Left to right: Dan, Simon, Adam, Marvin, Me, John and Patty.

It’s been a great first week here at the WGC house!

I think I’ve discovered that I’m unable to write concisely, so I apologise in advance if this post ends up being as long as the last one.

Moving In

Our course started on Monday, but we moved into the house Sunday afternoon. The start date had been postponed for two months, which was disappointing, but gave me more time to prepare my brain and my posessions for three months in a new place.

I made the journey up to Blunham for the first time since the open day, and arrived some time after 15:00. It was another sunny day (we seem to be getting a lot of these at the moment, considering we’re into October now), and the gates at the end of the drive leading to the house were open as they had been before. When I rolled up, I knocked a few times on the front door, but couldn’t see or hear any signs of life.

I made my way around the back of the house and immediately bumped into Marvin, another trainee, who had tavelled up from Croydon. We made our introductions, then I asked if he’d seen Dan (the founder and main instructor on the course). He gestured toward the back door.

As soon as I approached the entrance, I saw Dan smiling from the kitchen inside. He remembered me, and welcomed me in before immediately offering me tea. After a cup and a quick chat, Dan showed me to my room.

The Room

My room is on the second floor, facing the front of the house. It’s immediately adjacent to a bright, comfortable space flanked with almost wall-to-wall windows and populated with leather furniture and bookshelves, where me and the other trainees spend most of our time coding.

The room itself is relatively large; equipped with a king-sized bed, cupboards and a desk at which to work. There’s also a big ensuite bathroom with a shower. To be honest, I spend very little time there; but it’s a great room to retire to after a long day of studying and coding.

The Other Trainees

As well as Marvin, there are four other trainees taking the course, three of whom are also living at the house. Jon comes from Solihull, Patty from Ecuador (via Spain and London), Adam from London and Simon from 20 minutes down the road.

All of them are very likeable and interesting, and after only a week it feels like we’ve known each other for longer. Everyone’s knowledge of programming seems to be around the same level, which means we’re all learning at more-or-less the same pace. I feel pretty lucky with the company here.

The Routine

An average day for me starts with waking up around 07:30 (I could get up later but prefer to have some free time in the morning) and eating breakfast before the lesson starts at 09:00. We begin the day with a group discussion about the work assignment from the previous day, and talk about our approaches and the challenges we encountered. Usually, a couple of people (or groups) will plug their laptops into the projector and talk through their code. This is a great way to remind yourself about the things you learned as well as consider alternative approaches to solving the same problem. Dan will then teach us from around 9:30 or 10:00 until lunch at 12:30 (with a short break in between).

The lunches are always great. This week we’ve had burgers, pizza, baked potatoes and stir fry. Lunch is an hour, and at some point I usually find myself back at my laptop to read up on the subjects or complete other work.

Dan continues teaching us until around 15:00, when he gives us our assignment to be completed by the following day. These vary in difficulty, but most are fairly challenging and each come with their own frustrations and victories.

Dinner is around 18:00, and we all eat together and talk. Inevitably, we talk about coding as much as we talk about anything else. The meals have all been delicious, thanks to the culinary skills of the in-house chef, Rosa.

After dinner we work on our assignments, either individually or in pairs, until we’ve completed the assignment or are unable to stay awake any longer.

How Prepared Did I Feel?

Before the course began, one of my main concerns was whether I had done enough preparation. For others in the same position, I’ll say this: The first week will probably be harder than you expect. Do as much preparation as you have time for, and go above and beyond the recommended groundwork to give yourself the best chance of understanding the assignments. Learn the essential Ruby concepts like control statements (if, unless, case etc) and structures (arrays, hashes), as well as how classes and objects work. Read “The Well Grounded Rubyist” - I only got half-way through this book before the course started, but it helped me understand some of the more complex ideas. Build things. Make text games that run in the terminal, but try to use classes and objects correctly, and use google when you get stuck on anything.

Final Thoughts

I’m having a great time so far. I knew the workload would be significant, but I didn’t expect to enjoy working on the projects as much as I have done. I’m surrounded by nice people, in a great environment, learning interesting things every day.

It’s only been a week, but so far We Got Coders is everything I was hoping it would be, and more. Only time will tell if the rest of the course will be as much fun. I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon, and I’ve almost finished the two projects we were set to complete over the weekend.

I’d better get back to work.