Looking to transition to a new career, possibly to SWE. I have a physical science background with some student loan debt. Before I dive into more student loans, I wanted to check out some Software Engineering boot camps....

Any recommendations? What's your personal experience? Are they worth paying, or is college the way?

likeupliftinghelpful
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They may teach you enough to get you a role if you apply yourself hard enough. However, learning the essential fundamentals in a university program is irreplaceable. I would highly recommend getting through an official program over a boot camp but that may not be an option for you so do what best suits you.

likesmart

I agree definitely depends on your situation. If I can go back I would have just done a CS undergrad and called it a day.

like

Depending on your location will determine what we as a group would recommend. If you’re not near a non tech hub and prefer online/remote courses I would suggest Bloomtech which I did (Lambda School) when I attended.

If I have to do it again I would’ve taken an in person course such as Hack Reactor, Rithm, App Academy, etc. Feel free to DM me if you want more in depth questions.

I’m somewhat similar to you. I have a bachelors degree in life sciences so premed pretty much and pivoted to engineering with 4 YOE of cancer research experience. It’s completely doable just gotta commit and go all in on learning.

TLDR: Do a bootcamp, DONT do another university IF all you want to do is break into tech. It’s literally a waste of money and 4 yrs of your time when you can watch those courses online for free if you really want to take college courses.

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Thanks for the input! It sounds like I should try a bootcamp or an online course before a full blown university program. At least this way I can dive right in and see if it is truly interesting to me. That's awesome to hear someone else pivoted from a completely different career field! I have a Geology background, 2 YOE as entry level civil engineer, now as a GIS specialist. My current position is exposing me to the tech world and it is fairly interesting what goes on in the background.

I was a cop for 11 years and did a fullstack bootcamp with Nucamp and I worked on Home Depot’s website, now I make mobile apps.

like

Don't do bootcamps. I recommend taking a Full Stack SWE course on Udemy! You can learn everything for under $50. No joke. Check out Andrei Neagoie's Complete Software Developer in 2022 course, or maybe Colt Steele's course. At times I did pay for a private tutor, but it worked. Bootcamps are a waste of money imo.

like

Will definitely check Udemy out. I did not even think of this!

College teaches you the basics, but it's not easy by any means... Nor is memorizing the sheer amount of information you will need to get the job. Just make sure you are dedicated to it.

like

Thanks! Dedication is key and I will need to keep telling myself this.

I enjoyed my bootcamp and it's worked well for me, but then again I used the GI Bill and don't think I could have done it with a higher opportunity cost / tuition bill.

like

If you've worked a lot with GIS, definitely look into pivoting to GIS DB development. Learning Postgres + PostGIS will help you leverage your current expertise and experience to get started on software development, and if you later on want to keep delving into data science or software engineering, knowing SQL will be very helpful as well

like

It's always odd when I research salaries online and not much info in the niche of GIS. I make 70K (US) now, so still looking to increase salary from here.

I'm doing appAcademy right now

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They do. I was just saying you don't get that with Udemy etc

I pivoted from teaching into software engineering using HackReactor's remote program. No regrets! Two six figure job offers after graduation and a promotion within a year. I feel like it prepared me well. (I did already have some of the basics down prior to HackReactor though)

like

Wow that's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

If you already have 4 year science degree I would do two things: learn via free online resources and network like crazy. Personally I pivoted from a non-tech Project Management role to being a Software Engineer. I did 100Devs (100% free online boot camp/community) and had coffee chats with people in the industry. I started studying in January and am on my fourth week at AWS. For reference I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

Don't waste money on another 4 year degree. Don't waste money on a boot camp. The technical knowledge is available to learn for free. The people skills and networking is much more important for career growth.

As an aside, have you spoken to anyone at your current company to see if you could transition to software there? Once you have that first engineering role on your resume you'll be golden.

like

I did a boot camp and ended up as a team lead within two years at my first swe job. The boot camp is 100% worth it and much more affordable than a degree. You get enough experience to contribute to a team and the rest is up to you. Take on work that forces you to keep learning and no one would be able to guess you came up the boot camp route

like

Have you checked out the courses on Udemy? There are some really great ones on there.

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