After graduating from school last year, I decided to take a gap year before studying business in university. During this year, I wanted to do something new, something I’ve never done before, something uncomfortably exciting. I wanted to gain new skills and knowledge in areas that I haven’t considered before.
I ended up spending my first couple of months of my gap year in Shanghai. I did an internship and worked in the marketing department. Since all my colleagues communicated in mandarin and all the documents were written in their language too, I didn’t have much to do during the day. I had plenty of free time and a laptop in front of me.
So, I started to teach myself some CSS and HTML. I loved it since I saw results fairly quickly. I thought: “This feels like playing computer games but I’m doing something productive at the same time”. However, at some point, the static websites I was able to put together after a couple of weeks were too simple. I wanted to learn more, I wanted to interact with the website – the backend was missing. This is when Le Wagon came into play.
After some brainstorming, I decided to join Le Wagon because I liked their entrepreneurial mindset. I enjoyed the idea that a bunch of creative people with international backgrounds came together to learn something they had never done before with the aim to turn their ideas into reality.
While I was in Shanghai, I tried to go to as many tech meetups as possible. One of the meetups I attended, was hosted in a WeWork office, the same office that Le Wagon hosts its bootcamps in Shanghai. I started researching about coding bootcamps for the entire evening.
After some brainstorming, I decided to join Le Wagon because I liked their entrepreneurial mindset. I enjoyed the idea that a bunch of creative people with international backgrounds came together to learn something they had never done before with the aim to turn their ideas into reality.
What helped me was realising that other students were going through the same difficulties - it is a team effort to overcome these difficulties that every single person is facing during the bootcamp.
After I came back from China, I moved to Berlin and joined batch #223 in January to March 2019. The first couple of weeks were super tough. I believe it was a mental challenge to stay motivated while asking myself many times a day: “Why did I spent all this money? I don’t understand anything!”.
Trying to learn a programming language as well as breaking down every thought in detail in order to complete a challenge was a huge difficulty I had to overcome. I struggled a lot in the beginning because I wanted to understand everything straightaway. I thought, if I don’t understand one lecture, I won’t be able to catch up on the following ones. Looking back, this was my biggest mistake. I stressed myself too much trying to understand everything at once. What helped me was realising that other students were going through the same difficulties - it is a team effort to overcome these difficulties that every single person is facing during the bootcamp.
I learned many things at Le Wagon. Not only did I acquire new skills that will help me turn my ideas into reality whenever I want to. But I also met many like-minded personalities who taught me a lot.
After I left Le Wagon, I didn’t have anything planned until the start of my studies. Therefore, I began coding my own applications. I turned a couple of ideas into reality, which is an awesome ability to have. Also, thanks to the teaching staff in Berlin, I had the opportunity to become a teaching assistant in other batches. I got to meet many more talented, creative and determined people while earning some money on the side – which is always helpful for a student.
I learned many things at Le Wagon. Not only did I acquire new skills that will help me turn my ideas into reality whenever I want to. But I also met many like-minded personalities who taught me a lot.
Before doing the FullStack course at Le Wagon, I wanted to study business in university. Now, I will start studying information systems, a subject that I have always been interested in but never dared studying due to its difficulty. The uncomfortably exciting challenge, that I was looking for in the beginning of my gap year, helped me find out what I wanted to do in the future. It gave me the courage to make one of the most important decisions of my life so far.
The uncomfortably exciting challenge, that I was looking for in the beginning of my gap year, helped me find out what I wanted to do in the future. It gave me the courage to make one of the most important decisions of my life so far.
Click below to find out more about:
