Graduation and What Follows

 

It's funny; I had a post waiting in the wings called "Halfway Through the Final Capstone," but I didn't have time to finish it. The last two weeks were a blur with 12+ hour work days, struggling through code, and finally celebrating success. 

On December 21, 2014 I graduated from The Ohio State University and ended the day in tears. They were the culmination of over four years of anxiety and financial instability for a degree I never wanted, but was pressured into obtaining. As an adult, I must own this choice, but it doesn't change the fact the financial instability has been ever-present, always lingering in the background as I struggled through now-resolved health issues and dead end jobs (no matter how enjoyable they may have been). I'd be reminded every time the paper statements arrived in the mail or FedLoan withdrew half of what I earned in a month. 

I always insisted on paper because the Gremlin of Pettiness inside of me delighted in costing the student loan companies a few pennies in profit to send the bills via post, despite the environmental impact. Hey, I'm still growing. :P 

When I was accepted into Tech Elevator and later received the Agility Partners scholarship, I was offered hope and a lifeline. In fourteen weeks, with the support of fellow students, amazing instructors, and the team at Agility Partners, I learned skills that will impact the rest of my future. Not just my future, but my family's future. 

Mike and I were/are not destitute by any means, but what we made would not allow us to expand our family. Since we got married in 2012, we have wanted to adopt a child from Mike's home country of Ukraine. International adoption is incredibly expensive and for years it seemed impossible to even start saving. 

Tech Elevator has equipped me to find freedom from debt and to hopefully start saving towards something (someone!) wonderful. 

Thanks to Agility Partners, I will be starting at Fuse by Cardinal Health in January. Excited is an understatement. 

As time has passed, I've learned a few things about myself:

• I'm a hard worker and don't give up easily.
•  I love learning and will stand up to a challenge.  
• I'm easygoing, but not afraid to speak up when it matters. 
• I can work alone, but I also make a great teammate because I don't see other people as threats to my personal success. I will be your biggest cheerleader and also, hopefully, your friend.  

I look forward to bringing these qualities to the workplace. I'm thrilled to start working on projects that will make an impactful difference in people's lives.

 

Today is December 18, 2020. I graduated and more than a few tears were shed, but this time it is because I am so sad to leave. Thank you to everyone who helped get me here. Aside from the obvious mentioned above, I've also got to thank (in no particular order):

• Ruth and Larson who encouraged me/brought me study snacks so I wouldn't forget to eat and starve
• My husband, Mike, who has had to deal with an absentee wife and more than his fair share of household chores. He has also had to endure me laughing/complaining about technical things he doesn't understand. 
• Jane, who was more than gracious when I had to cancel some of our weekly hangouts in order to study.
• Diane, who also had to tolerate more than her fair share of my flakiness and still texted me when I'd forget what day/week it was. 

To any of my fellow Tech Elevator graduates who may be reading this: I am so proud of all of you. You have worked so hard and are going off to do amazing things. Please get some well-deserved rest and sleep soundly tonight. I hope we'll still stay in touch.  <3

 

P.S. This isn't the end of this blog. When all is said and done, I'm a writer at heart. Be prepared to hear about side projects, my new job, and general tech stuff. I'll spill all the tea about starting a job fresh out of boot camp and more. Just you wait. ;)

The Final Lecture and Bats Full of Shame

 

The last couple of weeks have been brutal because of Thanksgiving break. The instructors were forced to cram four days worth of lectures into two and its clear many students are feeling stretched thin and bitter towards Vue.js and the timing of those Plymouth colonists. Couldn't they have just waited a few weeks? 

We've spent the last three months attempting to appease angry machines. Hours staring down angry red lines and making meager offerings until someone eventually murmurs, "Oh, I think it liked that..." and we're blessed with part of a working program. 

Perhaps that is why the final day of lecture was my breaking point. We did a review and I got lost almost immediately. Eventually, I turned off my camera and cried. Evidently, I was not very subtle and was quickly joined by my husband and cat who both made several well-intentioned bids at cheering me up. I'll let you guess which one offered to take me out for tacos. 

I insisted on staying put for the rest of the review and penned a depressing message to Brian and Rachelle during one of the breaks about my lack of understanding and fear of the future. I suppose that is one of my strong points: total transparency to the point of idiocy. 

Just kidding about the idiocy part, but I do dislike dishonesty and posturing. My hope is readers can infer from the rest of my blog that I will tell the truth even if it could potentially make me look weak to others. I want to give people a genuine look at what it's like participating in a coding bootcamp and if I were to pretend it was all easy, that would be deception and unhelpful to those who may be deciding whether or not to enroll. 

In an episode of What We Do in the Shadows, Nadja mentions some vampires who failed at hosting an event and permanently transformed themselves into "bats full of shame." I relate to this concept so much, that's the name of my mobile hotspot. While I am unable to transform into a bat, I am really great at sulking/dramatic makeup.

Anyway, after some encouraging messages from my instructors and reaching out to classmates who felt similarly, I was able to shake off the depression and get excited for the final capstone kickoff on Friday. The tacos helped, too. ;)