I'm starting a series of articles in which I want to write about my coding journey and the different approaches and experiences I'm having during this life journey of studying coding.

It's a way of keeping a diary of my studies and sharing my progress.

My first experience started with 42 School's Piscine project - a free international coding school. They have schools in various places and I signed up for their program because it was the cheapest (free) option I had at the time. I definitely didn't have the money to spend on a bootcamp.

The admission program - also called Piscine - is an intensive one-month course, every day, to see if you are able to adapt to their learning method. There are no teachers, no classes, just other students to help you and the famous internet.

I didn't pass the 2-year intensive program, but I had already thought, before finishing Piscine, about not continuing with it for a few reasons.

• the entire course is only in the C language;
• I'm a queer person and there were a lot of straight people with a macho mentality around. I was in Berlin at the time, so I expected things to be a bit different;
• I asked if anyone already had a job as a programmer and even the people with almost a year of course still weren't working in the field;
• Most of the people studying there were struggling to follow the program. The only ones who were a bit more chill were people who had the privilege of not having to worry about money or were receiving some kind of government benefit. Those who had to work full-time or part-time were struggling.
• I like having classes and at least having a base material to follow. Otherwise, why would I be at school and not at home studying whatever I wanted?
• WTF I can do only with C language? In any case, I would recommend Piscine to anyone interested in having a first experience with programming. There will be intense days with lots of programming and without spending any money for it. It really helps to break the ice and start programming. At least that's how it was for me. C is terrible, but taking a look at it before anything else is a good start - but not for 2 years.