🤓 Why I Chose Makers Academy:
A Story of Finding the Right Fit.
INTRO
I have lived the same year, month and day for 10+ years.
That’s what working in retail felt like. Groundhog Day without Bill Murray to provide comic relief.
Changing your life is hard.
Believing you deserve a better life can be even more challenging.
I have to acknowledge the privilege of having a supportive partner. I have grown so much over the last 8 years of our relationship, primarily due to her influence.
Not in a ‘my happiness depends on you’ way.
In a purely ‘you inspire me every damn day‘ way.
She’s the most determined, hard-working, uncompromising and yet open-minded person I’ve ever met. She believes that she deserves the world and fights hard to get it.
Somehow she saw in me what I couldn’t see in myself.
Then finally, after all these years together, she rubbed off on me. I don’t just believe I deserve better.
I know, I do.
Which led me to...
THE DECISION
For better or worse, my existential crisis finally peaked last year. I quit my job, and I cannot even begin to describe the weight that lifted off my shoulders.
I’ve always spoken about getting into coding. I’d have those short spurts of activity throughout the years, where I’d start learning a new language but plateau quickly.
I didn’t possess the innate motivation to persevere. My attention span dwindled every time.
If there’s one thing I have learned in last few years, it’s honest introspection.
Honest is the keyword there. No excuses.
I realised multiple factors were holding me back, such as:
Low self-esteem,
Lack of internal motivation caused by depression,
(Still) undiagnosed focus issues,
No instant gratification in the learning process,
Physical and mental exhaustion caused by my job.
Some of these don’t have a quick fix.
One day, I will go to therapy to get to the bottom of why I am the way I am, but some of these issues can be remedied.
Still, I had to find a way to achieve my goal of breaking into tech.
There were 3 routes to choose from:
Self-study.
University.
Coding Bootcamp.
Self-study was a no-go. Time and time again, I’ve proven to myself that I can’t stick to any MOOCs long-term.
Due to my lack of discipline, this route felt impossible. The progress wasn’t fast enough, and I’d lose energy and interest quickly.
University? Forget about it. How does one live in London at the age of 30+ for 3-4 years without a stable income or wealthy parents?
Part-time studying would have a similar outcome to the first option, except with added guilt of now owing money to the government for the same lack of results.
Finally, a bootcamp. Short-term income sacrifice, but more structure and being surrounded by people in the same boat as you. This could work, right?
However, as always, the reality didn’t quite match my expectations...
MAKERS ACADEMY
Did you enjoy that tiny cliffhanger above?
The truth is, Makers Academy has so far exceeded all my expectations!
Not just because they have an excellent curriculum or coaches who are always ready to help.
It is because the environment they foster makes all the difference.
They don’t explicitly tell you ‘this is how you learn to code’ and then have expectations based on how much material you consumed ‘their way’.
They give you a curriculum with more than enough guidelines. Still, generally, you are free to learn however you choose to.
I found this part incredibly beneficial. Over the years, I have struggled to find the ‘right’ way to learn. How to make it sustainable and for my focus to not start drifting.
Now that I think about it in depth, I finally understand why I never did well in school.
I don’t learn by sitting still, listening and making notes.
I learn only by having a dialogue, combined with simply being able to actually do things. In the case of the Makers course, more specifically, I learned the most by playing around with the code.
Does it mean my understanding of it needs to be improved so it can be easily explained to another person?
Maybe so.
Does breaking and testing code allow me to adapt more quickly to learn what I need, in order to get the result?
100%.
In one of my previous posts, I might have said it before, but a good mechanic doesn’t need a complete understanding of the physics that makes the engine work.
What they do know is how components fit together, affect each other’s behaviour and thus can fix any problems.
In other words: A jazz musician and a classical composer can both create beautiful music, but I identify more with the former.
LIFE AFTER MAKERS
I’m not much of an ‘always plan before you act‘-type person, but I do try to be purposeful in my decisions.
One of the biggest things I learned at Makers so far is that I was completely wrong in thinking that I’m only at my best when working solo.
All these years in retail management taught me so much of what I needed to know about navigating working with other people and achieving the best results.
I’m able to communicate clearly and consistently articulate my ideas, but can also make everyone else comfortable in speaking their mind.
Unfortunately, some people struggle to sit and listen. Instead, they wait for their turn to speak. Luckily, I’ve never been one of those people.
Software engineering is a team sport, and amazing things can happen with a good team dynamic.
So now let me tell you three thoughts I have on what I want after graduating from Makers Academy:
I don’t want to find just any job.
I want to find a working environment where I can continue learning and be given some level of ‘ownership’ over the solutions I produce. A manager that understands how early I’m in my journey, but how excited I am to contribute.
I want to work for a company with aligning values.
Admittedly it took me years to develop a much stronger backbone. I don’t think my conscience would be able to handle working for a company with an objectively negative impact on this planet, not just in terms of sustainability but also humanity.
I can’t work for a fast fashion company that pollutes the oceans at an unprecedented scale. I can’t work for a government agency funded by politicians striving to divide this country.
I want to be proud of where I work.
I want to feel like I’m making a difference and positively impacting this world, no matter how big a scale.
£££
I want a specific life, and I’m not talking about a sports car, expensive clothes or 6 bathrooms in the house.
I want a small farm with some chickens and a fantastic internet connection. I want peace and purpose.
I want a job that rewards me for my effort and results. Not just the hours I spend in the office.
I want to work for a company that fits all the previous points and gives me generous stock options. Why?
Because I want to be at that company for 5-7 years and give 110% of my effort. Then I want it to be acquired by another company that ticks all of my boxes, so my stock options would allow me to buy that farm I’m dreaming of.
Capitalism is a game we all have to play. Fulfilling my dreams would allow me to opt out of it, at least partially.
CONCLUSION
Sure, my dreams are lofty, but are they impossible?
I don’t think so. I think too many people drift purposelessly through life without having a long-term goal with at least some semblance of a path to get there.
I know what I want and won’t rest until I get it.
As for Makers, we are currently working on our second team project, building a clone of a social media app whose founder’s name half rhymes with Battenburg.
My previous team project’s outcome set the bar pretty high, but I’m confident we will smash it. I will tell you all about it next week.
Oh, and keep your eyes peeled because soon I plan to write about companies I would DEFINITELY want to work for and why!
That reflects so so much what I have gone through too, step by step. I feel we are moved by the same reasons and we came to similar conclusions. I believe that you are inspirational for a lot of us!