How I Adapted to Andela Culture During Bootcamp

It is a common saying that ‘the only thing that is constant in life is change’. I grow because in several aspects of my life, I have to adapt to changing circumstances. Andela bootcamp have avail several opportunity for me to adapt to change and these have greatly contributed to my personality. I will like to highlight some of the circumstances that have prompted me to change during the Andela bootcamp.

Showing respect to superiors in workplace is a norm and Andela is not an exception. But respect for superior in Andela context in quit different from what I is obtainable elsewhere. So it presents an opportunity for me to adapt to a different culture. Even though Andelans show respect for their superiors, they avoid calling them titles sure as sir, madam, boss etc. This is not what I was used to. I remembered being corrected some few times to abide by this culture. Although it seem awkward to me at first, I was able to adapt. Now feel much more comfortable calling colleagues and superiors by their first name instead instead of Sir or Madam.

Collaboration is another area where I have to adapted during bootcamp. For the period that I have been learning programming I have never had opportunity to collaborate in build software products. Andela bootcamp provides opportunity for me to collaborate with peers and mentors while building a software product. It is quit interesting to see that one has to collaborate with others who are seemingly competitors. But this allow me to know the true value of collaboration.

Another area where I have to learn collaboration is in the use of collaboration tools namely git, github and pivotaltracker board. I really have to adapt quickly so that I can follow the recommended git work flow while working on the ‘eventManager’ project. This have enabled me to be more comfortable using version control and collaboration tools like git, github, pivotaltracker when building software product. So far, my ability to use these tools have increased appreciable, thanks to Andela bootcamp.

Another area that I have to adapt is how I wrote my codes. Formally, I avoid using Object oriented programming (classes) implementations when writing codes. I was just comfortable using function and and nested function calls. Bootcamp have exposed me using using Object oriented programming when writing code and I have found it to be more modular. As it was required to implement oop in our codes, I have to brush up my skill in this area. Now I more comfortable implementing Object oriented programming.

Andela bootcamp is an experience I have greatly enjoyed as it has increased my ability to adapt to changing circumstances anytime in life.