<commit_before>---
layout: post
title: 6 Things You Should Know Before Joining a Code Boot Camp
description: "A brief intro about this blog, myself, and why we're here."
tags: [iron yard, code, bootcamp]
---


These experiences come from my time at The Iron Yard. We just wrapped up week 6 (of 12)
and I thought now would be a good time to talk about what you should know before diving in.

## 1. They take a lot of time

So, you want to go from 0 to dev in 12 weeks? Well, you don't get there without practice.
*A lot* of practice. Over the course of 12 weeks, your practice time should be somewhere to the tune of 700+ hours. A typical week is about 60 hours, but depending on the project, some may be longer.  I wake up between 6:00 and 6:30 every morning, and I'm out of the house by 7:30 at the latest. Our day runs from 9-5, including lecture and lab time. I typically get home sometime between 6:00 and 8:00, but have been there as late as midnight. If you did the math, that's a minimum of 11.5 hours between when I leave and when I get home. On top of that, most nights I have code to finish, which can take a few more hours. Some require more time than this.

You will *not* be able to hold down a job while you're attending. It may seem tempting, but
it's just not going to happen. Even if you're super awesome and can do everything, trying to
split your time between the camp and your job will be absolutely detrimental to your learning. Beyond
that, there are events to attend, including meetups, job fairs, field trips to local companies, etc.
Before you decide to enroll in a code boot camp, you need to decide if you can be fully committed to
your learning. If you decide that's what you want, then you need to tell your s/o, your friends, your family, your dog, and everyone else you know that you will be completely unavailable while you attend.
<commit_msg>Add line break to post title<commit_after>---
layout: post
title: 6 Things You Should Know <br> Before Joining a Code Boot Camp
description: "A brief intro about this blog, myself, and why we're here."
tags: [iron yard, code, bootcamp]
---


These experiences come from my time at The Iron Yard. We just wrapped up week 6 (of 12)
and I thought now would be a good time to talk about what you should know before diving in.

## 1. They take a lot of time

So, you want to go from 0 to dev in 12 weeks? Well, you don't get there without practice.
*A lot* of practice. Over the course of 12 weeks, your practice time should be somewhere to the tune of 700+ hours. A typical week is about 60 hours, but depending on the project, some may be longer.  I wake up between 6:00 and 6:30 every morning, and I'm out of the house by 7:30 at the latest. Our day runs from 9-5, including lecture and lab time. I typically get home sometime between 6:00 and 8:00, but have been there as late as midnight. If you did the math, that's a minimum of 11.5 hours between when I leave and when I get home. On top of that, most nights I have code to finish, which can take a few more hours. Some require more time than this.

You will *not* be able to hold down a job while you're attending. It may seem tempting, but
it's just not going to happen. Even if you're super awesome and can do everything, trying to
split your time between the camp and your job will be absolutely detrimental to your learning. Beyond
that, there are events to attend, including meetups, job fairs, field trips to local companies, etc.
Before you decide to enroll in a code boot camp, you need to decide if you can be fully committed to
your learning. If you decide that's what you want, then you need to tell your s/o, your friends, your family, your dog, and everyone else you know that you will be completely unavailable while you attend.

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