Dear junior developer, I don’t care about your portfolio
The tech world needs you thinking bigger
The number of software developer jobs in the United States is rapidly increasing with no slowdown in sight. Without a doubt, the tech world needs more junior software developers. Yet, companies of all sizes are reluctant to hire juniors when their budget and time constraints demand everyone be maximally impactful. But what if our educational institutions produced better engineers from the start? Here, I analyze the disconnect from reality that the curriculum of both computer science degrees and boot camps face.
Where boot camps get it wrong
To fill the software engineering skills gap, coding boot camps approach programming more as a skilled trade rather than an academic endeavor. Their curriculum is projects-based, and one of their selling points is the final portfolio graduates will be able to show to potential employers.
Seeing a job candidate’s past projects may appeal to some, but I immediately grow skeptical. I am a software engineer who has tutored for two coding boot camps (one non-profit and one university-based). The unfortunate truth is that every coding boot camp project has been done ad nauseam that, ultimately, it is not impressive.
