In the 54 minutes of the Fireside Chat with Shereef video I watched, I made some notes and answered some basic questions. They are as follows:
Coming to learn, arriving at the preparation, willing to put down your 'school learning' mindset and adopt a new way of thinking.
The two fears people arrive with: the fear of not being good enough, and the fear of being pulled back by others
Working together with your peers to move through the challenges fast and easy.
Learning how to timebox: core challenges to get through daily, dedicate days to diving into rabbit holes, adopt the discipline to come out of rabbit holes, watch the answer change over time and grow with you.
The Pomodoro technique.
Finding the balance between working with a problem without researching and working with a problem using online resources – find the balance. The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle, and you'll find it from feedback from peers and tutors.
Coding is like learning a musical instrument - scales and chords. learning becomes second nature, and then you join a band or start jamming, it will happen naturally.
To progress, you need to be passionate, empathetic, and develop people skills. Pairing with people keeps you learning and moving.
Coping with late hours - the core hours are from 9 am to 6 pm, with 1 lunch break with no coding. Most people stay late, but you are encouraged to leave to go home.
Teaching yourself pace, but put your effort in those 9 weeks, but never work those 70 hours at a workplace.
Be social with your cohort, and make sure that you do extra prep - never stop the learning process, the prep is the minimal bar of learning.
Find solutions to problems in groups, bounce off each other. There is no “right” answer, inspire each other.
Being a coder/developer involves reading more than writing. Be hungry for better code. Borrow it, learn it, make it your own.
What's your take on the DBC/EDA experience? My take on the EDA experience is that everyone learns in one way or another. Experienced coders come to develop and teach their strong suits and test their knowledge, while inexperienced coders come as an empty slate ready to be re-written. Everyone takes on information, everyone cooperates, everyone collaborates, and everyone learns something.
What are your impressions? My impressions so far is that the people who teach at EDA are eager to help you learn, pass on their knowledge and encourage the best learning practices. This is something that makes me a bit more comfortable, knowing that someone has my back if I make a mistake and can’t find a solution, or if I’m unsure of where I stand in terms of progress in the program.
How do you see yourself engaging with this type of culture? bsolutely. It’s a healthy, powerful thing centred around improvement and working as a team. That’s something really important to me, and I really love how EDA has embraced that.
Have your expectations of EDA changed? If so, how? Not particularly, no. I think they remain the same.
Are you excited to participate in this kind of learning environment? Does it make you nervous? I am extremely excited and also terrified. I am definitely ready for a change of pace.