Learning doesn’t end with the 12 week coding bootcamp. Indeed, a lot of learning happens in those short 3 months, and your brain is crammed with complex information needed to prepare you for a role as Junior Developer. This is not slight work; we commend you for it. But after the coding bootcamp ends, what next? How to get a job? What should your daily practice look like? Should you keep learning after coding bootcamp?
The answer is a resounding yes. Most people attend coding bootcamp to learn a new skill and enter a new workforce. So, the goal at the end of coding bootcamp is usually to get a job. Salaried or freelance—take your pick. And while you’ll be ready with the foundational knowledge needed to get your foot inside the proverbial door, getting a job isn’t slight work either. You have to work for it.
This is one reason it is necessary to keep learning after coding bootcamp. Employers primarily hire programmers who put in work after bootcamp ends. It is important to them to see a potential employee who is dedicated to ongoing learning. They want to know that you are invested in continued learning and growth in your tech career. As a result, a person who continues to work on personal projects, attends meetups, and takes outside workshops is more likely to get a job or be called back for an interview than a person who stops coding altogether after the bootcamp ends.
If you’re curious about ways to keep learning after coding bootcamp, we’ve listed 4 ways to keep up with the coding Joneses, and heighten your likelihood of getting a job:
Stay connected to classmates
The people you spend 12 weeks learning with, shedding blood, sweat, and tears over JavaScript, are the people you should keep in contact with. You went on the same journey and have similar points of reference. Likewise, you guys spent time in class working on in-class assignments and debugging each other’s code. Continuing collaboration is one way to keep learning after coding bootcamp. You can still work on personal projects with classmates and get together for pair programming. The class ends, but that doesn’t mean that your acquaintance needs to.
Attend meetups
One very effective way to keep learning after coding bootcamp is to see how other people do it. A fresh set of eyes might be more likely to spot errors than eyes too used to a code. For this reason, meetups are good for your post-bootcamp life. Attending meetups can introduce you to your #techsquad, as well as new ways of looking at web/app development and/or specific languages. It can also put you on to new ways of problem solving/thinking about problems and new collaborative partners. It’s always a good idea to meet new tech people after coding bootcamp, because in tech, the more is really the merrier.
Books and online resources
We’ve outlined ways to supplement your coding education in another blog post, because we’re nice like that. There are lots of free books and online resources available for those who want to keep learning after coding bootcamps. As we said earlier, employers favor applicants who remain dedicated to learning, especially those who stay on top of their game. Tech is a constantly changing field with new things to learn every day, month, year. Keeping abreast is crucial to your post-bootcamp success.
Teach
This sounds crazy, right? I just learned this stuff, how can I teach it to anyone else?, we hear you ask behind your computer screen. But studies have shown that the best way to solidify your knowledge of a thing is to teach it to someone else. We’re not telling you to become a professor of software engineering at UF. We are, however, saying that being able to clearly and concisely explain a concept to someone else does wonders for your own understanding, and is one way to keep learning after coding bootcamp. Consider volunteering your time at schools or local organizations to teach someone else to code. Also, every summer, Gainesville Dev Academy hosts a STEAM Academy for kids to learn to code. This might be a good opportunity to advance the knowledge of young kids and get them interested in coding from early, while also practicing your own teaching chops.
There are so many things you can do to keep learning after coding bootcamp to keep your skills and yourself relevant and up to date. There are many more options besides the ones we’ve listed, and we encourage you to seek them out and take advantage of them. There’s always more to learn, and Gainesville Dev Academy is the beginning!
Interested in learning more about how to make the best of what we have to offer? Come talk to us! Next cohort begins January 16. Email hello@gainesvilledevacademy.com.
Leave a Reply