Thinkful boot camp - will completing the camp land me an entry level job?

Career Advice
#1

Hi Guys,

I hope everyone is doing good. I have some open-ended questions. Will completing this boot camp and utilizing the services they offer be enough to get me in the door? I have been programming for about two years in C# and have a basic understanding of OOP programming concepts. I have no ‘real-world’ experience, but I am also not starting from scratch.

To that end, where should I focus to get that first web development job? What I am asking is, if you were starting out in my shoes, what would be your first move? I read some of the conversations here, and I realize remote work is out of the question, but I’d like to know if Thinkful was a good move on my part before I commit fully. Thank you for your time and have a good one.

#2

HI @bigmike2238 !

Welcome to the forum!

I personally think, at the end of the day, courses can help you get there but it really depends on your effort to make your work stand out that will seal the deal.

I looked up this bootcamp and it seems legit and I didn’t see any immediate red flags. But I would continue to do a deep dive research into reviews just to make sure this camp will be worth it.

There are tons of great articles, videos, podcasts that will walk you through the process of what to learn and how to get hired on what to do and what not to do. I would do some serious research and just start learning.
FCC teaches the MERN stack and python. So you can start learning now until you decide what you want to do with this bootcamp.

Also, you are going to need to build some projects. Start with smaller projects like to do list and calculators and then start to build more complex things. For your portfolio, you will want to showcase something more than just class projects because hiring managers have seen them to many times before.

I would just research like a maniac for reviews and still realize that it is still going to come down to you landing that first job.
They can help but it all boils down to you standing out from the crowd and landing an interview.

Good luck!

#3

@jwilkins.oboe I appreciate your response. I’ll do my best to learn as much as I can. I appreciate the luck as well!

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#4

I don’t know anything about Thinkful, but Quincy wrote a really good and well researched article for people who are considering bootcamps:

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#5

To that end, where should I focus to get that first web development job?

With 2 years experience in C# I’d focus on building real projects in dotnet that you can put on a portfolio.

I’m guessing you probably already have the competency to start real projects but just need to ideas or the motivation to follow a project to the end.

Dotnet is huge in web and pays really well. Joining a bootcamp might be what you need to carry you over whatever obstacles you’re facing but I’d be hesitant to switch tech stacks. I don’t know what all Thinkful offers in their courses but most web focused bootcamps are teaching Node these days.

If you continue the self-taught route and are struggling to find ideas for backend projects to build you can use the freeCodeCamp projects as a starting point. Just make them in C# instead of Node.

At the end of the day, bootcamp or no bootcamp you’ll struggle to get that first job without real work experience. The best way to overcome that is to have personal projects that are substantial enough to supplement real work experience.

So yeah my opinion is to keep sticking with what you already know and build real web projects with that tech.

Good luck!