There are many reasons why companies should hire coding bootcamp graduates. The hiring process for software developers is competitive. Teams spend an inordinate amount of time in recruiting, interviewing, assessing, and wooing applicants in hopes they find both the right technical and the right culture fit for their organizations. Candidates that should become part of your talent pool are code school graduates. In many ways, they have an upper hand over those that just graduated with computer science degrees.
Code Schools Students Have Much to Offer
First and foremost, code school graduates know how to adapt to change and ship code. Many computer science degree holders have a theory and historical-based education, but usually very little commercially viable experience they can bring to the table on day one. The actual programs at coding bootcamp schools are rapid pace, immersive and intense. Students from bootcamps usually spend 50 hours per week problem-solving, working with teams, researching, and above all: coding. Most computer science graduates had a diverse course load that was 15 hours per week. When hiring a bootcamp graduate, there is little adjustment for them as to what life on the job will be like because of their previous rigorous program schedule.
Code school curriculum offers employers graduates with cutting-edge skills. Graduates are taught in-demand agile principles and actionable skills along with modern languages, frameworks, and tools that graduates can hit the ground running on their first day of employment. University graduates on the other hand are oftentimes lagging behind their code school counterparts with little or outdated day-one job-ready skills. Many times these computer science graduates must be brought up to speed over the course of several months.
Additional Reasons to Hire Coding Bootcamp Graduates
- Bootcamp graduates were pre-vetted prior to taking the program
- To be a graduate from a bootcamp, the employer should be made aware of the total dedication that was required of the student because of the course immersive and intensive structure
- Bootcamp graduates need to be and have become fast technology learners. They bring determination, grit and the courage to change careers and invest in themselves
- One of the strengths of the curriculum is it teaches students how to learn technologies other than those that were part of the original program
- The curriculum is focused on job-ready skills that graduates are able to implement immediately
- Coding bootcamp students are eager to tackle new projects and new technologies because the idea of doing so is not foreign to them
- Code school graduates come from a diverse set of backgrounds and often times can bring new energy and perspective to engineering teams
- Bootcamps can help fill company diversity goals because of their lower cost to students. A shorter time to graduation make them more accessible to a larger pool of talent
Many hiring companies are exclusively searching for the senior software engineer and essentially joining an endless loop of other companies that recruit each other’s talent pool from one another. While one certainly understands this is necessary and needed, the prospect of hiring a stable of junior software developers that graduated from a coding bootcamp has many merits.
The final consideration and benefit to hiring junior software engineers are that they are more readily available, and they become your talent. In that, they learn your ways and culture, readily take direction and grow within your company. In essence, they are more likely to stay with your company for a longer period of time than the senior software engineer that chases the next shiny object that a recruiter puts in front of them.
Engage with our consistently updated talent pool of devCodeCamp graduates to see why a single interview will lead to the opportunity to hire a coding bootcamp graduate as your next junior developer.