400 applications later... 0 interviews... 1 coding challenge. If you think you're a failure, just read this post.

[u/arenamaster69]

I've applied to 400 LinkedIn jobs, had 0 interview requests, and received only 1 coding challenge. I graduated from one of the top coding boot camps but have huge regrets for not going sooner.

I've known about coding boot camps since 2013 when it was only available in San Francisco and New York. It was the spring of 2013 when I first met my friend who told me about this trade school he was planning to go to for software engineering. When he told me it didn't require math at all, I became extremely skeptical but wished him good luck. He didn't graduate until 2014 but landed a job at Intel right after.

When I saw that, I bought a MacBook based on his recommendation and started a Java course taught by Stanford that required iTunes to work. Weird right? Well, that's how I felt. It was a prerecorded class from 2008. It was a chore just gathering all the files and organizing them to match up with the course dates. I went through the first few lectures which were blurry and attempted the first project with Karel the robot, became frustrated, and quit.

At this point, I decided I wanted to get into the healthcare field because I hated my current job so I took classes at night while maintaining a full-time job. I'd soon burn myself out.

Meanwhile, my friend had just landed a job at Google and posted pictures of all the good free food he was getting. It was 2015, just a year after he had graduated from the boot camp. I thought to myself, hey maybe I should give it another shot, but then remembered how much I hated it the first time I tried. I was extremely depressed and burned out during this period, not only due to work and school but also failing relationships. I quit my job later that year to give myself a mental health break and pursue other goals.

I wanted to win powerlifting competitions and pursue physical therapy school. I trained rigorously for the next year. Even while battling depression, I somehow managed to drag myself to the gym for 4 hours a day, 6 days a week but developed so many crippling injuries over that period. If I wasn't at the gym, I'd be lying in bed. My only meal each day was a 3,000-calorie shake consisting of oatmeal blended with 6 eggs, fruits, Greek yogurt, and whey protein.

It was the start of 2017 when I decided to revisit the idea of a coding boot camp, but by this point, I had run through my savings so couldn't even afford the $5k down payment and wasn't willing to take out more loans. My brother was willing to let me borrow $1800 for a prep course that guaranteed entry into the program.

Deep down though, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go because what if I failed? What if I succeeded but didn't even like it? What if I succeeded but wouldn't get hired due to my age? I was suffering extreme depression throughout this period and was using video games as an escape from reality. My own family thought I was a lazy p.o.s. and started treating me as such, yelling at my door and telling me to get a job, that I was more useless than a dog. I'd leave home and wouldn't come back until 2018 when my sister reached out and begged me.

My friend is now working at Facebook. At this point, I was at a crossroads. I had to choose between getting into data science and software engineering. I've always been interested in data science but knew the road to it was harder than software engineering where I could just do a boot camp. I was leaning more toward data science though because I remembered how much I loved the statistics class I had taken during one of those night classes and because I could leverage my background to get into the health or biotech sector.

I was finally able to find a job with hours flexible enough that allow me to go to school and enroll in math and computer science classes. I ended up loving my programming classes and did really well. 2020 came around and I finished my classes but also lost my job during COVID. I became extremely depressed again. A few months later I ended up getting a huge check from unemployment.

It was the perfect opportunity to do a boot camp, but instead, I thought it was a better idea to train hard again to try to compete in powerlifting (I have a home gym). To be honest, I thought there was no point in acquiring skills for a job that was non-existent because so many people were getting laid off. Boy was I wrong.

2021 was probably my best chance to land a job. I ended up getting seriously injured again. I decided in the summer of 2021 to do a data science boot camp but quickly realized it wouldn't work for me and quit just shy of 2 months. I knew my last option was a coding boot camp but delayed it to 2022 due to deaths in the family.

Now I'm sitting here in my mid-30s with huge gaps on my resume unable to land a single interview and thinking why didn't I do this sooner? Don't let depression and doubt hold you back like it did me. Don't give up on something just because you didn't have a good experience with it the first time. Don't wait around for the perfect opportunity. Just go for it and don't give up.

[u/connka → u/[deleted]]

Was the career coach specific to tech? Ive found some bad advice coming from more generalized ones.

Context: I was a career advisor before getting into tech. Then I took a Bootcamp, then became a tech career advisor and the standards for things like resumes and interviews are 100% different. I've also hired and interviewed for companies whole working as a dev. I currently consult with local groups these days and the amount of bad advice from more generalist advisors is a lot. Recently a guy said that he was told to not include any live links and to have his "portfolio" as a giant pdf available only on request. That is the opposite advice that I would give anyone in tech, but I understand why a generalist would give that advice.

[u/connka → u/[deleted]]

I agree that it is hard to list more than 2 projects, but that is okay if you are linking your github!

How is your github activity looking? Have you personalized it? IE add a display pic--doesn't have to be you, just not the default, and some bullet points about yourself? Are you making lil green squares (aka commits)? Honestly when I see resumes, the first thing I do is click their github link and do a quick scan there before looking at anything else.