MY EXPERIENCE AT TIIDELAB PRE FELLOWSHIP FOR COHORT 3
It has been a privilege to meet like-minded people. We all have at least one thing in common; we want to learn how to code. Many of us have waited for an opportunity like this for a long time and I am one of such people. For this reason, my mindset at the beginning of the fellowship was one of gratitude. I was looking forward to meeting new people and learning new things. We all applied and waited. We got an email, and that was the beginning of our journey.
WEEK 1
I started with an orientation program on zoom and then I was introduced to the panic-inducing CCAT test. Then came the tutorial video where I met Mr. Malik for the first time. After the video, we had to upload code to a place called “GitHub”. If you ever had any doubts in your mind, just try to upload code to github for the first time and you will be sure that computers hate us humans with all their heart…oh! sorry, computers don’t have hearts- so they are literally heartless too. My point is- Github gave me problems at the beginning and I was not the only one. Eventually, I figured it out and by God! It was a moment of triumph.
Lessons learned:
1. Mentors are extremely valuable.
2. Mr. Malik is a really good teacher.
3. The solution to the problem is in the error message (Github)
WEEK 2
The week started with an introduction to the top 3 which Included our new class rep for the week. We were given the opportunity to create something with what we had learned so far: A tribute page with pure HTML and CSS. It was a really interesting challenge and I liked that I got to chose who I pay tribute to. Someone got evicted for a lack of communication skills, which is a fancy way of saying He was rude (and everyone could see that).
Lessons learned:
1. Tiidelab’s teachings go beyond coding.
2. It’s fun when you are doing what actually interests you.
3. Mr. Shamsudeen is a man of charisma.
4. Don’t over estimate your importance.
WEEK 3
I was made classrep. I did not see it coming. When I got the message to reach out to the coordinator, I was almost sure that something had gone wrong. I was unsure what my responsibilities were, so I reached out to last week’s rep. He was very accommodating and really put me through. Thank you @ UniqueBay! Then disaster struck. Out of 1250 applicants, we were only 55 left, so it’s no surprise that “Nobody” would try to sabotage us LOL. We all came out on top of it though. Uncle Bigbay was very helpful and Mr. Shamsudeen; our coordinator took decisive action that rectified the entire problem and satisfied everyone affected.
Lessons learned:
1. Uncle Bigbay has excellent communication skills. I should emulate him.
2. It must be really hard being the coordinator of this program. I am filled with a new found appreciation for him.
WEEK 4
I remain classrep — Mixed feelings. Why? Having a job and coding on the side is hard but interesting. Being reachable at all times as a good class rep should be, while doing those two things- is exhausting. I was hoping for someone else to take the limelight. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great privilege to be on talking terms with “Shamdex 2000” and Uncle BigBay but It is really hard to not give very human responses to other people when they are being impolite or impatient, especially when you yourself are stressed out. Some of my colleagues were exemplary though they even helped me with my code: “HoneyBunny” I’m talking about you! From week 3 onwards, it was more about the people and less about the code for me. I learned about the “Thinking hats” this week that was fun!
Lessons learned:
1. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown for two weeks!
2. Automatic slot or not, everyone goes through screening, LOL
Tiidelab has been one of the most rewarding experiences ever. I never had trouble with thinking but Tiidelab taught me how to function under immense pressure. The people skills that I learned were also very valuable and I look forward to more.
