Bootcamp Hustle: The Tryout

Hey there, hustlers! ???? It's been a couple of weeks! I've been busy, how about you? Since graduation I've spent the bulk of my time filling out applications and sharpening my skills. Over the last two weeks, however, I've embarked on a new challenge! I have been lucky enough to secure a 2-week contract-to-hire opportunity and I just finished the contract! Woooooooooo!

A little about the job: This is a digital commerce agency that offers application building services and all the fixin's. Although it is an incredibly fast-paced environment, they spend plenty of resources on company culture, and it shows! They demand a lot, but they appear to be incredibly fare and promote self-care in the ways some of the best modern tech businesses do today.

As far as my specific role, I have spent most of these two weeks simply learning the codebase and asking a bunch of (silly) questions. Hat's off to my mentor, he is an amazing individual who is incredibly patient and does a fantastic job explaining topics in detail. ???? I happened to come into a project that is nearing completion and getting ready for external testing. So, I've spent many hours doing QA and fixing small bugs, mostly dealing with styling issues. Speaking of fixing bugs, I need to show you something pretty darn cool!

There I am making commits to a real-life business project by the end of my first week! My code will actually be out in the world!!! O-M-Geeeeeeeee!!! ?? Ok... enough with the self-brag, but as many accomplished developers may remember, it was pretty darn cool seeing your work be put to use by a company for the first time, wasn't it?

Now feels like the appropriate time to bring up what I is the main point of this blog post today: YOU ARE NOT READY!

Please, read that again. I'll wait.

Many bootcamps promote the idea that you will gain everything you need during their program to hit the ground running directly after graduation, get hired, and be successful in no time. This is just not the case. I was lucky enough to have an excellent and realistic set of instructors, who made sure to prepare me for the journey and tell it like it is. I have heard stories to the contrary, however. Many bootcampers are under the impression that they will be full-stack masters and complete developers after the program, and that is simply not true.

The beautiful thing about bootcamps is they teach you how to learn! They have this ability to drill a ton of new information into your skull over a short period of time, laying out the foundations for success, but they also leave you hungry for more. You must capitalize on this. After camp is over, while you are out job hunting, you need to continue working on your fundamentals AND focusing on acquiring new skills. Never stop learning.

Rarely will you run into an opportunity where an employer is simply looking for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills. That is more like the bare minimum. Even full-stack basics are simply not enough. Take a look at the jobs you are interested in and what skills and technologies they are asking for in the job description. In my case, not only do jobs ask for the MERN stack, but they will also include technologies and tools such as Redux, GraphQL, SQL, Shopify, or AWS just to name a few. This is a very short list of examples. Take a look for yourself!

So, what do I suggest? Look, don't over-burden yourself by trying to know everything in the job descriptions. You've heard the expression, "Jack of all trades, but master of none," right? First, you MUST master the skills you acquired in your bootcamp. Knowing the basics is crucial. You're going to look pretty silly claiming to know JavaScript, then not be able to write a simple addition function, or complete a FizzBuzz challenge. Also spend some of your time perfecting just one of those other skills. As time goes on, you will be able to pick up another, and another. But don't claim to know a technology and not be able to use it in the interview. That is bad juju.

I'm sure you're dying to know about my contract outcome, aren't ya!? Well... to be honest... I don't even know, yet. ????♂? I have a meeting set up on Monday with the Managing Director. So, we'll see how it goes! ???? Realistically, if I get the job, that would be fantastic! I absolutely love the culture and the people I've been working with. But if I don't get it, then I just don't get it. I'll move on and keep working. I have learned so much in this past couple of weeks, and I also have learned how much more I actually have to learn! ?? But the experience was great, and if nothing else, it will help in directing my search for the future. ?? What about you? What have your first jobs in tech been like? I'm dying to hear your experiences!

As always, I need you to remember one thing: Hustle.