Boot camp. It’s fast-paced. It’s intense. It’s effective. Software moves quickly. The skills you need to be an effective, marketable professional evolve significantly over time, putting a big premium on continuing your education.
Whether you are a seasoned professional who is looking to pick up a new skill, or someone who is just setting out, enrolling in a software engineering boot camp can be a great way to get you where you want to be. In this article, we take a look at everything you need to know about software engineering bootcamp.
Lear Specific Skills Quickly
The software boot camp’s biggest boon is that it allows professionals to pick up new skills quickly. This means that you can, theoretically, pick up skills that will help you land a specific job, or work on a particular project at work.
Naturally, this means that the work environment is very fast-paced. You’ll have to be a good grinder to earn your jobs at boot camp, but as any coder knows, that’s just part of the job. If you’re willing to stick it out, you can net yourself a skill set without going in for a four-year degree.
Cuts Right to the Chase
Bootcamps also have the advantage of cutting through all the noise that is so frequently saddled on to a traditional college education. Go in for a bachelor’s degree and you inevitably have to take pre-requisites, gen eds, and other filler courses that add to your eventual price tag and take up time in the bargain.
With coding boot camp, you get none of that. Get in. Learn what you need to. Get out.
Practical Skills
Bootcamp is all about teaching skills that you can use on the job. While college classwork often emphasizes a significant amount of theory and history in addition to job applicable skills, here the focus is narrowed directly towards things that will actually help you work in your chosen career path.
Things to be Aware Of
There are some things you should know about software boot camp. While it’s mostly good stuff, it can help to know about the drawbacks going in.
Less Financing Opportunities
It’s easy to finance a traditional college education (not so easy to pay for it, but that’s another story). With all of the government and private loans available, you will be able to pay for a sizeable chunk of the colleges out there, regardless of your financial background. Such is not the case with software boot camps. Funding opportunities are limited which means you will probably be paying for most of it out of pocket.
No Accreditation
Software bootcamp also doesn’t come with the same prestige as college. In some cases, just having a degree from certain universities can get you noticed by hiring managers. With software bootcamp, there is no brand name value. Instead, you’re left with skills that you can use to market yourself. Instead of saying “I went here,” you say “I can do this.” While this can be an effective way to brand yourself, it may change the way you approach the job-hunting process.
Not as In-Depth
Naturally, boot camp also isn’t going to be as in-depth as a four-year degree. Rather than having many months to study something, you’re usually left with weeks. This can be enough time to gain a good feel for certain skills, but you also stop well shy of mastery. For most people, boot camp is a mere stepping stone on their way to more substantial skill development.
Talk to Your Employer
If you are already working in software, consider talking to your employer about enrolling in boot camp. While financing options are limited, many employers are happy to help foot some of the bills if it means equipping you with skills that will be bankable in the workplace.
