Graduated with MIS degree, looking into Bootcamps

I have a couple of questions to help advise: 1. What was your undergrad degree? MIS from a UC is a solid credential, but it doesn't demonstrate amazing CS skills necessarily so undegrad matters 2. Have you had a job before the MIS and what was it and how long? 3. Have you tried meeting recruiters that go to your UC? PROTIP: try to contact new grad recruiters in September during undergrad hiring season and apply for new grad roles

Sigh... I read that as "Masters of Information Systems" which is a common degree haha

A bootcamp might be an ok option for you. The market is tough and a bootcamp won't get you a job within a few months for $10K to $20K. I would consider doing one if you basically want to cram in a few missing pieces under the broader CS umbrella, but not a 100% perfect solution. I would also maybe try to get a foot in the door job at a solid tech company so that you can get the ball rolling, like Support Associate in a big tech company where you can use data skills to crush it and try to find ways to slowly convert to programming internally.

Hi, Formation isn't a good replacement for a bootcamp for most people. There have been a very small number of people that have done this but the reasons have to be right and we usually reject people without some kind of relevant experience. For example, self taught but contributions to large open source projects might be a good fit. I don't recommend doing it in this market because almost all of these cases were people who got top tier entry level roles and sometimes from new grad headcount, and the market has tanked for entry level and new grad roles. The same struggles apply with going to a bootcamp, but I'm not also not advising doing Formstion right now in this bucket, UNLESS you have a job already and are doing it part time over a long period of time. Second giant note: ISAs are great for the reasons you mentioned. But if you end up being one of the minority percentage that give up, you still have to pay a prorated fee based on the time of your training (it's still conditional on being employed, but could be any job). If you fully understand that, great, but nothing is too good to be true. Some other points though for the record as many people might read this over time and things change: - We don't really "teach" anything and aren't a school. What this means is that we don't have lectures or classes where we go over a list of topics following a plan or specific teaching style. 1-1 mock interviews are conducted like real interviews, but small group sessions are all interactive problem solving sessions led by a mentor, who is guiding the group towards solving a specific problem, or set of problems around a skill. So the experience varies by mentor and by who the peers are. The goal is that you are exercising a muscle and the mentor is a personal training helping you exercise properly. - People with no experience have gotten pretty good jobs. Not all, just like any program, some people give up in the job hunt, or leave early, or change their goals. But most people get good jobs, and they generally take longer doing it. So the time spent at Formation and job hunting might be the same or longer than going to a bootcamp, but you won't be doing 12 hour days and will hopefully get a better first job to set up your career well. - Some backgrounds it has worked well for: -- Warehouse worker, contributed to open source for about 2 years and did Formation, got entry level job at Atlassian after about a year -- Ivy league math grad working in VC, did Formation, got new grad role at a top tier company -- Self taught DS&A and was coin flipping between doing Codesmith and Formation, did Formation and got an entry level job at a top tier highly desired startup. - A very very very important note, because most people in this bucket repeatedly ask for this, is that we don't help create a portfolio and you don't do any notable projects at Formation. You do some practical work but it's all targeting interview skills and making you a better engineer. It's the exact opposite of a bootcamp where you hardly learn any skills because it is so fast and programs are focused on making your resume look flush with projects and experience. Happy to answer more questions.

Yeah we work on fundamental skills and those people that got those jobs mentioned did not have portfolios - they openly showed up as entry level and crushed technical interviews at top companies. In this market it's just almost impossible to get those opportunities and you might end up a bit lost between "I need a portfolio!" and "I need strong fundamentals!". In think in a perfect world the fundamentals are sufficient to kickstart your career but we'll see if the market agrees or not in Q4 2023. Referrals are a complex topic and are not all equal, for example: 1. Referral from another Fellow 2. Referral from a mentor 3. Referral from a team member 4. Referral from a partnership/b2b connection with Formation 5. Support in finding referrals from your own network. Not all referrals are equal and effectiveness depends on the market. So in summary - we don't guarantee any referrals and you shouldn't join at all for referrals - it's a part of a broader networking support we provide and you should count on getting broad job hunt support.