This is part 2 of a 3 part series on how I transitioned from high school teacher to software engineer. If you want to know more about why I quit teaching, check out part 1.
So, I made the decision to change careers, next I had to decide how I wanted to accomplish this. Luckily, this is a pretty common path so there were a lot of options and resources to figure out what the best option for me was.
The three most common paths for learning the skills needed to land a software job are through a Bootcamp, through a university, and through self-guided online resources. I know and work with people who have taken all three paths. The one that was best for me, might not be the best for you. Ultimately I went with a Bootcamp but I considered all three options.
The first option I ruled out was going back to school. I already have a bachelor's degree and master's degree and I wasn't convinced that getting another master's degree would give me any advantages over the other options. If I didn't already have two degrees then I might have considered this option more, but the real advantages of getting a bachelor's or master's in computer science are in the networking, campus experience, and career fairs. The price tag for another degree didn't feel worth it to me. I also didn't want to move and there aren't any top-name schools for computer science right where I live. If you are more flexible to moving and get into a really great program, it might be worth it for you.
The second option I ruled out was learning on my own. I know that there are a ton of online resources for learning to code, many of which are free! But in the beginning, I didn't know enough to sift through all of the options and I found the sheer volume of information overwhelming. I knew it was possible to do this, and the major advantage of this option is the price tag, but in my research into learning out to code, I realized that I wanted someone else to put together a curriculum that would efficiently teach me the most important, foundational skills that would help me land a job. So that finally led me to coding Bootcamps.
So, at first, I was very skeptical of coding Bootcamps. When I first started reading testimonials and looking at programs, I wasn't convinced that this path would lead to a job. I read a lot of articles and blog posts about how difficult it is to land a job after a Bootcamp. It was pretty difficult for me to find people on LinkedIn who attended a local Bootcamp and are now working as a software engineer or developer. The thing that finally convinced me to go for it was personally knowing someone who had success from a Bootcamp. My brother attended App Academy in NYC and landed a six-figure job right after. I didn't have quite that level of success, and he is definitely an outlier; very few people have a story like that, but it is possible to have success as a career switcher with a Bootcamp, you just have to choose a good program, have realistic expectations, and work really hard. So now, three years later, I'm very happy that I attended my Bootcamp and I'm in a role I really like, making six figures (which is a number I was never going to hit as a teacher).
So, once I landed on Bootcamp, I had more choices to make. I decided to do a full-time, in-person program. Online courses just never did it for me, and I wanted the social experience of taking classes in the same room as the other students. I wanted to be able to ask the instructors questions and I wanted to learn outside of my house. So I looked up those types of programs in my city and started to narrow down my options. I attended info sessions for three different programs. They ranged from 12 weeks to 14 weeks and cost between $11,995 - $14,9501. The three programs I considered were General Assembly, Coding Dojo, and GW. Flatiron came to DC right as I was looking at programs, but I didn't want to be in the very first cohort so I left them out of consideration. In the end, I chose General Assembly (GA) even though it was the most expensive program. The major selling point was that I could actually find people on LinkedIn who listed the program and were working as software engineers and developers at companies that I've heard of. An engineer that worked at my husband's company went through that program and had great things to say about it. It also had the best network or alumni in DC and the career services seemed a little better than the other programs at the time. I was accepted into all three programs but I put my deposit down with GA and never looked back. Since I've graduated, GA has added the Catalyst program which allows you to pay for the program after you land a job, which makes it even more accessible!
Not all Bootcamps are created equally and I can only speak to my experience. The 3-month period of my program went by really fast. It was definitely demanding. Classes were from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm but I was on campus from 8:30 am to at least 6:00pm and often worked on homework for a few more hours at home. 12 weeks is not a lot of time to learn all the things. I really liked how they set up the curriculum at GA but all it has time for is to teach you the basics. I learned git, CSS, HTML, JS, Node, MongoBD, Express, Handlebars, React, python, and Django. These topics were broken out into four units and each one had a project at the end. This gave us an opportunity to work in small groups and get several days of heads-down coding to apply what we learned. I really enjoyed this mode of learning, but it wasn't for everyone. Some of my classmates struggled a lot during the program. No one quit, but about a third didn't ever land a software job last I heard. During the program, our little cohort WDI-23 was really close. The camaraderie that comes with going through an intense program in a short amount of time is something special. If you are deciding between an online program vs in-person (when it's safe to return to in-person learning, post-pandemic) I highly recommend in-person. I'm skeptical that you can create the same bond online (although I'd hope that programs learned a lot about how to do this better during covid), and having the friendship and support of people who are going through the same thing was invaluable.
At the end of the program I was definitely not an expert in any of the topics we were taught, but it was a good foundation and starting point to keep learning and keep building. Now that I had my foundation, I could more easily find relevant, useful resources on my own. If you want to work in software you should be prepared for life-long learning. Technologies change, and I've had to learn a new stack at both of my jobs.
I'll leave that to my next post.
1 This was during May 2018. Prices for Bootcamps have risen since.
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