What I'm Doing After a Coding Bootcamp

Passing a milestone

Earlier this year, I finished a coding bootcamp. It was a way to invest my veteran education fund into a commitment to learn to code seriously over 30+ weeks. Now what? What's next after a coding bootcamp?

What's next?

I want to give an overview of my options and then finish with what I think is a good plan for myself.

Options I've heard or read about

One option is to dive deeper into the tech stack used in the bootcamp. This would mean learning more about MySQL, Express, React, and Node.js.

Going deeper into React seems timely since React 19 is currently in beta. Many hooks were underexplored during the short period of a bootcamp. Learning about them would be beneficial.

Another option would be to start a portfolio with what I already know. In my case, I could leverage my experience with Azure Cloud and come up with portfolio projects.

I've started a popular project called the Cloud Resume Challenge by Forrest Brazeal. Currently, I'm working on the end-to-end testing section of your project.

I explored starting a job search since the boot camp provided career services after graduation. I participated for a few weeks to experience it. However, I dropped out after a few weeks since I recently switched jobs. I like my new job and hope to stay for a few years.

Situational to me

I have an electronics engineering technologist college diploma. Also, I've had time in the tech industry since switching careers. Both of these look good on a resume. Still, lacking a computer science degree could slow down a job search.

Since I still have funds remaining in my veteran education benefit, I can go for more paid education, like earning a bachelor's degree. Or, I could wait longer and apply for a master's degree program when I have more work experience. A formal education in computer science would make me a more ideal job candidate.

A variation of getting a formal computer science education is to self-teach the concepts. I can break down a typical curriculum or follow a learning roadmap. Knowledge is the real asset, not the paper degree itself.

My post bootcamp plans

My current employment seems stable. So, there's no need to speed through my learning goals, so I'm pushing multiple goals forward.  

I'm picking up C# and .NET Core basics for my current role.

Microsoft and freeCodeCamp have partnered to offer a foundational C# learning path. The dotnet site also has some learning material. Again, I'm a big fan of roadmaps and will use the roadmap from roadmap.sh. It should give me some structure around what I should know regarding ASP.NET.

I'm starting on self-teaching computer science topics to prepare for the future, like searching for my next job.

I want to have a solid base of foundational knowledge. The first topic might be data structures & algorithms to be ready for coding challenges used in interviews.

For personal interests, I'm picking up more DevOps knowledge. I'm learning on KodeKloud and have a DevOps book bundle from No Starch Press. Doubling up on content has served me well before, and I'm repeating what's worked in the past.

Keep learning

I could summarize this blog by saying I'm continuing my commitment to keep learning. Writing about it clarified the topics I'll be investing my time into: ASP.NET, fundamentals of computer science, and DevOps.