New WSJ Article about tech jobs shows one chart that perfectly tells the story of bootcamps rise and decline and how it's not getting any better for early career engineers...

New WSJ Article about tech jobs shows one chart that perfectly tells the story of bootcamps rise and decline and how it's not getting any better for early career engineers... SOURCE: [Tech Jobs Have Dried Up—and Aren’t Coming Back Soon](https://www.wsj.com/tech/tech-jobs-artificial-intelligence-cce22393) This chart is pulled from the article and sourced from ADP as specified below. https://preview.redd.it/64urvj4yr3qd1.png?width=1472&format=png&auto=webp&s=542c07126ff96bdde9679fcee77422e7c8cbdc81 This chart tells the evolving story of bootcamps over six years and suggests it's time for the industry to move on. **2018**: The baseline year, marked by stability in a post-Cambridge Analytica tech market. **Bootcamps**: Operated largely under the radar, selecting students carefully, holding in-person classes in major tech hubs, and maintaining direct hiring pipelines with companies. **2019 - Early 2020**: FAANG companies saw massive growth, hiring anyone who could code to meet demand as their market caps soared. **Bootcamps**: Benefited from the shortage of engineers, experiencing exponential growth (2X, 3X, 4X year over year), as people flocked to bootcamps for a fast-track to lucrative tech jobs. **2020**: Initial layoffs due to COVID-19 hit, but the demand for online software kept jobs relatively steady. **Bootcamps**: Lost their in-person pipelines and were forced to transition to remote models. **Early/Mid 2021**: As the world adjusted to COVID, layoffs persisted but the shift to remote learning stabilized. **Bootcamps**: Faced challenges—though top-tier graduates still secured good jobs, weaker programs or those that grew too fast started to collapse. **Mid 2021 - Early 2022**: With the exuberance of a post-COVID recovery, the job market returned to pre-2020 levels. **Bootcamps**: The successful bootcamps continued to place graduates well, creating a false sense of effectiveness. Yet, some bootcamps quietly disappeared from CIRR (Council on Integrity in Results Reporting). **Mid 2022**: The post-COVID hangover sets in. Layoffs increased, revealing that the pandemic-fueled growth was unsustainable for many companies. **Bootcamps**: Started failing en masse. While the public hadn’t noticed, on-the-ground complaints and whispers about bootcamp outcomes began to grow. **End of 2022 - Early 2023**: A temporary hiring bump due to new year budgets brought hope to the struggling bootcamps. **Bootcamps**: Promoted this bump as a sign that "things are getting better," but many were fighting for survival. **2023**: Layoffs continued to mount, with no relief in sight. **Bootcamps**: Realized that things were not improving. As results worsened, CIRR delayed releasing data that showed just how bad things had become. **2024**: Though not published yet, I expect the job market index to rise. More jobs are opening up, but layoffs are also continuing. While the market is turbulent, it’s neither entirely good nor bad. **Bootcamps**: As the reality of 2023's struggles becomes clear on the ground and through word of mouth, bootcamps are rapidly losing public confidence. Only a few bootcamps, operating at drastically reduced sizes, remain from their 2018-2020 peaks. **Looking Ahead**: The bootcamps that stay focused on software engineering may stabilize, but it’s clear the bootcamp industry will never return to its former glory. I’ll share more thoughts on the future and the impact of AI in my next analysis.