Networking and Success at Coding Bootcamps

Thousands of people attend coding bootcamps each year with the hope and goal of changing their career and even the trajectory of their future! It’s a lofty and ambitious goal and it’s important to utilize every advantage possible when trying to land that first post bootcamp position.

According to Course Report, almost 22,000 students graduated from coding bootcamps in 2017 and there is no shortage of advice for those about to embark on their journey.

As the Admissions Director for DigitalCrafts Coding Bootcamp in Houston, I’ve noticed that there is one major piece of advice that often goes ignored and that is the importance of networking while you’re a student.

Some people are shy, some are busy, some want to wait until they are finished with bootcamp and some just don’t want to do it. Whatever the reason, it’s such a mistake to skip this essential step! When it comes to applying for jobs post bootcamp, there are lots of ways to go about it. I see most students going to job hunting websites like Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn and others. If there are tens of thousands of graduates a year and they all jump on these sites to find their first post bootcamp job, it’s very easy to get lost in the shuffle and to not stand out.

Networking offers the ability to possibly skip over the HR department and set yourself apart from the mass of resumes coming in for available Junior Level Development positions. The old saying, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know is partially true here. You most certainly need to be able to show what you know, but who you know matters too. By attending Hackathons, Meetups, and networking events while in school, you are putting yourself out there and adding people who may be able to help you or recommend you for jobs to your network.

DigitalCrafts is a sixteen week program and I know that carving out that time to dedicate to changing your career is difficult to do, so why not take advantage of it and go out there and meet as many people in the industry in your town as possible! You can even start networking before you start bootcamp!

As our Lead Instructor Mohammad Azam likes to say, “Gone are the 1980’s when you could sit in your mom’s basement and code for 18 hours a day. Now, you need to socialize and market yourself as a developer.”

So get out there and meet people because you never know who may introduce you to your new job!