How can you prepare for the Piscine?
Do you want a great career in IT? Come and study computer programming at the 42 Quebec campus. After completing your profile on the admission platform and watching a short […]
Do you want a great career in IT? Come and study computer programming at the 42 Quebec campus. After completing your profile on the admission platform and watching a short check-in video, all you have to do is select the date of your future Piscine.
The Piscine: What is it?
The Piscine is the last step to be admitted at 42 Quebec. For 26 consecutive days, you get to enter the world of programming with many people like you who want to learn to code. It is an exciting and unique experience that lets you know if the 42 pedagogy is proper for you. How can you prepare for it? We asked a few 42 Quebec students to share their best advice.
Free up your schedule to devote yourself-Full time
The Piscine is unlike anything you know. It’s a big yet uplifting challenge to overcome: we strongly recommend you clear your schedule to leave plenty of room for learning.
Yannick says: “You have to take the time and be indulgent towards yourself in the Piscine. And to take the time, you need to be able to devote yourself to it full time. It’s necessary.”
Keep an open mind and be kind to yourself
More than 80% of applicants have never coded before. This is precisely the purpose of 42, to make it accessible to as many people as possible. However, the first day, the first week, alone behind your keyboard, can be scary. You must persevere:
“Don’t panic,” says Audrey. “You have to deconstruct your thinking to move forward.”
Everyone is in the same boat, or rather the same Piscine. Be kind and patient with yourself and the other candidates around you.
Go to others and talk about your problems
By formulating your problems, by simply sharing them, you are already clarifying things: “With more brains, you go further. We have to ask questions to others to fully understand an
d progress,” confirms Jean-Philippe.
And Coding?
Yannick and Marc-André admit they would have liked to know a little bit of C language before the Piscine, whereas Audrey would have liked a few tips in Shell or Dash. But it can be learned!
“The thing you do the most is using a terminal. There are a lot of tools like that. Knowing what a terminal is before you come here is good. Step by step.” adds Jean-Philippe.
Indeed, knowing a little programming vocabulary cannot hurt before arriving in the Piscine. However, don’t forget that you are at 42 Québec to learn it all.
Discover this unique experience!
Register now on the admission platform to participate to the next 42 Québec Piscine.
