My 3 Favorite Things About the Coding Bootcamp Experience
Coding bootcamps are at a sort of crossroads right now. While they are still a hot topic and many of them are pumping new graduates out into the workforce on a quarterly basis, there are also many that are having to shut the doors on their operation. I am a couple of weeks from graduating from DevMountain’s web development fully-immersive program and, though I would not necessarily say it is the right choice for everyone, I truly believe that attending this bootcamp is one of the best decisions I’ve made in my short life. If you want to read more about what drove me to take the plunge, check this out.
Though not everything about bootcamps is great, there are more than enough articles out there weighing the pros and cons of the concept as a whole, as well as countless reviews on CourseReport that detail the ins and outs of specific programs. I am simply going to offer you my opinions. Keep in mind that I will have an inherent bias as I have had a relatively positive experience myself, so do not use this article alone if you are trying to decide if attending a bootcamp is the right choice for you.
Now that the mandatory disclaimers are out of the way, here are my three favorite things about the coding bootcamp experience.
- The people.
This one takes the cake by a moonshot. Going to a bootcamp is a guaranteed way to meet some of the most interesting people you will ever meet. I feel like there is a stereotype that people join bootcamps because they were lost or had no alternative, but this simply could not be further from the truth. Many of the people that I have had the pleasure of meeting during me experience would have been considered “successful” by most in their prior life. I met a person who was big in the finance game, a chemical engineer, an entrepreneur who owned a frozen yogurt store at 20 years old, a music-producer/youtube-personality (who also happens to write great articles, check him out here), and many more. Day in and day out these people serve as an invaluable support system throughout this overwhelming undertaking. Learning to code is possible on your own but it is so much more enjoyable when you have other people learning all around you who are always willing to help you rubber-duck a problem. Anytime that my motivation is running low, I think about one cohort-mate in particular who waited for SIX YEARS to win the visa lottery so he could come from CROATIA to partake in the bootcamp experience and try to get a job here in the States. He can often be found in the lab at 3am and his hard work will no doubt pay off, as he won ‘Best Project Overall’ out of our cohort. It’s much harder to NOT want to work hard when you are surrounded by people like this.
I also can’t speak highly enough of the mentors and instructors. When you are self-teaching it is common to beat your head against a problem for hours, or days, without ever reaching a solution. Don’t get me wrong, I know that this is an important part of the learning process and I value the beauty in the struggle, but when you are first starting out and don’t have the experience to notice that everything is broken because you are missing a comma somewhere, having another set of eyes is priceless. I have also been lucky to have mentors who are truly invested in our success and go above and beyond their job description on a daily basis. Watching videos is great, but at the end of the day there is no substitute for human interaction and the staff here has sped up the learning curve tremendously.
I hadn’t really made friends in my city prior to bootcamp and that’s no longer the case. That’s hard to quantify in a curriculum, but it has had a huge impact on me personally.
2. The challenge.
Speaking of the curriculum, it has been another one of my favorite aspects of the bootcamp experience. Prior to attending this bootcamp I completed 6 years of college. Though traditional educational systems and bootcamps both have their fair share of merits, I found this format to be a welcome change of pace.
Trying to learn a new skill in twelve weeks is going to be a challenge no matter what it is. Our lead instructor put it this way for us on our first day:
“For the next twelve weeks you guys are going to feel like I stuck a firehose in your mouth and turned it on full blast.”
I do not think that this sentiment is unique to DevMountain. The world of technology moves at break-neck speed and even seasoned developers can struggle to keep abreast of all that there is to learn. You add that to the fact that many of the people that sign up for these programs have little-to-no coding experience, and it quickly becomes obvious that the ONLY way to learn a significant amount in 12 weeks is to cram it and keep moving forward before you even get slightly comfortable with what you just learned.
The fast-paced, you-get-out-what-you-put-in, hands-on learning environment has stretched my faculties in ways that college never did. Though it’s a difficult thing to quantify, I feel like I have learned more in this brief period than I did my entire freshman year of college; and that might be low-balling it. I’m not naive enough to think that when I walk out of here the world will owe me a job, but I will definitely feel confident that I can contribute to a team at a junior-developer level. I can’t stress enough how important this challenge is and I believe that if you rise to it, you will get more than your money’s worth out of the experience.
Though the curriculum is mostly focused around one tech stack, I feel like what I have really learned is HOW to learn new material rapidly and apply it in a meaningful way; a skill that translates to everything.
3. The opportunity.
Bootcamps did not exist in the not-too-distant past. Incredible learning resources like FreeCodeCamp and The Odin Project are also fairly new in the big scheme of things. The barrier to entry in the tech world may be lower right now than it has ever been, and that is exciting.
I consider myself incredibly lucky to have this opportunity. As a disclaimer, I do not have children or pets to take care of and I was able to save money from my old job prior to enrolling in the bootcamp. I do have a girlfriend, but she was extremely supportive and willing to work with me to make this possible. This isn’t to say that people with serious commitments can’t attend a program like this, there are bright individuals in my cohort who are married, have children, and have even relocated in order to attend (shout out to free housing at DevMountain amirite). Everybody’s situation is different, and not everybody has the luxury to devote 40-plus hours to learning something new. This makes me admire the people who are teaching themselves after-hours and on the weekends even more. You guys are badasses. I know I am fortunate to have this chance and I do not intend to waste it.
Though I do not have anything lined up (yet) for after graduation, I am already exceedingly grateful for the doors that this experience has opened. Though I will surely face plenty of rejection throughout my job search, I am confident that I will be able to get my foot in the door somewhere exciting and work my way up from there. I feel like the tech industry rewards hard work in ways that other industries, unfortunately, do not. If you take the initiative to be an early adopter of a technology that adds value to a business, and you do it well, you will likely be compensated accordingly for your efforts. As a person who loves to learn continuously, this is a very alluring concept.
I do not know what lies ahead, but I know for a fact that uncertainty is better than unhappiness. Wherever you are in your journey, I wish you the best of luck.
I welcome your comments below and if you would like to connect with me on Linkedin, I’m always looking for new friends. Holla at me.