It’s been a while since my last update on landing a new role closer to to code. I’m almost 6 months in and I’ve already learnt so much about the payments industry while also refining my coding knowledge, picking up tools like Kibana, Grafana, Docker/Portainer while also debugging plugins for Magento & Salesforce Commerce Cloud (SFCC).

I decided to pause my #100DaysOfCode last month as I was moving into a new vertical at work and context switching was more draining than I expected (between mid-Feb to Mar I was ramping up and learning Magento and SFCC environments while also getting familiar with our in-house plugins/integrations for those platforms).

Having slightly settled now, I’ve decided to restart #100DaysOfCode, but this time re-using my earlier Project 300 framework to craft my own personal ‘bootcamp’. Prior to starting my new role, I had considered taking up a traditional bootcamp to level up and had looked at options such as Rocket Academy and Le Wagon. While I valued the cohort-based and project-driven curriculum of such bootcamps, I was not yet sure of the pace of ramp-up at my new role and was uncertain if I could manage. At the same time, these bootcamps started at $3000 (with subsidies that I was not sure I could get) and went as high as $10,000, and I was uncertain how much value-add the courses might bring to my own learning since I was quite used to learning on my own consistently every week.

I put off the decision, and eventually settled on 2 courses to be taken in parallel:

• Singapore Polytechnic’s Diploma (Conversion) in Web and Programming

• Launch School’s Core Curriculum Ruby Track

I chose the former based on good reviews from a close friend who also took one of their specialist diplomas, albeit in the data analytics track. Her experience was that while the course touched on fundamentals, they were rigorous and really helped her improve her competency in the tech stack further. I was also surprised when she mentioned that the quality of instruction at Singapore Polytechnic was much better than majority of the classes she was currently taking in a university tech masters program.

I had applied for the Specialist Diploma in Full Stack Web Development but I was told I did not qualify, likely as my last formal educational qualification was a Bachelor’s of Arts in Philosophy (I’d argue that philosophy prepares one for programming and development much better than other technical disciplines). I still went ahead to enter the diploma course (which served as a prerequisite for the specialist diploma) as it ticked so many boxes for me:

• Cohort-based curriculum focusing on fundamentals of end-to-end web development
• JavaScript (frontend) and Python (backend) were being taught, so it was an opportunity to further master languages I had learnt before
• the Visual Interface Design module would be teaching photoshop, xd and basic graphic design skills; aligned with my frontend dev interests
• a capstone project (full stack web app) to be completed as a team provided a chance for me to work in a real-life team based development project
• I could use my remaining SkillsFuture funds to subsidise almost 75% of the diploma course (having to eventually pay only about $250+ for a 1 year accredited diploma certification)
• getting a formal qualification (diploma) – very much the least important but was a bonus to augment my portfolio

Deciding to also take Launch School in parallel took a bit more thinking. I had come across the course many times on twitter and online reddit forums, but was always on the fence. After being recommended by a number of prominent tech twitter personalities, I took a proper look at the course again. I was immediately drawn to its mastery based learning approach, which meant that I did not need to rush learning in a fixed time period of say 3-6 months. In fact, many of the learners said 12 months seemed to be the average time to complete the core curriculum if going at an even pace.

Another aspect of Launch School that was attractive for me was that even while being a flexible asynchronous peer-based online course, it had rigorous written assessments and live coding interviews that will evaluate mastery of the skill before going on to the next module. This I felt was a differentiator to many online courses. Looking at reviews and outcomes of past learners, I’m convinced that Launch School was a fit for my desire to develop mastery of high-level software engineering first principles.

The Project 300 roadmap this time round is a bit different, as it is aligned to the diploma schedule:

Phase 1: Diploma Term 1/mid-Term 2 (16 Apr 22 to 24 Jul 22)

• Fundamentals of Progamming
• Fundamentals of Web Development Technology
• Visual Interface Design
• Launch School Core in parallel

Phase 2: Diploma Semester 1 end (25 Jul 22 to 1 Nov 22)

• Fundamentals of Progamming
• Fundamentals of Web Development Technology
• Visual Interface Design
• Launch School Core in parallel

Phase 3: Diploma Semester 2 (2 Nov 22 to 9 Feb 23)

• Back-End Development
• Web Programming
• Capstone Project
• Launch School Core in parallel

This past week I managed to complete LS95 Orientation of the launch school prep course and starting on RB100 Programming & Back-end Prep. Next week will be the commencement of my diploma course. Pretty excited to see how far I can push myself and how much mastery I can achieve!