I am a recent University graduate, 2017 last year to be precise. Coming out of school, I was excited about this new world I was going to face…ready to spread my wings and fly. That feeling did not last long.
There was an event shortly after my convocation where I met someone; he asked me what I studied. I told him proudly. “Oh wow”, he said, “so can you…” he asked if I could do certain things related to my course of study. I found myself answering “no” a couple of times (let’s face it; most of what we are taught in school are theoretical). It dawned on me that I knew nothing.
This encounter woke up something in me. I realized then was a good time to pick up some skills I always wanted to have. I found myself getting materials on programming. Started with Python, moved on to Android development and my interest peaked when I started learning Web development.
This in my opinion was the point I started demonstrating the growth mindset. I knew nothing about programming but, hey, I picked it up anyways. It has its challenges, yeah but funny thing is dealing with these challenges has actually been the fun part of my journey. When I began to view them as milestones and overcoming them as a sign of improvement, it made me seek for more of these challenges.
I have had the opportunity to learn under wonderful tutors and teach a few students the little I know in the past year, and this journey has been amazing. I find myself wanting to learn more everyday and this learning hunger is what led me to Andela.
I’m here at the boot camp and that hopefully is a sign of some growth. Not where I want to be yet in terms of programming skills but the beauty of all this is that I have found that nobody really is…there is always room for improvement at whatever level you find yourself in.
On a side note…I also picked up Spanish (It’s a beautiful language, sue me). Not gotten anywhere yet but it’s really fun learning new languages, whether they’re spoken by humans or compiled by machines.
At the end of this boot camp, come what may, I am confident that I will not be on the same level I was when I came in. Growth continues…
Femi's Blog 