You graduated from Boot camp. Now what?
You passed your final project review. You finished your coursework. Where to go from here? There’s so much to do, it can get overwhelming.
Going from an extremely structured program, into an environment with no deadlines, but still lots to do is no easy feat. This is the transitional period of transition. You are no longer a student, nor are you ready to start your job hunt just yet.
There are so many tasks that you need to check off before you feel ready.
- Deploy your final project to Heroku
- Keep adding on to your final project on Heroku
- Possibly start working on your portfolio
- Keep up with those green commit squares on your GitHub
- Review the materials on your career prep portal
- Prep your resume
- Have your resume reviewed
- Prep your elevator pitch
- Research companies and industries you want to work for/positions you want to work in
- Learn a new technology if you have time
- Network
- Learn how to network
- Stay relevant
The list goes on.
Because the list is so exhaustive and overwhelming, it can tank your motivation. How do you deal with this? How do you keep your steam going?
First off, you just graduated. Congrats. Take a breathe. Give yourself some time to breathe and pat yourself on the back (I would suggest a few days for myself). Not everything has to be done all at once. Be patient. (Yes I’m also saying this to myself).
I made the list above and freaked myself out. It’s so long — so much to do omg.
What helps? Talking about it helps. Yes, talk about your feelings. Your cohort mates are going through the same thing as you. Talk to your career coach about it. They are super encouraging. Hell, even blog about it.
If you’re a list taker like me, make multiple lists. A list like above, yes it’s okay for the big picture, but make a SMART list.
TL;DR — take baby steps. Set small obtainable goals.
Don’t focus on what you SHOULD be doing, do what you want to do. As long as what you want to do brings you closer to the big picture. It’s not all linear.
For example:
The big goal is to start a portfolio website. What do I need to do first? Create a repo. How long can that take? Can take 5 mins. Set an obtainable deadline of when you can start and complete that one task.
Right now, in my what I want to do this Christmas break/weekend is:
- Start to try to deploy my site onto Heroku
- Start on my portfolio
- Hack my parents’ Samsung fridge
- Get 1 job application out.
