Le Wagon - Not all details matter the same

A few days ago I read this tweet that said that perfectionism was the mistake of thinking that all details matter equally. For some reason, that has stuck with me. And I feel like it's a very appropriate quote to define what I like about Le Wagon: it's about the details that matter.

We could talk in circles about learning or not learning Ruby (When I was looking to Le Wagon, this small article won me over). About focusing more on JavaScript (to be fair, I heard the curriculum has changed a bit since then). Maybe having a little more time with Rails outside of the frenzy of projects week. Fine. All of those would be valid criticisms.

But, to me, those are details that don't matter that much.

Because at the end of the day, I don't think those are the things that determine if doing Le Wagon is worth it. There's only so much you can do in 9 weeks, and I would have no other way of describing that time other than "incredibly productive". While investigating other bootcamps many times I felt like they were selling a bit of a dream: 9 weeks and you will know everything. I always felt that Le Wagon was more honest and modest: in 9 weeks you will have solid fundamentals and yes, you will be ready to start working. As ready as you could ever be. Just be prepared to work for it and you will get all that you could ever need.

I am gonna tell you the details that do matter to me:

• That I felt and feel at home on campus
• That I had some of the best teachers of my life
• That I made friends that are dear to me
• That I was able to work on something that I could be proud of
• And yes, that I learned so much, so fast. And had a solid enough grasp to continue learning on my own.

From the start, I always felt that things in Le Wagon were made with passion and care. Maybe, just maybe I feel the need to emphasize this because every now and then the memories from Vietnam resurface: my university, high school and language classes. A small sense of dread and apathy in the curriculum and the activities that you did on your day to day. Places filled with wonderful teachers that could only do so much before they were crushed by the vile and dumb institution they were part of. And for no good reason.

I don't know how to explain the difference sometimes, maybe it's how well prepared all the activities and the platform is, maybe it's being surrounded by people with the same drive to learn that you have. But there is something very different and noticeable between the education that I received all my life and what I received in Le Wagon. Just a sense of "Oh, yeah. This was how education was supposed to be all along".

I liked that the classes were very well thought out. That you had exercises with their tests to check against. That you had a ticket system. The great teachers. The teachers taking a little bit of time to show us things that maybe weren't directly related to the course, but that were maybe as important. Those 15 mins nerding about keyboard shortcuts and VS Code extensions, or the history of web development. The odd interview of Matz, creator of Ruby, where he jokes about the inevitable demise of humans to Terminator. Or that one time

I know from learning Japanese that you don't need classes to learn something. You don't need university, you don't need a bootcamp.

But you do need people. People that care. People that are a joy to work with. And you do need some structure, a good routine and someone to point you in the right direction. And those are things that you will always find in Le Wagon.

And it's only appropriate that if I say that the most important thing were the people that I dedicate some words to them directly.

Thank you Yair for being such a patient and incredible teacher, and for joining obsidian (which is a note taking app and definitely not a cult). Thank you Nico for all the cool stuff you showed us and all the help when we were doing the final project. And same for Isa, who drilled Figma into us until we were thankful for it. Now that I am working as a TA, I often find myself trying to explain things just like you guys did with me. With those little techniques and way of explaining things that I as a student found helpful. I like to think I am returning a little bit of what I received.

Thank you Fanny and Emi for making the bootcamp such a fun and special place. It was a joy coming here each day and I know it was only possible thanks to all the work you guys do.

Thank you Gonzalo for being the glue that made the whole group come together. Thank you Alejandro, my first friend here (and also fuck you). Thank you my friend Ting, my favorite person to work with and someone who gave their all and cried with me, that is, someone that cared as much as I did and who I respect immensely. To Legna for enduring my tyrannical ways, like when I told her to watch a 3 hour tutorial to do a wonderful navbar and other unspeakable things. And I am missing lots of people that I still remember dearly.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

To everyone, it was wonderful learning with you guys.