Let’s get ready to rumble!
These famous words come from Michael Buffer — a boxing announcer — and is a clear indication that something big is about to happen. In regards to boxing, the words are pronounced by Buffer when a fight is about to happen. In regards to myself I’m getting ready for another kind of battle — the battle to find a new job!
Applying for jobs can most definitely be seen upon as a job in itself, it takes a lot of time and effort and you might not get the result you’re looking for. You’re not going to get every job you apply for, there are obviously a bunch of other people who wants that same job. The only thing you need to do is give it your best shot!
I’ve been doing the Technigo bootcamp now for almost six months. It’s graduation in less than a month and I’m about to embark on a new journey in life. I’ve learned so much during these six months. Not only have I learned how to program in a variety of different programming languages and how to deploy my apps to Heroku and Netlify. But I’ve learned a lot about myself as a person as well.
Having started the bootcamp with few or no expectations at all, I quickly learned the importance of grit and resilience. The art of being able to adjust to new situations and how to deal with obstacles is a fine art that takes time to master. I knew from my earlier occupation that I was indeed familiar with these expressions. But little did I know how important they would be — and will continue to be — in my transformation towards becoming a frontend developer.
Before the bootcamp started, we got to answer a bunch of questions. The idea was to share them with our team mates to get to know one another better. I remember writing down a few lines that were somewhat simliar to the following. When I face an obstacle or have a hard time solving something I beat myself up. The hardest critic I’ve ever met is me. Let’s face it, not caring what other people might think or say about you is pretty easy even if it requires some training. But not caring about what you think of yourself is a bit trickier.
I will say that I’ve become better at taking a deep breath, observe the situation, look up different solutions or even walk away if that is what is required when I face a situation that seems like it’s bigger than me. It takes a lot of training and the bootcamp has given me a very good platform to train for this and help me with my development.
Now, how do you sum up this bootcamp? Well, it would likely take more than a 3–4 minute read on Medium so I won’t do that. But I will say this to myself and my fellow classmates. We are all about to embark on a similar journey. All of us are probably occupied with the same kind of thoughts and emotions. We are all going to get rejected, and in the end we’re going to get that job we applied for on that dark rainy day. Don’t let the rejections get into your head. See every rejection not as a failure but as an experience. And realise sooner rather than later that it’s not in your power to change what you cannot control. Realise what’s in your control and attack that interview or code test with all you’ve got, do your best and be proud of it. Realise that the outcome of that interview or code test is out of your control and leave it be. We face struggles in life so that we can learn from them and come back as a stronger version of ourselves.
I’ve always had a significant interest for the philosophy of stoicism so I thought I would leave you with a quote from quite an unconventional philosopher. It’s not from Marcus Aurelius or Seneca but from the movie “Batman Begins”.
“And why do we fall Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up”
Thomas Wayne
By Joel Harde
