Is a Coding Bootcamp Worth It?

Alright, so for those who don’t know, I actually went through a coding bootcamp. Yeah, it was pretty full-on and crammed a whole lot of learning into a really short amount of time. I’m putting this out there because I wanted to share my thoughts on it, you know, leave a bit of a review for anyone thinking about going down that road. Ultimately, it’s your call what you end up doing, but here’s the lowdown – the good and the not-so-good.

On the plus side, it’s definitely a fast way to learn. You can pick up the skills to become a decent software developer pretty quickly, like in a few months. Plus, it’s super focused on actually doing stuff. You’re building real projects, which gives you hands-on experience and something to show off later. You also get to meet a bunch of other people trying to break into the industry, and that networking can be really helpful for finding a job. And compared to going to uni for years, it can be cheaper and supposedly sets you up for a good salary faster.

But, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a seriously intense workload. You’ve gotta be ready to put in a ton of hours to keep up with everything. Also, while you learn a lot of practical stuff, you might miss out on some of the deeper theory behind it all, which can make understanding the fundamentals a bit tougher. And honestly, a lot of people drop out because it’s so demanding. Apparently, it’s around 15% on average. The other big thing is that even though you get the skills, there’s no guarantee you’ll actually get a job afterwards. Which, speaking from experience, is totally true because I didn’t land anything after finishing. Honestly, it felt a bit like I got ripped off, paying all that money for a certificate that hasn’t even gotten me an interview in the IT field.

So, my final two cents? Maybe just stick to university and check out FreeCodeCamp.