Separate Yourself From the Crowd And Get Hired Out Of Coding Bootcamp

Over the last few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to hire and interview dozens of coding bootcamp grads. I’ve started to key on a few things that make me excited about a candidate, and I wanted to share those things for those of you out there either in or graduated from a coding bootcamp.

I think it’s important to note first and foremost that the simple fact that you’ve put yourself through a bootcamp says a lot about who you are. You may be feeling some imposter syndrome about your coding skills, ability to contribute, etc. Start by realizing that your journey, including whatever career or job you may have been in prior to bootcamp, is exactly what sets you apart. Even from lifelong software devs, your perspective and what you can add is unique to you.

So then, what do hiring managers look for? Aren’t they looking for the best technical coders? Technical ability is certainly part of it, but let’s mark that lower on the list for now. Because we know that you, at best, have short intros into multiple languages and likely have no shipped code into production. Your best asset coming out of a bootcamp is that you’ve learned how to learn. The best teams put learning and a growth mindset as top priority, and hey, you’ve just leveled up on that skill!

The second thing which you’ve started to master: team skills. Most bootcamps have one to many group projects, and you not only had to code on some things, you probably had to decide what to build, what is in scope and out, and how to divy up roles. A little known secret in software dev is that most of the magic happens outside of the code, in deciding what and how to build by problem solving together. You have demonstrable experience in this area to discuss. So thoughtfully lay out how you’ve problem solved with your groups before.

The final advantage you have touches on the first part here. Your own experience in how you came to be a software developer means that you are more excited about this phase of your life than probably any other. After all, you’ve probably already realized a previous career was not for you. You’re very eager and excited to start contributing code. From personal experience, this is one of the things that can get me most excited about a dev candidate. As a hiring manager, I want people that are eager to come in every day, level up their skills and contribute to the overall team in an exciting way. I tend to see this attribute in recent bootcamp grads more than any other group. Put that excitement on display while you are interviewing.

What about the technical interview though? Yeah, that can be a scary one. Because all companies do it differently (some in person, some take home, some in a different language than you are used to), it’s hard to give concrete technical advice here. But what I can say is that this part of the interview process may not directly be about the code you produce, especially if done in person, but more about your problem solving skills. Like the old elementary school adage says, “show your work”. That means simply talk through what you are seeing, write down your assumptions about the problem domain, and heck, even say “This is where I would google for the proper syntax”. Talking through how you think about the problem is more important here, so when you are stuck, always default to talking (or writing) out your thoughts.

This is obviously a huge topic, and there is plenty more we could cover. But the key take away here is to focus on the strengths that you have to add to the team, and don’t be afraid to put those on display. Especially as a bootcamper, you have a unique perspective and experiences to bring to a team that, at its core, are simply problem solving together.

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