What to Expect During the Post-Bootcamp Job Search
So, you graduated from a coding bootcamp. Congratulations! You’ve just successfully completed one of the most difficult experiences of your life. Now, get ready for an even greater challenge: the job search as a bootcamp grad.
But my bootcamp has hiring partners!
That’s awesome! Mine did too, and many of my cohort mates got hired by one, myself included. However, I hope you have chosen a bootcamp that, like mine, was realistic with you about the challenges of the hiring process (in truth, I wish mine had been even more realistic, but they may have scared away some of the younger students). A bootcamp that *promises* you a job is not handing you a job just because you graduated. The company you are hoping to work for expects you to be or at least desire to become a good developer, and quickly.
Bootcamp is not a Computer Science degree.
One thing that you will level up very quickly after graduating from bootcamp is a quality that you (hopefully) entered with: humility.
In the job field, you are going up against recent graduates of four-year Computer Science programs. Yes, you may have built a very cool looking web application that you find very impressive, but how efficient is the business logic in that application? A CS grad can speak to this, even if their algorithms need work. Can you?
Study up on the basics of computer science. It’s important to know what Big O Notation is all about, even if you haven’t yet learned how to optimize your algorithms. I highly recommend that you immediately start working your way through Stephen Grider’s Udemy Course on Algorithms and Data Structures for interview questions.
Even if you can speak to these things, remember: you are not even a Junior Developer yet. Approach this process with humility, and look for positions that recognize your current skill level and want to help you become a better developer. The industry is flooded with Junior Developers right now. These entry level positions may not pay the salary you dreamed of when you looked into becoming a developer. They will turn you into the developer that is equipped for the job that will pay you the big bucks. Be patient.
Don’t scoff at internships.
I know — your last internship was in college. Maybe, like me, you went to a University with a co-op program where you worked paid internships between classroom semesters. The last thing you were thinking of when it came to a career change was another co-op. Internships, however, are often a (short) leap to a full-time position. Many developer jobs these days begin as contract-to-hire. It’s very difficult to tell what kind of a developer you will be from your GitHub, even if you have great code. Sometimes, it’s even harder to tell what kind of an employee you will be from the interview process alone. Good hiring managers know this. The best proof of what kind of employee you will be is in having you actually work for them. As long as you remain humble and eager to learn, you’ll be in a full-time position in no time.
This is going to take awhile.
Maybe you’re reading this article before starting a bootcamp. If you’re thinking of joining one, I hope you are. It’s good to do your research and know as much as you can before making the leap. I highly recommend taking one of the one-night Coding 101 lessons on-campus at Launch Academy if you’re in the Boston area to get the feel for the in-person full-time bootcamp experience. This is a major career switch. Be prepared for the amount of work it takes to make such a radical shift. But, all of that is a topic for another article. Here’s what you need to know about the job search and the time it takes:
Prepare yourself — financially, emotionally, and otherwise — for this to take some time. You’ve just spent months unemployed while dedicating yourself to bootcamp surrounded by other excited, supportive people in the same position as you. Now you’re on your own, down to your last dollar, and you’re just hitting your stride at the halfway mark of this marathon. You may have to tighten the belt a bit further. Prepare your loved ones for this. Prepare yourself for this.
When you do get hired, the rewards will be great. You will have successfully transitioned into a career with great pay, great benefits, and a huge potential for longevity. You’ll look back and laugh at the job search that you felt would never end. But, let me tell you now — it is daunting, discouraging, and it drags on. You can do this. Hopefully, if you went to a bootcamp like mine, you’ll have career support to help you through this.
Keep coding, and keep sharpening what your bootcamp taught you.
Once you’re out in the wild, it’s hard to know what to focus on. There is so much technology out there, and every job description you read is going to ask for experience in languages or frameworks you know nothing about or are only vaguely familiar with their existence. That’s ok! Don’t think this means that you need to start taking every Academind Udemy course (though I highly recommend his courses when you do need to learn a new framework or technology) in order to get hired. You’ll end up knowing very little about a whole lot of things. Keep sharpening the tools your bootcamp gave you and try to become proficient in those technologies. If you’re a mid-level coder in one language, you can become a mid-level coder in another language much more quickly. If you’re a beginner in a bunch, you’ll stay a beginner in every other language you touch.
Know that there is a reason your bootcamp taught you the languages and frameworks that they did. They picked a curriculum that would facilitate your ability to get a full stack application up and running in a matter of mere weeks. (Remember earlier when I said that this is not a CS degree?) You already have a great foundation in these languages. Build on it.
Furthermore, code as if it is already your full time job.
Here’s the beautiful thing about continuing to code like it is your full time job, even after you’ve graduated: if you love coding every day on your own, you’ll love the job you’re about to get.
Find a side project that excites you. My friend Ross and I worked together on a web scraper and Rails/React app to gamify GitHub commits for our cohort mates to keep us all accountable in continuing to code and contribute. While the app was his idea and he did a huge chunk of the work, I was able to jump in and contribute in my free time to a code base that I didn’t write. The job as a developer is not too dissimilar.
Do some tutorials that riff off of what you already know — set up a stack that is similar to the one you learned in bootcamp but perhaps uses Node.js to access the back end instead of Rails, since you already know Javascript. Commit these successful setups to GitHub. Flex your versatility.
Lastly, be excited.
I know this process is tough, but there is a lot to be excited about. Once you land that first job, doors are going to open much more easily for you in the future. Consider working remotely. If you’re able to, consider relocating to somewhere new and exciting and don’t be afraid to apply for jobs there. A good company will be open to a remote interview (we are in the business of technology, after all). This is a job in which you will never stop learning, and that alone is something to be excited about.
Are you thinking of taking the leap to becoming a software engineer and want to chat about bootcamp/job search? Feel free to reach out to me: mikemaven@gmail.com
