How I Prepared for my Coding Bootcamp
Introduction
If you’re reading this, odds are you either applied for a coding bootcamp or got into one already. The next important step is to prepare for your upcoming bootcamp so you give yourself the best shot. Hopefully your bootcamp gave you a dense practice material/course through a platform like learn.co. First and foremost, I’d recommend starting that as soon as possible. It might be tempting to put it off for tomorrow, but from my experience “tomorrow” turns into next week. Before the bootcamp even begins, you want to start creating a viable routine for yourself to get into the flow of things.
Learning Course
Assuming you received a link to a platform like learn.co, slowly get started on the course. You’re most likely going to learn an Object Oriented Programming language like Ruby. The key takeaway from this part is to take notes on the various Data Types Ruby has. Try your best to understand what each Data Type is and what you can do with them, i.e you can iterate through an Array and a Hash.
The next important step is to become familiar with writing conditionals and loops — if/else/end, if/elsif/end, until do, loop do, while do, etc. A major key is to have the Ruby Enumerables documentation bookmarked, as you will be referring back to that page constantly throughout your time in your bootcamp. To solidify the new information you’ve learned, I’d recommend using sites like leetcode.com and attempting Easy level problems.
Routine
Aside from doing a given course and practicing leetcode, it is essential to start developing a normal routine at least a week before your start date. Recent college student like me, you’ll find this to be the hardest part. Bootcamps generally start very early (9AM), so you want to be up by at least 8AM to eat breakfast and get settled before lecture. Lecture can probably go on until noon, then you should definitely grab some food and take an hour break. Take stroll around your block or simply go outside to take in some fresh air.
Odds are, after your break you’ll be stuck behind your computer screen for the next few hours — sometimes even into nighttime. During that time, it is important to take a few minutes, if not a few seconds to look away from your screen and stretch, I practice the 20–20–20 rule. Every 20 minutes, give yourself 20 seconds to look away from your computer to something that’s 20 feet away. Maybe even take a lap around your house or room during that time too. And most importantly, get off your computer 1–2 hours before you go to bed. You don’t want to be staring at code all day long and would probably like at least an hour to do what you enjoy. Finding that balance between work and your mental health goes a long way!
LeetCode
While doing leetcode questions are optional, I feel that they are a great way of actually implementing what you just learned into real problems. More often then not, software companies will actually pull questions from leetcode to test you on during coding interviews. So by practicing leetcode questions to solidify your understanding of data structures as well as becoming familiar with typical interview questions, you’re killing two birds with one stone.
If you get stuck on a problem for more than 15 minutes, I’d recommend searching the Discussion page, Solution page, or even google for the answer and an explanation. Now, before you even get started working on a problem, I’d recommend “white-boarding” and jot down an example of the problem at hand. Run through your example with an algorithm that you think will give you the correct solution. After you get a working algorithm, you want to write some “pseudocode” of the steps that your algorithm is actually taking. That way, when you actually write the code, you’ll be checking a bullet off of your algorithm checklist. I’ve found this, while very tedious, to be a great way of keeping a single train of thought and efficiently solving the problem at hand.
Conclusion
TL;DR: After getting accepted into a bootcamp, make sure you do the provided course and take notes on Data Types. Supplement your knowledge with some Easy level leetcode questions to practice solving coding challenges. Whiteboard your thought-process and make a step by step list of what you want your algorithm to do. And most importantly, set your daily routine a week before bootcamp starts. Make sure your routine includes getting some fresh air before lecture and throughout your day. Take occasional breaks to stretch, walk around, and get your eyes off of your computer screen. And lastly, get off your computer at least an hour before you go to bed so your body naturally get tired.
