I graduated from my full stack development bootcamp about one month ago. Thinking back, it’s amazing how much I’ve learned about web development over the last six months. I’m also at a place where I’m looking ahead a bit, and it’s sort of phenomenal how much I still need to learn, how much I don’t know. Like, can I build web applications and solve problems more effectively than I could before? Yes. Am I ready to find an actual development job? Am I indeed a full stack ninja? I’m not sure sometimes.
It’s been a whirlwind, for sure, the whole bootcamp experience, and I had hoped to have reflected on it a bit more here than I have. But, here I am, one month after wrapping things up, and I wanted to check in. In this post, I will reflect on some key take-aways I’m left with after the career preparation portion of the bootcamp.
The Career Phase
The bootcamp I was a part of was organized into three phases: lecture, project, and career. We spent the bulk of our time wading through the first two phases: learning about data structures and the basics of web development in the lecture phase and putting our knowledge into practice by building individual and group projects in the project phase. The last two weeks of the bootcamp were designated the career phase. During these quick two weeks, we focused on career preparation and post-bootcamp planning.
During the career portion of the bootcamp, our projects were more or less wrapped up. We had presented our final group projects in class, and we didn’t have any outstanding coding or project work to start anymore. This was a pretty drastic change of pace for me. I found it kind of difficult to put the group project we had been working so hard on behind me. The project wasn’t perfect, of course, and it was challenging for me to shift my attention away from the work we had been doing to the career-focused content of the bootcamp.
All of that being said, the topics covered in the career phase were really practical and provided a perspective that would hopefully help us move into the next, more independent phase of our career transitions: post-bootcamp life and the wonders of the job search! Instead of complaining about the challenges of preparing to find a job in web development while constantly battling the chilly embrace of imposter syndrome, I want to outline a few key tips I’m left with after career week. Hopefully, these tips might be useful to someone else in a similar place in their career transition.
Take-Aways from Career Week
As I reflect on my journey, now one month post-bootcamp, I can’t help but think about the invaluable practical tips and advice that were shared during the immersive career week phase. The intensity of the bootcamp experience may have made it challenging to fully grasp the significance of every single piece of guidance at the time, but certain key lessons have stood out and made a lasting impact on my approach to launching my career as a full stack developer. These standout insights have not only shaped my understanding of the industry but have also provided me with a clearer vision of the path I need to embark on as I navigate the professional landscape.
Stay Organized & Be Intentional
First, being organized and intentional about continued professional development and job searching is really important. It can be easy to feel a bit less motivated and sort of rudderless after wrapping things up with a bootcamp, and staying organized and sticking to a plan is a useful strategy for not floundering around aimlessly forever on your own.
I’m writing this as I actively neglect my Coding Journey Trello board with various tasks to undertake in my own post-bootcamp journey. So, I guess do as I say, not as I am currently doing. In my defense, I took a vacation immediately following my graduation from bootcamp, so I’m just now getting back to work with a purpose.
Ok, so staying organized and being intentional about tasks you’re spending your time on might include managing your time effectively across different activities. For example, it was suggested in the career week that we divide our post-bootcamp time rather equally among skill building, job searching, and networking. These three things are integral for maintaining momentum after the bootcamp, but it can be challenging to work on all three equally. One way that might make this easier to manage and keep track of is the aforementioned Trello board. Using a Trello board or something similar could be one way to manage your time and keep track of the work you’re doing across these three areas.
Related to being intentional, I think it’s also important to keep your own personal strengths and skills and specific career goals in mind as you partake in continued learning, job searching, and networking. Without having somewhat of an idea of what you hope to accomplish with all of this, and where you’re currently existing in your career journey, it can be difficult to choose what to spend your time on.
And that’s how learning is, right? It’s incremental and happens over time. It takes time to build. Kind of like building with blocks, you add new pieces to your understanding and eventually, you have something that is bigger than any one individual block. So now I know how to work with JavaScript in basic ways, but I also know how to put pieces together on a larger scale to solve problems and build whole full-stack apps. Are the apps I make at this point awesome? I think so! But, they are still simple and could probably be optimized in a lot of ways. The point is, learning takes time, and I’ve come a long way. In six more months, hopefully, I’ll look back at what I’m doing now and realize how much I’ve learned.
Marketing Yourself Takes Time and Effort
One of the most significant takeaways I’ve gleaned from my bootcamp experience is the realization that marketing oneself as a full stack developer demands considerable time and effort. While I had prior experience in building an online presence with my past career in TESOL, delving into the web development and technology realm presented a unique challenge. Consequently, I found myself investing significant time and energy into reshaping my online profiles to reflect this exciting career transition from education to development. It was important to curate my online presence in a way that showcased my newfound skills, expertise, and passion for coding. And also highlighted how my previous career is valuable to my transition into tech.
Among the various platforms available for establishing a professional presence, I discovered that LinkedIn and Twitter seemed to be the best for networking and visibility. However, it’s worth noting that the Twitter landscape has changed quite a bit recently, and many users are leaving the platform to find other means of community-building. Despite this, I believe that Twitter still holds value in fostering connections within the tech community, sharing insights, and engaging in industry discussions.
Navigating the expansive world of networking platforms can be overwhelming, with countless options vying for attention. It can be daunting to determine where to invest your energy and how many different profiles to create, not to mention the multitude of Discord servers available to join. In such a dynamic environment, it’s really important to identify the communities of practice that resonate most with you and your career aspirations. By finding these supportive communities, you can focus your efforts on engaging with like-minded individuals, exchanging knowledge, and leveraging their expertise to propel your professional growth. Quality over quantity becomes a guiding principle as you prioritize the platforms and communities that align with your goals and values, fostering genuine connections that can have a lasting impact on your career trajectory.
Interviewing is a Skill
The final idea I’m left with after my bootcamp is that interviewing is a skill. And it takes time to build your interviewing skills and get acclimated to the interviewing process in the field of development. I think this is true for any field, but it can be particularly daunting in web development, at least it feels that way for me, because of coding challenges and live coding interviews.
In education, for example, you might talk about how you’d approach a challenge you face in the classroom or with colleagues. Right? How would you deal with this specific situation? But, you wouldn’t have to actually deal with it. Coding challenges, live coding interviews, feel like being asked to teach a lesson without preparation or resources.
I’m writing this, of course, without the perspective of having done an actual interview of this type. So, it’s very possible that I’m just nervous and they aren’t actually that bad. During the career phase of the bootcamp, though, we had the chance to do a mock coding interview, and it was rather traumatizing for me. I’m generally a confident person, but it felt impossible to prepare for. And when I got in there to get started, I just couldn’t think. And it felt like I was failing from the start.
I know the purpose of these interviews, generally, is to get a feel for how a candidate might approach a coding challenge. And maybe that they possess the basic knowledge necessary to solve problems in the position they are interviewing for. But, ugh. I don’t know. This is an area I need to dive into a bit more before I actually find myself in an interview situation
Beyond the coding aspects of interviewing, more standard interview skills are needed in HR interviews and interviews with potential colleagues. During these interviews, you need to show your personality, present your skills, and basically sell yourself as a good fit for the position you’re interested in. I don’t find this type of interviewing to be daunting or challenging, but being prepared for talking about yourself clearly and concisely can be useful to practice for these types of situations.
With learning anything new, it’s important to be gentle with yourself. Learning takes time, and learning to interview well also takes time and effort. And it’s okay if you don’t rock every interview. You’ll find the position or project that fits well with your skills and ambitions. It’s just a matter of time and effort.
You got this!
If you’re here reading this as you are finishing a bootcamp or just after you’ve wrapped up a bootcamp, I hope that some of this has been useful. I don’t think there’s one path into any career, and everyone comes into the bootcamp experience with a different personality and professional background.
Embarking on a coding bootcamp journey is just the beginning of an exciting and challenging career in full stack development. As I reflect on the career preparation phase, it becomes evident that staying organized and being intentional are crucial factors for success.
Once the bootcamp concludes, the real work begins. Marketing yourself effectively as a full stack developer takes time and effort. Building a strong online presence through platforms like GitHub and LinkedIn, showcasing your projects, and engaging with the tech community are all essential steps in establishing your professional brand.
Additionally, it’s important to recognize that interviewing is a skill that needs to be honed. Just as I practiced coding and problem-solving during the bootcamp, I also need to dedicate time to building interview skills. This includes researching potential employers, practicing technical and behavioral interview questions, and learning how to effectively communicate our experiences and abilities.
I’m reminded that the journey doesn’t end with the bootcamp. It’s essential to remain proactive and continue learning and growing as a full stack developer. Seek out new technologies, stay up-to-date with industry trends, and always be open to expanding your skill set.
While the career preparation phase of a full stack development bootcamp is undoubtedly challenging, it lays the foundation for a rewarding and fulfilling career. With organization, intentionality, and dedication to self-marketing and interview skills, we can confidently step into the professional world as full stack ninjas, ready to tackle any coding challenge that comes our way.
Crystal Rose-Wainstock
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