I worked in retail for around 7 years. Didn't go to college due to working two jobs right out of highschool. I attended a bootcamp, tried to build a startup, and landed my first role that I'm coming up on a year working at.
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Nice! Did you feel like bootcamp prepared you for your first role? What was your experience in "jumping the gap" from bootcamp grad to first role?
I’d say i had a pretty rare case, so take my next comments in context.
My bootcamp was a side opening to the main campus in NYC. The Philly campus received very little assistance as we lost a few on site roles while i was going through my camp. The curriculum was dated and support near non existent with no possibility for a refund just “you can take the course again” which was out of bounds for near everyone since it would be 6 months without being able to work.
All in all, the things i took away from the camp were a better understanding of how the web worked, how websites were built, and how to problem solve like a developer. These definitely helped me as i navigated toward my “next steps”
I heavily advocate for those to really know the camp they’re investing in. Know the curriculum in comparison to your local job market. Talk to as many alumni as possible. It’s easy to listen to marketing from internal employees and get wrapped in the “i can leave here making a lot of money” scheme.
I’m going to link you a video i recently recorded discussing some advice for bootcampers or people looking to jump into tech.
My advice for those in the middle of their “jump” is to find the resources that work, build out what you can, and be able to concretely deliver the how and why of what you’re doing. I think that gets lost sometimes in the excitement of trying something new and cramming to be “ready” enough for a job, which most times you’re not. You learn while in the midst of the issues, you can’t exactly prepare for all outcomes.
twitch.tv/videos/349982093##
FINALLY just got around to listening to this. thanks for the link and sharing your story! loved your advice to use tutorials as a reference and building your own things, as well as the importance to know how to explain code you've written. now to implement irl!
Congrats dude! How'd you first hear about programming?
I spent a lot of my years growing up building gaming communities. I first experienced the world of development building Wordpress pages and blogs for my communities to be housed in. Eventually i did a thinkful remote mentorship and experienced my first taste of legitamite programming.
Took me until my 20’s yo to take the dive, quit my job, and hit a bootcamp.
Thanks Andy!!
What was the startup that you worked on?
What started as a community for Bootcampers (called Bootcamped) on slack turned into trying to build out something that would end up being 'the next step' for Bootcampers looking to build out some CS skills and connect with Recruiters/Companies that appreciated the talents of people who transitioned into tech.
I learned a LOT more about the industry through this experience, which all in all helped me figure out how to land my first 'real' job as a developer.