"The end of the beginning"
Reflecting on Foundation Core Skills
February 2019
For me, a lot of the core learning was about re-examining my relationship to learning. I haven’t been a full-time student for quite a few years and I found the core learning sections really helpful in processing what studying means to me at this stage of life.
What are three new things you have learned about yourself and your ego as a result of the core learning?
- I’ve changed a lot since the last time I was a full-time student.
- I can be proactive in structuring my learning so that it suits my learning style, rather than just suffering through something I find super boring.
- Reaching a focused work state can be practised and it’s a super satisfying habit to build.
What has surprised you the most about the core learning?
The most surprising thing has been how specific I’ve been able to get when assessing myself. For instance, in my weekly check-ins, I’ve noticed that I’m able to really clearly articulate why I’m enjoying or not enjoying certain parts of the course. I think that without completing the reflections I would have known which parts were not working for me, but after completing them, I can go beyond that and understand why and how to fix it.
What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?
The most challenging aspect was just doing so much writing. Constant reflection is tiring, it requires quite deep thinking. But I found myself get faster at it as the course progressed.
Why do you think we, a programming school, are spending so much time focusing on core learning in a web development bootcamp course?
I think that EDA has put this focus on core learning because sometimes tech is mis-represented as a career which isn’t people-focused. But in reality, it’s very people focused and to create great work environments you want employees with great people skills.
Does the time you spent studying core learning here feel like a waste of time? Should you have just used that time to practicing programming instead?
It didn’t feel like a waste of time. I still did plenty of coding practice! I think that, especially with the topics related to examining my own learning, time put in at the beginning will pay off in more efficient learning throughout my entire career.