So, that’s that. I may post a follow-up some months from now, addressing how my new skills performed in a real workplace, but other than that, this is the end of the blog. I’m glad to be done writing it, because it was a lot of work when combined with all the programming I had to do. But I’m also really happy I did it. It kept me focused and it forced me to reflect on each day and appreciate it for what it was, good or bad. And now that it’s over, I will always have a log of the time where I transitioned from being laid off to rebounding with new skills superior to my old ones. Having these thoughts all in one place, I’m able to look at the days spent at TE in one shot and say something that people don’t often say: I’m proud of myself.

Also, this is a record for anyone trying to research what a coding boot camp is like. One of the main problems I had when trying to decide if I should take this plunge was whether or not I could believe what was being written online. I mean, these are technical people trying to sell expensive classes to the non-techs. I was definitely suspicious and I had a difficult time becoming convinced. This blog could also be considered a service, I suppose, a day to day reporting on what you can expect (or SHOULD expect) at a coding boot camp.

And with that in mind, here are my final thoughts and recommendations.

• This worked for me. Like, as well as it could possibly work. I had five months of self-study with coding before TE, and that’s it. I didn’t have the story of always wanting to be in tech, like many of the other students. I needed a better job and I thought that this was a good way to get one. It was. I make way more money now, I have a way nicer work environment, and I’m proud to tell people what I do.
• Will this work for you? Well, I don’t know you. But I can tell you this: it won’t work for everyone. It’s really, really difficult. Most people probably think it’s difficult because you have to be smart to accomplish it. That’s not true. Yes, there is a degree of intelligence required to get in the door, but it’s not some lofty computer genius standard. I was a low ‘A’ high ‘B’ student in both high school and college. What got me through the boot camp was not intelligence, but grit. You have to be the type of person who will not quit and try hard day after day after day. You have to keep a positive attitude in the face of adversity. You have to be willing to be humbled. You will not be the smartest person in the room. That will be Tom. Or !Tom, maybe. If you can clear everything else out of your life, can afford to pay for the class, are at least sort of smart, and have deep endurance for work, then a coding boot camp might be right for you.
• But not just any coding boot camp. I got my job through the matchmaking process at Tech Elevator. I applied to over 25 companies and all of my interviews (save one, which was for a company in Turtle Creek and would have been an hour and a half commute) came from the matchmaking process. The Pathway Program at Tech Elevator is legitimate and essential. Not all tech companies are ready to hire boot camp graduates. That’s a fact. You need someone advocating for you. As of today, four days after graduation, nearly half of the 32 students from Cohort 2 are hired. I’m not aware of one hire that wasn’t the fruit of Caitie and the Pathway Program. If the boot camp you’re looking at does not have something similar, you better have your own connections or it’s going to be a long road.

If you’d like to ask more exact questions about Tech Elevator or what I think concerning boot camps in general, feel free to email me. Otherwise, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed following my journey from retail to programming.

…annnnnnd finished.

I have accepted an offer from PNC Bank to be a software developer associate. Callie, the talent acquisition recruiter from PNC emailed me on Tuesday saying that I should call her when I had the chance and that she would be free in the afternoon. I called her immediately. At 8:30am.

She wasn’t even at work yet, was walking around in downtown Pittsburgh, but still answered the phone. Since I called her four hours before she asked me to, she didn’t have the details in front of her, but she assured me that an offer was coming. In a text later on that day she said she would call me at 4:30. I waited impatiently and pretended to work on my capstone.

Marissa scheduled me a room so that I could have some privacy for the call. Callie called promptly at 4:31. She offered me the position, told me the details, and asked if I could start on April 29th. A day later (I waited just because I promised Jenny I would) I accepted.

Here are some of the differences between my employment before Tech Elevator in December and the position I will start at the end of April, after graduation.

I was working as a manager in a grocery store after being laid off from a long career at Barnes & Noble.

• I often had to be there before 7am. I didn’t really mind this, but that early hour was sometimes tough.
• I used heavy machinery and there was a high chance that I would eventually hurt myself.
• I unloaded trucks through a dock. When it was cold I shivered, when it was hot, the place stunk of rotting food.
• I had to wear a t-shirt that said the name of the grocery store everyday.
• I was not what you would call a “cultural fit” with the other employees. We were friendly, but none of them were inviting me over for dinner.
• I had one week of vacation that I only got after working for six months.
• The health care was appreciated, but not great.
• There was once an employee who used drugs in the bathroom and I had to help sort it out. (This was something of a turning point that reinforced the necessity to find a new job)
• If someone wanted to know what my job was like, I told them that I was an accountant who worked in a room that smelled very bad.

At my new job at PNC:

• I start with three weeks vacation
• I work downtown, starting at 8:30 and can easily take public transit.
• I have a 64% pay increase.
• The health care is excellent.
• After 90 days I can work from home twice a week.
• I can wear basically anything I want.
• I get a computer!

I consider myself elevated.

This past Friday was the last day of class for cohort 2 of Tech Elevator Pittsburgh. This doesn’t mean the course is over yet, we still have our final capstone which is allotted two weeks, taking us through the last ten days. But the fire hose of new information has been turned off.

What did we learn in twelve weeks? We learned Git, a version control technology. We learned, of course, the programming language C# and we learned how to leverage C# with Microsoft’s .NET Framework. We learned about the construction of databases and we learned SQL, the structured query language with which to speak to the databases. Then on to MVC, (Model, View, Control), an architecture strategy with which to build websites. Along with MVC we learned ASP.NET, a framework for developing web applications. We learned about sessions, and password hashing, and security. We learned about unit testing, integration testing, regression testing, and about Selenium. We learned Vanilla JavaScript. We learned Vue. We learned about the wealth of data to be found in API’s and how to fetch that data and display it on our applications. We learned and we learned and we learned.

But now it’s over. At least, until we get hired on somewhere. Then the education begins to flow once more (but, I’m told, at a significantly slower rate).

On that front, the job hunt has been both good and anxiety-riddled at the same time. I have one company that seems very interested in me. When speaking with Caitie after the Matchmaking event, they mentioned me by name as a candidate. I had a phone call with an HR representative when, as far as I can tell, no one else that interviewed with them did. I had a second interview that went smoothly and the main person in charge replied to my thank-you email saying that both she and the crew I interviewed with was impressed with me. That’s good. Also, according to Caitie, this company is looking to hire several TE students. Four? Six? Ten? We don’t know. I feel fairly confident that if the number of students offered jobs is above five, one of those five might be me. It could be me even if the number is smaller.

Now, it’s true that my timing expectations are a little out of whack. When my wife was looking for a job, some companies would take weeks or months to get back to her, even when the response was positive. I’ve only been looking for a job for three weeks.

However, things move faster in the tech industry and things move faster (historically speaking) at Tech Elevator. And with good reason. The company who had me in for the second interview had several other TE students in as well. Many of us would have accepted an offer on Friday, two days after our second interview. There are a slew of second interviews next week with different companies and it’s easy to imagine some of us receiving offers. It’s going to be really hard to not accept the first offer, even if we’d rather work somewhere else. There’s too much at stake. The companies should move fast if they have someone in mind, and Caitie, to her credit, reminds them of this often.

So, for now, I move forward with the final capstone, keep applying to jobs, and wait to hear some responses.

I had two more companies to interview with today. Two more opportunities to show off what I’ve learned and hopefully turn this whole venture into something very worthwhile.

The vibe was totally different this week than it was for the first round of matchmaking. Last week, the monks of Tech Elevator were pacing with furrowed brows and sweaty palms. There were still some nerves, to be sure. But it was nothing like the anxious hysteria of last Tuesday.

I think part of it was due to the fact that the second time around is always easier. We knew what to expect, how the conversations would go (generally), and how we would feel. I definitely felt calmer because I have a second interview coming up on Wednesday. I felt so calm, in fact, that I was worried that I might be too calm. I performed well while dealing with the nerves last week. What if, because I wasn’t completely terrified, I came off flat? One second interview is no cause for complacency.

But I think it went well. I was very interested in the second company I interviewed with and I believe they were interested in me. It also seemed as if they are looking to hire several people, so my expectations for a callback are high.