Starting in Flatiron school, specially in month 1, was so overwhelming! The first time writing your first line of code, the first time building a project, the first review. All of it was the unknown! Not knowing what to expect was probably the biggest hurdle to get through. But if you are starting, specially for your first month my advice is..
- Don’t give up!
- Ask questions! Lots of it! Doesn’t matter if you think they are dumb just ask I promise you aren’t the only one wondering!
- Communicate with your Cohort! Very Very Important! Nothing like being close to a community of people that are going through the same thing as you. It will make the next 5 months easier having people to talk to and work with, I promise.
Once you get through the first month, now things will be more clear. You will know what its like to build a project and what a review is like. Definitely won’t be easy but if you can do the first month then rest assure you can do the rest! You got this! my next tip will be one you will need to remind your self constantly because its real but don’t let that take you down.
4. DON’T LET IMPOSTER SYNDROME WIN! You are fully capable of graduating and making it through! This feeling will hit you maybe once? twice? maybe the whole time you are in school ((like myself)). But know that you are not alone. Its your skills and talents that have gotten you this far and not luck!
Now the next tips will just be focused on studying and passing the review tips.
5. I suggest you look at the project requirements the end of your first week in every mod. This will prepare you what to look forward to and what to make sure you understand as you are going through the curriculum.
6. Take notes! try not to write everything down. It’s hard at first trying to differentiate what will be important and what is not, but it will get easier.
7. Practice your live coding skills! Give your self different scenarios to code and solve them. Best case would be to use a partner, this will be really helpful to be prepared for your reviews.
8. Talk code!!! This really is important and was a great help for me. Talk code basically means explaining your code with the proper terms. Use them frequently!
This is what helped me get through the courses, and I hope it will also help you!
