Probably the most frequent question anyone considering to join coding bootcamp will ask : ?How long does it take to finish the course??. Guys that run Launch School bootcamp gave the best answer for this question ?It depends.?, and it sure does.
For the past 5 years I have been working as professional poker player and poker coach for Online Texas Holdem. You know what is the question every student asks most frequently? ?When can I expect to start earning money from poker?? and answer I was giving them was the same : ?It depends.?. ?Depends on what?? was the follow up question. Depends on whether you have played before a bit or not, do you know the rules at least, how talented are you and most importantly it depends on how much time are you willing to put into learning poker consistently.
Same thing applies to learning to code. How long does it take to master concepts in the course? It depends on your previous coding experience, have you finished some courses, maybe some other bootcamp or you don?t even know what string is (I was the latter btw), but more importantly it depends on how much time are you willing to put into this consistently to achieve the results that you want.
Consistency is the key to success. Consistency leads to habits. Habits form the actions we take every day. Action leads to success. As Anthony Robbins said : ?It?s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It?s what we do consistently.?
What this means for you is that you should set aside at least 2-3 hours a day on average of focused work on Launch School material. You can?t multitask, so stop trying. Turn off Facebook, Skype, mobile phone, tell your parents/spouse not to disturb you.
And it will be hard, even harder when initial excitement and enthusiasm wear off. You will start to make excuses. One day might go by where you don?t study at all, then another day, and another, until you finally quit. Don?t let this happen to you. Don?t be a quitter. That?s not you. Make a plan and stick to it, and eventually you will get there. Maybe it will take a year, maybe even two, but consistent work will bring results.
Finally, I would like to share my own story. On 10th of August this year I enrolled Launch School and I made a decision to study 5 hours a day on average. I remember that on the first assessment after prep course, Chris asked me if I am sure that I will be able to do that consistently since it is not an easy task, and I said that I believe I could. Now, after 2.5 months I checked my results and voila, I have studied 384 hours in 76 days, average 5.05 hours.
These results are what I am most proud of. Not how many courses I have finished, or how fast I have finished them. I don?t care about that. What I do care, and what is important to me is that I made a decision and I stuck with it. Some courses will be easier, some will be harder, I can?t influence that. What I can do, is keep working on this, trust in the process and know that eventually, I will get there. And so will you, just BE CONSISTENT.
