Hi, if you've done any scripting, or even Verilog, I think you'll pick up programming fast. So I think going to a bootcamp depends on your goals. Codesmith is certainly one of the top programs for getting a job at the end, and wouldn't be a bad choice. But you likely don't need a bootcamp either, as your friends have said. If you can work on the CS fundamentals (e.g. CS50) and get really good at solving general data structures and algorithms programs, you can probably get a job on your own.
If you are gunning for a top tier/FAANG-level job, I would look more at career accelerations (e.g. Interview Kickstart, Outco, Formation.dev (see disclosure)) that focus on getting you interview ready. Codesmith/a bootcamp would be a good option for getting a solid first foor in the door job as a SWE.
Disclosure for any biases: I'm the co-founder of Formation.dev so I'm fairly biased to focus on the fundamentals and about hyper focusing on finding the right job path for you uniquely as the best approach for anyone looking for a SWE job.
u/throoowthrowthrow wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I get what you're saying but I guess I need more convincing that I can even get to interviews without any experience beyond making a to-do list even if I have DS&A down.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
So I'm obviously extremely biased here, but if you can pull out any kind of relevant experience and frame it authentically but getting the most bang for your buck for your audience, then you should be able to get some interviews. And if you can get some interviews and have solid DS&A, you should be able to get a job.
u/Thinkinaboutu wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I'm curious, from your experience, if you have a person who you're coaching, and they have unrelated work experience to CS(let's say they were a photographer or chef for two years) before attending a bootcamp like Codesmith, would you recommend them listing that experience on the
u/michaelnovatireplied·★ FEATURED
It depends on the experience and people have different points of view here even WITHIN FORMATION haha, it's very personal and depends on how your job hunt is going.
Like bootcamps have a fixed curriculum and templates for each step so they steer you towards one resume, one way of doing things. I would start with this approach/way of doing things as the first attempt.
Then if you aren't getting traction you can can start being more creative. For example, my brother got a job at Riot Games 10 years working on LoL - he was playing so much day in and day out and this was his dream job, so he wrote a cover letter describing him as a new "Champion" in the game with a cute character image and stuff and he got the job! A new grad engineer from Canada with with an analyst role at a Game thousands of miles away.
So if you have a passion and unique take on things, even if you are delivering Doordash to pay the bills! If you can reflect on your experience and how that might give you a superpower to solve problems at a relevant company better than people who don't have that experience, you should try to creatively leverage it for targeted companies.