After attending the piscine at Zone01 Kisumu twice (almost 60 days), I realized it’s less about coding and more about resilience. I wrote a story about the experience, the confusion, the checkpoints, the audits, and the lessons that come with them.

Okello Odhiambo — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 07:51:49 +0000

Okello Odhiambo

Mar 12

Surviving the Piscine at Zone01 Kisumu - 60 Days of Being Humbled by Code

#beginners #codenewbie #devjournal #learning

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Surviving the Piscine at Zone01 Kisumu - 60 Days of Being Humbled by Code

Okello Odhiambo — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 07:49:53 +0000

I attended the piscine twice.

That’s nearly 60 days of intense coding, confusion, debugging, and occasional existential crises in front of a computer.

And when I say intense, I mean the kind where you stare at your screen so long that even the keyboard starts judging you.

When I first joined the piscine at Zone01 Kisumu, I had zero tech background. Not “a little HTML” zero. I mean completely zero.

The closest I had come to programming was dialing USSD codes like *544# to check bundles.

Yet somehow, I had decided to learn software engineering.

Looking back, that decision would lead to one of the most challenging and transformative experiences of my life.

Day One: A Very Fast Reality Check

The first day of the piscine is where reality politely introduces itself.

You sit down, open your computer, log into the system, and look around the room.

Some people immediately start typing like they’ve been preparing for this moment since childhood.

Within the first hour, something becomes obvious.

Not everyone is starting from the same place.

Some participants come from computer science backgrounds or have already spent time coding. They move through exercises quickly and confidently.

Meanwhile, you’re still reading the instructions.

At Zone01, finishing an exercise is often called “BIM-ing” it.

So imagine hearing someone say:

“I’ve already BIM’d that exercise.”

And you haven’t even figured out what the instructions mean yet.

That’s the moment when your brain quietly asks:

“Are we sure we belong here?”

But stubbornness is powerful.

So you stay.

The Weekly Cycle: Hope vs Reality

The piscine has a rhythm that every participant eventually recognizes.

During the week, you start gaining confidence.

You solve a few exercises.
You fix a bug.
Maybe you even help someone else.

For a moment, you feel like you're finally getting the hang of things.

Then comes the checkpoint.

The 4-Hour Checkpoint Experience

The checkpoint is a timed exam designed to test your understanding.

And it’s also where confidence goes to die.

Everyone starts at the same time.

You open the exam.

You read the first question.

Then you stare at the screen.

Five minutes pass.

Ten minutes pass.

Meanwhile, the person next to you is already on Level 3.

At this point, many people develop the same coping mechanism: typing random commands just so it looks like you're working.

Your screen is empty.

But your keyboard is extremely busy.

Checkpoints have a way of reminding everyone that learning to code is not a straight line.

Group Projects: When Confidence Meets the Audit

Group work is one of the most interesting parts of the piscine.

People gather around one screen discussing solutions, sharing ideas, and proposing approaches.

Someone says:

“Let’s use recursion.”

Everyone nods.

Even the people who have absolutely no idea what recursion is.

For a moment, the team feels unstoppable.

Then comes audit time.

An auditor reviews your project and asks a simple question:

“Can you explain this part of the code?”

If you truly understand it, no problem.

If you don’t, the explanation suddenly becomes very creative.

You start sentences like:

“Basically what happens here is… you see… the function…”

And somehow the explanation never reaches a conclusion.

It’s a humbling moment that most piscine participants remember very clearly.

The AI Temptation

Let’s talk about something modern developers understand very well.

The temptation to use AI.

When you're stuck on a problem for hours, the thought appears:

“Maybe I should just get a small hint.”

Suddenly, perfect code appears.

Clean. Elegant. Working.

You submit it feeling brilliant.

Until someone asks:

“Can you explain what this line does?”

That’s when the real test begins.

The piscine doesn’t just evaluate whether your code works.

It checks whether you understand what you wrote.

And that’s a lesson many developers learn the hard way.

What the Piscine Actually Teaches

At first glance, the piscine looks like a coding bootcamp.

But after weeks of struggling through exercises, something becomes clear.

The real lesson isn’t just programming.

It’s resilience.

You learn how to deal with frustration.

You learn that confusion is part of the learning process.

And you learn that everyone—no matter how experienced—gets stuck sometimes.

A Luo proverb says:

“Piny owacho gi chike, to ng’ato nyalo puonjore.”
The world has its rules, but a person can learn them.

The piscine forces you to accept that progress happens slowly, one concept at a time.

Why I Came Back the Second Time

After my first attempt, I had a choice.

Walk away.

Or try again.

I came back.

Not because coding suddenly became easy.

But because something had changed.

I understood that the goal wasn’t to be the fastest person in the room.

The goal was simply to keep improving.

One exercise.

One concept.

One bug at a time.

Final Thoughts

Looking back at nearly 60 days in the piscine, one thing stands out.

The experience tests more than your technical ability.

It tests your patience.
Your humility.
Your willingness to keep learning.

Some days your screen is blank.

Some days the person next to you is already on Level 3.

But if you stay long enough, something interesting happens.

You start solving problems that once felt impossible.

And slowly, line by line, the code begins to make sense.

💬 If you’ve ever gone through a coding bootcamp, a 42/Zone01 piscine, or any intense learning experience, I’d love to hear your story.

What was the moment that humbled you the most?

Because if there’s one thing the piscine proves, it’s this:

Every developer has that moment.

Forem: Okello Odhiambo

After attending the piscine at Zone01 Kisumu twice (almost 60 days), I realized it’s less about coding and more about resilience. I wrote a story about the experience, the confusion, the checkpoints, the audits, and the lessons that come with them.

Surviving the Piscine at Zone01 Kisumu - 60 Days of Being Humbled by Code

Surviving the Piscine at Zone01 Kisumu - 60 Days of Being Humbled by Code