As challenging and and sobering as the last 10 months have been, I survived to tell the tale. That being said, joining Flatiron School is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The chance to work on challenging material and develop new skills with like-minded people will go down as one of the best memories of my life. I learned a ton of programming concepts, languages and skills, but more importantly, I learned a lot about myself.
One of the most immediate things I’ve learned is to act. Meaning, when you have an idea that you want to follow through with, just do it. Do not sit and ruminate about it, analyzing all the pro’s and con’s of that decision, because this kind of analysis leads to inaction and paralysis. There will never be a point where you are completely ready to embark on a journey, hence why they say that the first step is most difficult and important. Most importantly, if you know that that act is the right thing to do, albeit challenging, do not make excuses for why you should not follow through with it. This leads to laziness and complacency. If you are being challenged, and having a difficult time with something, that means you are doing something right. Everythins is difficult before it becomes easy.
Furthermore, the importance of building solid, positive relationships cannot be overstated. The year before joining Flatiron, I was hacking away at Ruby on Rails tutorials by myself. I learned a lot, but would have learned a lot more while studying with others, especially with people that had the same ambitions as myself. Most people in my life have not the slightest clue about computers and programming, and this can make the endeavor a bit lonely and isolating. Having a support system of people that are going through the same things as you, that can empathize with you, will get you through some long, challenging nights. They say it takes a village to raise a child. I would argue that it takes a village to develop a succesful human being.
Finally, given how much I have learned from a technical standpoint, I feel like I know very little. There is so much that I still do not understand, but I suppose this comes with the fact that I’ve learned so much. The more you know, the more you realize you do not know, as they say. This is not a new concept, but I’ve realized that this feeling never goes away, that there will always be things I need to learn, and the important thing is to live with this realization. If I always keep this in mind, and always act, and never make excuses, and always keep learning new things, then I will always be succesful.
Thank you Flatiron School.