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And so the coding journey begins…
There are 2 “Sams” I know who I find very inspiring and admirable: Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings and Samwell Tarly from Game of Thrones. Both “Sams” are always on a quest to help their dear friends to accomplish their goals and mission. They basically got Frodo’s and Jon Snow’s backs. Without these “Sams”, I do not think Frodo and John would have ever succeeded.
There are many Sams surrounding me right now in this journey. Enrolling part-time in the Online Software Engineering Program at Flatiron Program while having a full time job is not an easy feat. There are days that I almost could not handle the stress and pressure of both. My life partner, Steve, has been my number one “Sam” from the start of this journey. He has encouraged me and helped me make the jump to enroll and pursue a career change. When things seem unbearable, he always knows the right things to say to help me push myself and not give up.
The FlatIron Sams: Our faculty manager, cohort lead and educational coach are also some other “Sams” in my life right now. They are there for me when I feel like I am doubting myself too much and have always been there listening and answering my questions patiently. They guide us and teach us to head in the right direction. During my first 1:1, I was nervous that I was going to be judged because of my lack of skills but it didn’t feel that way. I felt the care and the genuine desire of my cohort lead to help me improve my coding skills and understand things better.
The AAQ (Ask A Question) coaches are the ones that help me solve the labs in my curriculum. They are there to help me figure things out. It could be as easy as them telling me that there is a spelling mistake in my code and that’s why it’s not passing or also guiding me to solve complicated labs that almost made me cry.
Lastly, my cohort in this part time course that inspire me to keep on moving forward. We all have jobs and we all are a part of this journey together. Every experience we have is different from each other. I learn from them and hopefully they can learn something from me as well. They all have inspired me that I am not alone in this journey and that we just have to keep on pushing ourselves.
I know that this is my journey and that I have to learn a lot to finish this mission on my own. But without the “Sams” surrounding me right now, I am not sure I would be able to do this course. This is actually one thing that Flatiron is offering to its students that I really love: be a part of a community. It is always nice to know that you’re not alone and there will be this group of people that will help you improve yourself and reach your goals.