Recently I have started to get an influx of messages from fresh Bootcamp grads.

Having gone through a bootcamp myself I know where these people are coming from and I do sincerely want to help. Most people are asking for advice, what is life like as a professional software engineer, and many advertise that they have just applied for a job where I'm currently working.

Having gone through a bootcamp myself I also know that most of these messages coming from the direction of the bootcamp staff as a way to network and 'get your foot in the door'. I think this could be an effective tactic if you're targeting smaller start ups but even then you need to target the right people. While I can and will (and have!) had chats with fresh bootcampers to offer advice I unfortunately can't do much more than that.

The machinery of HR and recruiting exists (for better or worse) for a reason and as just a software engineer I don't have the ability to hire or even push a resume to an interview. So I struggle sometimes with the idea of even answering these messages because I know the intent is networking but the hope is for a job.

Lately, I have convinced myself that it's a better to help than not - but with the caveat of being as upfront as possible: No I can't get you a job, only you can.

Here are some things to consider to help differentiate yourself if you are looking for that first post-bootcamp gig:

Target What You Already Know

Let's face it - you learned a lot in your time at bootcamp but

                                
    const express = require('express')
    const app = express()
    app.get('/', (req, res) => {
      res.send('Hire Me!')
    })
                                
                            

Is not going to get you a job. That's probably a bit harsh but we're all having fun here - remember I went to a bootcamp too. The reality of the situation is that you're competing with fresh CS grads who have spent the past 4 years learning about what you've just been introduced to 3 months ago.

Whiteboarding and algorithms are probably somethings you're not going to outshine the average CS grad on. What differentiates you is your previous (I'm assuming here most people are like me and used bootcamp to accelerate a career change) work experience.

If you were once upon a time a teacher look into ed-tech. Used to be an accountant? Fin-tech. Used to be a cook? Food-tech. If you've been in the working world you more than likely have domain experience in some field that you can use to target potential employers. This kills two birds with one stone - "Why work here?" and helps makes a case for hiring you in the first place. A hiring manager can feel better knowing that any technical gaps you will have will be bridged by the domain experience you do.

Widen Your (Geographical) Search

If you're a U.S. citizen then you can legally work anywhere in the United States. The U.S. is a big place and labor markets do differ! It may be harder to get that crazy high salary that you were promised at bootcamp but it may be easier overall to get a job in the first place outside of NYC and SF.

This can be a non-starter for someone with a family, etc. But if you're able to and not finding the success you were hoping for in NYC or SF it might be something worth considering! Plus there are plenty of cool places besides NYC or SF and not paying 2K+ for a studio is pretty nifty in its own right.

Expand You Skill Set

I know! You just spent 3 months and many thousands of dollars already doing that! But you and everyone else in bootcamp just went and learned the same set of skills.

It's best to think strategically about how to do this, since actually doing this requires the most time and effort (out of my plucky list of recommendations). Most likely you spent a lot of time learning javascript and accompanying front-end frameworks. There was maybe "equal" time devoted to learning backend languages: nodejs & ruby are the most popular but I've also heard of some python and even java & c#.

My advice here is to expand on your experience in one of those languages. Find out the tech stack of your most desired companies to work for and tailor the language based on that list. Build a project with that language .. small enough to be manageable but complex enough to show some proficiency. Better yet, deploy that same project on the cloud - again tailored to the tech stacks of your desired companies. This is most likely either AWS or GCP. These services might have a steeper learning curve than Digital Ocean, Heroku or Netlify but will also have a larger payoff.

I know that devops is a scary word for a new bootcamp grad but being a fullstack dev usually means being able to setup and/or manage cloud deployments. Being able to do so really would help to differentiate yourself from the rest of the bootcamp crowd.

End of rant. I hope this helps! And really feel free to ask me questions on Linkedin