Software Engineering Bootcamps

[larryr]

As far as bootcamps, personally I think they are a good idea (or at least sound like one). I started on my own years ago, can't tell you how many books i've read, days/nights reading, writing/re-writing example code. I think you need a combination of self-starting and working with experienced people to ever become great at what you do.

I hire people who I know are dedicated, learned outside of the classroom, I put my junior guys through my own bootcamp. You'll never grow unless you work with great people with different ideas and experiences. Keywords are "great people", there are plenty of garbage developers out there just getting by on average/poor code, since there are average leads/architects who don't know any better to change it. The only reason i've been successful is because i've worked with a couple really great architects, the experience is invaluable. These people not only show you how to accomplish things, but how to learn and what to study.

Maybe these camps have those types of people? If they do, i'd say give it a shot. Otherwise just study up, get your first job in a place where you feel that you can learn.

 

[sinnedk]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I'd recommend either hiring a group of developers or at least sitting with someone who has a lot of experience in the field to steer you in the right direction. Big mistake when developing an application is misjudging what it takes, in my experience hiring a single person is almost guaranteed to fail.

Custom application development isn't always necessary, there are plenty of products/frameworks on the market that will make you life a lot easier and provide a starting point. Maybe there is something out there you just need to configure? You probably wouldn't be familiar with these unless you've been in the field.

I've been programming/leading/architect for ~15years, own two businesses now, on service business and one product. Let me know if you need some free advice

.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

As far as bootcamps, personally I think they are a good idea (or at least sound like one). I started on my own years ago, can't tell you how many books i've read, days/nights reading, writing/re-writing example code. I think you need a combination of self-starting and working with experienced people to ever become great at what you do.

I hire people who I know are dedicated, learned outside of the classroom, I put my junior guys through my own bootcamp. You'll never grow unless you work with great people with different ideas and experiences. Keywords are "great people", there are plenty of garbage developers out there just getting by on average/poor code, since there are average leads/architects who don't know any better to change it. The only reason i've been successful is because i've worked with a couple really great architects, the experience is invaluable. These people not only show you how to accomplish things, but how to learn and what to study.

Maybe these camps have those types of people? If they do, i'd say give it a shot. Otherwise just study up, get your first job in a place where you feel that you can learn.

You hit it spot on i think. I believe Jobs stated in his book that successful people like working with other successful people. I definitely think a good team with mentorship can catapult younger developers to the top.

 

[ipractice]

It's been a very long time since this has been updated. I just wanted to give some follow up if anyone was interested.

I ended up staying at my old job for a while longer. I became a QA Lead for a project at Google and developed a strong foundation for engineering and the development cycle. Unfortunately, didn't get much opportunity to do much programming myself. I eventually decided to go to App Academy and graduated just under 2 months ago. I won't really go into details of my experience there. If you want to know, feel free to PM me and ask. What I can say is that the program is very selective. For the most part, they are priming people with STEM or Tech backgrounds for engineering roles. I enjoyed the program and genuinely believe it's prepared me for a full-time engineering role. The problem is, even with a strong education that these programs provide, companies are unlikely to risk hiring a boot camp grad.

Finding a job, for the most part, has been a crapshoot. The mentality is to shotgun resumes and hope that you land some interviews. On average, it takes 4 months for graduates to find a full-time role. Most companies will never look at your resume, and it's not uncommon to have grads send out 250+ applications before landing a job. That's where I am now, sending out a bunch of resumes, and working on improving the skills required to play the interview "game". It's a depressing and demoralizing process, but I'm still working hard and believe something will come up with persistence.

I know that there are some experienced developers who have participated in this thread. If you guys have any advice for the job search process and can lend help I would greatly appreciate it (review resume, code review projects, etc). And again, if anyone wants to ask question of my bootcamp experience I'd be happy to answer them.

 

[sinnedk]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

It's been a very long time since this has been updated. I just wanted to give some follow up if anyone was interested.

I ended up staying at my old job for a while longer. I became a QA Lead for a project at Google and developed a strong foundation for engineering and the development cycle. Unfortunately, didn't get much opportunity to do much programming myself. I eventually decided to go to App Academy and graduated just under 2 months ago. I won't really go into details of my experience there. If you want to know, feel free to PM me and ask. What I can say is that the program is very selective. For the most part, they are priming people with STEM or Tech backgrounds for engineering roles. I enjoyed the program and genuinely believe it's prepared me for a full-time engineering role. The problem is, even with a strong education that these programs provide, companies are unlikely to risk hiring a boot camp grad.

Finding a job, for the most part, has been a crapshoot. The mentality is to shotgun resumes and hope that you land some interviews. On average, it takes 4 months for graduates to find a full-time role. Most companies will never look at your resume, and it's not uncommon to have grads send out 250+ applications before landing a job. That's where I am now, sending out a bunch of resumes, and working on improving the skills required to play the interview "game". It's a depressing and demoralizing process, but I'm still working hard and believe something will come up with persistence.

I know that there are some experienced developers who have participated in this thread. If you guys have any advice for the job search process and can lend help I would greatly appreciate it (review resume, code review projects, etc). And again, if anyone wants to ask question of my bootcamp experience I'd be happy to answer them

.

pm sent

 

[larryr]



It's a depressing and demoralizing process, but I'm still working hard and believe something will come up with persistence.

I hear you, can't tell you how many jobs i didn't get. It is demoralizing at times. Keep at it, you'll find the right job for you. I think all the time about if i would have gotten one of those jobs i wouldn't be where i am now with the people I've started companies with, things happen for a reason. Let me know if you need resume help.

 

[wojt]

Anyone here has experience with Java?

I think about career change with no prior exp in programming, so my question is this a field that has good forecast for future and will continue to develop or it already had it day and it's worthwhile to start with something else?

 

[sinnedk]



Anyone here has experience with Java?

I think about career change with no prior exp in programming, so my question is this a field that has good forecast for future and will continue to develop or it already had it day and it's worthwhile to start with something else?

Yes have experience with Java but your true question has nothing to do with Java.

is this a field that has good forecast for future and will continue to develop or it already had it day?


IDK do you think home automation, biotech and clean energy are growing fields? Well they all need technology to drive them so if you choose a career in tech i can bet its a good investment. To further point out, do you think e-commerce is going away. I don't think so, look at all the dudes on SF buying onlone, will all of those fields change... sure and you will adapt to their change. What i do know is software is necessary and each retailer has a website. lots of retailers and lots of work.

Give me some more info about yourself, how old are you, whats your tech experience? Do you like design, algorithms, mobile dev, database management... gotta narrow it down to get to an answer.

hope that helps confusing you

 

[wojt]

32, my 'tech' experience is b.s on tech.univ but in environmental protection/chemistry department and using computer a lot, I have no idea wheter I like these things you mentioned I never tried anything related with programming. I had few jobs low-level jobs so far, and none in my field of study I wouldn't call that a career. So my general question is if I would enjoy doing this(programming in java) and would be able to learn basic skill in reasonable time, would this be a good idea? Is it possible to learn this relatively quickly to get entry-level job?(entry-lvl jobs in programming > jobs i had recently)

 

[sinnedk]



32, my 'tech' experience is b.s on tech.univ but in environmental protection/chemistry department and using computer a lot, I have no idea wheter I like these things you mentioned I never tried anything related with programming. I had few jobs low-level jobs so far, and none in my field of study I wouldn't call that a career. So my general question is if I would enjoy doing this(programming in java) and would be able to learn basic skill in reasonable time, would this be a good idea? Is it possible to learn this relatively quickly to get entry-level job?(entry-lvl jobs in programming > jobs i had recently)

So we are same age and i switched into this career 3 years ago.

1. would enjoy doing this(programming in java)
-Why are you so fixated on Java? Fundamentals to Java, C++, Javascript, Ruby are all about the same so that part doesn't matter. Would you enjoy programming is the question. Well there is no way to tell that other than starting to do this on the side possibly as a hobby at first. Then once you feel this is the right thing to do, start pursuing it. I recommend start basic programming tutorials and go from there.

2. would be able to learn basic skill in reasonable time
-Whats reasonable amount of time for you? There are many avenues of approaching this. you can start taking online or city college courses and see how it goes. What i can tell you is that most companies won't take you with little exprience, you need to have something. even an online portfolio helps.

3. I have no idea wheter I like these things you mentioned I never tried anything related with programming.
-You have to start to know.

 

[otc]

https://codecombat.com/play

Learn some python, see what's up.

 

[kwilliamson]

I personally know three people who have done this a couple of years ago. They are all in jobs and earn 6 figures yearly. It's more challenging now since this is very popular, companies really want more seniors.

Don't let education deter you. If you are persistent and this is what you want (programmer) then, there is a place for you. The good thing about these schools is that they are doing placement interviews once you are done.

Females and people of ethnicity as black and hispanic are having more chances now due to diversification in the big companies.

The most important thing is to follow your dreams regardless how the market is, or what people say. That will always give you the best result.

Good luck!

 

[ipractice]

Oh, I haven't checked on this thread in a long time.

I've been working as a fullstack web developer for roughly 3 months now, full time. It took a while to land offers (3-4 months?) after graduating, but I'm in a better place now. I was contributing within the second week on the job, and was pretty much on my own after the first month or two. I'm obviously still very junior to the field but I definitely learned the necessary skills to perform the tasks of my daily job. I would say 80%+ of my cohort has full time jobs now (maybe 90%+? I don't keep in touch with a lot of them). The promised 6 figure average salary is accurate. Overall, I'm happy with how things panned out though there was definitely more struggle than advertised.

A word of warning is that there are only a few bootcamps that are worth going to, like 2-3 in the bay area that will adequately prepare you to find a job. I've heard a lot of bad news from bootcamp grads outside of the top tier schools. If anyone is interested in bootcamps (App Academy specifically), I'd be happy to chat. I've had random people hit me up on LinkedIn to have conversations, so I'd like to help out where I can. Unfortunately, most bootcamps are geared towards web-dev and don't teach Java so I can't really help out there. I am learning Java myself right now and would be happy to share resources if anyone's interested.

Funny thing. I still remember back when I started this thread, I dreamed of one day being able to post about "making it". It's great that I accomplished what I set out to do, but I think more than anything else, I'm happy that I enjoy my job and that my career still has a lot of potential for growth.

 

[sinnedk]

Good to hear man

 

[kwilliamson]

If you're a woman you should try this one https://hackbrightacademy.com/about/ many gals got jobs coming out of that one.

 

[otc]

Dev Bootcamp is shutting their doors before the end of the year.

Is the bubble bursting? Has enough time passed that the traditional college pipeline has sufficiently adapted to providing enough people with actual software skills and now there's less demand for people with this sort of training?