About 8 years ago I got into tech sales. I was always a bit “nerdy” and interested in leveraging data/automation so a career in sales quickly transitioned into sales operations, but outside of some python and tad bit of SQL all my work has been on no code platforms (mostly Salesforce). The stuff that “real” engineers did seemed totally inaccessible to me, although that inaccessibility has diminished a little after observing the engineers at the startup I was working at.
That startup recently let me go in a round of layoffs. I saw it coming and dad been saving, so I’m entering unemployed with about 6-12 months of living expenses in the bank depending how deep into savings I dug. (Also have nobody depending on my salary as my wife just got a big promotion/raise).
Would it be a horrible idea to finally jump over the imaginary chasm I’ve built in my mind into the world of engineering and enroll in a coding bootcamp? I know in the best of times these programs were tenuous and full of questionable promises despite costing $10k+, what are they like now given the job market and impact of generative AI?
Thanks for the insight!
(For context, I’m 34 and based out of NYC. No kids.)
If the goal is to finish a bootcamp and land your first developer job in that timeframe, yes, it's a horrible idea with a very high probability of failure.
If you don't have expectations of landing a job and you can afford the time and money and you've picked a reputable bootcamp, then it's probably fine.
Given you're not in financial distress I would suggest spending a few weeks or a month learning without a bootcamp to see how you like it. For example https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2024/ is often referenced as a good intro to programming and web development course and it's free.
If you still like it after that then either continue self learning or try to find a bootcamp that has a good deal around employment like you only have to pay them after you land a job or they have a really strong system around helping you find employment.
I'm pretty sure the market for hiring junior / beginner developers right now is going to be brutal, bootcamp or not. Jobs are weird though, there's so much luck involved around being in the right place at the right time. If programming is something you really want to do, being prepared for that type of scenario is of course worth it.
Screw promises.
A coding bootcamp is the best guided way, other than college, of acquiring basic knowledge and skills of a software developer. It will not guarantee that after graduating from it you will find a job; although some bootcamps may have certain arrangements. What a good bootcamp does guarantee though is that after completing it, you will have sufficient knowledge to build, say, a mildly complex website, or do some data analysis tasks. In good market conditions, this makes the graduate somewhat employable as entry-level software engineer.
There are plenty of free online resources that you can use instead. But that requires a lot of discipline; and a curriculum to know what you need to be studying.
I think a bootcamp can be good (depends on the camp) to help you kick start the learning process. A few months in a place doing things daily can be helpful.
This is great if you really want to spend a long time doing this. It takes years to get decent at programming.
The promise that you will find a job right after I don't think is realistic. I am not saying it can't happen but it is very difficult. Companies have a lot of options now and typically won't even look at boot camp grads.
If this is a near life long investment, it could be useful to kick start that. Just with the caveat it will probably take time.
What they usually do is hire you at a grad level, and put you in a bootcamp for couple of months.