CodeSmith for CS University Graduates

I can give my thoughts knowing a lot of Codesmith grads and what they've been saying recently: 1. Is it worth it for someone who literally has a Computer Science degree? (I tend to struggle a lot with building projects of my own due to demotivation or lack of people that want to build things with me) Placements are hovering somewhere below 50% six months after finishing Codesmith, so you are looking at ANOTHER YEAR before you get a job and maybe 2 more years, even going through Codesmith. Their most recent data shared showed something like 15% of people having CS degrees. I suspect that has increased in the current tough market for CS grads. I also believe people with CS and adjacent degrees have faired better than those without (anecdotal). 1. What did you build, what were teammates like? I used to review a lot of the OSP group projects because people asked me to and they didn't get good code review from their mentors. You likely have more work experience than the mentors who will teach you. The projects at Codesmith are far better than most other bootcamps. But the projects are far bellow any internship work you've done so they will be useless for your resume. 1. What were the pros and cons? PROS: there's no where else I've ever seen that builds peoples self confidence out of nothing like Codesmith. It's somewhat remarkable how they systematically do that for people and people leave feeling like they had a year of experience when they did not, and feeling like they can take on senior roles, which they cannot. CONS: Instructors have minimal industry experience and all are graduates from Codesmith itself (even the most senior ones). People feel pressured to apply to mid level and senior jobs and feel like they don't get support for entry level ones. 1. The people who did get a placement, what did it take? The trend amongst placed people in this time window was that they represented a 3 week long project on average as 11 months of work experience on their resumes: [https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/18cpq98/analysis\_of\_52\_most\_recent\_codesmith\_offers/](https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/18cpq98/analysis_of_52_most_recent_codesmith_offers/) 1. The people who didn't, do you believe you could've done better or do you think you genuinely tried your best but it wasn't enough? The people I talk to didn't want to lie on their resumes and felt like Codesmith's advisors and alumni couldn't help them make a resume that was meant for zero experience entry level jobs. Others didn't network well with alumni IMO. 1. If not CodeSmith, is there anything else? There isn't much that can help right now. I would try doing a masters degree and more internships. But I also think you probably have enough internships to apply RIGHT NOW in the spring recruiting cycle.

I talk to a lot of successful grads and they are here, they just don't advise anyone to go to Codesmith right now. Most messages I get are "I got a job from Codesmith but let me tell you, no one else did and a, b, c, d,..."

This is a common outcome I hear too, people get jobs but the people who gets jobs at levels above what they should be tend to have a lot of trouble year 2 to 5. It doesn't discount how much impact Codesmith has on their initial transition and it's not a dis whatsoever, it's just one of the things you don't hear about on Reddit and a downside of the "go for mid level and senior jobs" strategy.

Do you think if the OP applied to 1000 jobs without Codesmith the would also get a job without spending 22K and spending 3 months?

What is misleading about this sub?

What's your approximate cohort placement rate? Or more broadly, how is it going for others in your cohort?

Why did you change roles so much over just 2.5 years?

How about all of the times I said specific people should go to Codesmith in the past? Your read my 2000+ comments on Reddit? Summary: I temporarily removed that recommendation in Feb 2024 when they laid off about half the staff and shrunk 2/3 in offerings. And then permanently maintained that when most of the promised changes in Feb 2024 never materialized the way I hoped they would, and outcomes tanked. That's rational no? If a program has an 80% placement rate that tanks to 40% (with the majority of the 40% ghosting and non responsive according to their report - whereas when it was 80% the majority were engaged) and keeps telling you everything is fine and changes the goal posts they are measured by, isn't that an insane red flag to reconsider? Or no? Clearly SOME people are getting placed and it's very much possible that this person will get placed too... but I would argue this person can get placed on their own with no help from anyone as well. In this market, most of the people placed probably don't need Codesmith, but if they have $22K lying around it might help a little bit for the right person yeah. Not super accessible or promoting a diverse workforce if you rely on people with $22K lying around to get incremental benefit though. u/TheDarkPapa \- feel free to privately send me an anonymous resume and I'll give you feedback and job strategy advice no strings attached because you need to be APPLYING RIGHT NOW IN FEBRUARY before the second wave of new grad hiring seasons ends!

Oh definitely not, changing jobs once is fine in that period but more than once raises some flags that need explanation. I thought you had more jobs because you said a 'stint at Microsoft' that I interpreted as a short thing and that you had more jobs. Re: layoffs, the hard truth is that unless more than 15% of the company was laid off, it was performance related in some capacity. If you were running a company and you had to mass layoff and cut departments, you would take all the best engineers from those areas and move them before laying off the team. It would be irrational not to do that after putting so much effort into finding and nurturing the best engineers. Now let's say you had to lay off 20% of staff across the whole company, and you tell each manager to remove 20% of people... do you think they would remove anyone but the lowest performers on their team? I know this can be harsh, but I think it's important to understand and acknowledge BUT THE FLIP SIDE is that if you have a performance layoff it doesn't mean you are a bad engineer!!! It means the company wasn't the best for you. Even if you did ok but weren't a top performer, there is a better fit for you somewhere else. If this is the case for you, acknowledging strengths and weaknesses and finding that fit will get you farther than not. You said your jobs were boring and easy, but I would look at that. If you were the #1 performer the first company would have kept you unless they let go of all their engineers. The contract would have renewed or you would have been recommended to a different team or you would have interviewed and converted full time.

Sorry, that was advice for a lot of people reading it who are in similar situations and that's why it's so long. I have zero right to backfill your history and I don't know you at all and apologize for making you feel that way. My point stands that I see a lot of bootcamp grads get laid off in their first few years and it's important to understand why. Not everyone wants to be a top performer but it doesn't change the fact that top performers don't get laid off the vast majority of the time. Not being a top performer doesn't mean you are a low performer either. I would have to know WAY MORE about you to make conclusions about your personally.