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Coding Bootcamps + COVID-19: Updates, Scholarships and Tips for Learning Online in 2024

Liz Eggleston

Written By Liz Eggleston

Last updated on December 26, 2023

Course Report strives to create the most trust-worthy content about coding bootcamps. Read more about Course Report’s Editorial Policy and How We Make Money.

Schools and universities may be scrambling to figure out remote learning, but coding bootcamps have essentially been preparing for this since 2013. Online coding bootcamps already use Zoom video, Slack, GitHub, and VS Code Live Share for pair programming, online lectures, and to connect mentors and instructors with students. Of course, you can learn to code online – but it doesn’t stop there! Maybe you’ve needed to learn SQL for a while, or sharpen your data science skills, or wrap your head around UX Design. All of these digital skills are being taught online (not to mention, these are jobs that can be done remotely). Online bootcamps have been perfecting the online learning experience for years – and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many in-person bootcamps are launching remote options. If you’re dreaming of a career change while stuck indoors, working from home, or quarantined, then start here – we've rounded up all of the scholarships for anyone impacted by COVID-19, updates from bootcamps regarding classroom closures (and reopenings), and our best tips for job searching online:

Bootcamp Scholarships for Anyone Impacted by COVID-19:

At Course Report, we have been keeping tabs on how coding bootcamps are responding to and meeting the needs of their current and upcoming cohorts. We’ve seen in-person coding bootcamps transition to delivering live remote instruction, and also a lot of new hardship scholarships and initiatives to support students breaking into tech now. 

  • allWomen now has a Post COVID-19 Tech Scholarship for Women aimed at helping women with low income or other financial barriers break into Data and AI solutions. 

  • Claim Academy has pledged $100,000 in scholarships to those who have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Codecademy launched a scholarship to give Codecademy Pro subscriptions to 100,000 people whose jobs have been impacted by COVID-19.

  • Coding Dojo had to make the difficult decision to do layoffs, but also launched a volunteer-led program called Developers for America to help support businesses needing web development services during the COVID-19 crisis.

  • DeltaV is offering 10 full-ride tuition scholarships to low-income Iowans.

  • Flatiron School's Access Scholarship grants students is a partial scholarship of $1,000. Recipients who are in need of financial assistance (as outlined in the “Other Eligibility” section) may be eligible for an additional $500. Recipients that show excellence in all aspects of the admissions process may be eligible for the maximum scholarship of $2,000.Scholarships are limited and are available to 35–50 students per month across all campuses and online.
  • Ironhack has partnered with Landing.Jobs to create a £300,000 scholarship fund. The scholarship is for those who have been affected by COVID-19, and will cover partial or full tuition to Ironhack bootcamps in Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona as well as their remote bootcamps.

  • Launch School announced a $25,000 fund in initiatives that cover 3 areas: 1) hardship scholarships, 2) tuition-reimbursement work opportunities, and 3) no-interest loans.

  • Lighthouse Labs announced their COVID-19 Scholarship Fund of $500,000 for people whose jobs, or studies have been impacted by the recent COVID-19 crisis. These scholarships will help provide many people across the country with skills that can launch new careers, and get them back to work during these unsettling times. These scholarships are open for both full time and part time courses, with $5,000 being offered for full time, and $750 being offered for part time. 

  • NGT Academy is offering $5 Million in scholarships to those impacted by COVID-19 to enroll for free in their CompTIA Network+ certification training course with weekly live coaching and mentorship.

  • Promineo Tech is giving away 3 full-ride scholarships to their online software developer program.

  • Rithm School is offering up to four scholarships of up to $12,000 for its September 2020 course to students who wish to pay upfront rather than opt for an income share agreement. These four scholarships will be first come, first serve, and based on need and merit. 

  • The Bridge has created a scholarship for students who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The Bridge is also offering a new program, Ticket into Tech, that offers an Income Share Agreement and discounted tuition to workers in Spain who have been affected by the pandemic. 

  • The Software Guild and sister company mthree are accepting applications for the Aspire 1000, a scholarship program that gives free training to one thousand underrepresented new techies. Aspire 1000 graduates are prepared for tech jobs, such as Junior Software Developer, Production Support Analyst, Data Science Analyst, and Salesforce Administrator.

  • Springboard is offering $4,000 scholarships for the Data Science, UI/UX Design, and Software Engineering Career Tracks, and $3,000 scholarships for the Data Analytics and UX Career Tracks. Plus, they are now allowing free access to their Data Science and Software Engineering Prep courses!
  • Trilogy schools (owned by 2U) announced a $3 Million Scholarship Fund to expand access to tech training boot camps for historically underrepresented candidates experiencing job loss or financial hardship. Scholarships of $2,500 each will be available to Black, Latino, Indigenous, and women learners demonstrating both need and merit. These scholarships can be applied to over 100 online tech boot camps, spanning fields, including coding, data analytics, cybersecurity, fintech, digital marketing, and UX/UI. Participating programs include boot camps offered by Columbia Engineering, The George Washington University, Penn LPS, and many more.
  • V School has alloted $1M in scholarship funds to those who have been affected by the recent health crisis with its Community Relief Scholarship Fund. This scholarship helps 170 people re-skill for a career in tech by providing $6,000 towards tuition for V School's web development and UX/UI design online programs. V School is also offering a $6,000 COVID-19 Scholarship to U.S. veterans, which is GI Bill-approved and allows veterans to take the web development course remotely. 

  • We Can Code IT is offering a $2,000 COVID-19 and Low-Income Grant to those who have been affected by COVID-19. 

Bootcamps That Have Re-Opened In-Person Classrooms:

BoiseCodeWorks

As of Thursday, September 10, 2020, BoiseCodeWorks Class Sessions have resumed in-person. Here are their COVID-19 Precautions.

Devmountain

Devmountain is again offering in-person learning for upcoming cohorts.

DigitalCrafts

As of July 6th, DigitalCrafts launched phase one of their "return plan," which includes an optionally hybrid experience, coupling the flexibility of online instruction with on-site community and Teaching Assistants in the room.

Flatiron School

As of July 19th, Flatiron School has started offering in-person community programs, such as workshops. Flatiron will start offering supplemental instructional support in Fall 2021.

General Assembly

General Assembly will reopen in-person classrooms in late-August 2021. 

LearningFuze

LearningFuze is now accepting applications for its In-Person Full Immersion class.

NYC Data Science Academy

NYC Data Science Academy will offer in-person learning starting July 2021. 

Tech Elevator

Tech Elevator will offer in-person learning starting September 2021. 

The Tech Academy

The Tech Academy will again offer in-person learning at their Portland, OR campus beginning August 2021.

Updates from Coding Bootcamps Regarding Coronavirus:

365DataScience

All courses are completely free until April 15th.

Brainstation

BrainStation moved all learners to online on March 12th, and officially closed its physical campuses on March 17th, with students transitioning to online formats. All students that were enrolled in our programs and courses are now completing their studies online through Online Live. BrainStation has over 70 Online Live courses kicking off this spring. Brainstation’s monthly industry events, including panel discussions, workshops, and info sessions have also moved online. BrainStation’s courses, programs, and events will continue online as per the suggestions of local governments and public health agencies. Brainstation will continue to follow updates and developments closely to determine an appropriate resume date for in-person digital skills training. Please send questions to contact@brainstation.io and it will be forwarded to the appropriate BrainStation department.

Burlington Code Academy

From Burlington Code Academy’s blog: “As a result of recent events, and out of an abundance of caution, we have transitioned our bootcamp and part-time programs from in-person to online.”

Carolina Code School

From Carolina Code School’s blog: “We are one month away from our next cohort starting on April 27. Despite everything going on with COVID-19, we look forward to hitting the ground running with a virtual classroom until in-person instruction is safe to resume. This upcoming course is our standard 12-week program diving into front and back end software development. Carolina Code School is proud to offer a $2,000 scholarship to anyone who has been affected by the coronavirus. Enroll in the spring course now.”

Codaisseur

From Codaisseur's blog: “All teaching is remote and that means the following: at least one dedicated teacher per class per day; live lectures and live coding; online individual mentorship & debugging; daily stand-up with the whole class; remote group projects; at least one teaching assistant per class; and Online Career Accelerator Programme."

Code Chrysalis

From Code Chrysalis’s blog: “Last Saturday, we moved our part-time courses fully remote. Today, we announced to our staff and students that our upcoming full-time Immersive Bootcamp will start remote, with plans to bring it back on-site as soon as key indicators show that it is safe.”

Code Fellows

From Code Fellows: “We are now offering full-time remote instruction to help keep our community safe, and to help job-seekers gain valuable remote technology work skills. Join our classes virtually, and interact in real-time with our instructional team."

Codesmith

From Codesmith’s blog: Codesmith's summer 2020 cohorts will happen entirely online. 

Codeworks

For now, all Codeworks classes in Spain have been moved to remote. They are supporting all students who haven't worked or studied remotely before, and helping them stay in line with the local rules.

DEVrepublik

DEVrepublik is now holding its bootcamp courses online.

Fullstack Academy

From Fullstack Academy’s blog: The New York City campus has now gone fully Remote. Fullstack Academy has extended the tentative date to April 20 for returning to in-person classes and events.

Galvanize/Hack Reactor

From Galvanize’s blog: “As of Monday, March 16th, our in-person bootcamp classes will be temporarily shifted to being Live Online. We are doing this to enable greater social distancing by reducing the number of people and interactions on our campuses. Our full-time remote data science program provides the exact same Python-based curriculum, real-world case studies, and machine learning concepts as the in-person programs. The full-time remote Hack Reactor software engineering bootcamp offers the exact same modernized curriculum as the in-person program, which is optimized for academic rigor and efficiency.”

Grand Circus

From Grand Circus’s blog: “April and July cohorts are operating remotely (live and online) until it is safe to return to campus. When it is safe to return, we will extend remote programming for those who would like to continue to learn remotely. From one-on-one support to a full learning experience, our remote bootcamps provide the family vibes of our in-person model - all from the comfort of your living room.”

Hackbright Academy

Remote courses are still scheduled and running.  Hackbright Academy will be operating remotely for the rest of 2020.

Holberton School

From Holberton School’s blog: “The health and safety of our students and staff is our top priority. Therefore, we have decided to make adaptations to our programs to optimize remote learning and facilitate remote collaboration across our community.”

  • Holberton’s San Francisco Campus has been shut down effective Sunday March 15, 2020. Remote learning has been implemented. SF June 2020 cohort has been postponed to September 2020. Depending on the situation, we might need to postpone the September 2020 cohort as well. For current students - we do not anticipate that the postponing will have an impact on your ability to carry on with your learning. We will continue to function remotely for the time being. For applicants that have already been accepted - your accepted status has not changed. For now, you will be enrolled in our program starting from September 2020. Should September 2020 also be cancelled due to the ongoing circumstances, your accepted application will be moved to January 2021. For Level 0, 1, 2, and 3 applicants - keep working hard! We will be moving all San Francisco June 2020 applicants to our September 2020 cohort. Should September 2020 also be cancelled, your accepted application will be moved to January 2021 and you will be enrolled in our program starting from date.

  • Holberton’s New Haven Campus has been shut down effective Monday, March 16, 2020. Remote learning has been implemented. Currently, we do not have any plans to delay our June 2020 cohort.

  • Holberton’s Tulsa Campus has been shut down effective March 14th, 2020. Remote learning has been implemented. Currently, we do not have any plans to delay our June 2020 cohort.

Ironhack

From Ironhack’s blog: “To ensure the safety of our students and staff, we have migrated all ongoing and upcoming classes to a remote learning environment. Classes will be held at their regularly scheduled dates and times in a virtual classroom. We will resume on-campus courses as soon as possible.”

Launch Academy

From Launch Academy’s blog: “Beginning Monday, March 16, we’ll be operating all of our current classes virtually with the aim to resume onsite instruction on April 21… The Launch Academy team will continue to deliver all aspects of the daily Launch experience virtually. This includes all instructor-led facilitations and clinics, morning discussion groups, afternoon project-based work, and staff support and guidance.” Pair programming and career services have moved to a virtual space as well. 

Launch School

Launch School is putting in place $25,000 in initiatives, including hardship scholarships, tuition-reimbursement work opportunities, and no interest loans. For those needing financial assistance, apply here.

Lighthouse Labs

From Lighthouse Labs’s blog: “As of Monday, March 16th, 2020, all in-person programs and events have been suspended and are now available in an online format. We are responding with our COVID-19 Scholarship Fund of $500,000 for people whose jobs, or studies have been impacted by the recent COVID-19 crisis. These scholarships will help provide many people across the country with skills that can launch new careers, and get them back to work during these unsettling times.These scholarships are open for both full time and part time courses, with $5,000 being offered for full time, and $750 being offered for part-time. They will be offered for both of our bootcamps, and all four of our part-time courses.”

Makers Academy

From Makers Academy: “Our April and May cohorts will be fully remote and are now open for applications. Our team has trained hundreds of students online, from our technical coaches who deliver world-class remote workshops, to our careers coaches who prep you to shine in online interviews - we deliver the same level of peer-to-peer support virtually as any onsite bootcamp.”

Metis

From Metis’s blog: “Metis does not plan to delay start dates or cancel programs due to COVID-19. Metis has temporarily transitioned at least the first two weeks of the in-person Spring program, which starts March 30, to live online (remote, synchronous) instruction. While we hope to be back in the classroom after week two, we will make that decision based on guidance from local and national governmental authorities, as we want to ensure we are taking responsible action and doing what’s right by our students and staff to keep everyone safe and healthy. For students who are already enrolled in an upcoming cohort, we will communicate any details about specific classes via email and Slack.”

Momentum

From Momentum’s blog: Momentum has officially moved into a fully remote working plan for their campus. Their current course and career services have been taken virtual with methods that keep it live and face-to-face. 

Momentum courses are now available online, with live, remote classes offered so students anywhere can start learning now. Momentum recognizes that not everyone has the same productive working environment from their homes so this June, according to state reopening guidelines, Momentum has opened their campus for currently enrolled Immersive students who do not have access to a productive work environment at home. While students will have access to the campus, please note that Momentum's instructor team remains remote at this time. 

Noble Desktop 

From Noble Desktop’s blog: “All classes are running live online only until April 17, 2020 (subject to change based on guidance from local health authorities). You can sign up for live online classes on or before April 17th, or for in-person classes after April 17th. In any case, you can retake the class for free within a year. Our live online training is interactive and hands-on, just like our in-person classes. There are no extra fees and we'll work with you to ensure your setup is perfect. We have extended the free retake period to up to one year for any signups or class dates between March and April 2020. This allows you can attend live online now and come back in-person anytime within a year of the class date. We are allowing attendees to reschedule at no charge or keep class credit for up to two years. we are providing hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and washing stations, cleaning each room before and after each class, requiring all students and instructors to follow hygiene guidelines before entering a classroom, limiting in-person attendees per class to keep spacing between students, and not allowing any students or staff to enter the facilities who exhibit symptoms. We are now offering free seminars in design, coding, business, and more.”

Nucamp

From Nucamps’s blog: Nucamp is offering students the option to take their courses completely online or online with in-person lectures.

Prime Academy

From Prime Academy’s blog: “Prime is currently delivering instruction through remote immersion training. Minneapolis based cohorts will continue remote immersion through at least April 13th. Kansas City based cohorts will continue remote study through at least April 24th. We will continue to adjust timelines based on federal and local guidelines (taking the more cautious of the two approaches to ensure the health and safety of the Prime community). We continue to accept applications for future cohorts and will update applicants about changes as they are necessitated by government guidelines. Prime is now offering a $1500 scholarship for prospective students who lost employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By offering this scholarship, we hope to make it possible for students to make the most of this period of involuntary unemployment. By building an in-demand skillset and laying the foundation for a new career, students can be better prepared for the future.”

Product School

From Product School’s blog: “With many locations putting new rules in place around events and large gatherings, we moved our in-person local events online. You can access talks by Product veterans from Google, Adobe, Facebook, Amazon, TripAdvisor, LinkedIn, Tesla, Masterclass, and hundreds more. And the best part is, they’re all completely free. Check them out here. We also run exclusive Ask Me Anything sessions with top PMs in our Slack and Reddit communities, so you can chat with experts and get your burning questions answered. In response to the crisis, we’ve opened more online cohorts than ever before, to make sure you get the training you want from the safety of your own home. You’ll still get the same quality information from a dedicated instructor as before, but you won’t need to move from your couch! We’ve also moved our existing campus cohorts to our online campus, to ensure the safety of each and every one of our students.”

Project Shift

From a Project Shift Email: "As an organization, we're making every effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in accordance to the advice and guidance of our public health leaders. This means that as an "in-person" program, we've adopted some remote strategies but in a way that continues to encourage a small, tight-knit classroom and hands-on learning environment. Here's what this means for current students and staff:

  • Our current immersive program (they're on Week 10 of 13) is working via a remote classroom.
  • All our staff is able to work from home.
  • Our Prep Course, like our immersive program, is being offered remote.
  • If you're applying for any of our upcoming programs, we invite you to interview with us remotely via video chat."

Promineo Tech 

From Promineo Tech: “We are proud to announce that we will be giving away 3 full-ride scholarships to our online software developer programs. And beyond our own scholarships, we will be partnering with others to increase the number of scholarships available. For those who aren’t able to secure a scholarship, we’re suspending enrollment fees for new students. Students will pay $0 to enroll in our programs and will start paying back tuition only after finding employment in the technology industry. By doing this, we hope to give individuals access to the technology education they need to reskill for the future. The deadline to apply for this scholarship is May 14th, 2020.”

Rithm School

Rithm School will be conducting their cohorts remotely through the end of 2020.

Sabio

From Sabio’s blog: “In-person campuses are open for students that are feeling well, and that are able to come into campus. All of our locations have ample cleaning supplies like soap, warm water, and plenty of Clorox wipes to keep the facility clean… We are 100% confident we will begin new cohorts (April 11th and April 13th cohorts) in April online and at our three locations. VA students get paid a monthly housing allowance while they are students at Sabio. If a student trains with us in-person their monthly housing stipend is larger than those VA students that train with us via Remote Login. For this reason, our three residential locations are still open. We do not want to put our Military Veterans’ financial well being in jeopardy by closing our physical locations. We would only close our physical training locations if the U.S. Veteran Administration allows us to do so and we are given certainty that our Military Veteran Students will not be negatively impacted… Our online course is open and 100% free for anyone that is looking to pick-up awesome tech skills during this difficult time. Also, our Free Online PreWork class does come with 6 hours of weekly live support via Zoom Video Conference.”

Spiced Academy

From Spiced Academy’s blog: “Last week, we closed the Spiced campuses in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne to protect students and staff alike. Our team has worked hard to move all our cohorts online and we are proud to say that Spiced is up and running. Our current cohorts are all successfully continuing their studies...We have converted to teaching in virtual classrooms with students participating remotely. We are also proud to inform you that our remote teaching has already been certified and is therefore available for students using a Bildungsgutschein from the Agentur für Arbeit. We are, however, sympathetic to the disruptions caused. We will therefore offer a 20% pro-rata rebate on the course tuition for current and future students who are self-financing their education with Spiced. The rebate applies to every week that Spiced courses take place online. We will resume campus classes as soon as it is made possible. For future and current students attending our courses using a Bildungsgutschein: you can still go ahead! The Agentur für Arbeit have approved our application to move all classes online, for the duration of the distancing measures. Additionally, we will be postponing our cohorts which were due to start on March 30th until April 20th.”

Tech Talent South

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tech Talent South is currently offering their programs via live-online instruction. 

Thinkful

From Thinkful’s blog: “Thinkful is announcing over $1.5M in scholarships and a range of new programs to help those impacted get back on their feet and back to work. For those whose livelihood has been affected by COVID-19, we are offering the first 30 days of our Flexible courses for free. During that time you’ll have access to a mentor and the full range of our student support. If you choose to continue once the 30 days are up, you’ll be fully supported for the length of the program with the addition of personalized career coaches and success managers. You will also have the opportunity to defer 100% of your tuition costs until you land a job making over $40,000 a year.”

TrueCoders

From TrueCoders's blog: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe that it is in the best interest of our students and our staff to move from our in-person classes to live online. Live online means that we will continue teaching our classes by live streaming through Google Hangouts. Many of you reading may be concerned about the quality of a Live Online classroom experience. We want to reassure you that we've been hyper-focused on bringing our in-person experience to our virtual classrooms."

We’ll keep this guide updated with new coding bootcamp scholarships for Coronavirus, closures, and bootcamps that are moving online. Leave a comment below with any updates or questions!

4 Tips: Choose the Right Online Bootcamp

  1. Start with this list of every bootcamp with an online campus and our picks for the 39 best online bootcamps.

  2. Figure out your own goals.

Your Goal: To completely launch a new career in 3-6 months

How to get there: Choose a full-time, remote coding bootcamp with career services. Hack Reactor Remote, Thinkful’s Engineering Immersion, and General Assembly’s Software Engineering Immersive Remote. These bootcamps teach digital skills like UX design, data science, and software development and require a full-time commitment. Look for outcomes-oriented curricula that include one-on-one instructor/mentor guidance, interaction with classmates, and targeted career coaching. Ask to see the school’s graduation rate, placement rate, and median starting salary, preferably via a framework like CIRR.

Your Goal: You have a full-time job, but want to eventually work in a technical job. 

How to get there: Look for a part-time online bootcamp. This will take more time and self-discipline, but you can still land a job after a part-time bootcamp. Eg. SpringboardThinkful's Flex CoursesSoftware Guild OnlineCareerFoundry or Flatiron School Online.

Your Goal: To add a new skill to your toolbox, but not necessarily transition to a new career.

How to get there: Complete a self-guided online course. Udacity, Udemy, codecademy. If you can learn from recorded lectures and self-direction, then these low-cost options are perfect. If you need more support, look for a program with live instruction and interaction with mentors.

  1. Decide on your price range using this breakdown of online coding bootcamp costs. Worried about the job market after graduating? Look into online bootcamps with Deferred Tuition options like Springboard and Money Back Tuition Guarantees like Thinkful and Flatiron School.

  2. Attend Info Sessions Before Committing. For example, attend a JavaScript The Hard Parts workshop on Tuesday evenings before committing to Codesmith's Part-time Remote Software Engineering Immersive

Learning online is certainly different than learning in the classroom. When The Software Guild expanded into an online classroom (after offering in-person bootcamps for years), they took this lesson: “The most critical lesson we've learned from our online program is the importance of building a relationship and community with the students. It's easy to leave someone to their own devices to go through the material on their own, but having that personal touch of a mentor relationship, progress evaluations, feedback, and checkpoints to show they are moving in the right direction, is key to successfully finishing the program and finding a career as a software developer.” Luckily, online bootcamps have been perfecting the online classroom for years. 

3 Tips for Success while Learning from Home:

  1. Carve Out Time for The Online Course

    • Be aware of all your obligations, then set up your Google calendar before the course. Block off time to deal with family, day job, & other obligations and then defend your study time!

    • Know when to ask for help. As a general rule, after 30 minutes, it’s time to ask for some help.

    • Choose Your Environment! If you’re surrounded by other people, it may be distracting. Find a coffee shop, coworking space, or library. Get away from everything so you can focus without distractions. And if that's not possible (ahem: maybe you're quarantined), then take Georgie Gow's advice: “I used noise-canceling headphones. I found it handy that I have two computer monitors at work and a laptop. I would pull up the video on one monitor and study materials on another.”

  2. Make The Most of Your Support Network

    • You need a network of support to help you go through a coding bootcamp. Make sure your family and friends know you’ll be working really hard and that they’re rooting for you

    • Work closely with staff and your peers at the bootcamp. These people are your first level of technical support, moral support, and will help you build soft skills. Leverage these systems to help you get through the program

    • Share the projects you make and show people what you’re doing, like this Thinkful team which built a virtual drum circle. Share projects on Facebook or social media

  3. Always Be Coding. The only way to get better at writing code is to write more code. Contribute to open-source projects, work through practice problems and real interview questions on Coderbyte, Hackerrank or Project Euler.

5 Tips for Getting a Job in a Pandemic:

It’s no secret that the pandemic has caused an economic depression, especially in the US, and that can make finding a job more difficult. Luckily, coding skills are the in-demand skill set for these number one jobs during this outbreak! 

Here are five ways to find a job in a pandemic: 

1. Network!

“Start a conversation with people on LinkedIn by asking them if they know of any virtual meetups you can attend to get into the field.” -Christopher Angles, Ironhack Alum

  • LinkedIn - Utilize LinkedIn for its job board, but don’t forget to build your online network, too! Use LinkedIn to its fullest potential by joining (and contributing to!) groups, posting about what you’re working on while you’re on the job hunt (augmenting a final project from bootcamp, perhaps?), and sending intro messages to people who work at the companies you want to work for someday. 

  • Virtual Meetups - In the age of Zoom, you’ll find plenty of meetups still happening online. Sign up and try to leave each event with one contact! 

  • Informational Interviews - You never know what you’re going to get from an informational interview. It may be a connection to a job or some contract work, it could be a new friend, or you might notice a skill you should work on. Just because we’re in a global pandemic, doesn’t mean you can’t schedule informational interviews anymore. 

“When I reach out to someone for a quick informational phone call, I focus on the “make friends and learn something new” aspect of networking. Having the right mentality makes a world of difference!” -Jenn Ma, Rithm School Alum

2. Pad your Resume - You can accumulate more experience before taking your first Developer job by accepting freelance or contract positions during your job search. 

  • There are tons of freelance job boards out there. You can start finding freelance opportunities on Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr. 

  • Ask your bootcamp, they often hear from companies looking for contract help and you may be able to find opportunities directly from them.

  • You can also ask your fellow alumni. Students from previous cohorts who already have jobs may have small projects that they are looking to hire out to freelancers. 

  • Send out letters of introduction on LinkedIn to people at smaller companies you want to work for. They may not have a position open right now but that doesn’t mean they don’t have something they’re looking to outsource! 

3. Stick to a Schedule - Make a schedule for yourself that includes everything: applying for jobs, networking, practicing, git commits, eating, exercising, etc. This will help you use your time most efficiently and keep you in the habit of planning your day so that you won’t have to readjust when you get a job.

“I love to organize my day and have a routine, so I tried to mimic a nine-to-five workday and keep the momentum from the bootcamp going. From 9am to 12pm, I sent out resumes. After lunch, I coded and posted my code on GitHub so employers could see that I’m active and sharpening my skills. I also continued to work on my final project with one of my classmates after graduation.” - Sheldon Malbeouf, Lighthouse Labs Alum 

4. Search Job Boards - Try remote job boards specifically. If you’re looking for a full-time position, many companies will be posting on those in particular during the pandemic. Check this list of companies that are continuing to hire during the pandemic. And you’re probably spending time applying to jobs on boards like Indeed and Remote Tech Jobs, but have you tried the job boards of affinity groups? Check these out if they work for your identity: 

“I reached out to folks on LinkedIn and Twitter for job leads. I frequented job boards like Indeed and Diversify Tech. But I actually found my current job on the Women Who Code job board!” -Alex Hare, Flatiron School Alum 

5. Practice Coding - Your future employer will love to see that you’re still working on code during your job search. Just think about getting into a job interview (finally!) after a few months of searching and being asked, “So what have you done over the past few months since bootcamp?” Wouldn’t you like to have a stellar answer like, “Launching my final project publicly and improving the code. Would you like to walk through it together on my GitHub?” Here are some ways you can practice that you’ll be able to show in an interview: 

  • Revive a project from bootcamp

  • Begin creating a new project (consider reaching out to a fellow job searching alumni to join you!) 

  • Join an online coding challenge

  • Spend time whiteboarding

  • Ask a friend or career coach from your bootcamp to do a mock interview with you over video chat

 

About The Author

Liz Eggleston

Liz Eggleston

Liz Eggleston is co-founder of Course Report, the most complete resource for students choosing a coding bootcamp. Liz has dedicated her career to empowering passionate career changers to break into tech, providing valuable insights and guidance in the rapidly evolving field of tech education.  At Course Report, Liz has built a trusted platform that helps thousands of students navigate the complex landscape of coding bootcamps.

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