Joining a bootcamp for web development has been something I've thought about in the past and, somehow, just never really got around to looking into, let alone applying for. That all changed about 3 months ago. I had recently moved back to Central Kentucky after about a year of work in the automotive industry in Nasville, TN and to say I was glad to be home would be the understatement of a lifetime. Little did I know just how quickly things would progress once I stumbled upon the Awesome Inc website randomly one day.

The application process was extremely thorough, consisting of multiple challenges (some beginner coding related, others more of a thought process exercise) that had to be completed for a chance at acceptance into the program. I had already completed my application process the day of the open house available to the public about 2 months prior to the planned start date of the bootcamp, and had scheduled my interview for that same day.

The interview was actually really fun. It was set up just like any job interview I've ever been to, but the questions asked got a little more personal than in my previous experiences. It seemed the team at Awesome Inc University didn't just want capable students, they were also looking for individuals that wanted to make a difference. Besides the questions there was also a technical portion which involved playing a game on a tablet called Lightbot. It seemed strange to me at first until I realized that the game relies on you to interperet the landscape, plan accordingly and then execute your moves to be successful, an ability I have come to realize is extremely important for bootcamp. I was confident, but with only 10-15 people being selected for the program, I was extremely humble about my chances of actually getting in.

Congratulations! That was the first word of the email I received roughly a month before the bootcamp start date. I remember opening the email and being too afraid to actually scroll down to see what was written for at least 5 minutes. The next month consisted of completing pre-work challenges, watching video content, and generally familiarizing myself with some of the more commonly used current technologies associated with web development (or refamiliarizing myself in the case of HTML and CSS). The prework was much more challenging than those from the application process and in the end I feel they were designed to introduce all of us to the concept on "learning how to learn". It may not sound like that big of a deal, but web development and technology in general is in a constant state of Kaizen (or continuous improvement, I can thank Toyota Motor Manufacturing for knowing that one) and requires developers to always be searching for or creating new and easier ways to perform the task at hand.

I'll cover what my first week was like in my next post. It would be putting it very lightly to say that the pre-work was designed so we could all "hit the ground running" the first week, but more on that next time!