I love when people share their personal stories as their stories.
Some people work equally hard and just don't make it, or it takes even longer, and this post shouldn't give anyone hope that they can do it too.
It's dangerous because most people won't make it right now no matter how hard they work.
On the other hand, there are a lot of people who would make it if they just kept trying and they might give up too early.
Everyone is different and 'work hard for years' doesn't apply to everyone.
u/New-Firefighter-7020 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I think you may be mistaken.
Last I checked, about 70%+ of all websites are written with PHP and 40% of all websites are Wordpress. So I don’t think there’s a lack of work for either of those (even though they overlap since Wordpress is written in PHP).
I didn’t have experien
u/michaelnovatireplied·
The stat you want is in 2025 what percentage of new websites are written in PHP and what is the trend. 80% of WordPress sites are not maintained.
Be smart about this because your career just started and you have a long way to go and every year is a new learning opportunity.
If you don't keep adapting you'll find yourself without a job soon enough unless you are a top 5% PHP programmer.
u/lurker_anon_ wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I semi disagree with you here. My only question to those who dont make it is, how many resumes did you send out. I sent out literally 12,000 (100 a week day for a year).
u/michaelnovatireplied·
It's not just about getting the job, but keeping it, and doing well on it and progressing in a 20 to 40 year career.
Some people shouldn't be changing careers - but they did anyways in 2020-2021 and made six figures and then 3 years later are taking career breaks/doing masters/changing fields again.
This field is exceptionally friendly to people without credentials but it's exceptionally ruthless as well because someone like you who has 1000x grit is sitting there waiting for their shot and if you don't have many many years of grit in you AFTER you get the job, it might not work out.
u/EmeraldxWeapon wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I wonder why people have that crazy impression?
Oh yeah it's because that's exactly what the bootcamps promise
u/michaelnovatireplied·
This \^\^ I saw this post in my LinkedIn feed today. Conveniently leaving out this person took like 3-4 years AFTER THE BOOTCAMP to get this job.
https://preview.redd.it/3v53f6rgnhbf1.png?width=1112&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd5458e091ccecd6d63b3a5d1e5a884a37f1f868
u/New-Firefighter-7020 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
All do respect, but it seems to me like you hawk on coding bootcamp threads and spread negativity because you, yourself own, a company that specializes in interview and technical prep to assist in finding a job.
https://preview.redd.it/pdk6dd4cnjbf1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&a
u/michaelnovatireplied·★ FEATURED
1. I'm a mod of this sub (and I was made a mod by people I don't know)
2. My company requires several years of work experience as a SWE, we don't accept new bootcamp grads or CS grads struggling to get jobs.
3. I make it clear when I'm commenting on behalf of the company (which is rare) and I make it clear when I'm commenting personally if there is some kind of confusion or questioning.
I take your feedback that it can be more clear because it's important to know who you are talking to.
I'm completely not-anonymous to help people judge who I am - this sub has a track record of people using anonymous new accounts to promote bootcamps with attempts to produce "organic content" that is super sketchy. Better to be able to judge than rely on new accounts you have no idea who they are.
My entire life mission is about supporting people bettering themselves. I'm trying to HELP people. A few years ago I was telling people to go to Rithm School, Launch School, Codesmith, left right and center.
Rithm shut down, Launch School I still recommend, Codesmith has imploded with minimal staff remaining (down about 90% from peak) and a core+instruction company turnover in the past year, other than 1 leader and 1 advisor.
People need to legitimately be careful - people trying to better their lives are some of the most susceptible to scams, MLMs, and bootcamps manipulating their advertising.
u/No_Entrepreneur4778 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Wtf lol, yea. The market has fundamentally shifted and I just don’t see how breaking into a tech role is even feasible nowadays in the U.S..
u/michaelnovatireplied·DELETED · archived copy
\#CancelCodesmith - I have to call out bull shit like that ad more loudly, in my opinion, it's a lot of bull shit that's scamming people and reeks of desperate flailing to survive in my opinion. Sadly the more I call this out, the louder and crazier their claims seem to get in my opinion. So I will keep making my opinions heard loud and clear.
u/red19plus wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
🔥 This is a motivational/inspirational post but some ppl still didn't get it (even the Mod lol) and clapped back 😆
u/michaelnovatireplied·· edited
When you know how the sausage is made and you have a high moral compass you cant let people fuck over their lives right now. I can't sleep at night without tempering motivation posts.
I again state that nothing I saw invalidates individual stories, it's commentary on the market for most people.
u/New-Firefighter-7020 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
This is exactly why people accuse the programming communities of “gatekeeping”.
Listen, we’ve already squared away on intentions, but to question my morals on trying to empathize and recognize that there are thousands of people who have gone to Bootcamps and are discouraged by
u/michaelnovatireplied·· edited
Read about this: [https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/dunning-kruger-effect](https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/dunning-kruger-effect)
It's a free country, people can believe whatever they want.
I worked at Meta for 8+ years, 200 eng to 10,000 eng, was the #1 code committer, hired hundreds of people, did 400+ interviews, trained interviewers, flew around the country.
I have friends and acquaintances working at or leading every top tech company.
I would love nothing more than if more people became engineers!
You can try to do it blindly trusting anonymous people on Reddit, Blind and Discord, or you can listen to, absorb, and internalize, and people who know the industry inside and out.
u/New-Firefighter-7020 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Can I ask a serious question?
Are you trying to be an a-hole, or do you seriously lack emotional intelligence?
Thank you for the “indiscreet” way of trying to say I don’t know what I’m talking about by posting that article.
Can I ask another question?
Have you attended a boo
u/michaelnovatireplied·· edited
1. Yes I'm not strong in emotional intelligence. I'm one of the most productive engineers in the entire world and that has come with some major drawbacks. I don't have a lot of friends, but when I say I know what I'm talking about, I mean it, I know what I'm talking about, and people listen.
2. I have not attended a bootcamp. I have worked with hundreds of bootcamp grads from dozens of bootcamps. I've talked to numerous founders of bootcamps. My partner has mentored at bootcamps. I've interviewed bootcamp grads for jobs. I've studied a couple of bootcamps in absurd depth and know those ones inside and out.
3. My advice if you want to become a modern canonical software engineer? Well if you worked ar Applebees and you want to be a Medical Doctor and you asked your primary care physician how you can become a doctor, what do you expect? I'm sure some people do the pivot but not many. If you want to be a real software engineer right now, you are committing to something lifelong. If you want to do it for get rich quick there is a high chance you will be coming back to me in 5 years without a job and in a panic and figuring out your next career switch because you didn't enter for the right reasons.
4. There are many engineers as capable as me yes, but they haven't succeeded on paper as much as I have. MY LIFE'S MISSION IS TO NURTURE THOSE PEOPLE TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN ME. Nurture amazing talent into more amazing talent.
I'm clearly not communicating this clearly. I'm not discouraging people from making better lives!
I'm discouraging people that are going into SWE for the wrong reasons from seeing an ad for a bootcamp that makes it sound like they will go from $0 to $150K in six months, and then the CEO tells you personally "trust me it works look at our data!" and it's all bullshit.
If you join for the right reasons I'm ALL FOR IT!
u/DepartmentOpposite66 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
It’s interesting when the mod hates the thing he is moderating
u/michaelnovatireplied·
I don't hate bootcamps! Why the fudge is everyone so polarizing. I'm a centrist and i'm in the middle, that doesn't meant I'm neutral - it means my evaluations are BALANCED. When people shit on bootcamps or generalize from a bad experience, I'm equally centering.
This is the job of a moderator, the word "MODERATE" - as in I'm a moderate person.