Foundations Reflection Blog Post

What are three new things you have learnt about yourself and your ego due to the core learning?

• The value of reflecting on scenarios through a more or less neutral lense.
• Practicing mindfulness more regularly.
• 'Not yet'

What are the role of values, empathy, and self-awareness in learning and programming?

I believe a solid understanding of these things will help when working with others as well as lead to better self mastery which can help with things like feelings of frustration or imposter syndrome.

What has surprised you the most about the core learning?

Both the challenge and the rewarding nature of it. Its not necessarily about getting everything right but it brings the important things to the front of mind increasing ones self awareness which allows you to improve on the areas that matter to you.

What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?

I think coming to the understanding that you can only improve. Its not necessarily about being good at core skills or not. Its about improving them.

Why do you think we, a programming school, are spending so much time focusing on core learning in a web development Bootcamp course?

Personal health and wellbeing. Its easy to get inside your own head when blocked. So learning to reprogram that critical internal voice is valuable.

Being able to work in a team without causing problems. Learning to deliver and receive feedback in a positive and productive way.

Does the time you spent studying core learning here feel like a waste of time? Should you have just used that time to practise programming instead? Justify your answer.

They do not feel like a waste of time. Even if I havent managed to practice mindfulness, exercise and sleep as much as I would have liked, along with a whole laundry list of other things. The core skills emphasize the importance of those things and as mentioned above they put them on ones radar and as a result I am actively working at improving these things.

If the course only focused on programming I would probably forget to eat or get fresh air, and end up a sleep deprived husk by the end of everything as I would feel even more obligated to put all of my time into coding.