Brandon Cha Software Developer • Graduate • Web Development Remote • Online
Dec 09, 2021
The overall experience was wonderful. There was a lot of in-depth knowledge and practices you can learn as a newcomer to programming and coding in this bootcamp and the stack you mostly will learn here (from my experience at the time of graduation in October 2021) is the M.E.R.N. web development stack (MongoDB, ExpressJS, ReactJS, and NodeJS) with strong foundations in fundamentals in HTML/CSS and JavaScript. But as I did the full time bootcamp, this is not for the lax and easy-going wor...
The overall experience was wonderful. There was a lot of in-depth knowledge and practices you can learn as a newcomer to programming and coding in this bootcamp and the stack you mostly will learn here (from my experience at the time of graduation in October 2021) is the M.E.R.N. web development stack (MongoDB, ExpressJS, ReactJS, and NodeJS) with strong foundations in fundamentals in HTML/CSS and JavaScript. But as I did the full time bootcamp, this is not for the lax and easy-going work habit person. While I did wish the bootcamps did cover a bit of other alternative technology stacks that are also popular with developers today such as TypeScript (Angular), PHP, and Ruby/Rails, having that in-depth foundational knowledge in programming and algorithms/sorting was in my opinion was more important as they were particularly important if you were doing technical interviews down the road with larger companies (FAANG/next-generation-tech companies and JSOC/cybersecurity positions particularly) that required you to think and create a algorithm with time complexity (think Big O notation) in mind.
The instructors at Concordia Bootcamps are extremely helpful (without giving you obvious answers) but you as the student is only good as the effort and the work you put into this. Bootcamps aren't cheap, and if you are serious about pursuing a career in web development, whether to complement your current career or switching into it, the profession requires self-discipline and the constant hunger to learn. Your technology knowledge stack and bootcamp experience should not be the endgame, but rather the starting point. While it is important to retain that knowledge and add current trends and updates on top of that, and it is difficult to do so in a rapid-changing environment like this one, but the learning curve mindset is important before you consider anything like this will change your life forever. With the backing of a well-known public university like Concordia University, just having the name recognition can also have a minor impact when job hunting, especially when applying to larger and well known organizations.
The career services after graduation (and only they will provide after passing all the required modules) is extremely important and highly recommended to participate, unless you already been know your way around job hunting in the tech world or already have a job/company waiting for you for onboarding/transitioning. Don't think of this as your mediocre run-of-the-mill college or university career centers with underpaid undergraduates/graduates or HR associates giving generalized or less than enthusiastic advices, although I'm sorry to say I do have to also include Concordia University's CAPS in that unfortunate group. The bootcamps' career services (not affiliated with CAPS) however, are much different and tailored to technology sector. Think of the bootcamp career services more like a combination of one-on-one career counsellors/coaches guiding and advising you on your job search journey with the introduction of career fairs and information sessions from various companies to get you more engaged and personalized contacts with potential employers. Like in the bootcamp, make the most of your effort pursuing this as you are learning from the experience of job rejections (and likely you'll get many before landing an offer).
I've personally went through this and it was great, went through 150+ applications from FAANG companies to budding startups from my locale in Toronto to job postings across Canada and some across borders in the U.S. and U.K. before landing not one, but two great offers (one from a subsidiary of tech giant in Seattle and a medium sized multimedia solutions provider in Halifax). Your career coach at the bootcamp can help navigate through your job offer and determine if you should accept it as is or negotiate in a few areas (like relocation costs if not remote or IT reimbursements for new electronics, utility costs, etc. if working nearly 100% remotely), but as a career-switching, newly minted junior developer with no leverage on skills or experience (the only leverage I really had was "another offer" pending), just accepting it as is (unless the salary/comp was outright horrible that you had no other choice but to decline) would be a much better option and wait for a better one. The career services will start from your graduation date, and will end if you accept or decline an offer (they will only continue services if you show them the offer was downright below market rate, exploitative, etc.) or after 6 months elapsed. My only criticism is that career fairs and information sessions should start earlier (within first or second week after graduation, I know people need to decompress after a stressful 3 months for full time bootcamp) and be more frequent as my current job was found (with the help of Concordia bootcamps, but not sponsored) through an external tech career fair.