I’ve been thinking of doing a Coding Bootcamp for quite some time. At least for the past 2 years. After I got my A.S. degree in “Interactive Design” in 2017 I pretty much refocused my career goals on becoming a Web Developer instead of a Web Designer. Part of it, I like to think, is that being a Web Designer is becoming less of a thing. But the biggest reason was that I went from working part-time to full-time and got comfortable and simply stopped job hunting.

I have read a lot about the pros and cons of Coding Bootcamps. So much that for a while I was convinced I didn’t need to attend one, specially pay for one, since everything I need to learn is on the internet. There’s YouTube, FreeCodeCamp, Reddit Dev subs, StackOverflow, Dev.to, hundreds of Medium dev bloggers and cheaper options like Udemy courses, Treehouse, etc. I have used all of these resources and I like to think that I have gained a solid foundation of knowledge in Web Development. All I need is to start building stuff, solving problems, and making a solid Portfolio with awesome projects. I’ve been saying I will be doing this for almost 2 years now.

So I went back to the drawing board. Thinking about the pros and cons of a Coding Bootcamp a bit more in depth. Syntax.fm’s episode on Bootcamps vs School vs Self-learning was super helpful. I started looking into UCF’s Coding Bootcamp here in Orlando. I looked at their curriculum and got concerned about them still teaching jQuery, but after having a talk with the staff I got sold on it.

So I’m officially enrolled to start on Monday December 9. The program is part-time, which means it will be for 24 weeks, so it will end in June 13. Class lectures will be for 3 days a week. The staff has sent links with info on how to prepare for the Bootcamp. We were assigned to go through a simple Pre-work exercise were you read up on the very basics of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, tools needed, and many other things.

I’m excited. I think I’ll do really good. I know most of the entry level stuff. I’m lighting a fire under my ass to start building stuff and making a solid portfolio with awesome projects.