Coding Bootcamps: What to expect.

A few years ago I won a scholarship to participate in a bootcamp. I was already in the IT world so I had a clear purpose for taking it but here I want to share a few thoughts on what I’ve seen and the impact they have in the market.

I want to add to this that not only I was a bootcamp student once but I also participate in the screening of candidates that are in the IT industry so I know very well what the companies expect and what most bootcamps are trying to sell.

What companies are looking for

There are many Bootcamps out there, which means there are also many people learning how to code or who already know how to code but yet I always see how they are not able to land their first job even though there are many positions available in the IT industry. The truth is that knowing how to code is not enough. IT companies are not looking for someone that just knows how to code, instead, they are looking for people that can solve problems using coding skills.

What companies value the most are people that can solve problems, so you tell them on a high level what the problem is and they can propose solutions for that problem. Another thing that companies look for are profiles that can find problems. You tell them what the scenario is and they will ask the proper questions, they also stand on all of the “what if…”. This last skill is more likely to be present on senior profiles and is learned after working in different environments.

What bootcamps offer

Bootscamps teach you how to code in a short period of time. It is an intensive course that will go over topics for a particular language but most of them seem to lose focus because the students think that the end goal is learning how to code. I’m not saying they are bad, I think they are good at what they do, but if you are planning to join a bootcamp don’t forget: You are there to solve issues that you were not able to solve with your previous skills. That’s it. So learning how to code has to be just a tool and not the end goal.

The reason I repeat this over and over it is that when I was done with my bootcamp course most of my classmates that wanted to join the IT industry said to me: “well, I learned many things related to [insert programming language] but I don’t know where to start if I don’t get a clear instruction of what I have to do”, and I realized they always handed everything to us and never got a chance to work on real problem-solving skills.

Now, of course, there are lots of good things about them and I have to say that there is always a big community in every bootcamp environment. This will encourage you to learn faster and also they usually help you to get interviews for your first job if you are changing careers, which I know can be very difficult.

What you should do if you get into a bootcamp

If you are thinking of joining a bootcamp I recommend having a problem that you want to solve and using the tools you learn in the course to try to solve it. Here you have to be very careful because coding a solution is not always the best way to solve a problem so be critical of what you are doing. If you run out of ideas then another approach is just to try to clone an existing application with what you know. After you are done, maybe you can enhance it, adding new features or improving the user experience. All of this will help in your portfolio and most important: it will help you in your first interview because hiring managers want to hear that you solved a real-world problem with your current skills.