Hi and thanks for sharing! I strongly encourage the apprenticeship @ big tech path and in my opinion it's the "ideal" path for ambitious bootcamp grads from the top bootcamps - because you get the ramp up and training needed to do well at the company - which clearly worked for you :D. But definitely a hard and competitive path and not a slam dunk.
There's a bootcamp that pushes hard to create "mid-level and senior" engineers and discourages people from targeting apprenticeships in general.
Question: If you were advising a super ambitious and hard working bootcamp grad on a path, how do you feel about apprenticeships vs the more "fake it until you make" strategy of over-marketing yourself to try to get into more experienced roles?
u/Classic_Revenue6078 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Sr is actually mid experience at my company. My progression is actually rather typical, however many leave before Staff because the jump from Sr to Staff is notoriously difficult.
u/michaelnovatireplied·· edited
Yeah don't want to DOX but I knew the company from the OP listing this progression in the original.
There are a couple of FAANG-tier companies that traditionally hired seniors only and didn't level seriously, and when they finally normalized levels, leveled the "common engineer" as Senior - because that was the bar. When they became interested in hiring juniors, they formed apprenticeship programs and internships programs to bring in the best of the best entry level talent, but we're still a little non-granular about the transition from junior to "common engineer" (labelled senior).
Anyways, some day I'll write a book about levels, today is not that day because no one cares haha.