirety of the course.
Taking care of myself and health is also an extremely important aspect of it and i will try my best to make time for resting and relaxing to avoid getting burnt out.
When working with others, I will communicate clearly, listen actively, and respect different perspectives.
I consider myself a very good team player so i believe that i will do well during the bootcamp weeks. I plan to put my human skills to work,
i will maintain professional and safe boundaries and contribute to creating a supportive and inclusive environment for everyone involved in the programme.
It is a little bit difficult to say how i will seek for help and where i will ask for it as we don’t really know how bootcamp really works, we all have somewhat an idea of how it will work for the learning purposes. For example, if i am allowed to i will ask for help on the spot if it means i can learn it without falling behind. If i see that asking on the spot is not an option then i will assess the situation and find the more adequate manner to ask for help, making sure the teacher can do their job without disruptions.