Foundations Reflection

What are three new things you have learnt about yourself and your ego due to the core learning?

It's all right if I get stuck on something, as long as I try to look for solutions.
It's not out of the ordinary to need help sometimes.
Sometimes it's better to give myself space or time to take a step back from something and return to it later.

What are the role of values, empathy, and self-awareness in learning and programming?

Your values give you direction in learning and in programming, like a guiding force that's your foundation. Having empathy helps a lot when encountering roadblocks, and it lends itself to having more patience with yourself and others and better communication as well, both of which are necessary in a learning journey and in programming. Self-awareness lets you pinpoint where you want to improve on, and which areas you're confident in, and helps you set goals and reflect on your learning. These things are also useful to know in programming, which is itself a constant journey in learning.

What has surprised you the most about the core learning?

That it is actually necessary to schedule in practices (e.g. mindfulness) that are useful in learning and in programming. Whereas before I just vaguely knew they were good to do, but thought of them as things I'd put into practice some day or eventually.

What were the most challenging aspects of the core learning?

Trying to shift my fixed mindset into a growth mindset. It's something I need to remind myself of often.

Why do you think we, a programming school, are spending so much time focusing on core learning in a web development Bootcamp course?

Because although technical skills are important, these "human" skills are also important to have. Programming is a never-ending journey in learning, and these skills involving reflection and mindset help you in how you learn. Programming also involves teamwork and these skills in core learning help you collaborate, communicate, and learn along with others. These are all helpful skills to have in the workforce, which is why it's good to spend time focusing on them.

Does the time you spent studying core learning here feel like a waste of time? Should you have just used that time to practise programming instead? Justify your answer.

Not at all, I think it was an absolutely necessary use of my time. Studying the core learning helped me in my programming. And skipping over it would have been to the detriment of my programming. Because studying the core learning helped a lot with clarity in how I practice programming, and made the practice and learning smoother.