They call it a bootcamp for a reason — it’s tough, rigorous, and if you don’t stay with it or stay ahead, you will fall behind, and if you do, catching up is a nightmare. Every day, you’re faced with learning a new library or concept, sometimes more than one in the same day. It’s your job to understand and implement these concepts to your daily class work, homework, and projects.

This might look a little a scary, but in due time it’ll all make sense. Yes, it’s hard. But you can get through it. Some assignments and concepts will go over your head the first time you see it. But you’ll get it. You’ll put the effort in, you’ll ask questions, you’ll Google (I can’t stress this part enough), you’ll hone your skills and make that concept your b****. One of the best things I was told by my instructors was this:

“If there’s something that doesn’t work, don’t spend hours on trying to get it to work. Move onto something else and come back to it later. Being frustrated about it will NOT help you.”

No matter what, you’ll get frustrated, there’s no way around it. But let’s say your event handler for some reason doesn’t work with a dynamically created component..What do you do? My initial reaction was to spend 2 hours of trying different code, Googling, and digging through past assignments. All that did was make me even more upset. The best thing is to just step away from it, and come back/get help. Your instructors are there to help. Use all of your resources.

Be prepared to put in the work. This program is almost like a full-time job. For my cohort, I was in class for 5 ½ hours a day, 5 days a week. Outside of class, if we wanted to stay remotely on track, the recommended amount of studying and research ranged from 25–30 hours a week. I had to give up a lot of social time, but it’s important to always make time for yourself. Go outside, take a walk, go to the gym, take care of yourself. It might seem like a lot, but the payoff is worth it.

But it doesn’t stop there. Not only does the bootcamp make you a well-rounded web developer, but it also give you the tools necessary to start nudging your way into the work-force. Along the way, the applications you make will slowly transform into your portfolio. Even now, I’m still polishing my past applications to show off to future employers.

I’m not the greatest writer, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes I’ve made. But if there’s anything anyone else would like to add, please do! And if this helped you in any way, or have any stories about your journey, I’d love to hear them.

Cheers, and happy coding!