Today is the last day at Fractal AI Bootcamp.
One thing I learned is that when you’re not connected to the world, you can end up with a narrow view of yourself. I have a lot of classmates who have a very “wrong” perception of themselves.
There are things they’re truly exceptional at—things that come easily to them—but because you don’t have many comparison points other than yourself, you don’t realize those things do not come easily to others.
I loved Mark’s session every week. Mark is our coach, and each week students share an emotional block, and Mark guides us through it. We would gather in the lounge, a cozy little place, sit next to each other, and share our deepest fears in front of everyone. I loved it not only because he has great insights, but also because it’s a space where I can finally step out of my own world.
Someone who seemed like a straight-up genius has their own struggles. Their concerns are way too similar to mine, even though they seem so far ahead of me.
That’s when I snapped out of my own head and felt tremendous compassion for them. It seems easier for me to feel compassion and care for them than to feel the same for myself. And it all makes sense why they’re crashing out, especially when you hear the stories that led them to this point.
I remember our first-week demo. We made a tic-tac-toe game. I saw how frozen people were—nervous, unable to convey what they wanted to say. We had a final demo before our cohort ends today, and I almost teared up at how much we all have grown. We’re all so caught up in how far we are from our “goals” in every moment, but we rarely look back and see how far we’ve come. I’m extremely proud of every single one of us.
These three months were less about learning software engineering and more about being compassionate to others and learning about myself amongst them. Don’t get me wrong—I learned so much. But the most important lesson for me was to keep trying to get out of my head and truly see others without any glasses on (well, how can we ever… but at least I tried).
I have zero regret about not studying or not working on my project if it meant hearing my friends’ struggles and successes, and crying with them.