Thank you MeFi for career change advice, & coding bootcamp success story March 4, 2021 8:45 AM   Subscribe

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who commented on this Ask post, and tell my brief success story.

I did end up going to the frontend dev bootcamp I mentioned in the question (Juno College in Toronto, by Zoom, 4 weeks of "intro courses" + 9 weeks of bootcamp), but was very encouraged by everyone's stories of successful career transition, and basically wanted to add my own: I graduated just before Christmas, got a job offer a couple weeks later, and was working by the end of January. And I only applied to like 7 jobs.

Thought I'd mention this in case anyone else is thinking of making a switch and wondering if it'll work. It worked for me, & I'd be happy to talk to anyone who might have questions about the process, here or by MeMail.

In fact I wrote a 4000-word Substack piece about it but that feels weirdly self-promo-y to link to, but I can share if anyone's interested.

Anyway thanks again.
posted by skwt to MetaFilter-Related at 8:45 AM (19 comments total) 33 users marked this as a favorite

Congrats!!
posted by one4themoment at 9:03 AM on March 4, 2021 [2 favorites]


Congrats!
I didn't do a bootcamp, but most of my pivot from Architect (bricks and mortar kind) to webdev was based on a bunch of questions and posts on the Blue and Green.
posted by signal at 9:09 AM on March 4, 2021 [3 favorites]


Do post the substack link. And, congratulations!
posted by theora55 at 9:36 AM on March 4, 2021 [3 favorites]


I am very happy to hear that this worked out so well for you. Congratulations!
posted by Orlop at 10:00 AM on March 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


congratulations!
posted by supermedusa at 10:21 AM on March 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


Congrats to you! This is a huge deal! I hope some folks reach out.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:34 AM on March 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


Thanks so much everyone! Since you twisted my arm, here's the substack: https://lettershome.substack.com/p/l10-bootcamp. Feel free to subscribe to this updates-every-few-months-if-there's-anything-to-say memoir-y newsletter if you like
posted by skwt at 11:52 AM on March 4, 2021 [5 favorites]


Also, projects is a perfectly reasonable place to put a personal substack piece, I vote put it there.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:52 AM on March 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


Oh whoops literally just posted, should I delete?
posted by skwt at 11:52 AM on March 4, 2021


No, but you could put it there as well if you wanted. It’s still a project, after all.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:54 AM on March 4, 2021 [2 favorites]


This is really encouraging. Thank you for sharing! And nicely done!
posted by areaperson at 11:56 AM on March 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


What an awesome update! I’m cheered by the happy news!
posted by mochapickle at 1:53 PM on March 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


That's wonderful, congratulations! I remember reading your Ask; so glad to hear it worked out.
posted by jacobian at 1:59 PM on March 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


Congrats! And yeah feel free to post the story to Projects if you want.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:04 PM on March 4, 2021 [2 favorites]


Congratulations! Its always great to hear that posting an answer has contributed to helping someone.
posted by crocomancer at 2:31 AM on March 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


Congratulations! I'm in the process of changing careers into coding, too, though I have taken a rather different route.

2.5 questions, if I may:

1. The fact that you found a job after 7 applications is rather astonishing. To what do you credit that good fortune?
2. In the "polishing up my portfolio" phase, did that include technical interview prep a la LeetCode questions or the like? Supplementary --- what did your portfolio consist of when you got the job search phase?
posted by lazaruslong at 9:05 AM on March 5, 2021 [1 favorite]


Hi LL -- thank you!

1. To be honest I don't really know. I put a fair amount of attention and care into each application; the job I ended up getting I followed their social media accounts and told them (truthfully) that I liked their vibe etc, talked about one of their projects in my cover letter, etc. Basic deep dive approach.

2. I didn't do any of those LeetCode things, but I was in the middle of a Wes Bos 30 day JS course when I got hired. I did do a practice interview with someone at my bootcamp.

2b. My portfolio is here: http://stevecodes.co/

I don't really know why I got hired so quickly. The CEO seemed to think the code I wrote for their tech test was really good. It was a 1-week take home thing and I did bust my ass on it. I'm also a good communicator, in text and live, perhaps significantly more so than an average dev. When I didn't know something in an interview, I said I didn't know, and (somewhat surprisingly to me), they seemed quite impressed by that. The company is also outside major tech hubs (based outside a small city in Quebec), and the pay is on the modest end, so the competition was probably less fierce than other openings. At the end of the day I don't really know why I got the job but probably a combo of some of these things.
posted by skwt at 6:50 PM on March 6, 2021 [5 favorites]


Thanks for taking the time to share EVEN MORE INFO skwt! I really liked your post as well, your writing is lovely to read. Best of luck!
posted by lazaruslong at 8:56 AM on March 8, 2021 [1 favorite]


Thank you, you too!
posted by skwt at 9:18 AM on March 8, 2021 [1 favorite]


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