So this assignment was to watch a video called "Shereef's Fireside Chat", which is all about what DBC is REALLY like. Very inspirational, and goes into further detail regarding why I chose DBC.

The concept here is that DBC (Dev Bootcamp) is not a package thing to consume, pay for, and leave like going to a restaurant, but an experience of cooking with teammates like chefs in a kitchen. It is going to be what I make of it, and what I bring into it. This highlights on the emotional intelligence (EQ) component of DBC which is what drew me in. I know this program will be more than just basic understanding of programming. It also cultivates teamwork, how to work with others, how to grow with others. It will teach me the basics up to a point where I may be ready for an internship or even a full-time job as a developer, but I could learn that on my own putting in just as much time and effort. The reason to be in DBC is to work with OTHERS and cultivate a culture of supporting one another and growing together. It's exactly what I expected it to be.

The were a few bits of this video that were new or enlightening to me. I am glad that I feel discouraged to think about the statistic of how many people get jobs at the end of this. It's a reminder to be present and enjoy this experience for what it is, not what it's going to get me. It also gave me an understanding for why the phases are as they are: to have 3 week periods where if you don't quite get the concepts, you get a second chance to catch up. This feels very supportive to me, more like a privilege than a punishment. Other than that, I feel that up to this point I already had an understanding of what DBC was going to be like.

This seems like the perfect program to continue to develop what I started in myself a few years ago at Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Dell'Arte was comprised of weekly performance labs with esoteric assignments to be interpreted by the small ensembles we would form to complete it. We all co-created these pieces by having a hand in the writing, directing, and performing of each piece. It was a real challenge to understand my own mode of play (eg. the aggressor, defensive, passively accepting others' ideas, etc.), and then understand how to adjust with a different group for each assignment. The goal was always the same: To create a meaningful piece of art. I want this to hold true for myself in the tech world, and its' great that DBC seems to work on cultivating that with partner work and team work. Hooray for DBC!

Majd