Coding Temple's Career Services: How Grads are Supported for Life

Coding Temple knows that individualized career support is key to helping their bootcamp alumni land the best tech roles for them. We spoke with Marlene Tang, Coding Temple’s Alumni Director and Career Coach about the kinds of career services bootcamp students and bootcamp graduates on the hunt for their second or third job can expect. Marlene shares her top tips for creating an impactful resume and cover letter, plus why she sees benefits to enrolling in a remote bootcamp now.

When do career services begin for Coding Temple students?

At Coding Temple, the job search starts before the program begins. We kick off the career conversation with new students by requesting their resumes, reviewing their LinkedIn profiles, and seeing what they hope to get out of the program. Sometimes bootcampers enter the program thinking they want to do one thing, but as they continue learning, that can change. From the beginning, we help them navigate that process and apply what they’re learning throughout the program. 

Enrolling in and graduating from a bootcamp is a big step, especially if this is a career change for the student, so we encourage them to let people in their life know they’re embarking on this milestone. Building on that shared mentality helps them grow throughout the program. 

What career goals do you have for students in Coding Temple’s online coding bootcamp? 

There are many benefits to the online learning model at Coding Temple! By learning software development in an online bootcamp like Coding Temple, it’s a lateral transition to graduate and become a remote developer. To support our online cohorts, our instructor to student ratio is 1:6, which allows students access to more material, practice in a smaller class ratio, and more time and support for hands-on projects. Students are able to build a robust portfolio of 10 projects upon bootcamp completion, including a full stack web application, blackjack application, car dealership database, e-commerce application, shopping cart, hangman application, CRM, and capstone project. Our student-teacher ratio also gives students more time for technical interview preparation. We record all of our lessons, so bootcampers can re-watch a lecture, which is an opportunity you don't get in an in-person program.

How does Coding Temple help bootcampers find jobs? 

Coding Temple does everything we can to set up bootcampers for success. We provide students the resources, tools, and guidance so that each individual can land their new job. We take students through the full process, from figuring out what they want to do to actually landing that dream job. We encourage our students to have a sense of integrity and accountability in their individual job search. 

The Coding Temple career process includes:

• Building professional profiles, such as LinkedIn and resumes
• Navigating professional etiquette with employers and recruiters; preparing students for scenarios they might be faced with on the job search or in an interview
• Navigating the job search process
• Negotiating salary, so they can land the job they want at a salary they can be proud of 

Has your team shifted your career prep resources during COVID-19? 

We increased our team by adding more Technical Assistants (TA), night TAs, mentors, and career resources to support our online cohorts. We now bring in more mentors to speak with bootcampers, and provide interview tips and 1:1 coaching sessions. Our main focus continues to be helping bootcampers successfully get a job after graduation, and we aim to help bootcampers land that job within three months of graduation.

How do you prepare bootcamp students for job interviews? 

At Coding Temple, we prepare bootcampers for job interviews by: 

• Navigating their options with them in the very beginning
• Supporting them in updating their resume
• Offering templates that cater to the skills they are trying to convey
• Using SkilledInc to offer mock interviews (so bootcampers feel prepared for the actual interview process!) 
• Hosting Codewars to prepare students for technical assessments
• Individual 1:1 time with a career coach

Why does individual coaching continue to be an important aspect of career services?

Coaching time is key to every student’s success because it’s more than simply talking about technical and behavioral abilities; a coach dives into your personal experience in the program, to ensure you are emotionally ready and prepared for this move. It’s important to me that graduates know that the process of job searching is just as important to me as it is to them. Landing a job is an urgent process and I respect that our students need negotiating support when the opportunity strikes, not according to my office hours. While we prepare them for all of the technical aspects of the job search, we also want them to know that they're individually important.

How does Coding Temple help students with negotiation and compensation?

We want our graduates to be well-prepared for negotiating a salary they deserve and feel valued by. Our career services team helps students with:

• Guidance to navigate the final interviews
• Formulating questions that should be asked during the final interviews
• Tips for deflecting the numbers discussion prior to receiving an offer
• Industry pay scales and the company’s budget for the role they are hiring for

We tell our students not to compare themselves to others, and instead focus on what it is they specifically want and need. Yes, industry pay scale matters, but as long as you're within that pay scale and you know what you deserve, we want you to land with that salary and feel like the company actually values and wants you. 

What types of jobs do Coding Temple graduates typically land? 

Graduates leave the program to become software engineers, data engineers, data analysts, and data scientists. The types of roles have not changed, however being fully online for most of 2020 and into 2021, we have seen more bootcampers landing remote positions. 

What is the average salary for Coding Temple graduates?  

Coding Temple graduates are on average making $72,000 a year in their first role outside of bootcamp.  

Does Coding Temple have partnerships with employers?

Coding Temple partners with numerous organizations around the country. We do have partners in Chicago as well as many who have multiple locations and hire remotely. We are continuously building new partnerships with those that have nationwide locations. 

What do employers like about Coding Temple graduates?

Employers are looking for people who can come in and code. But most importantly, they're looking for a culture fit, for someone they are willing to bring to the table and teach. Coding Temple’s program is designed to have bootcampers build real applications that can be used in the workplace, so employers are happy to hire Coding Temple graduates. Employers like seeing all of the projects our students build, not just the capstone showcase. We encourage bootcampers to emphasize their educational experiences throughout the interview process. Employers love seeing that bootcampers can promote how they built the application, rather than selling the application itself. 

How can bootcamp graduates assess if a company is the right fit for them?

There are so many variables to consider! When looking for a job, students should consider:

• Do they want to make an impact at a larger scale, wear multiple hats, and have visibility at a higher level? 
• Do they want to contribute on a larger scale by working on smaller projects that contribute to a bigger end game? 
• Are they looking for autonomy? Are they looking to be an individual contributor? Do they want to find a company where they can learn how to become an entrepreneur? 

This is where having a career coach can support the future endeavors of a bootcamper because a career coach can help a student dive into long-term goals as well as short-term goals. They can be there to support bootcampers through thinking past right now, and help them consider career projects and future career moves. 

Do you have any favorite tips for revising your cover letter or resume? 

I recommend students look into actual job descriptions for inspiration on how to draft and revise their cover letters and resumes. Job descriptions list responsibilities and preferred qualifications, so if you are at a loss for words when filling out your resume, find a few job requisitions for the exact role you were in, to inspire content. This can also help you build an elevator pitch by pulling in overlapping qualifications.

I tell my bootcamp graduates after they land their first job to save the job description and update their resume immediately. This way, they are prepared for a future job search, instead of scrambling to think of their job responsibilities.

Can Coding Temple bootcamp graduates connect with the Career Services team when on the hunt for their second or third job?

At Coding Temple, we offer continuous support; we are not here to just support you with your first job, we’re here for you for the rest of your professional journey. We are a sounding board, a safe space, and a welcoming environment that appreciates and encourages growth in all our bootcamp graduates’ careers. We want to see everyone succeed and are grateful that we can be a part of their journey! If a grad is on the hunt for their second or third job, or wants to talk about how to ask for a raise or how to overcome certain technical problems, we are here to support them.

For our bootcamp graduates, Coding Temple has also created a postgraduate program where bootcampers can learn programming languages, such as Java, Tableau, and AWS. This program can be very beneficial to bootcamp grads currently on the job hunt. 

Tell us your favorite Coding Temple success story!

One of our students came to America a few months before attending Coding Temple and had no prior coding experience, no formal college education, and was learning how to speak English. She worked hard day and night to achieve her goal of becoming a software engineer. In 10 weeks with Coding Temple, she improved on her soft skills, technical knowledge, and landed a job at Capgemini, one of the top tech companies in the world! 

Find out more and read Coding Temple reviews on Course Report. This article was produced by the Course Report team in partnership with Coding Temple.