#CodingBootcamp - freeCodeCamp.org

How to get a job after a coding bootcamp

freeCodeCamp — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 17:09:19 +0000

By Roxy Ayaz

Getting a tech job after a coding bootcamp is very possible, but not necessarily pain-free.

The days/weeks/months after a bootcamp is completed come with a learning curve of their own, and often include rejection and serious contemplations of what you’re doing with your life.

(Unless you come in with a job offer or some serious leads — lucky you!)

In the bootcamp, you learn more than you ever have in a short period of time. You will build strong foundations for learning how to code.

However, you are not going to learn enough to pass most coding challenges. You will not be ready to have discussions where you confidently share your opinions on different languages and technologies. To top it all off, you might not have any professional technical experience to show your worth.

You will feel like an imposter.

Due to your un-readiness, as well as some skeptics in the industry who doubt the legitimacy of these non-accredited programs, you are going to constantly be rejected for not meeting expectations.

It takes on average six months to find a job after a coding bootcamp. Thankfully, after nearly seven months, and moving across the country, my misery came to an end. I got (and have) a job that I love.

If you’re contemplating a12-week coding bootcamp, remember that it is not a quick $15k hack for changing the direction of your life because you are:

A. not satisfied with you current job or personal life

B. not happy with how much you make

C. assuming you will find a job shortly after the program ends

D. somewhat curious/interested/intrigued about what tech is like

You have to really want this to make it to the end.

Quite a few students in my cohort went back to their old industry/job function after a few months post-bootcamp. Some have also gotten very coveted jobs — it honestly goes both ways!

Here are some tips to stay motivated and to help you land your first job after the coding bootcamp.

Get some real world experience volunteering

It’s important to continue to improve your skills while also working on your team-working skills. Having your code out there that is actually in-production and in active use is the best way to prove yourself and contribute.

Taproot foundation connects nonprofit organizations with skilled volunteers.

I used this site to find opportunities in my area, as well as remotely. I worked as a frontend developer for a mental-health site, part-time, remotely.

My role was to convert Wireframes (created on Zeplin) to React components. I split my “free time” between job searching/interviewing and volunteering.

We had weekly conference calls and I was learning much faster and more efficiently than if I were to find another YouTube tutorial/project to follow along.

Not only was I contributing to a cause I cared about, I was given a lot of mentorship by my teammates and was also given some leeway if I had a busy week if I had something going on — such as interviews. Check it out here.

Get some real world experience, in general

Better than working solo, working on your own projects is being out there.

Be open to internships and apprenticeships. Many of them are open to bootcamp grads, and the chances of you getting accepted into those are much higher than landing a full-time job at the same company. The chances of you getting hired from completing an internship at the same company are very high too!

Ask around your network to see if anyone needs some help with something — maybe a professional website needs some fixing up, or ask a local business if you can offer some help. These are great to add to your portfolio!

Have a decent portfolio site — because it is being judged

This isn’t an industry where your resume tells all. Resumes are accompanied by websites. Those are your two assets, as you submit your faceless application.

Your website is an ongoing showcase of some of your best work.

There is where you tell your story. Take advantage of this opportunity to demonstrate competency and professionalism.

During many interviews I went on, my website was commented on. My Medium articles were sometimes also mentioned.

Here is a checklist of things you should include:

❏ Bio/about section

❏ Projects (ideally deployed) with documented source code (Github)

❏ Downloadable resume

❏ Relevant social media profiles: LinkedIn, Twitter

❏ Easy-to-find contact information

❏ Custom web url

❏ Responsive design

Here is some inspiration.

Use LinkedIn effectively

LinkedIn is the face you put out to the world, so put yourself in a good light. Often, as soon as your application is considered, employers look at your LinkedIn.

First things first, make sure your profile is complete, the more detail the better. Have a professional photo, a detailed bio and resume.

The more details you include about your work history, the less recruiters/hiring managers will have to guess about your background. The more chances you have for getting contacted.

Help recruiters find you by having the right preferences on the career interests section of LinkedIn where you can let recruiters know you are open to jobs. Put where you are in your job search, what job titles you are open to, what cities/locations and types of jobs you are open to.

You can also look for mentors in your industry that you would like career advice from, sort of like a mentorship program. You can select what sort of preferences you have in order to get recommendations.

You can choose to get advice from someone who is in your region, from your college, or is your 1st or 2nd degree LinkedIn connection.

Attend networking events, Meetups, Hackathons

The key message here is to put yourself out there.

PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE.

Do not hide behind a screen, applying to hundreds of applications and hoping for some good luck to kick in.

You are competing against thousands of bootcamp grads, who have the same tech experience as you, so go out there and put a face and personality to your name.

Meet people, attend events. I met great people who were also looking to increase their knowledge of tech, get a job, and some even helped me with my job search.

A great way to find these types of events is by going on Meetup.com, and looking in the Tech group category. You can search by city or zip code.

(FYI: a lot of these events have free pizza, snacks and drinks!)

Add who you connect with on LinkedIn, and this will only help you be more relevant in recruiters’ searches.

Another great event to participate in is a Hackathon. Not only is it a great way to show that you are actively involved in the tech community, but you’ll acquire industry-related skills, learn more, and network with peers and industry-level experts.

Study for the interview: coding challenges

The hiring managers will certainly question whether you have the skills to take on the job, especially if you don’t have any prior professional tech experience.

Coding challenges range from the simple FizzBuzz challenge or something more complex, such as building an entire app. You’re going to have to spend extra time beyond the coding bootcamp

You can use this website to practice technical interview questions: https://interviewing.io/

I also practiced by going on Glassdoor and reading what questions people posted that they were asked. I’d practice those questions, and topics that they covered.

Sometimes, they ask the exact same questions!

Have a support-group to lean on

You can’t get through this without your friends. The best support I got was from other students from my cohort, or former bootcamp-graduates who understood my journey and pain points.

Personally, at times, it was a bit tough leaning on non-tech/bootcamp friends (and venting to them). Often my well-meaning friends would ask after just two months of unemployment, “how long do you think it will be before you go back to your old job?”

But don’t let this discourage you…push on!

_Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/@priscilladupreez?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">Priscilla Du Preez on And the resources that have helped me become a better programmer since.

Experience is the best teacher

About me

Hello, there. If you don’t care about my background, feel free to skip this section to get a summary of some lessons I’ve learned as well as some resources that have helped me along the way.

I graduated from a coding bootcamp about a year ago. Like many others who choose to attend one of these programs, I was very dissatisfied with my job at the time and was looking for a career change.

Prior to making the leap, I was working as a pharmacist. Unlike most people who sign up for a bootcamp hoping to increase their income, I went into it knowing very well that I was not likely to land a job with a comparable salary, at least for a while. I wrote about it at length here if you want to read more.

This is not an article about how to be successful at a bootcamp or whether you should attend one; each of those topics merits their own post. Instead, I want to share with you what my experience has been like in my first year after graduation and to recommend some resources that I believe have helped me in “leveling up”.

My first year as a professional programmer might look nothing like your first year looked, or will look. Please keep in mind that everything you will read here is biased and subjective.

The first four months

Like many other bootcamps, the one I attended usually hires one or two students from each cohort to serve as mentors for the next group of students. This allows the students to have a mentor who was just in their shoes and is still intimately familiar with the difficulty of learning to program. As I neared the end of my 13 weeks as a bootcamp student, I decided to apply for one of these student mentor positions.

My reasons for making this decision were simple: I would have more time to digest the material I had just devoured over the past few months, I would get to learn by teaching, I wanted to give back to the program, and most importantly I needed to pay the bills.

The pay for being a mentor was a pretty long ways from the Bay Area salaries that bootcampers get stars in their eyes about, but that’s not where I saw the real value in this opportunity. Staying in this environment for a few months allowed me to go back over all of the things I had just learned with fresh eyes. I caught things that I glossed over when I was a student because I now had a better context for where all the pieces fit.

I was forced to deep-dive into topics so I could teach them to other newbies. I got to debug not just my code, but also that of other individuals who think very differently from myself. Not only that, but I was able to work on some internal company software, which gave me an opportunity to continue building cool things and to get a taste of some real-world development. I spear-headed the revival of a project that had gone stale and got to present an alpha version to the big bosses. It wasn’t perfect software, but I learned much in the process.

As my mentorship contract came to a close, it was time to face the dreaded job-hunt. I set myself up for success the best I could. I made sure my Linkedin looked spiffy, I set up a portfolio website, I tried to make sure my Github profile was full of green dots, I attended tech meetups, I attended my bootcamp’s job-fair event, and I even got some business cards made. I did any and everything I could think of to get my foot in the door because the reality is that finding your first job as a developer is likely to be extremely tough.

With my internet persona ready for the application process, I did what we all do even though we are told not to: I started spamming my resume to any company that was hiring for any job even remotely close to what I was looking for. I didn’t keep very good records of how many applications I put out there, but it was more than I would care to share anyway.

Much to nobody’s surprise, hardly any of the applications I threw into these black holes got traction.

So how did I end up with a job?

Networking.

You’ve heard it before and now you’re hearing it again. Attending meetups, reaching out to folks on Twitter and Linkedin, and building real relationships was what ultimately got me a seat at the table.

Out of the interview processes that ended in a job offer (three of them), a grand total of ZERO were from a blind application. All of them were from internal referrals, job fairs, or connections I made at meetups.

You would think that at this point I would have learned my lesson about throwing applications around like mad, but keep reading and you’ll see I don’t even take my own advice.

The second four months

I took my first “real” job at an early stage startup, which proved to be an awesome learning experience. Because our team was so small, I was getting to work on many things that most juniors don’t typically get to do.

I configured our Azure cloud infrastructure and wrote mission-critical code that served as an interface between our application and the blockchain. I was also the only dev on our team with frontend experience so I was in charge of our React frontend. I worked remotely half the week and had access to an endless supply of free coffee. What more could I ask for?

Like any job, however, there were upsides and downsides. Though I enjoyed doing tasks that were above my pay-grade, I sometimes wished that there would have been more senior developers on the team to learn from. Since the company was so young, I was working as an independent contractor, which means no benefits. I’m not including this to complain, because I genuinely enjoyed 90% of my job, but I believe it’s important to paint a realistic picture.

The worst part of this experience came four months into working at the company. I was called into an office at our coworking space and told that there wasn’t enough money left to pay me or the other developers. This is a known risk when working for a startup, but it still sucks when it happens.

To make a long story short, with a little more experience under my belt, I was on my way back into the job market!

The last four months

This time around, I proved to be no wiser than I previously was. I updated my resume, my portfolio, and my business cards then sent off a hundred online applications that got me absolutely nowhere.

If you learn nothing else from reading this, believe me when I say that networking is the way to get a job.

Strangers on the internet can be surprisingly supportive when it comes to helping those who are down on their luck, and I benefited greatly from people reaching out on Twitter, Linkedin, and in meetups.

After getting to the final round of interview with a few companies, I opted to work for another early-stage startup. You would think I had been burned so badly I wouldn’t trust another startup again, but I believed in the team and was excited to work with them. I knew that I would get to call many of the technical shots and get to design, write, and ship code. I am still working at this startup and can say with absolute certainty that I’m a better developer now than when I started here.

Learning by doing has been the name of the game for me and without senior developers on my team to turn to, I have had to turn to other resources. An integral part of being a developer is being able to self-teach, but realizing that there are more experienced people to learn from is equally important. I’m writing this article to pass on resources that I have found helpful, they can be found below.

TLDR

I finished my bootcamp a year ago, worked as a mentor at the bootcamp for a few months, endured a grueling job search process where I ultimately succeeded by networking, took a job at a startup that would go under a few months later, survived another job hunt where I was again saved by networking, and am currently working at a job that I enjoy far more than what I was doing pre-bootcamp.

Life is truly unpredictable.

Lessons Learned

_Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/EPppwcVTZEo?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">Helloquence on Business

Learn to value yourself properly. Recognize that whether you like it or not, employment is to some degree a business decision, and just like you want to maximize your worth, companies want to get you as cheap as they can. Be confident in what you can and can not deliver, and research what other people in your market are getting paid for similar skill sets.

If it is not in your contract, do not expect it to be true. Promises are free to make and expensive to keep.

When applying for jobs, put lots of effort into networking as it is what will most likely get your foot in the door. I’ve tried spamming applications many times and it never got me anywhere.

Use the coding challenges you are given as part of an interview process as opportunities to teach yourself something new. This will allow you to develop your skills and become more valuable in the market even if you don’t get the job.

Learn to love whiteboarding; it’s not going away anytime soon. Getting put on the spot is scary, but if you prepare ahead of time you can leverage this as an opportunity to separate yourself from the pack.

Development

Read the docs.
Document your work as you go. Seriously, future-you will love you for it.
When you have the resources to do so, try and practice test-driven development at some level. By shortening your feedback loop, you will be able to write better code and ship with more confidence.
Prototype, prototype, prototype! When you need to learn a new technology, or are testing technologies to see if they solve your problem, don’t just read the docs (notice I said JUST, you should definitely read the docs) but also build small prototypes that mimic your use-case. You will be able to find pain-points this way and can make better-informed decisions.
Don’t re-solve solved problems when you don’t have to. StackOverflow is your friend, but please make sure you understand the code and tailor it to what you’re trying to accomplish accordingly.
Learn how to use Git. You don’t need to know every fancy command, but knowing the basics will get you a huge return on your time investment.

Personal

Failure is inevitable, learn to accept that fact and learn from your mistakes. It’s very cliche, I know, but that’s because it is true. Every time that I’ve fallen on my face, I have learned something that has proven useful in the future.
Keep in touch with your mentors. I’m still in touch with mentors from my days as a pharmacist, even. These relationships are highly rewarding. I would also encourage you to look for opportunities to mentor others. We always learn from teaching and making a positive impact on somebody else is one of life’s biggest pleasures.
Find some sort of balance in your life. It’s super easy to get caught up trying to improve your skills and climb the career ladder as quickly as possible, but it’s important to take a step back sometimes and nurture the other areas of your life that make it worth living. Build your relationships, partake in your favorite hobbies, and get some sleep.
Exercise. Doctors everywhere give you this advice for a reason. I can promise you it will make you a better person and a better developer.
Money isn’t everything. I learned this lesson the hard way and that has gotten me to where I am today. This is true of life in general, but also something to consider when you are looking for your perfect job. Perks such as mentorship, remote work, and PTO are worth their weight in gold.

Interview preparation materials

_Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/bwki71ap-y8?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">Tim Gouw on CodeWars

Codewars: Train your coding skills
_Codewars is where developers achieve code mastery through challenge. Train on kata in the dojo and reach your highest…_www.codewars.com

As programmers, most of us dread having to answer algorithm questions on the fly. Most of us would use references in the real world anyway, right? Well, employers are still likely to whiteboard you so just accept it and get really good at it. There’s no better way to get good at something than by practicing it. Attempt as many problems as you can (I really mean attempt them, don’t just jump straight to the solutions) and learn from the solutions that other programmers have come up with.

Tech Interview Handbook

yangshun/tech-interview-handbook
_? Algorithms study materials, behavioral content and tips for rocking your coding interview …g_ithub.com

This nifty repository contains all sorts of goodies to help you prepare for the types of questions you are likely to face in an interview. The easiest question to answer is a question you’ve seen before.

Coding Interview University

jwasham/coding-interview-university
_A complete computer science study plan to become a software engineer. - jwasham/coding-interview-university_github.com

This repository is chock-full of links to resources to learn about everything from compilers to web application architecture. Depending on what you are interviewing for it may benefit you to dive deeper in some areas than others, but it never hurts to be well-rounded, either.

Books

_Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/IOzk8YKDhYg?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">Hope House Press — Leather Diary Studio on Programming Books

The Pragmatic Programmer — Andrew Hunt & David Thomas

More than just advice about how to be a better programmer, this book teaches you concepts that can make you better at just about anything else as well.

Domain Driven Design — Eric Evans

If you’ve been programming for any amount of time you know how easy it is for software to get messy. In this book, you will learn how to better communicate with domain experts in order to reach an unambiguous solution to a domain problem. Long but excellent read.

The Robert C. Martin Clean Code Collection — Robert C. Martin

This is actually two books. One is about writing cleaner code, and the other one is about how to be a better developer from a professional standpoint, rather than a skill standpoint. Both books offer unique value and I would definitely recommend them.

The Mythical Man-Month — Frederick P. Brooks

This book is a classic for a reason. Though some of the examples are dated, the concepts are timeless. If you plan to be managing development of any sort, you should definitely give this a read.

Programming Pearls — Jon Bentley

This collection of tips will open you up to new ways of thinking about solving problems.

Code Complete — Steve McConell

This might be my favorite programming book. In this book you will learn everything from properly naming variables, using code comments, and properly designing classes. It’s a bit long but it is so worth it.

You Don’t Know JS — Kyle Simpson

If you are doing JavaScript development you should definitely be reading this series. If not for the fact that it will give you a deeper understanding of the language, then at least because it is available for free.

Eloquent Javascript — Marjin Haverbeke

This book, which is also free, has recently been updated to its third edition. It is great for learning JavaScript, starting with variables and moving on to building simulations and learning about Node.

Non-Programming Books

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In — Roger Fisher

I’m not great at confrontation. Negotiating can often feel adversarial. I would recommend this book to anybody who is in the same shoes, and wants to ensure they don’t sell themselves short when it comes time to talk salary.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich — Ramit Sethi

The book of this title is horrible, but it has generally solid and approachable advice about how to manage your money. My family never had much money growing up, and now that I make a decent amount I want to make sure I’m educated on how to handle it. Though Ramit isn’t for everybody, I think this book should be required reading for high school students about to hit the real world.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things — Ben Horowitz

Do you have dreams about founding a startup? Then you should give this a read and make sure you know what you’re getting into.

Tools of Titans — Tim Ferriss

This book is more or less like taking a bunch of small self-help books and cramming them into one. Unlike many self-help books, however, instead of telling you what you should be doing this book talks about what people at the top of their game are doing already. This is an interesting read even if you don’t intend to use any of the information.

Online courses

_Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/s9CC2SKySJM?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">Green Chameleon on Free Courses

What’s better than a free education? Nothing.

Javascript 30

JavaScript 30
_Build 30 things with vanilla JS in 30 days with 30 tutorials_javascript30.com

This is a great course for those looking to learn some JavaScript fundamentals, and have fun doing it. Learn something new about JavaScript every day for thirty days, for free. What more could you want?

CSS Grid

CSS Grid
_Learn all about CSS Grid with Wes Bos in this free video series!_cssgrid.io

If you’ve written any CSS you have likely encountered frustrations when trying to build the layout for a website. The relatively new CSS Grid specification aims to solve this problem. If you are looking to get up to speed and see what the hype is about, this is a great option.

Harvard’s CS50

Course | CS50 | edX
courses.edx.org

Like most bootcampers, I came out of my program with a lot of practical skills but a pretty poor knowledge of computer science. In order to try and build on this weakness, I ended up taking this introductory course and I would highly recommend it to anybody looking to pick up programming. Plus, you can sort of say you went to Harvard.

Paid Courses

The best investment you can make is an investment in yourself. If you find yourself with some disposable income and want to sharpen your skills, I would recommend any of the courses below. (Obviously, most are technology specific so pick the ones that make sense for you).

Advanced React & GraphQl

Advanced React & GraphQL
_Build Full Stack Applications with React and GraphQL_advancedreact.com

If you can’t tell, I love just about any course that Wes Bos puts out. If you are looking to get better at React or looking to dip your toes into the GraphQL world, this course is a great way to do so.

Secure Authentication for Web Applications & APIs with JWT

Secure Authentication for Web Applications & APIs with JWT
_Learn to set up authentication in your single page apps. Learn the anatomy of JSON Web Tokens, how to use JWT to…_frontendmasters.com

Picture this: You want to authenticate users in your application but you don’t want to add state to your backend. This is precisely the type of situation where using a JSON Web Token shines. Learn all about how to do this effectively and securely in this course.

Learn Testing Practices and Principles with Kent C. Dodds

Learn Testing Practices and Principles with Kent C. Dodds
_Learn the principles and best practices for writing maintainable test applications to catch errors before your product…_frontendmasters.com

Kent Dodds is an engineer at PayPal and a fantastic teacher. I used to hate writing tests. This course was instrumental in changing my opinion about them, and I would recommend it to anybody looking to dip their toes into the test-driven development world.

Learn to Test React Applications with Jest, react-testing-library and Cypress

Learn to Test React Applications with Jest, react-testing-library and Cypress
_Fix errors before your app reaches the end user by writing maintainable unit test & integration tests for your React…_frontendmasters.com

Once you’ve convinced yourself that tests are worth writing, you’ll want to know how to write them for your stack specifically. If you use React, this course does a great job outlining a pragmatic way to test your application.

Learn Advanced React Component Patterns in this Course by Kent C. Dodds

Learn Advanced React Component Patterns in this Course by Kent C. Dodds
_Simplify large React applications by separating your component logic, state and display properties to make React…_frontendmasters.com

If you have a basic understanding of React and are looking to take your chops up a notch, this is a great course for sharpening your skills.

Learn to Scale React using React Tools such as CSS in JS, Code Splitting & TypeScript

Learn to Scale React using React Tools such as CSS in JS, Code Splitting & TypeScript
_Build scalable React applications using the tools and techniques available in the React ecosystem. You'll test your…_frontendmasters.com

Brian Holt is a terrific engineer who knows how to teach concepts in an approachable manner. Though the title of this course is basically buzzword soup, the content is delicious.

Learn Four Semesters of Computer Science in 5 Hours w/ Brian Holt

Learn Four Semesters of Computer Science in 5 Hours w/ Brian Holt
_We’re going to tackle some big topics in just five hours: Algorithms and Big O Analysis, Recursion, Sorting, Data…_frontendmasters.com

If you do not have a CS degree but would still like to be able to talk about some of the fundamentals intelligently, this course is a great way to learn some of the basics. This is not intended as a substitute for a four-year college degree.

Learn AWS’ Capabilities for Building and Deploying Apps

Learn AWS' Capabilities for Building and Deploying Apps
_Learn how to deploy your next passion project online or your organization's next-generation client-side application…_frontendmasters.com

If you’ve heard of the up-and-coming cloud platform that is Amazon Web Services (heavy sarcasm) and you’ve wanted to leverage their infrastructure for your web application, then look no further. While the AWS docs can be a real pain, this course feels so good.

Learn JavaScript: The Hard Parts — Dive Deep into JavaScript to Solve Complex Challenges

Learn JavaScript: The Hard Parts — Dive Deep into JavaScript to Solve Complex Challenges
_Take your JavaScript to the next level. Gain an understanding of callbacks, higher order functions, closure…_frontendmasters.com

Will Sentance is hilarious. Honestly, this is worth watching for his personality alone. If you happen to want to understand JavaScript better, however, the course is also pretty okay for that.

Learn the New Hard Parts of JavaScript: Asynchronous ES6+ Features

Learn the New Hard Parts of JavaScript: Asynchronous ES6+ Features
_Develop an intuitive understanding of the new features of JavaScript in ES6+: iterators, generators, promises, and…_frontendmasters.com

If after taking the last course you didn’t get enough of Will’s antics, then strap in for this version where he tackles some of the newer features of JavaScript.

Learn Visual Studio Code to Super Charge Your Web Development Productivity

Learn Visual Studio Code to Super Charge Your Web Development Productivity
_Visual Studio Code is a modern, full-featured code editor built from the ground for the needs of web developers …_frontendmasters.com

If you are in web development and not using VS Code, then you are wrong. Once you’ve gone ahead and installed everyone’s favorite editor, you may as well learn to use it properly. I learned some pretty neat tricks by watching this course.

Programming Tools

_Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/NL_DF0Klepc?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">Cesar Carlevarino Aragon on Tools I wish I had known about when I started coding

Tools I wish I had known about when I started coding
_In the tech world, there are thousands of tools that people will tell you to use. How are you supposed to know where to…_medium.freecodecamp.org

Tools I wish I had known about when I started coding: Revisited

Tools I wish I had known about when I started coding: Revisited
_A few days ago, I wrote this article for freeCodeCamp which has since gone on to be read more times than I could have…_medium.freecodecamp.org

Podcasts

_Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/NMbZ7QM3XWM?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">neil godding on Syntax

Potluck - Typescript × E-commerce platforms × Job-hopping × Working for agencies × more - Syntax…
_Full Stack Developers Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski dive deep into web development topics, explaining how they work and…_syntax.fm

Wes Bos and Scott Tolinsky team up to deliver some tasy web development treats twice a week. This show has a little something for everybody and is definitely my favorite development-related podcast.

ShopTalk

ShopTalk
_A live podcast about front end web design and UX._shoptalkshow.com

Dave Rupert and Chris Coyer have been delivering web development advice far longer than I’ve even been in the game. If you are looking for an informative and entertaining podcast which features lots of guests, I would recommend this one.

Online Communities

_Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/tpLz5aKdQmM?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">rawpixel on freeCodeCamp

Learn to code with free online courses, programming projects, and interview preparation for…
_Learn to code with free online courses, programming projects, and interview preparation for developer jobs._www.freecodecamp.org;’

Without this organization, you likely wouldn’t even be reading this article. freeCodeCamp is so much more than a FREE online coding bootcamp. They offer interview preparation help, they are at the center of #100DaysOfCode, and they bring in thousands of aspiring developers together.

CodeNewbie

CodeNewbie
_CodeNewbie started as a weekly TwitterChat to connect people learning to code by Saron. Since then it's grown into a…_www.codenewbie.org

This is one of the most inclusive organizations in the universe. Not only are they responsible for multiple podcasts which aim to give a voice to aspiring developers from all walks of life, but they foster that same community on other platforms like Twitter. I highly recommend checking out their site and getting plugged into their supportive community.

Conclusion

Programming is hard and getting good at it takes years of time and effort. Though I’m much further along than I was a year ago, I’m now better aware of all that I do not know, and acknowledge that I have a long path ahead of me.

I do feel like I have learned a lot in the past year, however, and I hope that you found something useful in this long, long, post.

I’m always open to learning new lessons from others as well, so if you have advice or resources please leave a comment and I’ll try to answer as promptly as I can.

Godspeed, dear reader.

I hope that you have learned something new today! I would appreciate it if you could drop some ? or leave a comment below! Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter and Medium :)

The biggest struggles you might face during a coding bootcamp

freeCodeCamp — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 20:19:53 +0000

By Joanna Gaudyn

You think that during a coding bootcamp nothing can be more challenging than learning programming itself, right? Here is my ranking of things that can be just as strenuous, together with ideas on how to handle them.

9. Things are poorly organized

The air con doesn’t work with over 40 degrees Celsius outside? The coffee machine is out of beans? The WiFi is breaking off?

_[source](https://unsplash.com/photos/GHOiyov2TSQ" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

Things happen. This does not necessarily mean that your bootcamp organizers are not doing their best to make your life smooth. What should you do when faced with logistical issues?

Speak up. Just because you failed to get your morning coffee doesn’t mean that whoever could fix it for you is even aware of the problem’s existence.
Be patient. Some things are just beyond human control. If you see people are working towards getting an issue fixed, repeating your complaint every 10 minutes doesn’t really do much, other than spreading negativity.
If you know how to fix the problem, do it. It might be the fastest and easiest solution of all.

8. Teachers under-deliver

The teaching staff is a core of every coding bootcamp. They not only need to be technically strong and have pedagogical skills, but also have to be able to empathize with programming beginners.

_[source](https://unsplash.com/photos/K7yZ-CsDvRU" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

When you feel one of your teachers under-delivers, ask yourself:

Is it only your impression or do other students share your sentiment? One teaching style will rarely accommodate all students’ needs, so it’s possible that even though the teacher is miserable in your eyes, they’re great for others.
Does the teacher come prepared for the classes they run?
What would need to be different for you to change your mind about this teacher? Are these conditions rationally achievable?

The most effective way to address an issue you have with the teaching staff is bringing it up with the bootcamp organizers. Even though they won’t always be able to solve the problem right away, your chances of getting things improved are still higher when you react promptly, rather than waiting with complaints for your bootcamp to be over.

7. You don’t grasp things as quickly as you have hoped you would

We all like to think of ourselves as quick-learners. The reality check can be brutal when you’re faced with the extreme working pace of a coding bootcamp.

_[source](https://unsplash.com/photos/zpKILEdn5qs" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

What to do to overcome this feeling?

First of all, when you decide to take a coding bootcamp, don’t set the bar for yourself too high. Keeping your expectations realistic lets you avoid the daunting feeling of underachieving.
Be prepared to not understand everything at once. An average coding bootcamp will expose you to a vast amount of computer science knowledge in a very short time. Some concepts will be very complex. Not understanding all of them the first time you face them is completely natural, so don’t let it discourage you. Things will fall in place with reiteration.
Work hard. Put in some extra effort if deep inside you know that the reason for your slower learning is the fact that you haven’t fully committed.

6. You don’t grasp things as quickly as others

Modern education system trains us to compete with each other at all times. In some cases it might be a great motivator, but when you feel like you’re falling behind, it can get to you in all the wrong ways.

_[source](https://unsplash.com/photos/JCxsXfeM8co" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

If this is happening during a bootcamp:

Be aware that most of people tend to think they are doing worse than they actually are. Perhaps you are one of them?
Reevaluate your goal: what do you want to get out of the bootcamp? Are you aiming at becoming a developer? Or perhaps you just need a better understanding of the tech vocabulary in order to collaborate with a dev team in your company?
Focus on your own progress and achievements as this is the only thing that eventually matters.

5. You don’t ask for help

Ambition and self-image often stand in the way of our development. Don’t let it happen to you. During a coding bootcamp (or any other intense training program for that matter) asking for help is a crucial element of moving forward.

_[source](https://unsplash.com/photos/TPZNooS1Meg" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

It doesn’t mean you should get your teachers to solve all of your coding challenges for you. Do your part: focus, try to split the problem into smaller, more approachable chunks, google. Try to at least know what you don’t know before asking for assistance. But don’t wait too long. You’re still a beginner and it’s natural that you get stuck. It will most likely happen regularly. Getting pointed in the right direction can save you a lot of time and frustration, so that you can concentrate on what really matters.

4. You feel that you are better than others

So you’ve done some coding before. Maybe even studied computer science or some other related subject. Especially the first days of a bootcamp might feel like you know it all.

_[source](https://unsplash.com/photos/2Iy0nMKmqtw" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

Don’t fall into this trap.

Remember why you joined a bootcamp. It’s most likely because you wanted to learn more, right?
Don’t make the mistake of comparing yourself with others just to feel better about yourself. Most of them will catch up with you before you know it. And when you relax too much they will surely outrun you too.
Concentrate on your own learning curve. Stretch yourself. Set the bar higher if you feel like things are too easy as they are.

3. You hate collaboration and teamwork

Most of coding bootcamps will make you work in pairs (in the dev world it’s called pair-programming) or teams for at least a part of the program duration. The main reason for this is to prepare you for the inevitable teamwork in your professional life.

_[source](https://www.pexels.com/photo/brown-and-black-bees-59829/" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

Whether you end up working for a huge consulting company or choose a freelancing path, good communication skills and collaboration mindset are grounds for success. If you’re not willing to work with other people, perhaps you should reconsider your decision of taking a coding bootcamp.

2. The person you have to work with is a jerk

It doesn’t happen often but surely enough it does happen sometimes. Even the strictest selection processes sometimes fail, leading to mean, unfriendly or arrogant people slipping through the cracks.

There are two things worth remembering: 1) sooner or later you’ll most likely have to deal with people you don’t necessarily like in your professional life as well, 2) what comes across as arrogance is often a mere attempt at masking one’s own insecurities.

_[source](https://unsplash.com/photos/jVCWcao53u0" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

The good news is that most of the time you can just avoid those people. And if you have to work with them (either in a pair or a team):

Try to be as collaborative as possible
Call them out: politely and directly say why you find their attitude challenging
If this occurs during pair-programming, find someone else you could work with (don’t turn swapping pairs into a habit though)
If nothing seems to work, discuss with your bootcamp organizers — they’ve likely dealt with similar issues before and can help you

The most important thing is not letting other people affect your learning process in a negative way.

1. You don’t know how you got here in the first place

And the winner is…imposter syndrome!

_[source](https://unsplash.com/photos/hKVg7ldM5VU" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

Self-doubt is often the main and ongoing struggle for many bootcamp students. A lot of them, no matter how well they perform on the technical side, question their own abilities throughout the process. To tackle this one:

Make sure a coding bootcamp is something for you before you sign up.
Do your research before choosing a bootcamp to know what you’re getting yourself into. Read reviews, check what alumni are up to on LinkedIn, try to get in touch with someone who did the bootcamp you’re considering.
Do the prep work if the bootcamp you chose requires any. This is an important step that not only lets you understand the basics (which will make your life in the bootcamp much easier) but might give you an idea about what your weaknesses are and what you need to focus on most.
Focus during lectures. I often advise students to put their computers away and just concentrate on what the teacher’s doing. This way you can stay involved in what’s happening rather than trying to blindly recreate each step on your machine.
Make sure you’re doing your best when solving coding challenges but avoid comparing yourself with others at all times.
Avoid copying other people’s code just to move on. This will not teach you much. Remember that the goal of a bootcamp is to teach you programming, not to get X solutions onto your computer.
Talk to the bootcamp organizers and teachers, ask for feedback and check how they see things — you might just get surprised how distorted the vision of reality is from inside of your head.

A coding bootcamp will not only let you improve your technical knowledge, but work on your soft skills as well. The two make for the desired profile when looking for a job in tech. When faced with challenges, try to see them as an opportunity to grow, rather than mere obstacles. Every problem you tackle — be it a coding challenge or an interpersonal difference — is a chance to learn and draw conclusions, even if it’s hard to see it at once.

Have you attended a coding bootcamp yourself? Is there anything else you would add to this list?

Why our coding boot camp still teaches two programming languages at once

freeCodeCamp — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 17:04:27 +0000

By Josh Alletto

In our quest to train employment-ready full-stack developers, our coding boot camp decided to teach Ruby on Rails (a Ruby-based back-end framework) and React (a Javascript-based front-end framework) side by side.

In the beginning, teaching two languages was a practical decision. Students needed both the front-end and back-end education to meet our standard for real-world, full-stack developer success.

Our ideal language for each piece was different. While learning two languages at once was much more difficult, our students had no choice because we couldn’t create a better solution at the time.

Rather than getting overwhelmed and washing out, our students thrived on the challenge of learning two languages.

Since we didn’t see any negative consequences for the students other than a heavier workload, we didn’t change the program for our first five years.

Despite our success teaching Ruby on Rails, we eventually decided to update our program and introduce a new back-end framework to our curriculum. We considered several options, but eventually the choice came down to two: Python’s Django or Javascript’s Node.js.

We finally had the opportunity to simplify the challenge level of our program and teach Javascript alone while maintaining a cutting-edge education.

We didn’t do it.

Image Source: Code Platoon

Instead, we chose Python’s Django.

Employment analysis had indicated that Python and Django were equally as valuable to our students as Javascript and Node.js. So, choosing Django wouldn’t compromise quality. It would just be harder for our students to learn than if we taught only Javascript and used Node.js.

We weren’t just making the program harder for the heck of it. There was more to the story when we looked at what happened after our students graduated.

In the process of deliberating on our choices, we realized that learning multiple languages had become our graduates’ advantage.

The speed at which our students learned to program, their success after graduation, and the feedback we received from them confirmed that learning two languages at once was — while difficult in the short term — ultimately essential to their long term success.

Based on what we’ve measured and heard, here are the most important reasons we continue to teach more than one programming language at Code Platoon.

Image Source: Code Platoon

1. You prioritize concepts over syntax

Just like great mathematicians are not measured by their ability to memorize theorems, great developers are not measured by their ability to write a syntactically perfect ‘for’ loop in a certain language off the top of their head.

More important is their ability to grasp the essential concepts and understand the systems they are working with.

Syntax is easy. Googling “How do I write a singleton in Ruby” will immediately return numerous results. Knowing when to use a singleton (rather than a class instance) is the hard part.

Syntax changes with the language, but many of the methods for solving problems with computers remain the same.

Once you understand that all object-oriented languages have singletons, you become less obsessed with memorizing where commas go — and more focused on what steps you need to take to solve your problems.

Seeing the similarities in languages can go a long way in hammering down universal concepts. But looking at differences can be just as helpful. Some concepts are more abstract, or just flat-out harder to understand in one language over another.

For example, lambdas in Ruby made no sense to me, but the concept finally clicked when I saw lambdas in Javascript. Sometimes it’s just a matter of seeing the same thing in a different way, and you’ll never get that if you stick to just one language.

2. You increase your job opportunities

We want our graduates to be prepared for actual coding jobs. While some of our graduates get jobs where they write code in the languages we teach, more of them land jobs that require a different language.

With each subsequent job, they’ll usually need to learn at least one new language or framework.

Learning that first language is challenging. Showing that you’ve learned two in a short amount of time advertises your ability to learn under pressure. This is a skill which really helps you stand out from the crowd.

Having both Javascript and Python on your résumé shows that you can write in those two languages.

More importantly, it shows that you can continue to learn coding languages. This increases your chances of getting hired in a job which doesn’t require either of them.

In the real world, you won’t last long as a programmer if you only know one language, or if you’re not prepared to keep learning new ones. The time you spend learning the second one in the safety of the classroom will give you the confidence to learn the third one on the clock at your new job.

Image Source: Code Platoon

3. You can build more things with more languages

Few modern web apps are built with just one programming language. Some languages are better at certain things. Javascript dominates the front end. You can use it on your back end also. But, depending on what you want to do, you might want to use Ruby or Java on the server side.

Most apps require a database. In which case, you’ll want to learn a query language like SQL.

Do you need to analyze lots of data? Python or R might be what you’re looking for. You’ll build faster and smarter if you understand what each language does well and how to use the languages to accomplish the tasks you need to get done.

Image Source: Code Platoon

4. Perspective helps you gain confidence and grow

Learning your first language can be incredibly difficult. But like anything else, the more you learn, the more confident you’ll become in your ability to solve difficult problems.

And that’s what a lot of programming is — the ability to evaluate a problem and find a solution. The willpower and confidence to push through those inevitable “I have no idea what to do next” moments is key.

After you’ve learned your second language, you become more open to change. You’ll understand how to choose the best tool for the job. One language that’s great for web development may not be the best for data analysis, and you’ll understand that. You’re less likely to force a tool you know really well over just learning the better tool on the fly.

5. We want two-language bootcamps as standard

Learning two languages at once is no small feat. But knowing two languages better prepares our graduates for a competitive job market and sets them up to succeed.

We hope to see more coding boot camps take this approach in the best interests of their students. We encourage prospective coding students to seek out coding boot camps that offer this advantage, despite the extra legwork required of them.

Coding Our Tech-Minded Kids to Become Self-Actualized Teachers of Tomorrow

freeCodeCamp — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 17:00:29 +0000

By Steven Fink

Coding schools today should be doing more than teaching kids Java and Python. They should be helping them become experts in how to teach Java and Python.

That’s one the many lessons I have learned in the years after founding the technology camp SummerTech. Opening our doors in 2002 on the campus of Purchase College, SUNY, in New York, we quickly learned that what separated us — what parents really appreciated — wasn’t the base knowledge our campers possessed when they returned home.

Rather, our success was driven by our ability to show these children that all around them were diverse yet like-minded kids. That there was a community where they could feel comfortable in their own skin. And most importantly, that the collaborative, supportive nature of our coursework allowed them to become leaders — and often the influential coding teachers other kids so looked up to in our classes.

At SummerTech and Coditum, our full-year coding labs for 8–17-year-olds — every student starts on the track to become a teacher. While that might not be a long-term reality for everyone, the approach fosters a level of interaction that has been extremely beneficial to both our students’ understanding of the material and their ability to become fully self-actualized individuals.

3-to-1 Ratio

For our classes, we employ an almost unheard of 3-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio, creating four-person sessions that are both immersive and highly collaborative. While having so many teachers requires quite a commitment on our part, the results — truly impactful education in coding and important socialization for thousands of youths — have proven to be worth the investment.

If you’re a public school educator, you may be reading this and thinking: “Ha, a 3-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio. Good one. That’ll never fly here.”

But why not? Imagine you could invest a little time in teaching a dozen 7th graders how to code. How valuable might it be to both the school and those students if, in 8th grade, they’re given the opportunity to share that knowledge with kids a bit younger than themselves?

It’s what they call a win-win. Everyone gets smarter.

While the Internet is full of perfectly acceptable courses in Java and Python — the most commonly recognized and accessible computer coding platforms out there today — we don’t use an online curriculum.

Ours is driven by the interaction between students, their peers and our teachers. Using laptops and white boards, they tackle the coursework together, ensuring it’s understood at a fundamental level.

In small groups, it’s also easier to match students with peers and teachers who are the best fit for their particular learning needs. Not everyone works at the same pace and some personalities aren’t a perfect fit for others. Having small group sizes allows for easy on-the-fly adjustment.

‘Social Director’

Jake Rowen is a perfect example of the promise of leadership development in education. A native of Rye, New York, Jake was an introverted 10-year-old when he joined us at SummerTech. He hardly spoke for his first three weeks with us, but we gave him the time he needed to open up. He spent many summers with us, developing into a top-flight head teacher and someone his dad, Larry, now calls “the social director of the cruise.”

Jake is currently studying computational linguistics at UC Santa Cruz.

“Calling it transformative would be such an understatement,” Jake says of his experience transitioning from shy student to outgoing teacher. “My ability to understand concepts of all kinds shot up exponentially. My whole outlook on being with other people changed, and most importantly, I felt like I really found my home.”

To give you an idea of how our model works in practice, here’s how we’ve structured Coditum: at age 15 or after 9th grade, and after completing the first five modules of our curriculum, students can become interns. After 10 shifts of assisting in classes, they receive a technical review and, if successful, can become paid junior teachers. They move on to senior teacher positions after entering college.

Often, you’ll see coding schools and camps advertising that they don’t utilize junior teachers or counselors in training (CITs). Only the BEST for your kids, they say! I couldn’t disagree with this philosophy more strongly.

Just when these schools are telling excited kids “there’s no place for you here…move along,” they should be doubling down on the skills their students just learned, allowing them to understand this knowledge on an even deeper level by becoming teachers, and to hone the social skills involved in being a leader. That’s what will make a difference when they sit down for that job interview some day, not whether they’ve passed their college computer science course.

Of course, they will pass that course, because interacting with your peers in small groups is fun, and fun leads to learning. For example, at SummerTech we cover the entire AP computer science course in about three to four weeks of instruction.

Jared Okun, a 19-year-old at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who’s also been one of our student-turned-teachers, recently told me, “I’m impressed with myself that I can teach children college-level material.”

“Teaching code is a great way to improve my own knowledge of code and increase my experience working with code that isn’t mine,” Jared said.

As with most industries, finding and retaining strong employees is the key to any successful education initiative, including small businesses that teach skills such as coding. Those educators who invest in the teaching potential of their students end up with a network of smart, charismatic and confident young adults, who love the experience of sharing knowledge.

What more could you ask for?

Coding bootcamps also teach you how to get rejected 10 times a day.

freeCodeCamp — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 21:40:02 +0000

By Erik Cannon

“You will have 60 minutes to complete the four coding challenges and have all of the tests pass to ‘true’. Any questions?”

There was a long silent pause.

“Great. Please begin.”

I opened up the Cloud9 document, cruised through the preliminary instructions and made my way down to the first method. Def first_n_evens(n) glared back at me in a mocking tone. It knew damn well I had no idea how to start the problem. Implement a blank array, start some sort of loop, or even insert a modulo operator — all fleeting thoughts on where I should start.

The pressure was palpable as I sat, slightly defeated, and looked for a starting path to the correct answer.

This was my shot at acceptance into an elite coding bootcamp, and the beginnings of a career in tech.

What had I gotten myself into?

Elevator to the Twilight Zone

In the most literal sense I was sitting in an office building in a trendy part of New York City just south of the ever pretentious Houston Street (pronounced “house-ton” for those of us not “in the know”) and just a few floors up from a Sephora Lounge.

The building wasn’t much to look at from the outside and offered even less aesthetic appeal on the inside.

_It wasn’t quite this bad, but you get the idea. Image courtesy of [Pinterest](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/245516617159863999/" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

A precarious elevator waited patiently in a tiny lobby to lift me to the middle floor, and spit me out into the front of an entirely open office space.

The space was long and narrow, offered a nice view out onto the city streets, a small kitchen and water-cooler, and was furnished with hardwood floors, bleach white walls, and row after row of black computer monitors.

Students were diligently ripping through lines of code and making the computer dance in ways that I had not seen since watching The Matrix.

“Hey, are you here for the Initiation Program?” asked an energetic — albeit slightly unkempt — individual to my right. Indeed I was.

The Initiation Program was a brainchild of this particular coding bootcamp. The idea of the program was to take seemingly capable individuals (judged on education history and SAT scores) with limited coding and computer science experience. It would get them to a place, in a span of two weeks, to where they would be able pass the entrance exam forced upon all bootcamp applicants.

A passed entrance exam would look incredibly favorable to the individual and would seem to allow automatic acceptance into the bootcamp which — if you trust the stats on their website — boasted a 98 percent job placement rate with median salaries of $89,000 in New York City, and even more in San Francisco.

To understand the appeal of such a coding bootcamp is to understand a deeper movement in which Michael Lewis aptly calls “The New New Thing.” The movement, as Lewis explains is the next big career breakthrough offering the possibility of riches, meaningful work, and a center-of-the-universe type appeal that brings together the smartest people of an era. This type of appeal is analogous to bond trading of the 80’s or “popy” boy-bands of the 90's.

Add into this equation an uncertain job market, the financial crisis of 2008, unprecedented mountains of student debt and you begin to understand the appeal of a three month bootcamp which in return for only a small, refundable deposit promises the fast track to a rewarding career. For a more eloquent description please see Ms. Huston’s article for the Wall Street Journal here.

To think that a coding bootcamp can take you from zero to coding hero in a matter of three months, on the surface seems ludicrous. After all, don’t accredited colleges offer four year degrees on the subject?

How can bootcamp alumni compete with a B.S. in computer science in the job market? What kind of jobs were bootcamp alums getting? Are we talking Product Engineer at Google or Administrative Assistant at Startup “X”? Also, how hard was coding anyway? I was determined to find out.

My First Day at Camp

Back at bootcamp headquarters all of the Initiation Program students were ushered to the back of the building and took a seat in rows of standard, boardroom-certified, black swivel chairs. The chairs looked forward onto a projector displaying a Macintosh home screen on the bleach white wall.

Confident students milled around up front, while nervous-looking students clamored their way to an empty swivel chair in the back. A few minutes after the scheduled starting time, what appeared, at first, as a confident looking Initiation Program student in a colorfully striped t-shirt, introduced himself as John, a senior bootcamp TA, and welcomed everyone to the program.

John was a young male with curly hair and above average height. He talked quickly and efficiently with a slightly nervous air as if continuously reminding himself to keep it together in the back of his head. After explaining a bit about himself and the objectives for the week, John motioned over to his six fellow TA’s sitting to his left. Each peered up from beyond their black monitors and with varying degrees of energy introduced themselves.

The TA’s were a colorful and, honestly, impressive group. Amongst the group were Fulbright scholars, Ivy League playwrights, high school valedictorians, mechanical engineers, and even a bearded McLovin doppelganger. The TA’s, as I came to find out, were the most recent bootcamp graduates who were still looking for employment and seemed to be bonded together with a handful of awkward jokes, high I.Q.’s, a love for computing, and a collective solidarity of not yet landing the job of their dreams. Their bonds were more surface level than deep connections and seemed to treat each other as mere acquaintances of circumstance as opposed to close personal friends.

John continued laying out the schedule for the week and we soon discovered the first matter of business was to break up the Initiation Program students into six distinct pods, each lead by a bootcamp TA. In the pods you would work together with a fellow student on coding exercises of the day as well as complete the assigned individual work that was hosted on GitHub (a programmer’s networking site where snippets of code can be easily shared).

By the end of the first week there would be an assessment to test how much you had learned and see if you’re ready for the real deal three month bootcamp. The assessment would also be offered once more at the end of the second week, for a shot at redemption should you not pass the first.

John finished up his introductory spiel and split us up into our pods. I was in Pod 4 and was lead by a TA named Sam. Sam was incredibly smart, but also incredibly distant. Unlike some of the other TA’s he put in the minimal amount of oversight required to still be considered a TA. Sam would be more likely to be found off alone at his computer than to seek out students needing help.

My Fellow Classmates

Sam instructed us to begin work on the self-paced material as he pulled each of us aside individually to get know us better and understand why we were interested in programming and this particular bootcamp. It was at this moment when I was finally able to get to meet some of my fellow classmates, who were just as, if not more, interesting than the TA’s.

There was a Japanese immigrant working in accounting, a college student who swore his brother had just landed an impressive coding job at a big financial firm, a bootcamp savant who had intently studied the pros and cons of each bootcamp and was here because it was truly the best, a pre-med student whose jaunt into medicine was cut short after discovering she was allergic to formaldehyde. There were countless others whose previous jobs were too dull, too unsatisfying, or too low paying and who wanted to be a part of this “new new thing.”

The majority of my classmates appeared to already hold an undergraduate degree and at least one entry level job. None were out of their 20’s, and from what I could tell, all seemed to be reasonably intelligent.

After working briefly on the assigned work, John announced that the first day of class had ended and I soon found myself stepping out onto the Manhattan sidewalk.

Walking out of the first day of class, I began to realize how odd yet somehow familiar the first day had felt. The bootcamp itself felt, in a way, like a traditional college class. There was a group full of young attentive students, active TA’s who had only just completed the required course giving them their TA credential, and a host of readings and practice problems.

A picture from my commute home from class, Washington Square Park.

The only thing that was noticeably absent was the teacher. There was no authoritative figure or omniscient Ph.D. to lead discussion. There wasn’t even as much as a thirty-two year old ex-programmer in a bootcamp emblazoned hoodie ready to distribute a few years of industry knowledge. There were young people, and only young people huddled together in the trenches trying to figure it out.

There was something very raw and scrappy to the whole organization. Something very refreshing and intoxicating. A feeling I can only imagine Larry and Sergei felt in the early years, before handing over the reigns to Eric Schmidt.

Starting to Code

Arriving home that night, and by home I mean a couch that a few old college buddies let me crash on, I was completely exhausted, mentally drained, yet somehow still completely excited to wake up and get started on this coding thing. I woke up the next morning and got to work. The concepts seemed simple enough. Anything inside quotes is a string. Letters can be set to equal variables. Okay I have seen this before. A method is a unit of work. Not bad, not bad. The first practice problems went smoothly enough and I was beginning to gain some confidence. Then came the homework problem.

The homework problem was a complete step up from the softball examples they interjected throughout the readings. I gave it my best effort than vowed to understand it better once I was in class. The homework problem was the first thing we went over at the start of every class and was the time I would consistently get the most confused.

The TA’s would ask for ways in which to start the problems and were immediately accompanied by throngs of raising hands. One eager volunteer would offer his or her way to solve the problem and the TA would immediately head down that path.

Analogous to a math problem, there are many ways to get to the correct answer or what you want the program to do. Each student was at different levels of experience and would offer up solutions that many of us had not previously seen before. Think of suggesting a trigonometric function when the rest of the class was still on addition. This was more frustrating than enlightening and some TA’s were better teachers than others. Ultimately, I felt as though these sessions lead to a mass panic in which students felt hopelessly behind the curve.

After the homework review, the next order of the day was the paired programming sessions. The paired programming sessions were some of my favorite times in the class. Not only did you get to bond with the other classmates, you also were able to see how another person approached the problem. This of course proved difficult when neither partner knew how to solve the problem, but as with most things two heads were better than one.

The thing that was most revealing about the paired programming sessions was how immediately the table was able to discern who “got it” and who did not. Some pairs would finish light years ahead of others and begin chatting about the weather, while others hadn’t finished reading the instructions.

What was even more interesting is how modest a lot of the top people were. They would often default to saying how tough the homework was or how nervous they were for the assessment. It was clear how skilled these programmers were, but their modesty in these situations was perhaps something that allowed them to bond with all of the other students who were struggling together.

The days came and went and I had a nice schedule going throughout the week. I would wake up, work out, and hit the code. I would study throughout the day before heading to class at night and soon was able to distinguish an array from a string, and a loop from a conditional. I would try the homework problem and then continue reading the assigned lessons until I found a new technique that might get me to the answer. Ultimately, I got more of them wrong than I did right, but I was incredibly impressed with how much I was able to learn in such little time, if I do say so myself.

Is Coding Fun?

Throughout the course I found coding to be incredibly addictive, all the while being incredibly frustrating and a knife's edge was all that was left to separate the two. The mental stimulation is very rewarding, similar to solving a tough Sudoku or crossword puzzle, however, the frustration was also very present.

When a single period can make the difference between success and failure attention to detail is key. Especially when you start adding hundreds and hundreds of layers of code. Also the computer science concepts can add Inception like complexity. Loops are used to execute the same block of code over and over and when loops are added inside other loops keeping track of what the computer is doing is similar to Leo trying to remember what dream he left his wife in.

_Loops can be tricky to understand, just like this Inception-esqu photo. Image courtesy of [Gizmodo](http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2016/04/first-doctor-strange-trailer-shows-marvel-doing-an-inception/" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

Assessment Day

As the week was drawing to a close and the assessment day came ever closer I worked diligently to memorize as much as possible. All of my work was in vain, however, as a few minutes after the TA’s uploaded the assessment I soon realized I wasn’t where I needed to be. The problems were too advanced and in one short week I wasn’t able to memorize enough useful material to pass the exam.

A few students in neighboring pods felt hopeless and gave up early. Others tried until the last minute, but were unable to finish every problem. I don’t think anyone was able to pass that first exam, at least not anyone that I talked to, and there is some amount of comfort to be taken in that.

After the exam had finished and students were packing up to leave, I asked a TA about a mysterious decoration hanging on the otherwise spotless white walls. The decoration was labeled “Rejections” and in dry-erase marker listed a name followed by a number.

The TA explained that each number is the amount of companies that each full-time bootcamp student has been rejected from. The numbers were staggering and would seem more apt for a popular Instagram post as opposed to rejection letters. Numbers ranged from the low-twenties to mid-hundreds. The TA continued to explain that at the end of the three month coding class there is a three week job search where each student applies to ten jobs a day, with the help of the bootcamp’s management team.

Is it all worth it?

It was at that moment when I realized just how difficult the whole process was and what type of person these bootcamps were looking for. You invest three months of your life and code full time for upwards of 12 hours per day for a shot at a coveted programming position at a respectable company.

Right now the bootcamps can boast high salaries and high job placement rates, but as more and more bootcamps open and more and more people become apt at coding the market may soon become saturated with computer scientists.

There is no clear answer to this, as developing technology may keep demanding more and more people with coding ability at a rate that exceeds the amount of available coders.

With Uber testing its first fleet of self-driving cars and restaurants like Honeygrow running lean operations with computer software taking customer orders, perhaps there is reason to believe that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future.

Regardless, it seems safe enough to say that knowing at least some basic computer programming can only stand to benefit an individual heading into an increasingly technology heavy future, no matter the industry.

_Honeygrow and its line of touchscreens ready to take your order. Image courtesy of [WolfeScott](http://wolfescott.com/project/honeygrow-bala-cynwyd/" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

If you’re interested in coding and are 100% committed to the cause, there are some increasingly positive nuggets of information about coding bootcamps.

While they may be difficult to enter (this particular bootcamp had a less than 5% acceptance rate) 25 out of the 30 students or 83% of the most recent cohort had technical jobs within a few weeks. Also there is no up front fee for the bootcamp itself. The company takes a portion of your salary after you get a job to ensure that everyone’s goals are aligned.

Additionally, companies in the tech industry in general, tend to care less about accredited degrees as they do about how much of the information you know and what value you can add on your first day. A promising fact for those not wanting to go back to college for an additional bachelor's degree.

Still, coding bootcamps are no silver bullet. After gaining acceptance, a mountain of hard work lies ahead. Not everyone even finishes the bootcamp. With weekly exams — of which you can only fail one — and tough technical interviews from employers, there are many checks along the way to ensure that you know your stuff.

Think you’re up for the challenge? Take a look at a practice problem below.

My Path

As for me, I decided not to continue my pursuit of this particular coding bootcamp. I wasn’t ready for the type of commitment they would be expecting. I haven’t given up on coding though, as I fall into the camp of people that believe coding will be the number one skill to have heading into the next decade.

In the meantime I plan on working through Free Code Camp.

Who knows, maybe next year I’ll be in the trenches fighting for a seat at a coding bootcamp. Or maybe I’ll be a strong enough developer to just go out and get a job.

Only time will tell.

If you want to read more about tech, careers, and life’s tough questions, you can find some of my other work at Loose Cannon Publications and also on Twitter at @loosecannonpub.