12 Jobs You Can Land After a Coding Bootcamp [2023 Guide]

Completing a coding bootcamp is a great way to pick up new skills as a programmer. But a bootcamp education is only half the battle. In order to see the process through, you need to be able to land a coding job where you can apply the skills you’ve learned and advance in your professional journey. 

Coding bootcamp grads have several options when it comes to the software engineering career track they want to specialize in. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the different kinds of tech jobs you can work in post your bootcamp education. You’ll also get a few tips on how to go about your job search and the career resources that can help you along the way. 

Is It Easy to Get a Job After a Coding Bootcamp?

Yes. According to a survey of 46 bootcamps by the Council on Integrity in Results Reporting, almost 80% of coding bootcamp students had landed a job within six months of graduation. Any reputed bootcamp program offers either a job guarantee or career services that help students with things like mock job interviews and soft skills training. 

12 Jobs You Can Land After a Coding Bootcamp

Let’s now take a look at the different kinds of jobs coding bootcamp graduates can land and what kind of technical skills they demand. 

Related: Best Paying Jobs in Tech (and How To Land Them)

Junior Software Engineer

Role and Responsibilities

Junior software engineers are tasked with writing and debugging code for specific features or microservices in an application. They usually do so under the guidance of a more senior developer as well as a manager. 

Junior engineers are often required to come into code reviews and scrum meetings so they can begin to learn how responsibilities are shared within the team. Once they gain some experience, they’re asked to start working on troubleshooting problems and cleaning up existing code.  

How Much Can You Make

The average salary for junior software engineers in the US is $89,995. 

Skills and Prerequisites

• A foundational understanding of software engineering principles 
• HTML and CSS for web development projects 
• Knowledge of how to test and debug software 

Junior Data Analyst

Role and Responsibilities

Junior data analysts contribute to large projects with basic data analysis input. It is usually their job to conduct analyses geared towards extracting specific insights from a large dataset while more senior members handle tasks like setting up data warehouses or automating analytical functions. 

Along with data analysis, junior data analysts also need to be skilled at data wrangling and cleaning it so that analyses produce accurate results. 

How Much You Can Make

The average salary of junior data analysts in the US is $64,001.

Skills and Prerequisites

• Grasp of basic data analysis techniques
• Knowledge of basic database functions and queries in SQL
• Programming in Python or R 

Junior Software Developer

Role and Responsibilities

While the roles of software developers and software engineers overlap greatly, there are some differences between the two. 

Junior software developers focus on developing different aspects of a software application. They won’t deal as much with things like the engineering lifecycle or software integration process, which engineers do. 

As a junior software developer, you will be asked to write clean code and deploy it after testing. Developers who work in web development need to be familiar with responsive design and cross-browser compatibility. 

How Much You Can Make

The average salary of junior software developers in the USA is $67,512. 

Skills and Prerequisites

• Programming in Java, Javascript, Python, and other programming languages 
• Basic understanding of algorithms and data structures
• Ability to employ creativity in developing software solutions to problems 

Junior Product Manager

Role and Responsibilities

Junior product managers assist their senior counterparts in developing a roadmap for the evolution of a product. They work within the product team to set objectives and identify performance indicators to evaluate results. 

The job of a junior product manager can be both customer and inward-facing. They engage with customers to collect feedback and look for ways to enhance their experience. They also work with developers to set timelines for feature rollouts and assess resource availability. 

How Much You Can Make

Product managers make an average annual salary of $66,905.

Skills and Prerequisites

• Business acumen to match product roadmap with business goals 
• Basic technical knowledge to help development teams create requirement specifications 
• Strong people skills when interacting with both customers and developers

Junior UI/UX Designer

Role and Responsibilities

The job of a junior UX designer revolves around developing wireframes and fleshing them out depending on the specifications of different applications. The role primarily involves creating designs for different media types and devices. 

Junior UX designers often receive detailed briefs once the research and ideation phase has been completed. They are assigned particular parts of the plan that they need to execute on using different UX design tools.

How Much You Can Make

The average pay for a junior UX designer in the USA is $55,000 per year. 

Skills and Prerequisites

• Create wireframes and prototypes based on project specifications 
• Develop designs that align with product and customer research 
• Conduct basic user research and competitor analysis 

Junior DevOps Engineer

Role and Responsibilities

The installation and configuration of different software tools required by the software development team are conducted by junior devops engineers. This includes operating systems, virtual machines, and system apps. 

Once the development process is underway, they monitor the performance of all of the software tools and machines in use. Any issues that crop up during this time are troubleshot with the help of junior devops engineers. 

How Much You Can Make

Junior devops engineers make an average salary of $113,215 annually. 

Skills and Prerequisites

• A thorough understanding of computer organization and networked systems
• Knowledge of operating systems and command line or shell scripting 
• Problem-solving abilities so as to quickly address any drops in the performance of tools 

Junior Mobile App Developer

Role and Responsibilities

Junior mobile app developers are tasked with writing code for specific aspects of mobile applications. They use various programming languages and development frameworks to build pages and features in mobile apps. 

As they gain some experience, junior developers will begin to interact with the product management and UX design teams. This allows them to get a big-picture perspective of the development project and foresee the kind of work that they will be tasked with down the road. 

How Much You Can Make

Junior mobile app developers make $106,184 on average per year. 

Skills and Prerequisites

• Programming in Java, Swift, React Native, and other languages used in mobile app development 
• Basic understanding of UI design for mobile screens 
• Knowledge of how to produce reusable code for cross-platform development 

Junior Security Analyst

Role and Responsibilities

Junior security analysts monitor the security infrastructure of networks and machines in organizations. They perform audits and risk assessments to ensure that their company is up to contemporary security standards. Junior analysts also address security incidents as first respondents and escalate them to senior colleagues when possible. 

How Much You Can Make

The average salary of junior security analysts in the USA is $54,351.

Skills and Prerequisites

• Deep understanding of networking and security systems 
• Analytical skills used to assess security infrastructure and produce reports 
• Ability to think on the feet to address security incidents in an appropriate manner

Junior Quality Assurance Engineer

Role and Responsibilities

Quality assurance engineers are responsible for ensuring that software works as intended. Junior engineers who work in this field identify and fix bugs that they spot in programs written up by developers. Junior quality engineers who gain some experience are tasked with coming up with detailed test cases that can then be executed by the team.  

How Much You Can Make

The average annual salary of junior quality assurance engineers in the US is $56,757.

Skills and Prerequisites

• Experience with software development 
• Quality assurance methodologies and tools that are used in the industry
• Security testing and agile/scrum processes 

Junior Full-Stack Developer

Role and Responsibilities

Junior full-stack developers build components for either the back-end or front-end of applications. Their ability to work on both aspects means that they can be called on to do either. As a junior full-stack developer, you need to make sure that you are able to switch quickly between building front-end features and moving to back-end development. 

How Much You Can Make

Junior full-stack developers in the USA earn $60,000 per year on average. 

Skills and Prerequisites

• Frontend development languages such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript
• Backend programming languages, including Java, Python, and C#
• SQL for running database queries 

Junior Front-End Developer

Role and Responsibilities

Junior front-end developers build the user-facing features of software applications. They often work with UX designers to code out designs and implement functionality on the front end. Junior developers should know how to write clean code and debug it with feedback from software testers. 

How Much You Can Make

Junior front-end developers make $52,267 per year on average. 

Skills and Prerequisites

• Strong understanding of HTML and CSS
• Frontend development libraries such as jQuery and Backbone
• Communication skills when working with UX designers and project managers 

Junior Back-End Developer

Role and Responsibilities

Back-end developers set up server infrastructure for websites and write the core functionality of websites and software applications. At a junior level, you will be given responsibilities such as establishing servers, writing code for backend features and setting up connections between servers and databases. 

How Much You Can Make

The average salary of junior backend developers is $65,400. 

Skills and Prerequisites

• Backend programming languages such as Python, Ruby on Rails, and Java
• Strong understanding of data structures and algorithms 
• Create and manipulate database schemas in an RDBMS

The Best Places to Find Jobs After a Coding Bootcamp

Now that we have a good idea of the jobs that you can go for, here’s a look at some places where you can hunt for open roles in your preferred discipline. 

The Coding Bootcamp Provider Itself (If It Comes with a Job Guarantee)

Most bootcamps offer prospective students a job guarantee at the completion of the course. Enrolling with a bootcamp provider that makes this offer is a great way to ensure that you will have help landing a job once you’re done with the course. 

Job Boards

General

General job boards, such as ZipRecruiter and AngelList, can be a good source for coding jobs. Make sure that you create a strong resume and write a custom cover letter each time you apply for a job on these sites. 

Niche-Specific

There are also specific job boards you can look at based on the type of job that you’re looking to land. We’ve put together a list of the best data science job boards and UX design job boards. You can find more such job boards for any coding job that you’re on the hunt for. 

Networking

Networking is an important skill to develop if you’re in the market for a development role. You should slowly build up a Rolodex of fellow coders, recruitment managers, and senior tech professionals to whom you can turn when you need a referral or just some professional advice.

Here are a few places you can network with professionals in the tech industry: 

• LinkedIn
• Online Communities
• Technology conferences

Tips to Land Your First Job After a Coding Bootcamp

A development bootcamp is a great way to pick up important tech skills. But you do need more than just that to have a high chance of landing a coding job. Here are a few things you can do to stand out from your peers in job interviews. 

Consider a Certification

Certifications are one of the best ways to pick up technical skills in a specific area. So while your bootcamp might have covered a broad field like web development or data science, certifications allow you to study specific technologies like SQL or tools like Boilerplate. 

When choosing a certification, make sure you’re doing it from a reputed institution and that it serves the long-term goals that you have for your career. We’ve put together lists of the best software engineering, UX design, data science, and cybersecurity certifications for those who are looking to level up in those fields. 

Pursue Volunteer, Freelance, or Open-Source Projects to Build Your Portfolio

Your portfolio can make an impact on recruiters in ways that your resume cannot. It is valuable because the document shows your target companies that you have the ability to work on real-world projects and critical thinking skills to go with the tech skills that you’ve picked up at a bootcamp. 

You can work on hobby projects on your own to start off creating portfolio items. Open source projects can be a great way to work on larger codebases and learn how to deploy code in real-world contexts. Another way to create portfolio items is by volunteering your time at local nonprofits or small businesses that are looking for a developer’s help. 

Create a GitHub Profile

Anyone who wants to work in technology today needs to know how to use GitHub. It is used by more than 56 million developers, and most companies use the tool to maintain their tool base. 

You can start off by creating a profile on GitHub and checking out the reams of documentation available on the site to learn its various functionalities. Check this post out to learn more about the basic features of GitHub and how you can use it to start contributing to open-source projects. 

Your Network Is Your Net Worth 

When you set about building your network, do so without placing too much emphasis on finding yourself a job. Instead, focus on building reciprocal relationships and provide as much value as you can to your new connections. Remember that the key to networking is building strong relationships and the possibility of mutual growth. 

Practice Programming Interview Questions

Preparing for a programming interview can seem like a daunting task. But the good news is that there are certain recurring topics that come up in programming interviews. 

For example, let’s say that you’re preparing for a data science interview. In that case, you should brush up on concepts relating to decision trees, statistical analysis, and regressions. If it’s an interview covering SQL, then you’d go over basic commands, different kinds of keys, normalization, and so on. 

Tailor Your Resume and Prep for the Interview

There are a few things you need to do to get ready for your interview, apart from practicing the technical questions. 

Start off by reading up about the company: its core business proposition, the target market, and the basics of the leadership team. This will help you understand and communicate how you can bring value within that setup. 

Then move on to your resume. Make sure that you customize it for the job that you’re applying for. You don’t want to mention a UX design internship when you’re applying for a data science role. Finally, prepare your portfolio and include items that are relevant to the role. 

Landing a Job After A Coding Bootcamp FAQs

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