|
|
|
|
|
|
by jmchuster
2664 days ago
|
|
|
Find a bootcamp that has a good record for placing people into jobs, or advertises it, or has a reputation, or has aligning incentives to do so, or whatever. Your first job doesn't have to be anything glamorous, but should then allow you to get to eventually wherever you want to be in your software career. Some of these bootcamps have skill/interview requirements, so that will help direct where your home study and practice should be. Or, you could go to college and get a master degree in CS. Colleges then have on-campus-recruiting and some set of companies that will basically hire anyone who graduates from the university with a CS masters degree. It's the same idea as the bootcamp; go somewhere with the connections/infrastructure in place to help you get your foot into the industry. Now, once you have your choice of companies to choose from, I tend to recommend startups. That's the one place where you have the opportunity to do things that you definitely shouldn't be doing given your experience level. But, since they have so few employees and so much to do, you're it. Then with those rapidly acquired skills, and with a year or two of relevant experience now on your resume, you can more easily get a cushier, more stable job at a larger company, if you wish. |
|
|
Many people have had success with bootcamps. But remember, there is no guarantee of a job by attending one. Personally, I would only recommend a bootcamp to someone who has a) the disposal income to spend on one, and not get burned if things don't work out, and b) the person has the time and work ethic to devote to it 100%.
When you pay for a coding bootcamp, you are paying for the focused hands-on learning experience. If you don't feel that you can be disciplined to do it by your self, or think you can network better in one - it may be viable. Do your due diligence in researching bootcamps as well. For every good bootcamp there are two or three scams out there.
Personally I would advise that anyone looking to make a switch spends 10-12 months self-teaching and learning as much as possible. Build a few projects in whatever domain you're interested in, and then start applying. If you find that you aren't getting past the HR filter - it might help to go for a bootcamp or masers degree. But, I don't think dumping 15k+ into either one of those off the bat is a sure-fire way to make a career switch.
I don't have any experience working at start ups so I can't speak to that, but working for a smallish established company (~ 300 employees total) has been wonderful. Good support system, resources to encourage career growth and learning.
It also depends on your career goals and location. Breaking into a small or medium sized unknown company in the mid-west may be easier than trying to career switch into big-n in the bay area.