How to Find a Job after a Bootcamp in 2024

First, it’s best to realize that finding a job begins during your bootcamp. You should also remember to embrace GenAI (eg. ChatGPT, Claude) and really focus on being more productive with the help of AI coding copilots.

Gather Experience During Your Bootcamp

Bootcamps love to emphasize how quickly you can intensively learn to code – as if four months of learning will magically transform you into a qualified and confident Software Developer or Web Designer. The truth is, programming is a never-ending cycle of learning and growing, with some skills only accessible through years of refinement and trial and error. 

Consider your course a foundation, giving you the tools to go out into the world and put your theory into practice. Try building a simple app, creating a website, or contributing to open-source code. Very few Bootcamp grads get hired immediately after their course, and for good reason. The months after your teaching stops is when you carry on your learning independently, testing out skills and understanding how they apply to real-world industry challenges. 

Get Freelance Experience ASAP

The single best way to sell yourself to an employer is to show them examples of previous work, and there is no reason why this work should have been paid. Build a website for a friend’s business, or even a made-up brief (such as an example website for a bakery). 

Use websites such as Taproot or VolunteerMatch to volunteer your services for non-profit organisations. This is a way to real world experience and devote your time to a good cause! Alternatively try using websites such as Upwork to gain freelance gigs, such as one-off projects or tasks.

Build a Solid Portfolio and Resume

Once you’ve got a few projects under your belt, make sure you use them to your advantage. Create an online portfolio of your work, making sure you have the source code well documented for each. Focus on your proudest work and make sure your portfolio really stands out. The best portfolios emphasise a particular skill, something that will make you stand out when applying for a job. However, being able to display diverse skillsets and prior projects is also important. 

If your prior work experience is unrelated to your new desired positions (such as if you used this Bootcamp to switch careers), there’s nothing wrong with giving your Bootcamp projects, either from during your course or after, prime position on your resume. Simply detail 2-3 projects, including your accomplishments, skills developed and outcome. 

Network through LinkedIn, X.com and in-person events

The world of programming is surprisingly social, and peer-support is very common. Whether it be looking over your code, swapping tips or connecting you to industry leaders, getting your face out there and meeting other key stakeholders is a vital part of the job search. If the idea of heading into an in-person event gives you shivers, you can always sign up for online social meetups, conferences, or LinkedIn groups (or check out our “networking tips for introverts” article here!). 

Prepare for Interviews with Practice Challenges/Questions

There are endless resources online offering practice challenges, similar to (or sometimes identical to) ones offered in the hiring process for major tech firms. It is important that you try these out, so you can get to know the kind of thing they might throw at you and prepare as well as you can. Websites like Codebyte and GeeksforGeeks offer plenty of practice tests to get you started. 

Alongside this, you may also want to read over sample interview questions, to familiarise yourself with the type of thing they may ask you. Programmers often find it very hard to talk about their coding and translating technical concepts into conversational English can take more practice than you think. Check out Glassdoor for up-to-date lists of interview questions commonly asked by individual companies.

Differentiate Yourself

After grinding so hard for several months on end at a Bootcamp, it can be tough to hear that you are just one of thousands of graduates every year who have gained identical experience and skills from the same course. Therefore, it is vital that you do that little bit extra, to make you stand out from the crowd. This might be reflected in the type of projects you take on, or the way you end up specialising, or it might be that you’ve really taken the time to complete your LinkedIn profile. 

Consider your application from your recruiters’ perspective and assess whether what you are offering is different from someone who took the exact same course as you. Just as we said before, it is not necessarily the course itself that makes you employable, but what you do with it afterwards that counts. Demonstrate how you’ve converted those skills into real projects, and how you’ve continued to grow and learn beyond the course. Stay active on Github, engage in forums and coding groups, and lean on your coursemates for guidance and support. 

If you follow all of these steps (and continue researching up-to-date guidance), you’re sure to land on your feet and secure the role you’ve been dreaming of. It may take six months or even several years to get there, but keep your sights on your goals and the reward will be all the more sweet. 

So you’ve just completed a coding bootcamp course and are thinking, now what? Or perhaps you’re midway through, thinking ahead about what comes next. You’ve been promised six-figure salaries and Silicon Valley, the chance to land a job that will see you set financially for life. These aren’t empty promises, but like everything, these opportunities won’t just fall into your lap. With a little strategy, and a lot of work, here’s how to get your dream job after a bootcamp.

If you still can’t find a job after a coding bootcamp…

The first step in how to start a career in IT is to figure out what jobs are available to you. There are countless bootcamp courses out there, and not all of them involve learning to code. From Cybersecurity, to Web Development, to Graphic Design, you’ll have taken an intensive course in a specific niche – fast-tracking you to employment by giving you the hard skills necessary for specific industry roles. If you can’t find a job after a coding bootcamp, it may be simply that you’re applying for the wrong roles, or ones you are not qualified for.

Does taking a Bootcamp with a job guarantee really work? 

Because of the above-mentioned, it’s vital that you figure out exactly what jobs you should be applying for – and this includes your pay grade. Bootcamp courses love to wow prospective students with flashy average starting salaries, but this figure is skewed by data from students who already had significant experience in the industry, and were taking the course as a refresher, or to build on existing skills. If you’re straight out of school, or relatively inexperienced professionally, you should still be applying for entry-level programming roles. 

Remember – in this industry, progression is FAST, and your $30k entry level salary could quickly double, following the completion of your probation period. Get your foot in the door with an internship, but work fast, prove your worth and show them why they need a bootcamp grad like you. 

Some bootcamp courses offer a job guarantee and this tends to be legitimate. Whether it be a UX bootcamp job guarantee, or a cyber security bootcamp job guarantee, if the course ranks highly on review aggregator sites, or comes highly recommended, the offer of employment (or your money back) guarantee really is true! However, what they don’t tell you – is that you still usually have to take charge of the applications process, sometimes being pushed to apply to upwards of five applications a day by a careers coach to ensure you’re putting yourself out there enough. So instead of a simple “job guarantee”, it’s better to see it as a thorough careers counselling service. 

Find companies that hire bootcamp grads

Unfortunately, since the concept of a bootcamp is so new, not all companies hire bootcamp grads – but this is changing, fast. Following the lead of some of the biggest tech companies, innovative firms are realising the potential of bootcamp talent and filling their workforce with bootcamp grads. 

From Amazon to Google, you’ll find enthusiastic proponents of bootcamps on the hiring teams, so long as you can prove your skills. Many bootcamp graduates prefer to seek out start-ups however, as an excellent way to thoroughly test out your new skills, continue learning, and soak in the excitement of building something at the very earliest stages of growth. If you’re unsure whether you’re suited for a startup or big corporation, check out our Startup Mindset Tool. 

Build a Strong Application

The thing that makes people nervous about hiring bootcamp grads, is the speed at which they’ve come to develop their skills. Everyone in programming knows that skills take practice, and the only real way to learn is through applied trial and error. For this reason, proving your experience is going to be vital. This means building a razor sharp portfolio of impressive projects, regardless of whether they were paid or unpaid positions.

Let’s say you’re seeking a role as a Web Developer. You’re going to have to have at least two (or one highly impressive) self-built website in your portfolio, to showcase your talent. Don’t forget that your portfolio website itself should be an example of your skills! Within your website, be sure to include sections for your resume, your projects, your services, contact and sometimes even a blog. Pay very close attention to useability (UX) and design (UI). 

Discover what career fits your personality

In the race to get hired, it can be easy to forget to pay attention to which roles and careers are a perfect match for you. Beyond seeking a fit for your skills, which companies reflect your values, your work style or personality?

To figure this out, your best bet is to take an online personality test, such as the short and free Personality Test from Gyfted. This test will give you unique insight into your personality and how this can be leveraged to match up with your dream career. Based on psychometrics designed by 12+ scientists and psychometricians, these tools are designed with culture fit in mind, to assist candidates and employers find their perfect fit. 

Sign up for Gyfted

FInally, the easiest thing you can do is sign up for job boards and programmes that specifically target bootcamp grads, to let your future employers come to you. Here at Gyfted, we know just how valuable bootcamp grads can be, so we’re busy building a service specifically to help them land their dream careers. Find out more about our job placement for bootcamp grads service and join our waitlist. From there, you will be able to take our personality tests, discover yourself and be matched with great companies and roles, based on culture fit.