Smart City Scholarship: how are our five young Brussels residents making out at the Wagon Bootcamp?

They’ve been hard at work for five weeks now, every day, all day… How do the five young people who received the Smart City Scholarship like this extraordinary experience? How is their life in this super-dynamic and totally international environment? Have they changed their vision of their future work life?

Luay, Alissa, Behnam, Dugagjin and David answer our questions.

Smart City: So, how do you feel after five weeks of Bootcamp? The Bootcamp runs every day from 9.00am to 8.00pm with occasional activities in the evening. How are you making out?

• Luay: It’s a fantastic experience. It’s difficult at times, but that’s to be expected, the level is very demanding. I already had training as an IT technician and now that I’ve discovered coding, I love it! It’s very intense. I don’t do anything else except sleep, eat, code…
• Alissa: It’s going really well. Sometimes it’s a bit difficult to follow because we get a lot of information at once. But, everything is well explained. I really like the atmosphere and the teachers are very friendly. When we get a little lost, they help us find our way again! In the beginning I tried to come to the evening activities as well, but now I go home around 9.30pm and go straight to bed to be in top shape!
• Behnam: Everything is going really well. I’m learning a lot of new things. I didn’t have any coding experience before, so it’s all new to me. It’s very tiring, but there are new challenges and new activities every day, so I can’t afford to let up!
• David: It’s pretty grandiose here and I’m not used to this kind of place. It’s really exceptional. It’s an incredible opportunity to be able to attend this intensive bootcamp. I’m really impressed with the environment and the different startups that work here. Sometimes I can’t come because of my family, but the courses are accessible free on the web. The teachers are always available and ready to help.
• Dugagjin: Everything is going great for now. I already had some experience with web development; now I have to transition from PHP to Ruby. The classes are really good. It’s exactly the intensity level I was expecting. I put my daily life on hold: I want to be 100% for the courses!

Smart City: Has the training changed the way you look at your future work?

• Luay: I’d like a job that combines my two skills: IT technician and web development. I don’t want to set up my own company or work for a large corporation. I want to find work in a startup. I still need more experience and I have to apply everything I’ve learned at the bootcamp.
• Alissa: I want to work with video games. Ruby is an object-oriented language, so knowing it helps you learn similar languages like C++ quickly.
  After the wagon I want to find a programming job and continue my training on my own. Once I have enough experience, I’ll apply at video game companies.
• Behnam:I don’t have time to think about my future work life right now. I need some time to plan and I need more experience. That’s why the course will be really helpful. I’ve got lots of ideas. I want to develop my own project, one that helps society and people in need, especially in the medical field.
• David: I don’t really want to change, but it gives me a clearer vision of where I’m going and what I really want to do next. I want to stay in the Web Communications field and the training will help me develop my own web applications for my personal project. I’m better equipped to choose the technologies I want to use and I won’t waste my time reinventing the wheel. I want to start my own company, my own startup.
• Dugagjin: Yes, a lot. I didn’t think I’d make the switch so quickly, but Ruby is really very interesting. Given that it’s a lot more sought after than PHP, adding it to my list of skills is already huge. I’ve also developed back-end skills which is a new field for me. I’m looking for a full-time job (no freelancing) so this will help me a lot.