[cscharenberg]

This reflects the people I know who have done bootcamps or just tried to build a portfolio and change careers. They struggled to get interviews, let alone jobs. A bootcamp instructor friend quit after losing faith in the program's efficacy after watching several graduating classes fail to get jobs.

My wife would take an unpaid internship for a few months if it led to a job, or work at very low pay, just to get into the industry.

Getting that first job changing careers is _hard_, but then you have experience to point at forevermore.

-- Anyway, I've gotten really intrigued by the hiring side of retraining people. I'm wondering if anyone has yet done research on the ability of retrainees to actually land jobs via social networking, which is how it's assumed they will get jobs.

I think this will be a real problem as more retraining programs start turning people out: that many companies' hiring processes aren't able to see, let alone hire them.

[busterarm]

Almost all of us got jobs, eventually (in 6 months), out of every cohort... ...but my bootcamp was one of the best ones.

Unlike most of my cohort, I mostly relied on networking/HN to find jobs - most folks just apply via normal channels. I had a high in-person interview percentage from that, but I ultimately ended up getting my fulltime gig off Stack Overflow Careers.

The contract I landed via NYC.rb before that was a shitshow.

[xivzgrev]

I was in a boot camp and have worked at two companies. The hiring managers at both looked for unteachable skills (e.g. analytic ability, proactiveness, hunger) and figured youd pick up the rest. The skills I learned in boot camp were mostly a talking point / nice to have / piqued their curiosity.

They're hiring managers who want to pay a little less and are looking at the long term potential not the next 3 to 6 months. Of course that's why first job didn't work out - we went thru an acquisition and CEO mind went from long term potential to I needed results yesterday damnit :D