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.
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.
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 the 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.
Thank you for sharing this article. Throughout the research process of finding out if a bootcamp is the right move, I have realized that I still have a way to go before I can consider myself a real web developer. I believe many of the concepts found in bootcamps are here on freecodecamp and other free / low pay options.
That said, I am going to move forward with diligence and see where I am in a year. As the article points out, the biggest thing that I feel I’d be missing is the bootcamp’s placement benefits.
To those who are interested, here’s another article that helped me confirm if I am right for the profession. If others have the time, I’d be interested in knowing if more experinced coders would agree with it.
Thank you for the insight. I will stick with C#, and JavaScript technologies. Also, I will try my hand at putting together the projects freecodecamp offers with C#.
If you still want to pursue web development, have you considered investing in ASP.Net? It’s one of the main ways to use the .NET framework. It’s huge in the enterprise section of development.
However, I wouldn’t feel indebted to C# or the .NET framework. if you feel like C# and .NET just isn’t the best choice for you it’s ok to pivot or switch. Another one of the major problems is that there’s no “freecodecamp” for ASP.Net which means it’s going to be tougher to learn since it’s not as common as the MERN stack (what FCC teaches).
