In order to get your first position as a software engineer, you have to have a certain level of technical ability. However, sometimes it is the non-technical things that can get in the way of breaking into the industry. 

Becoming a software engineer is hard, this is why software engineers are so in demand. It makes sense that people would believe that the more they prepare themselves technically, the more successful they will be in their job search. In many ways this is true, but there is more to getting your first job than technical preparation. 

It is a common tendency among recent graduates to want to spend more time improving themselves technically before putting themselves out there. Once you graduate from a bootcamp, you are presumably at a certain technical level where a company will consider hiring you. Once you are at that point, the job search should take priority! If you are not getting yourself in front of people who can actually hire you, your technical ability won’t matter. There is only so much you can reasonably be expected to learn without getting your hands on a codebase and being a part of a team. You don’t have to wait until things are perfect, get your skills to a reasonable level and go find that first company.

Another common obstacle is not getting enough interviews. Having a bootcamp on your resume definitely signals to a prospective employer that you are serious about making a career change into tech.

There are multiple approaches for landing interviews, it is important to find an approach that works for you. If your approach isn’t working you need to adjust it. Most often people start their job search by spamming their resume to any company they can find. However, unless your resume has something on it that really makes you stand out, this can be a lot of busy work with few results. Other approaches include reaching out to people directly in companies where you want to work or tapping into your network. The topic of getting into an interview could be its own blog post. 

Just realize that there is more to getting a job than becoming technically proficient, you have to know when to shift from learning mode to job search mode, and you have to be willing to put yourself out there.

Learn more about our outcomes and how we support you through your job search here!