My Journey to Codesmith and Junior Remote Learning Life

"If you are on the fence about the remote immersive experience, let me tell you confidently that you should jump in! Don’t wait until you think things will get better later this year or postponing until 2021. You’re holding yourself back from so many opportunities and friends waiting for you."

I just finished my grad assessment, now in the 6th week in Codesmith, that tested us on everything we learned in units, lectures and projects thus far. I am now considered a “Senior”, which I find funny because I feel like I have so much to learn still. I tell all my friends that being in Codesmith is like being in a time capsule where one second is ten days in real life. I started in late May and I’m surprised that I have to turn on the A.C in my room now, but I forget that’s because it’s now July.

I, like many people I met on this journey, joined Codesmith for new opportunities. I reached a dead-end in a marketing job I’ve been stuck at for way too long and got comfortable at. I was looking for a new challenge - somewhere that I can be creative and motivated again. In the first week of January I told myself that this year I will finally quit my job and take a leap of faith. I couldn’t stay where I was anymore - I needed to grow and let myself fail if I had to.

When I got the call from Phil, who is part of Codesmith, that I was accepted into the Immersive program I couldn’t hold in my tears of joy. I worked so hard to get to this point and it started with just an idea that I wanted to change my life. In 4 months, I was able to get accepted into the best bootcamp, which was such an amazing accomplishment! But, that was only where my journey began.

I signed up for the in-person New York immersive program, but pretty quickly I realized that the chances of the cohort being in person was diminishing as the days went on and COVID-19 was spreading and infecting more people across the US. I was really hoping that somehow it got better in time for May, because I was really looking forward to the in-person socializing with 30 new people that were embarking on this crazy journey with me. I was wondering how it would be possible to get the same experience in a remote setting? I just set my expectations low and hope I at least could make one friend.

RELATED: REMOTE LEARNING AT CODESMITH - ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

I learned quickly that Codesmith did a great job in setting up a remote learning experience. Our cohort as well was not shy to set-up events to hang out with each other virtually and we all quickly learned each other's personalities and quirks. We became a little family in this crazy remote world. I still laugh thinking that everyday I am speaking to a computer for 8-10 hours. I can confidently say I am making long life friends here which I am so happy about, while also learning hard concepts in a small window of time.

There will be many ups and many downs while you are here, it’s not perfect. In the same week I went from winning the chrome extension hackathon with my partner, to getting my butt kicked by React (a Javascript library for building user interfaces). I cried not feeling like I was good enough, but I had a great support system of friends to bring me back up and say I do belong here.

One of that support system was my mentor, Tommy. When you start as a junior in the program, you are assigned a senior in the program to be your mentor and help you out during the first 5 weeks. He sat with me for 6 hours, at minimum, walking me through the React unit step by step, until it finally clicked for me.

After I got over that huge wall, I knew that I could face anything and get through it because Codesmith built such an amazing community of supportive people who will not let you fall. Remote learning also ended up growing on me. You have the benefit of not losing time on commuting to class and instead have that time in the morning to get ready for the day at your own pace. Also, after class, a lot of us like to either study or just chill and take it easy. We don't have to worry about it getting late at night and taking a train home that could potentially break your flow if you were close to having a concept click or finishing a project.

If you are on the fence about the remote immersive experience, let me tell you confidently that you should jump in! Don’t wait until you think things will get better later this year or postponing until 2021. You’re holding yourself back from so many opportunities and friends waiting for you.

In the end, my journey to get to Codesmith and the first half of my immersive program has been a wild ride. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Blog written by Jehovany C., Codesmith NY Cohort 19