u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
Sorry to hear this and it's an unfortunate reality of the industry.
**!!! A 12 to 16 BOOTCAMP CANNOT PREPARE YOU TO BE EQUAL TO SOMEONE WITH MORE EXPERIENCE !!! EVEN CODESMITH DESPITE WHAT THEY TELL YOU (**Actually read the following notes on why everyone!)
I see day in and day out people from bootcamps, people who are self taught, CS grads, all in later stages of their careers, these are my notes:
1. Everyone is unique. Any person's unique journey cannot represent a bootcamp, a background, a city, or whatever aspects you are trying to generalize about the person.
2. Grit, hustle and effort can get you very far in this industry. If you are less experienced than a new grad and outwork them you likely will have better initial traction on your job. You might get accolades and a promotion. If you are a CS grad who has grid and hustle, it will be really hard for a bootcamp grad to outpace them (think your Stanford, CMU, MIT grads)
3. A CS degree on it's own doesn't mean that much, but what it represents is two things - A) Internships = Work Experience. B) 4 years spent engulfed in software. Both of these CANNOT BE REPLACED with a bootcamp. So even the most highly capable bootcamp grad will be deficient in these areas that many CS grads are not and there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT. Codesmith claims the OSP project is like months of experience and graduates even perpetuate this. It is absolutely not true about the kind of experience jobs are looking for. It might be way better than a crappy CS degree or a personal project, but it's no where near the equivalent of real work experience.
4. So what happens on the job? 1-3 years into your career you'll face a wall. Your hustle got you this far and now you have to solve problems that people with more experience or theoretical training have an easier time solving.
**Possible outcomes from 4.**
1. You are laid off and replaced, they don't have time for it
2. You work nights and weekends to address gaps. You get feedback often about your progress. You leverage your network for extra secret help and you genuinely fill in the experience by working faster and smarter than your more experienced colleagues and catch up your experience by putting in the hours.
3. You get dragged along and managed out, but not being given good stuff to work on, not getting promotions, and the company really wants you to find another job and leave.