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What's the best bootcamp to become a Software Engineer?
I'm already a part of a Software Engineer immersive Bootcamp but COVID 19 happened and made it remote. I'm not interested in a remote class and I'm planning to join another later on this year. Any recommendations would be helpful! #softwareengineer #technology
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5 answers
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Dexter’s Answer
Hi Kayla,
I'm not sure what speciality you are specializing in for a software engineer position, but I thought perhaps it'd be helpful for you to hear about my experiences as a hiring manager who has interviewed people with bootcamp experience.
Every one learns differently, and for some people, I'm sure bootcamps are amazing, motivating experiences. Having said that though, I would advise on having other experiences besides bootcamps, so that your resume contains a varied set of projects.
The reason why I say this is because especially last fall, I had a position open on my team that I reviewed ~150 resumes and interviewed more than 20 people for. During this process, I came across many candidates whose core experience as a web developer were these boot camps, and I was not impressed with the projects nor what the boot camps taught these budding web developers. I felt that all the candidates that had these boot camps submitted identical projects in their portfolios and had a similar profile in their github projects. When I spoke to these candidates, they just did not have the experience and skillsets that my team was looking for. Perhaps the bootcamps that you're interested in is a lot better than the ones I've seen, but I'd be careful in selecting the bootcamps.
Again, I am not trying to tell you not to participate in these bootcamps if you enjoy them. Rather, if you're looking to get hired as a software developer later down the road, please try to gain other experiences. I would particularly recommend working with a non profit and/or contributing to an open source project. For the former, there are plenty of non profits looking for software development help and the experience you gain is working with a real life project with constraints. For the latter, you will prove to a future hiring manager that you can work on some else's code base, and that you have experience with code reviews/merges.
I wish you the best of luck Kayla, and I hope you succeed in meeting your goals!
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Dexter
I'm not sure what speciality you are specializing in for a software engineer position, but I thought perhaps it'd be helpful for you to hear about my experiences as a hiring manager who has interviewed people with bootcamp experience.
Every one learns differently, and for some people, I'm sure bootcamps are amazing, motivating experiences. Having said that though, I would advise on having other experiences besides bootcamps, so that your resume contains a varied set of projects.
The reason why I say this is because especially last fall, I had a position open on my team that I reviewed ~150 resumes and interviewed more than 20 people for. During this process, I came across many candidates whose core experience as a web developer were these boot camps, and I was not impressed with the projects nor what the boot camps taught these budding web developers. I felt that all the candidates that had these boot camps submitted identical projects in their portfolios and had a similar profile in their github projects. When I spoke to these candidates, they just did not have the experience and skillsets that my team was looking for. Perhaps the bootcamps that you're interested in is a lot better than the ones I've seen, but I'd be careful in selecting the bootcamps.
Again, I am not trying to tell you not to participate in these bootcamps if you enjoy them. Rather, if you're looking to get hired as a software developer later down the road, please try to gain other experiences. I would particularly recommend working with a non profit and/or contributing to an open source project. For the former, there are plenty of non profits looking for software development help and the experience you gain is working with a real life project with constraints. For the latter, you will prove to a future hiring manager that you can work on some else's code base, and that you have experience with code reviews/merges.
I wish you the best of luck Kayla, and I hope you succeed in meeting your goals!
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Dexter
Thank you Dexter! I appreciate the feedback! I’m definitely planning to do some internships and fellowships.
Kayla
Updated
Nicole’s Answer
Hi Kayla,
Great question! I understand your preference for an in-person Bootcamp experience, but given our COVID-19 situation and the uncertainty of when things will return to normal, this is a great opportunity to train online.
LinkedIn Learning (previously known as Lynda.com) is a rich resource full of many courses dedicated to software engineering authored by experts in the field. Check your school or local public library as they may provide free access to Lynda.com.
Other great online learning resources to explore are Skillshare, Udemy, Coursera (among many others).
Wishing you the best of luck!
Nicole
Great question! I understand your preference for an in-person Bootcamp experience, but given our COVID-19 situation and the uncertainty of when things will return to normal, this is a great opportunity to train online.
LinkedIn Learning (previously known as Lynda.com) is a rich resource full of many courses dedicated to software engineering authored by experts in the field. Check your school or local public library as they may provide free access to Lynda.com.
Other great online learning resources to explore are Skillshare, Udemy, Coursera (among many others).
Wishing you the best of luck!
Nicole
Updated
Andrew’s Answer
I will echo both Dexter and Nicole.
Bootcamps are great, but generally not enough to get a job. Open source projects and non-profits are both great, I will also add personal projects as an option on what to do. We're looking for examples of code that you've written, that's the most important thing. So if you can show us an example of something you've built (preferably not identical to what all your other classmates have done), it will be a big help.
And I wouldn't hold out hope that in person classes will open anytime soon. In addition, a lot of software engineering is moving to remote work (I work exclusively remotely, as a full time employee). All of my company's education programs have also moved online. So I think it's beneficial to learn how to do this even if Covid-19 wasn't happening right now.
Bootcamps are great, but generally not enough to get a job. Open source projects and non-profits are both great, I will also add personal projects as an option on what to do. We're looking for examples of code that you've written, that's the most important thing. So if you can show us an example of something you've built (preferably not identical to what all your other classmates have done), it will be a big help.
And I wouldn't hold out hope that in person classes will open anytime soon. In addition, a lot of software engineering is moving to remote work (I work exclusively remotely, as a full time employee). All of my company's education programs have also moved online. So I think it's beneficial to learn how to do this even if Covid-19 wasn't happening right now.
Thanks Andrew! You make a great point with remote learning. Online classes aren’t always ideal but it’s great it’s practice to make the most of this situation. Being able to dominate working from home and within the work force is a great skill. Thanks so much for the insight.
Kayla
Updated
Sabuj’s Answer
To add to the suggestions made above (getting involved in open source projects and helping non-profits is great!), almost every field/part of society nowadays involves software at some level. Find what interests you in life and work on a project in that area. If it's something as simple as making a website or app from scratch then start with that. You'll learn lot more about the underlying technology, software stack, programming languages, etc if you go that route vs just using some framework. Eventually learn how to scale and make some process easier/smarter (hint use machine "learning"!). Who knows, that may even lead to some startup/business ideas which will take you on a completely different trajectory.
If later you decide to join someCompany then also make sure you have a solid background in computer science concepts and principles (https://hackernoon.com/10-data-structure-algorithms-books-every-programmer-should-read-d50487313127) and basic understanding of statistics. On top of that there are a plethora of websites and books that will help you get through those annoying whiteboarding interviews (leetcode, hackerrank, github repos, etc).
If later you decide to join someCompany then also make sure you have a solid background in computer science concepts and principles (https://hackernoon.com/10-data-structure-algorithms-books-every-programmer-should-read-d50487313127) and basic understanding of statistics. On top of that there are a plethora of websites and books that will help you get through those annoying whiteboarding interviews (leetcode, hackerrank, github repos, etc).
Updated
Akshay’s Answer
Hi Kayla,
I would say try free courses available in Udemy, edX and Coursera. There are some amazing courses available to start with.
I would say try free courses available in Udemy, edX and Coursera. There are some amazing courses available to start with.