← All threads

Just bombed a technical interview and I think my bootcamp failed me

5 of Michael's comments in this thread · View thread on Reddit ↗

u/Accomplished-Tip7106 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):

Had my first real technical interview a week ago. It was for a junior frontend role. The interviewer shared a codesandbox and asked me to filter an array of user objects by age and return just the names. Not even a hard problem. I could literally SEE the answer in my head, like I

u/michaelnovati replied ·
I'm curious why you went to the bootcamp to begin with? Like what aspects made you join. I've been saying this for literally years on here but no matter what a bootcamp says about preparing you for interviews I just haven't seen one that actually does at the level needed. Some try really hard and they delusionally think they do, but they just don't. I work with people to prepare them for interviews and it takes months of dedicated practice just to prepare for the interviews alone. A couple of weeks and some mock interviews from recent graduates is laughably incomplete. Just a note that we don't work with people with less than 2 years of work experience post bootcamp now so I'm making a point and not selling anything.

u/savage-millennial wrote (the comment Michael replied to):

Sounds like a wake up call for you. You need to take responsibility for this issue. It's not the bootcamp's fault. >My whole bootcamp I was building projects with cc on and docs open in the next tab. This is where you have failed, which I think you now know. Building code with

u/michaelnovati replied ·
If instead of sending that message you did, the bootcamp is delusional and makes you feel like they did prepare you though then it's the bootcamps fault for not adequately preparing you for the market. If the statement is "we get the ball rolling for $22,500, but you actually have to spend another year working your ass off to actually be ready for interviews" I don't think anyone would sign up. And I think people are starting to get the message and even bootcamps like the "#1 bootcamp according to Forbes Advisor" have been delaying cohorts and having almost no signs of life anymore (e.g. GitHub projects showing almost no students there)

u/MaverickBG wrote (the comment Michael replied to):

I'm not understanding the link here. You knew it was filter and a map.... So... Why not just say that in the interview? Who cares about syntax? Were you not allowed to Google or talk to the interviewer? Some interview advice- view it more like you're coding with the other per

u/michaelnovati replied ·
Many bootcamp grads don't know how to interview and go off what their instructors say who haven't worked in the industry themselves and who are confidently telling them what the company tells them to say. I've seen some brainwashed-like graduates who would defend their bootcamp to the bitter end because they trusted them so much.... until they worked for a few years and realized how full of shit the advice was.

u/MoistState5233 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):

Back in the day good bootcamps had job fairs and valuable networks that came with them. The educational aspect was never fully there IMO. When I graduated years ago almost half of the people I graduated with did not feel “ready,” to me. On top of that the largest feedback, even b

u/michaelnovati replied ·
When those days ended many bootcamps seem to have pretended they didn't end and tha tultimately caught it with most of them.

u/savage-millennial wrote (the comment Michael replied to):

Yeah, you're still sugar-coating though and that's not beneficial to OP. Everyone is in charge of their own education. The bootcamp didn't "make" anyone feel like they're prepared. Sure, they maybe weren't brutally honest, but there's no excuse in 2026 to seek answers about what

u/michaelnovati replied ·
If that's the case then why do they show giant $110,000! 90% placement! on their homepages if you are supposed to know going in that you would have to "way more than the lessons" on your own. I absolutely agree on accountbility, but I'm more centrist. Both people should not expect a golden ticket AND bootcamps shouldn't promise one. Literally one of the top bootcamps was telling people end of 2025 to not listen to the negative noise and that you can be next... like wtf.