Graduation rates of coding bootcamps compared to Computer and Information Science degrees in the US. Sources: CourseReport, National Center for Education Statistics

A year and a half ago, my wife, Kristen, was an English teacher. Now she is a full-time software engineer at Microsoft. I followed her journey with excitement as she went from writing her first “Hello World” program, then her first full stack web app, to getting an apprenticeship and finally a full time job.

Along the way, I was intrigued by how many options she had for learning programming: online tutorials, in-person classes, intensive coding bootcamps, and more. Each option had different benefits and drawbacks, each one felt like a disconnected piece of a path (hopefully) leading to a software engineering job. The challenge was finding the right pieces and connecting them in the right way.

While Kristen didn’t attend a bootcamp, she met many people who did, and we heard about their own journeys and challenges. With Kristen’s encouragement, I decided to study the barriers that bootcamp students face. I interviewed 26 coding bootcamp students, asking them about their experiences, and wrote a peer-reviewed research paper on them.

I was inspired by the stories I heard of people working hard to face each barrier as they tried to enter the software industry. Here is what I learned, along with quotes from some of the bootcamp students I talked to:

Motivation for Attending Coding Bootcamps

People attend coding bootcamps to get jobs in the software industry. Students had different motivations for seeking these jobs, including desires for intellectually stimulating work and better pay.

I wanted to do something that I actually enjoyed and was fun and was challenging, so I figured if I liked [programming] at home […], that I might as well [attend a bootcamp].

- Female interviewee [Our bootcamp instructor] told us, “It’s going to be a dark long tunnel. You guys are all going to hate me, but if you […] do all the things we’re telling you to do, […] there is this light, and the light is a big pile of gold.”

- Male interviewee

A Second Chance or Alternate Path

For students who felt they had missed earlier opportunities to enter the software industry (by getting a computer science degree in college, for example), coding bootcamps offered a second chance. This was particularly true for women who thought programming wasn’t for them or had been scared off by the lack of women in computer science.

I’m a good example of somebody who easily could’ve gotten into this field the first time around. When I was in college … it just wasn’t floated as something I could do. Nobody ever said, “Oh, you can’t be a computer scientist.” But nobody ever said, “Oh, you can be a computer scientist,” either.

- Female interviewee

Other students considered bootcamps an alternate path into a software industry career, such as this student, who attended a bootcamp instead of finishing a college degree:

I didn’t want to commit to something that I wasn’t passionate about, and regular school is boring. […] I started to lose interest in school, and I just needed to go to a bootcamp, because it’s going to keep me focused.

- Male interviewee

What Software Industry Employers Look For

As students tried to enter the software industry, they faced barriers in trying to get hired. Students mentioned five things employers in the software industry were looking for:

Relevant educational credentials Software industry work experience Online portfolios Networking with employers, software engineers and other students Interviewing abilities (in particular “whiteboarding”)

The Complicated Paths into the Software Industry

We drew the paths each student took as they tried to enter the software industry, showing how diverse these paths can be. Some students had successfully changed careers when I interviewed them, while others were struggling. Many students had taken online courses or in-person classes and a few had computer science degrees. Some students had quit their bootcamps and a few had attended more than one bootcamp.