Jeff McNie | Learning Plan

Long term goal and career pathway

You know, I don't think I want a career pathway. When I think about defining a career path, I get a little depressed at defining my life like that. Long term goals is closer to what I am thinking. I would love to combine my skills and keep growing, whatever that looks like and whatever industry it is in is up to the gods. My goal as always is to keep growing as a person. As I grow, I will learn new things and situations will change so I am keeping my options open. Currently code interests me a great deal and I would like to work in the industry after this course is done. However, if in 5 years, something else sparks my interest, I will probably chase that dream as well.

Bootcamp and Me

I'm going to combine some ideas here. I think my strength have remained the same. I was very good to identify these the first time round as they proved to be true. I think an added strength I have gained is my cohort companions. Everyone who I have interacted with from the cohort has taught me something. Working with them for 9 weeks in close quarters will be amazing and can only strengthen our growth.
An added bootcamp strength will be the seperation of work and relaxing environments. Being at home for 5 weeks really cramped me up and I had a hard time mentally for a while splitting the two.
My expectations for myself and bootcamp are that I will give it 100% of commitment. Try my best everyday, be kind to myself and set myself up for success. A lof of my power in bootcamp will come from the prep and setup I do outside of bootcamp. I will need to be aware and on top of this.
If I get stuck or overwhelmed, I will look to the bootcamp facilitators for help. I expect them to be professional, helpful and also reasonable with me. They will be there to foster my learning, not just give me the straight answer as problem solving is a big part of coding.

Bootcamp and the non-technical side of life

I think my biggest non-technical challenge at bootcamp will be keeping my self-confidence high by balancing out helping others versus helping myself. I have found during bootcamp that when I come back to code and try to explain what I did, I can lose confidence if I don't explain it right even if the code works fine.
During bootcamp I would like to continue to challenge the idea of me being bad at study. I have made a start with what has happened during foundations. Keeping that up and keeping on top of my inner voice will be 100% vital to overcoming these thoughts.

What is your long term goal or career pathway?

My long term goals are to achieve a couple of things. First, I would love to combine my team leadership knowledge and my coding experience together to be able to lead a coding project one day. I would also like to be able to work from home someday as I would like to move out of the big city. I've had enough of all the hustle and noise.

A description of your strengths and limitations when it comes to learning

I think my leaning strength are definitely my discipline and my support structure. I am usually very disciplined with my time and very capable of working for quite long period on tasks. I also have a fantastic support structure of friends, family and professional help to get me through any learning challenge I encounter.

My limitations are definitely my knack for overthinking things and also a bit of self-doubt. I am a huge overthinker and this can lead me to questions my decisions and abilities. This will perhaps limit me from reaching my full potential if I am not careful. Self-doubt is similar to overthinking but is more of an historic thing for me. I failed a course at Weltec about 13 years ago and have doubted whether I am capable of study since then. If things start to become overwhelming or I start failing these thoughts could reappear.

What skills (non-technical core/human skills) would you like to see developed in yourself while at Dev Academy?

I am hoping to strengthen my resolve in difficult situations as well as a greater understanding of myself and study. When the coding gets difficult it would be good to learn how to push through, how to break out of ruts and when to ask for support. Learning about myself through the lens of study will be super interesting as well. If I can challenge myself on the notion that I am no good at study and succeed, this will open the door for growth for me in many other areas.

A commitment to how you will manage your workload in this programme.

An explanation of how you will manage yourself to work productively and safely with other learners, Facilitators and industry/community representatives

I will be mindful of my behaviour and language at all times. I will be respectful of other peoples time and make sure I am not imposing or oversharing. I will also be respectful of everyones wishes and requests.

What you will do when things are building up and starting to get to you

If things build up and start to get the better of me I will reach out for help. I have a great support network outside of the course as well as a homegroup, cohort and facilitators I can reach out to. I am also making sure to share and talk about my experiences with people I trust so they can give me feedback if they think I am struggling in any way.

A description of what you expect from the Facilitation team

I expect the facilitators to be reasonable and honest people. Provide guidance when needed and support my learning experience.

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