Why I Got Kicked Out Of ALX Software Engineering Program

software engineering is what everybody wants to do right now but it is not a work in the park sometimes I feel like many of these YouTube influencers are paid by institutions to promote the idea that software engineering is easy just about anybody can do it but guys let's be real not everybody can actually do it in November 2021 I enrolled for the Alx software engineering program that was supposed to last for 12 months and I do it in High Spirits I even made a post on Facebook it's so much Gusto and confidence talking about how I'll be back to this same Post in one year with so much skills that I'll be a software engineer but after one month of trying in the software engineering program I got kicked out I got kicked out not because I didn't know what I was doing or because I wasn't getting my tasks right I got kicked out because I couldn't keep up with the pace now I mean sign up again but the truth is I really do want to catch my breath maybe asking I mean what brought you there the truth is I'm a financial analyst and I am the founder of a microfinance company as well being an entrepreneur is difficult as it is but I just wanted to do something different I wanted to try a new challenge as the year was winding up and the truth is I found the challenge and it beats me it is not as if I am a total newbie to Tech I know one or two things about how software works I can write on python I know how to do HTML I mean but the software engineering program provided by Alx is a totally different animal all together in this video I'm going to show you why I dropped out and four reasons why the software engineering program may not be for you before we go on I want you to subscribe to this channel by clicking on the button below because if you don't do that I will find you number one if you have a job forget about it the Alx software engineering program is not designed for people who have jobs the truth is it is really difficult to pair the program with something else something that is really tasking for instance a master's degree a pregnancy maybe a maybe you're pregnant or even a job that requires you to dedicate about six to eight hours program is designed to take all your time and even in the beginning when you're on boarding they'll tell you that you can't take another Alx course if you're enrolled in one already because it is an immersive experience you need to take all your time now if you are good at multitasking I mean that's a different equation altogether you can give it a try if you can do different things at the same time but I am not a multitasker I rather pride myself as someone who has laser sharp Focus one of the things I actually noticed immediately I got signed up into the program was that there were a lot of young people there are people between these the ages of 25 and 16 17 the truth is this is a demographic of people who are very willing to try new things who have more time on their hands in terms of the risks they can take and this is a demographic as well that do not have jobs yet in Africa and even if they had jobs they wouldn't have as great you know a responsibility as you in your 30s or you who have family issues to deal with if you're having a job or you have big responsibilities this program is not for you number two 10 hours a day is no joke elx Africa expects that you dedicate 10 hours of your day to this program and when they say 10 hours they're not talking about 9.5 hours they're taking 10 hours a day or even more now the truth is right from the beginning of the program I was suffocating in the tasks one of the things I noticed was that they were so many webinars right there's so many courses so many manuals to study so many meetings to have and their sharp 24-hour deadlines to tasks you never ever seen before Concepts you've never learned before this made it quite difficult for me because having a job and having things to deal with was very difficult on its own and having to add this to it was something I wasn't really prepared for so the 10 hours a day deadline I just couldn't do it I had to drop out and I knew I was going to drop out even before the announcement was made last week and by last week I mean second of January 2023 so if you're going into the ALS program for software engineering you have to decide that you're going to sacrifice the rest of your year to doing only one thing number three everything you know is alive software engineering is not the same thing as writing code yes I actually got to learn that from the program the truth is software engineering requires more than that software unit is actually understanding how softwares work and knowing how to communicate with it and solving problems using programming languages so if you know how to write python from one of those YouTube you know lectures good for you but that's not software engineering that just makes you competent at writing python software engineering encompasses in lots of things it is your ability to solve problems that arise be it in the computer in the software or in any other field number four and last one you have to discover things yourself okay right from the get-go I realized that the program prioritizes a system of learning that forces you to research independently of course while working within a team many people don't like team members who are dead with people want to be carried and people also want to have people that can carry them right so in the program you would have to research one of the things I found out was that in the first few weeks I had already used Reddit about 45 times I was looking for answers to some of the questions that were being asked I was looking for solutions to some of the tasks these are things I've never seen before and how to use Reddit I have to go to quora to look for things that only God knows what they were going to do for my life now at this point I began to understand that becoming a software engineer has a whole lot to do with understanding how to search for answers and searching for information on Google is not a simple thing a lot of people don't know how to do it tasks get completely difficult as they become progressively harder you would have to improve your skills of Google Search the truth is I was not feeling the learning style I did not like the fact that I had to rush I don't think at my age I would like to copy and paste there were so many opportunities for me to copy and paste I I told myself I said a way to come and learn and I wanted to come and be an engineer that could be useful if I have to copy and paste you know for for something as simple in the first month I mean how how far can I get um so I decided not to I decided to rather abandon it it is either I understand it totally or I quit finally of all 3 000 students that joined the Alx software engineering program last year only about 350 graduated after 12 months now that's a ratio of around one percent however graduating from Alx is pretty rewarding if you can make it into the last one percent from all the people who are removed you can actually get into a community called the room now the room acts like an agent there are people there who need talent they are world leaders people from Silicon Valley people who need your newly acquired skills and Alx will help you connect them they elect to promote you and get interested employees and get interested employers to find you one of the things that we've learned also from the ALS program is that almost about 70 percent of jobs go unpublished that means that half of everything you are seeing on the internet about vacancies just belonging to 30 so there's more jobs that are not being talked about that are open that you can ever know about I dropped out of the program because the pace was too much but I advise every young person out there to actually get on board with Alx if you think he can do it for now or catch my breath and I'll try again because there's no harm in trying there's also no harm in feeling in fact I believe in failing quickly so that you can actually learn fast thank you so much

Channel: Double OG

Views: 164,101

Keywords: alx software engineering, alx va program, alx git project, alx africa, alx

Id: 3wKargQWV_4

Length: 9min 51sec (591 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 18 2023