Bossing Bootcamp - Top Tips from Software Engineering Apprentices

Raven is a SWE apprentice at Verizon, based in the US.

Hello, my name is Raven Redix and I’m a Software Engineering Apprentice at Verizon, based in the US. I started my apprenticeship back in November 2021 and my role includes learning JavaScript/React and tackling assigned tickets to aid my team in keeping the site running smoothly. I really enjoyed boot camp and felt that it helped prepare me for my role really well and to create relationships with my fellow apprentices. My top tips for boot camp include:

1. Get all that you can out of boot camp

• Boot camp is pretty fast paced, you’ll want to really make sure you get in good focus time during the class so that you can relax and destress after. Avoid burnout by taking breaks during the class and then finishing up and leaving time for relaxation afterwards.

2. Take a look at concepts from the expected curriculum ahead of time and prepare beforehand

• The material to be covered during your bootcamp should have been laid out to you before the start date. Take some time to read over it and make yourself familiar with some of the words that you don’t know. This will help you in the long run because the boot camp is very fast paced, you want the concepts to sink in and for your final project to show off all the hard work you’ve been doing. There are so many different ways to do the same things in programming, so you may be shown a different way to perform the same task, but at least you’ll have that really solid foundation of understanding before it’s taught to you again. 

3. Form study groups

• My boot camp was pretty diverse concerning previous experience and boot camps taken. We were a mix of people who had taken either Front EndWeb Development, Full Stack Web Development or Junior Cloud Practitioner courses. Regardless of which course you took previously, there is likely new information being presented to everyone at different points throughout the boot camp. Forming a study group, not only provides for a second space to ask questions and/or talk through ideas but also can give you different perspectives on the material and you might find someone who can explain a concept in a way that makes it more easily understood for you. 

 4. Take extensive notes

• Create a checklist for the steps of completing each part of the project. This kept me from wondering where to start when preparing to complete assignments. It also comes in handy down the road when you want to create projects on your own. Also, context switching can sometimes limit productivity. In case you have tasks to do outside of boot camp, or even multiple things to do for boot camp, take thorough notes on: what you’re working on and the end goal, what steps you’ve completed, what your next step would be and even how the project or task works. Jotting this down really helped me keep track of things.  When there is a lot going on, you can get sidetracked and dive deep into a specific topic while leaving something else unfinished. Having notes to come back to clears away the fog and fills your brain in on what you were doing when you were solely focused on this particular task.

 5. And finally, for your final project, I would advise that you and your team each talk about what you want the final project to look like. 

• Decide what will be necessary for a minimal viable product, what stretch goals you’d like to achieve and choose a date (with time to spare before presentation day) to have that minimal viable product complete by and also practice presenting together. Once the minimal viable product is complete, your team will have time to fix any issues that may arise,  practice presenting together and work on the previously discussed stretch goals and/or do fun things to spice it up. This will help you all to be on the same page throughout the entire process but most importantly on the day of the presentation.

Max is a SWE apprentice at Cloudhouse, based in the UK.

Hey, I’m Max and I’m a Software Engineering Apprentice for Cloudhouse. My role includes coding in C# and JavaScript/React as well. I found bootcamp helpful as it brushed over all the basics of Software Engineering which allowed me to hit the ground running with my job. Here are my top tips for Bossing Bootcamp!

1. Make sure to reach out if you’re stuck with anything – The worst thing you can do if you’re stuck is to stay quiet about it so make sure to ask your coach or another apprentice.

2. Take your time, make sure not to rush through the bootcamp – This will make sure you get time to process everything you go over and that you don’t miss out any of the lessons.

3. Mute your notifications on Slack or teams or whatever communication platform your work uses. Its easy to get distracted and by making sure you have as little distractions as possible, you will be able to concentrate at 100% to the well thought out lessons provided.

4. Make sure to take breaks, as hard as it is to take a break from a bug you’ve been trying to fix for the past hour, breaks are essential as they allow you to relax for 5 minutes. A lot of the time in these breaks, you also end up thinking of a way to solve that bug you were fixing. I like to use a pomodoro timer as it helps structure these breaks.

5. Something I wish I had done more of is take notes – taking notes is a great way to really engrain something into your head making sure you understand it fully. Writing them in your own words also helps you to relate words to other things that you remember which really helps you to learn.

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