Welcome to The Boot Camp Survival Guide

I suppose a more appropriate name for this newsletter would be “Boot Camp Success Guide”, after all, I want you to have a successful boot camp experience, not just survive.?

BUT

It’s important to keep in mind that many who enroll in a coding boot camp do not finish.?

AND

Many of those who do graduate never reach their true goal beyond graduation and break into tech as developers.

I want you to succeed. In order to succeed you first have to survive. Plus “Survival Guide” just sounds cooler than “Success Guide”.?

With a bit more knowledge, combined with some deliberate planning, and effort, you can set yourself up to not only graduate but also be in good shape to reach your true goal beyond graduation whatever it may be. For the purposes of this guide, I am identifying the true goal of beginning a new career in tech as a developer. If your true goal is leveling up for your current role, starting a business, or something else. You will want to adapt this guide to fit your purposes. If this is you, I would love to hear from you about any adaptations you may consider to the advice offered here

With that said, welcome to edition #2 of “The Boot Camp Survival Guide”.

So, who am I and why should you listen to me? My name is Kevin Long. I am a full stack developer with a background in the performing arts and education. About two years ago after some challenging times, I decided to entirely re-invent my life. As part of that re-invention, I enrolled in the full stack web development boot camp at a local university. I did so without a clear plan or vision for what I wanted to do with the skills I would learn. My thinking was simply that I would be adding tools to my toolkit that I could utilize in my creative endeavors in theater and music and also open the door to some type of employment where I could earn more than I was able as an artist or teacher.

My boot camp classes were all over Zoom. I sat at my desk for the first class not really knowing what to expect. I had no prior coding knowledge and I hadn’t completed all of the prerequisite orientation work that we were told to complete before the first class. I was lost. I had no idea what the administrators or instructors were talking about. Feeling completely overwhelmed I sat in the chair where I am sitting now as I type this, thinking to myself, “I don’t know if I can do this”.

The deadline for withdrawing from the course and still being able to get your money back was just a short week away. I marked that day on the calendar and got to work. I told myself that I would work as hard as I could in those few days to see if I thought I would be able to complete the course. When the deadline arrived, it was no question. I was in.?

I set my goal as getting an “A” in the class, with my stretch goal as a perfect score for the entire course. I graduated with a score of 95.24/100 and earned an “A”. I did the heavy lifting on 2 out of 3 group projects including our final project for which we earned a perfect score.

AND THEN!

Well, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. My boot camp had a career services program, but I hadn’t taken the necessary steps to begin working with them. So, I completed the necessary steps, but then I had to wait. I began to start applying to positions on my own and eventually, I was connected with my job coach through career services.

By then I had lost my momentum. I was flying high at the end of my boot camp. Just a month or so later, I was frustrated, confused, and questioning if I had made the right decision to get into this.?

I began applying for positions again. I kicked it into high gear and started cranking out applications. I was a machine. After a period of months, I had only one application go anywhere. After 6 interviews, and building them an app, they ghosted me. After a couple of weeks, I reached out to them to let them know I was still interested. They responded by saying that they had decided to go with someone that had more experience.??

I know better than to take such things personally but it was demoralizing. I was spinning my wheels. Expending all kinds of energy and not getting anywhere. I was burned out. I stopped applying for jobs. I needed a rest and I needed a new strategy.

It was around this time that I started working as a teaching assistant for the same boot camp program I graduated from. I thought it would be a good way to gain some relevant industry experience while growing my skills and increasing my knowledge. In a boot camp, information comes at you so fast. Some of it sticks and some of it doesn’t. It’s like drinking water through a fire hose. As a teaching assistant, I get to go back over all of the information from a slightly different angle. By explaining to others I increase my own knowledge and understanding.?

During my first cohort as a teaching assistant, I began a very deliberate process of “debugging” my job search. Instead of doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result, I sought out information from a variety of sources with the aim of creating a more effective strategy. I then got to work identifying the “bugs” in my old strategy and developing a new and hopefully better strategy. I have recently been putting my new tactics to work and it has been paying dividends.?

I am currently about two months into my second cohort as a boot camp teaching assistant, so this makes my third run through the boot camp experience. Along the way, I’ve seen a few people land developer roles, but I’ve seen more people drop out and I see plenty of boot camp graduates (myself included) that haven’t yet been able to land their first dev role.

I’ve been immersed in this world for the past two years. It’s given me plenty of time to analyze and reflect on my experience as a boot camp student and as a boot camp graduate working to break into the field. Given what I know now about the boot camp experience and about the challenges of breaking into tech as a boot camp graduate. I have identified plenty of things I would do differently if I had it to do over again to set myself up for the job search upon graduation.?

Obviously, I can’t do it over again. What I can do is pass along what I have learned. Lots of folks have helped me along the way. This is my way of paying it forward. Surviving a boot camp is hard. Breaking into tech after graduating from a boot camp is hard. Wherever you are in this difficult process there is someone that is not as far along as you are. I promise you that by lending a hand to someone else you are going to help yourself.?

If you are considering enrolling in a boot camp, are currently enrolled in a boot camp, or are a recent boot camp graduate frustrated with your job search this guide is for you. With a bit more knowledge, combined with some deliberate planning, and effort, you can set yourself up to be in great shape upon graduation, to reach your true goal beyond simply completing the program.?

#bootcamp #coding #careerchange #dontgiveup #jobsearch