You are the only protagonist of your life

This week has been happening the Next Level Week from Rocketseat School (An Online Programming School) that makes their third workshop online in Brazil. One of their live video on YouTube has caught my attention the most and has brought me a bunch of motivation feeling since then. This live video calls “Until Two Years in Two Months” in hands of Rodrigo Terron, Matheus Tadeu and Ilda Neta. In such a way, this yielded several notes to me.

I have divided it into points to explain my understanding. Beforehand, I will stick to the Ilda Neta speech, in which I have identified a plenty of things with her story and her advices on.

Point 01:

Each person has their own way of fixing content. As she exemplified her way of fixing stuffs are by writing down and summarizing (in her own words) at the end of each class, explaining what you understood and what was retained by your mind.

Point 02:

Each one has his own approach of learning, don’t hurt yourself because you are not reaching track of learning at the same pace as your classmate, remember that there are people who learn in 3 weeks, others in a month or 3 months. Do not judge yourself by your path, otherwise, keep on persisting in learning, in case you do not get wind of the subject, — stop, return, research and linger in seeking knowledge about that subject — carry on the progress of knowledge.

Point 03:

Use an way to make your learning known. There is a popular proverb that says “who is not seen, it is not remembered”, that means sharing what you are learning is beneficial. Do not be afraid to expound them, the improvement will come with the outputs and maintenance of writing and sharing these contents.

Point 04:

Do not suffer in anticipation, do not skip off steps, stop thinking about the future (I also endorse it to myself). If you are not able to do the exercises, go back and try it again until you can do it (use the while in life, instead of solely in the programming). As Rodrigo detected “Auto-sabotage blocks your speed, you lose time in auto-sabotage”.

Point 05:

Don’t be ashamed to ask for help, stop feeling that you don’t know anything. Certainly, there is someone who is available to help and solve your doubts. Everyone is learning in this life, ever!

Point 06:

Don’t be afraid to give feedback. It may be over a feedback you have given, amid of the knowledge you have, it can broadly unlock an opportunity for you (this goes back to the point 05).

Point 07:

Soft Skills are important. If you have come from other fields, as a Human Science that works a lot in soft skills, you have to know it is very important and a plus to get a job in IT.

Point 08:

Make Linkedin posts, manifest your development, your progress is worth as gold! Share the challenges you are taking on the course. Be proud of your little progress and journey!

Point 09:

Be involved in events in the field, it helps you to show that you are engaged and it will make people / companies see your values, as well as that you definitely know how to make a bridge between Hardskills and Softskills.

Point 10:

Make projects, put into practice what you have been learning in projects to brighten your portfolio, don’t get waiting for a job position to start bringing it to come true.

Point 11:

You have to take responsibility for your life and career! The responsibility for the things that happen in your life, the one and only responsible is you. Nobody will be able to choose for you. If you give up it is your future that will be harmed, it will not be your mother’s father’s, your boy/girlfriend’s, husband’s, wife’s and so on.

My sister always uses a phrase to put her into the activity track “Don’t outsource problems”, don’t place the blame or the reason for not having done something to someone or something.

Point 12:

Be guided by job descriptions. What does the front-end needs to know? What Hardskills features are always repeated in job positions? Thereby these questions you can define the target you want to achieve, so you can to improve your resume. Ilda indicated a website called Roadmap , in order to follow the steps until reaching your goals to achieve a job position as you visualize you on.

Point 13:

Do you know what direction you want to take? Feel and inherently understand what you aim for your life and for your career and what you want to achieve, start thinking by the macro path (eg.: to become a tech lead) later on you can think properly about the micro path. Print a roadmap and place it where you can see it daily and widely.

Point 14:

Plan yourself! Stop studying everything at the same time, settle down priorities and your trail map!

Point 15:

Set deadlines! Outline what you aim, create a schedule for every tiny thing. Ilda Neta explained how her routine was like at the beginning of becoming a programmer. She started studying at 5 am until 7 am then she worked during all day, and later at 6 pm she returned for studying, finally she was in class at night still studying a little bit more. Time management ought to always be a priority! Put dates and targets you have to grasp.

She described a phrase said by Diego Fernandes, CEO of Rocketseat School: ‘if you don’t know where you want to go, any path matters to you’.

Point 16:

Be part of the programming community, when you interchange knowledge and solve doubts you can expressly learn and grow as a developer. The role of the programming community is for helping and motivating and intrinsically sharing!

Make friends whom you can count on for your growth in the field, people who motivate you to dare in learning progressively, as she points out “quality friends, who will help you in difficult times”. Networking is necessary!

Main points:

Recognize the mistakes you’ve been making, don’t skip off any steps and FOCUS!

Remember it: You are the only protagonist of your life and who can change and rewrite your present and future. Do your best, you will be acknowledged, this recognition will ensue and get around!