2 October 2023

1. What is your long term goal or career pathway?

My long term goal is still the same - it is to work with a medically focused tech company to improve the lives of patients and/or doctors. I'd like to end up in some sort of managerial role where I work with people a lot, but don't yet have any specific destination in mind. When I leave Dev Academy I would be happy with any entry web development job.

2. What do you think your biggest strengths and limitations will be in Bootcamp?

Strengths – honest, organised, and thorough.
Limitations – social anxiety, easily frustrated, take criticism personally, and imposter syndrome. I feel that I still have these same strengths and limitations, I just want to add that becoming easily exhausted is still one of them, and could really impact my bootcamp experience.

3. What do you think your biggest non-technical challenge at Bootcamp will be?

Speaking in front of the group - this will be pretty terrifying for me - and perhaps staying focused for the 9 weeks. I've noticed my energy levels have started dipping at the end of this Foundations period.

4. What non-technical skills - human skills - would you like to see developed in yourself while at Dev Academy?

I would like to work on public speaking and developing leadership skills. I also need to work on receiving negative feedback while keeping a positive growth mindset.

5. What are your expectations from the Bootcamp team?

I expect that they will provide opportunities for me to work on my public speaking, leadership and the feedback goals stated above. My hope is that I can reach out to them if I'm getting exhausted and that there might be some workarounds for this.

6. What are your expectations of yourself on Bootcamp

I expect to keep up with the learning objectives and be able to start looking for a job at the end of bootcamp.

I have started making friends from the foundations course - and they have been very helpful when I get stuck. They will be able to guide me towards help if I need it.

6 September 2023

1. What is your long term goal or career pathway?

My long term goal is to work with a medically focused tech company to improve the lives of patients and/or doctors.

2. A description of your strengths and limitations when it comes to learning

Strengths – honest, organised, and thorough.
Limitations – social anxiety, easily frustrated, take criticism personally, and imposter syndrome.

3. What skills (non-technical core/human skills) would you like to see developed in yourself while at Dev Academy?

Increase my self-confidence, my public speaking ability, and improve my receptiveness to criticism/feedback.

4. How will you manage your workload in this programme?

I plan to work steadily throughout this course, making a commitment to doing at least 30min of coursework on the weekends as well. I also have no other full-time responsibilities – like kids or work.

If things are building up and getting to me, I am likely to reach out for support and let the facilitator know. This is a significant issue for me, because I still have lingering energy issues and occasionally need to stop and take a nap if I’ve been working too much.

5. How and where you will seek help in a timely way?

My partner has been through a lot with my illness in the last year, and is very aware of how I am when I am not doing well. If I do not start to seek help (which I am also very likely to do), he will make sure that I follow through. It depends a lot on the help that I need, technical help could be gained from google, my partner, my homegroup, my facilitator. And emotional help will be from my partner and close friends.

6. What do you expect from the Facilitation team?

To help me develop my programming skills by letting me learn, and answering questions when things are too hard to google. Make sure I don’t fall behind, and let me know that is important to focus on, but what can also be neglected for now if timing doesn’t allow. I’d also appreciate positive feedback (especially if I already have negative feedback), it’s important for me to know I’m on the right track and that my work isn’t awful.

7. Do you have any scheduling information such as block-out times when you are committed to other things?

I have a few extremely important events (which will hopefully not impact my bootcamp experience) but will be a significant drain on my energy. I have a hen’s weekend, my best friend’s wedding, and my partners 30th birthday all in October. If I was well, none of these things would be an issue, but my illness can flare unexpectedly.

It is possible that I will need to recover from one or all of these weekends and may lose a Monday here or there.