Lali joined our Web Development Bootcamp in Barcelona in January. For about 8 years now, Lali has been an international chess arbiter and a rewarded player. She grew up in Georgia where she learnt to play with her family and built this passion for this strategy game. And after 6 weeks into the bootcamp, we really wanted to have her opinion on the similarity between chess and coding.
Get to know more about her vision about learning to code as a chess player!
Why did you choose to join the bootcamp?
Even before becoming a chess player, I have always liked thinking, analysing and solving logical problems. I am also a very creative person. In my free time I love to paint and sing. My love for art, for the exact sciences and technologies aroused my interest in programming and inspired me to study it deeper. So after a master degree of science in physics, I decided to learn to code in order to practice both my logic and creativity.
I had been thinking for a long time about which way is better to learn coding and finally decided on bootcamp, because it is the fastest and most intensive way for studying and getting experience in the shortest way.
I did research, found information and chose Le wagon and of course, I am really happy to be part of this nice educational community.
What are the similitudes between chess and coding?
I think chess and coding are indeed pretty similar activities in a certain way. They both require imagination and deep concentration. Whether you play chess or learn to code, you would need to study the theory but you will also need a lot of practice.
On the other hand, the main difference is that, in a game of chess there is no second chance to correct a mistake with the help of a debugger. And when you are stuck, you can’t open a ticket to the teachers.
How does playing chess can help you with the bootcamp?
The concentration that is required during chess tournaments helps me to focus when facing the logical tasks of coding. Patience is also a very important soft skills necessary to succeed in both. If you need to spend time to have the most perfect and clean code, you'll need to be able to keep your calm and this is exactly the same if you want to become a good player.
Being rigorous is also something that is needed in these two areas and I think that, by practicing it a lot with chess made it easier for me to dive into coding.
What do you want to do after the bootcamp?
In my case, chess motivated me to learn programming. I joined the bootcamp with the aim of creating useful and interesting chess applications or websites. So I would definitely like to continue improving my coding skills, as a freelancer or in a company. And one day maybe I will create my own big project.
