I finished Byte Academy (New York) June of 2016, so only one year out. Before attending the bootcamp I was a petroleum engineer running an international drilling project management company. I really wanted to work in tech, so I left and moved to NYC and began the bootcamp. For the past year I've been constantly interviewing and have been offered 0 jobs. The bootcamp has been a terrible resource for careers (the main thing I was hoping for by attending a bootcamp, because I was transitioning from oil and gas to technology with no network in the industry), and although I've make it very deep in the process with many companies, I can't seem to get a break. I was hoping to use my project management background coupled with what I learned at the bootcamp to hop right in contributing, but nobody has shared my view. After a year of trying to break in with full force, I'm probably going to have to go back to my previous line of work. Zero people that graduated from the bootcamp I attended found a developer job in 2016, and I'm pretty sure the same for 2017 - and though some smart people passed through, most had to go back to their previous line of work. I see so many success stories posted above, and I can only look to my choice of bootcamp that crushed my dream of working in tech.
Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
311–320 of 357 posts
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#312See the above? This is what codecamps do to innocent people. They prey on the weak, act authoritative, and take advantage of their hopes of getting jobs.
You should demand your money back, every penny.
> I can only look to my choice of bootcamp
Bootcamps are not gatekeepers. They portray themselves as such to take your money.
There's no such thing as an elite bootcamp. It's a lie to pray on your naïveté of the industry. It's just ruby and javascript. It's web development. Nothing magic. Nothing elite here. You could teach it in a community college setting for 2k a semester.
But every town needs electricians, plumbers, doctors, etc. It's just frankly, we're pouring out more junior programmers desperate for jobs than there are positions to fill. Every time a cohort finishes, it's 30 more people on top of the thousands of others seeking a handful of positions.
They end up creating junior level programmers, and cherrypicking success stories from people who have already coded before.
> that crushed my dream of working in tech.
Nothing's stopping you from:
- installing Linux (https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop)
- downloading Atom (https://atom.io)
Using these resources:
- https://github.com/prakhar1989/awesome-courses
- https://github.com/EbookFoundation/free-programming-books/bl...
- https://github.com/ripienaar/free-for-dev
Maybe you would be a good programmer if you continued studying, maybe it's not your path.
I don't know you, but don't be fooled into thinking that any institution or person is a gatekeeper from you coding and getting a job in it. These code camps want you to believe that so they can justify their existence.
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#313See the above? This is what codecamps do to innocent people. They prey on the weak, act authoritative, and take advantage of their hopes of getting jobs. You should demand your money back, every penny. > I can only look to my choice of bootcamp Bootcamps are not gatekeepers. They portray themselves as such to take your money. There's no such thing as an elite bootcamp. It's a lie to pray on your naïveté of the indust…
I think you've misunderstood me. I'm not of the opinion that I do not have the ability or the skill set. I have been a finalist for various positions (full-stack developer, web developer, project manager, product manager, front-end dev) for 16 companies over the last year - all have which have rejected me on my inexperience in technology. That's not to mention the many many more that I interviewed with that I did not become a finalist. I know I can work in tech. I know I can make things become a great technical professional. I'm constantly learning and adding to my skill set, my problem is I need an income. What you're giving is resources for learning above, but that is not where my choke point is.
I was never under the impression that I needed to go to a coding bootcamp to learn how to code. I wanted to go to one to immerse myself in an industry that I did not have previous exposure to.
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#314See the above? This is what codecamps do to innocent people. They prey on the weak, act authoritative, and take advantage of their hopes of getting jobs. You should demand your money back, every penny. > I can only look to my choice of bootcamp Bootcamps are not gatekeepers. They portray themselves as such to take your money. There's no such thing as an elite bootcamp. It's a lie to pray on your naïveté of the indust…
I think you've misunderstood me. I'm not of the opinion that I do not have the ability or the skill set. I have been a finalist for various positions (full-stack developer, web developer, project manager, product manager, front-end dev) for 16 companies over the last year - all have which have rejected me on my inexperience in technology. That's not to mention the many many more that I interviewed with that I did not…
OK, so you're sincere. You have a genuine intellectual interest. Good heart. And an honest worker.
But the brutal world of supply and demand, no one cares about your feelings, honesty, or character. Which is why you are, in my opinion, a victim of code camps.
Did you ever read there was a skill gap for programmers? A shortage of programmers? You were lied to. Completely and totally.
> my problem is I need an income. What you're giving is resources for learning above, but that is not where my choke point is.
And here's the problem with that. Codecamps are also destroying the job market on a macro level too.
We're placing, what, 1000 new junior javascript/ruby grads into the job seeking pool every 16 weeks?
That's stacked on top of what, thousand of other code camp grads who didn't land a job?
And how many positions do you think there is to fill? Maybe in USA, 500 or 800, and most of those want prior work experience.
Not to mention that employers are using H1B's as a way to get cheap labor. There's no end in sight.
You should demand your money back, contact the FCC and a lawyer.
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#315i find the reactions so intersting. a financial analyst no less who does a three month course to become a programmer. product managers who do the same. senior developer in a year. in my country these people make so much more than programmers that they would never consider such steps. and senior generally means 5-10 years of experience. maybe i need to find my way to the us after all. it sounds like 'opposite town'. n…
I went from equities trader to software developer, while also going from 80 hours a week to 50. Sure, I took a pay cut, but not everyone makes decisions on a pure monetary basis.
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you've misunderstood me. I'm not of the opinion that I do not have the ability or the skill set. I have been a finalist for various positions (full-stack developer, web developer, project manager, product manager, front-end dev) for 16 companies over the last year - all have which have rejected me on my inexperience in technology. That's not to mention the many many more that I interviewed with that I did not…
OK, so you're sincere. You have a genuine intellectual interest. Good heart. And an honest worker. But the brutal world of supply and demand, no one cares about your feelings, honesty, or character. Which is why you are, in my opinion, a victim of code camps. Did you ever read there was a skill gap for programmers? A shortage of programmers? You were lied to. Completely and totally. > my problem is I need an income.…
Very interesting take on the matter. I try not to take a victim's mentality on the matter, but you do have very true points. Thank you for your comments.
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#317I didn't do one, but my friend did and is now a Google SWE!
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#318> Bootcamp grad here who mentioned it prominently in my resume and blogged my experience and put up a YouTube video once a week while I was going through. Mind telling us who you are so we can take a look at your code and background? YouTube channel and GitHub would be helpful for us in assessing what you learned when you went to the bootcamp. > I'm not sure who filters out bootcamp grads, but I can say Google, FB, A…
> "Mind telling us who you are so we can take a look at your code and background? YouTube channel and GitHub would be helpful for us in assessing what you learned when you went to the bootcamp." I don't really need validation from you and you've clearly got an ax to grind. I have linked to both previously if you care to go digging in my account history. Heck, this site is where I first met the cofounder of the school…
It'd be helpful for the people in this thread to see your YouTube and Github to support your claims.
We'd like to understand your motives and the veracity of the veracity of the testimonial you're providing.
> No. The major rift in all threads like this is a difference in opinion about the primacy of credentials. I
You responded to a thread about the age of your HN account as a bona fide. (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14520857).
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#319Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is that people misunderstand the point of getting a Computer Science degree. At the school I attended, the head of the department was upfront that what the degree would be teaching had nothing to do with any specific stack any specific company was using, learning those things would be up to us individually. Personally, I ended up dual majoring in computer science and computer engineering. The idea was tha…
A professor in college told us that we'd likely never use 90% of what we learned in our curriculum. He said engineering is largely an exercise in vocabulary: the core structures in CS are like "function" words (articles, prepositions, pronouns) in human language; they tie the other "meaty" words (nouns, adjectives) together. The nouns and adjectives are the specific technologies you use. A CS degree teaches you the f…
I often hear "You weren't a CS major?!?!". My common response is "You were?!?!".
I worked in finance as an equities trader for 6 years before taking a boot camp and switching over. I was heavily involved in hiring while in my prior role. One thing I found is that I was drastically more inclined to hire the English major over the Finance major. If they've managed to overcome the commonplace cognitive biases that work against them, chances are they are more intelligent/hard-working than the relevant educational background.
None of this is meant as a slight to CS grads, I'm simply pointing out the somewhat irrelevant dependence on an undergraduate degree. Technical mindedness is much more important than a 4 year rubber stamp.
Re: Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?
#320I graduated a python/django bootcamp in Aug 2014, became a Software Engineer right afterwards, and I'm now a Engineering Manager at a startup in San Francisco. I believe just under half of 21 are writing code in some developer type role. Definitely there were others there who were only looking to gain technical understanding for more Product/Marketing/PM type roles. If you do your prep work and are ready to dedicate…
Are you still at the same company? I finished a bootcamp back in 2013 and would like to explore a management role but don't really know how to get into it.
Basically. I did a short 6 months right out of class, and then started at the place I'm still at. I've been here 2.5 years and moved up from engineer to engineer manager in the last 6 months. I was promoted due to the last manager leaving and then asking for that job + responsibility + pay raise.