Career Advice (laid off recently from my tech job)

Sorry to hear that and this isn't that uncommon so you aren't alone. I see a lot of bootcamp grads with a "I will do anything to break into the industry" attitude and the hustle carries them for a a year, two, sometimes a bit longer, but the fundamental gaps eventually come out and it impacts people pretty hard. I wish bootcamps talked about this more openly. I'm super pissed off at Codesmith for advertising a success case last week 'from Codesmith to $150,000 job' and left out the person graduated in 2018, worked somewhere for 2.5 years, and THEN got the $150K job in 2021. The journey just STARTS with the first job, but for the bootcamp itself it's the END and they advertise it that way and even places like Codesmith that offer "lifetime support" don't actually offer that and it's a marketing label. Don't want to play the victim here and I have real advice haha: 1. Do a master's degree 2. Pivot to a tech adjacent role that feels more aligned with your previous experience - not the ones with the most advertised jobs, but one you have EXPERIENCE that you can bring to the table. 3. Try to find another generalist SWE role and keep going through the ups and downs, expecting more downs too, and in 3-5 years you might stabilize a bit more as you build up your SWE experience.

It is indeed, I'm telling it loud and clear everywhere and my LinkedIn post about it got a lot of traction. Codesmith doesn't like me much and every time I call them out they double down more on this narrative because (from my conversations with them) they are incapable of seeing why this is disingenuous. Based on their tanking enrollment, people aren't buying it anymore so if they want to keep doing this they keep going they are accelerating their demise.

The goal of a masters is: 1. Try to get back into "new grad" pipelines. If you get a "top tier" masters, it will open these doors if you have 1-2 YOE and aren't eligible anymore. 2. If you are not employed and doing a full time masters over 2 years, you are internship eligible in the summer and that can be the stepping stone you need to get a job right now - even if you have a year of experience. I definitely see how this feels like a step back if you have a year of experience, but a lot of bootcamp grads - even from the best ones - have gaps to fill and it's really a step forward. **There are other ways to fill those gaps, but this is one of them.**

It's borderline. PROS: \- it's a REAL masters and not just a pay-for-play style one \- Georgia tech is a top 10/20 CS school and this is a respected program \- the cost is insanely good deal compared to other options! CONS: \- since it's fully remote there is less of the community vibe for networking and recruiting for those internship and "new grad" opportunities. \- It's not a top 4 program that has recruiters lined up. ANALYSIS: \- excellent choice for part time while working \- excellent choice if your company is paying for it \- don't go all in 100% expected a job at the end as the solution - it's a great choice instead of a bootcamp if you have a background they accept, but it's not the only answer to all problems.

I think it's a good option yeah, you can dm if you want to give more personal info for advice