Ah, the sweet sight of all my past due modules!
This is what is greeting me anytime I log in to my bootcamp's website to work through the courses.
When I started the bootcamp, I started falling behind very quickly, I caught up, then I got sick with what I believe was COVID, then I caught up, then I fell behind again... you catch my drift, haha!
Although my real graduation deadline is set for June 8th, I can ask for a 3 month extension, after which if I don't graduate, I'll be permanently kicked out from the program.
In the beginning, I was under a lot of stress. I had a lot of things going on in my personal life, I was working, doing this bootcamp, taking care of my son, then I got sick, and then the hives started showing up in my body! No lie, I developed this 'stress allergy' when I was pregnant with my son, and this is just one of the wonderful souvenirs I've been left with postpartum(my son being the very best out of all of them, haha!)
The sight of the words "Past due" in purple was really getting to me. Any time I used a purple pen to write anything all that would flash in my brain was "PAST DUE." I'd try to go to sleep and the last thing I'd remember before falling asleep was "past due" all in purple. It was something like out of a cartoon or something, now that I think about it.
Since this program is remote, and self-paced, at the time I wasn't really speaking much with my cohort. Then I got sick with COVID and I was very open about how I'm stressed about how behind, and I asked if anybody else is struggling, and lo and behold! Everybody started sharing how they are also behind or have been struggling understanding the material. Some of my classmates are 5 modules behind, others are closer to 10 modules behind. Although this bootcamp is 'self-paced', they still expect you to put in a minimum of 30 hours of work, as well as have 30 minute sessions with your mentor twice a week.
One of my classmates shared a screenshot of the contract we signed in the beginning, and there I saw about the 3 month extension for our graduation date. Immediately I felt my body relax, I felt like I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Although that extension does come with strings attached... of course! We lose our "money back"/"loan forgiveness" guarantee if we don't graduate by our actual deadline, but that is future Marilia's problem!
Since the day I read those words, purple is now one of my favorite colors.
Top comments (6)
I'm an instructor at a bootcamp (one much more generous with its cohort rescheduling policy, apparently), and I can assure you that not only do a lot of students fall behind, but a many feel at least as intimidated (and some much more).
I will strongly recommend that you not put it off any longer than you absolutely need to , though. I've seen too many students hamper their current and future retention by letting tasks pile up, losing whatever "muscle memory" they had gained when they did last work on assignments.
But like your very well-told story here, I'd like to end this comment on a happy note (or two):
You got this.
Thank you Mike! One of my classmates and I get together (virtually) and work through the modules together since he and I are at exactly the same pace.
Thank you so much for your happy note #2!
Itβs really encouraging to know that I donβt have to be βsmartβ in the way I thought you had to be in order to become a software engineer.
Keep working and you'll get there!
You can do it!!
Thank you!
You can do it!