Pairing with other people to solve some of the challenges has been a life changing experience for me. Up until now I was used to sit alone in front of my computer in my room and code. Not the most pleasurable thing to do specially when you get stuck. Being able to speak up your ideas and listen to possibly better and different approach is the best since sliced bread. It feels amazing to get out of my head and go over even the simplest steps of pseudo-code with my pair and get even a better understanding of the process. Of course there's always that session where for whatever reason it takes a little more work on your part to connect with your partner. That's when I believe that you can make that much of a difference in somebody's life, by making perhaps a little more effort to make it as much as you can, a productive outcome for the both of you.
Reading feedback on me for the first time was very heart-warming. I just couldn't believe that they were referring to me in such a nice way. Even the suggestions about what I could work on were put in such a kind and actionable that it definitely helped me iron out what I needed to in order to become better at working and interacting with other people.
On the other hand, writing feedback that is not only kind, but also actionable, and specific has proven to be the most difficult thing to do yet for me. Going by the ratings mine have been getting I have a lot of work to do. I had to look up the dictionary definition of actionable and specific in order to get a clue on how to write better feedback. I've thought of ways of improving by perhaps taking notes during the session and writing my feedback as soon as possible so that it can be fresh in my head without having to think too hard in remembering the details.
Overall pairing and feedback are the killer-apps of DBC and the other programming bootcamps. They have again demostrated how far ahead of traditional higher education they are in recognizin how something so simple and natural, can take the learning forward by leaps and bounds.