I gave carpentry a shot but I only lasted a week on the job. I was super fortunate to meet a crew of guys that were willing to show me the ropes. I was able to learn quickly and it challenged me. I really enjoyed stepping outside of tech, but the reality of working for $20/hr hit home pretty quick. To the best of my knowledge there aren't many places in the United States where you can realistically support yourself on an income like that. At least not long term. I also nearly lost my marriage (not joking).
I'm back in an office now working in a contract tech role that involves a little bit of coding on the side and it's alright for now I suppose. It isn't glamorous, but I'm happy to be working to be honest. I wanted to respond to your post because I found that cold calling and networking was the way to go for opening doors. I needed to talk to real people and build personal relationships. It took time and some surprisingly interesting opportunities opened up here and there. No one gave me a hard time about looking for work. I met a lot of people who were more than willing to take time out of their day to talk to me. It took a long time to get back into a full time role - about 6 months.
I also applied to a couple hundred jobs online but that approach didn't lead to much. The couple of interviews that I did get weren't even genuine. I deleted my LinkedIn account and never looked back.
Completed a 6 month bootcamp via UT Austin around 2018.
1. It was challenging for sure, especially from a time management standpoint. I'd estimate that I was putting in 15-25 hours per week between participating in classes and working on group projects. That's a lot to take on while working full time. It starts off easy and ramps up in difficulty as you near your final group project. Fwiw, you can significantly reduce the learning curve by completing some online self-study/tutorials before hand and by investing in a nice laptop.
2. 120k starting salary. I transitioned into a full time software engineering roll with my existing employer. My employer also reimbursed me for a portion of the cost of the program.
3. The bootcamp was an excellent crash course into the world of full stack web development but I don't think it was a good foundation on its own per say. I think that the combination of a bootcamp and some real world experience could make a solid foundation assuming you land in the right work environment.
It takes a ton of work to complete a coding bootcamp and the networking/interviewing that follows is equally challenging. I'd suggest reaching out to individuals who successfully completed the programs you're interested in to get their two cents. Listen to their stories and ask them to reflect on how well they performed in their programs. Maybe you could find them on a LinkedIn alumni group or something like that? You could also reach out to former instructors and I bet they can point you in the right direction. My point is that I think you could really benefit from reaching beyond forums like HN, Reddit, etc for this kind of info/advice.
I'd highly recommend taking an intro class at a community college if that's an option for you. In my opinion, learning how to think and solve problems "spatially" is a really cool (and valuable) experience. An experienced teacher, white board work, and group discussions would be invaluable as you learn the basics. I mention this because once you have the basics down you can self study your way through just about anything GIS related.
Another approach would be to simply pick up an ESRI tutorial and work your way through a couple of projects that appeal to you. A nice benefit of this approach is that software and data will be provided. I smashed one over the weekend before I started my first GIS internship and I got a lot out of it.
TLDR: If you're considering working for a staffing company like the one mentioned in the article don't do it. You can do better and are capable of much more.
I worked for a couple of staffing companies in the Washington D.C. area in my twenties and reflecting back I view it as a mistake (or at least tough learning experience for a naive college grad). Ultimately, dead-end jobs like these prolonged my journey to landing a job as a developer with a company that actually valued me and treated me with respect.
I ground through contractor jobs because I told myself two lies:
#1. “This is not an ideal situation, but I’m an optimist and will make the best of it.”. Wrong, the truth is that I approached the company and took the job. I may have been a little inexperienced in the ways of the world but I knew full well that these were dead-end jobs. The limitations for potential personal growth, or professional advancement, were clearly documented in the onboarding process. Finding a good job is a real undertaking, requires some luck, and doesn’t have a fixed timeline. Something I also didn’t consider is the impression I would give to future employers later down the road when I listed a staffing company on my resume. It’s funny that a less confident version of myself found so much optimism when considering powering through a bad situation, but I couldn’t spare any of that optimism if I dreamed of reaching for something higher.
#2. “I’m a hard worker and I’ll survive the layoffs through merit”. Wrong, the truth is that the vast majority of the contractors I worked with were eventually laid off (or resigned) and I don’t think poorly of them for it. In fact, the few buddies that I have kept in touch with all eventually moved on to better things. I found the paths they chose after leaving to be inspiring. They took on more challenging jobs, started graduate school, moved to another city, etc. I on the other hand quietly worked off the clock on nights and weekends to mitigate my chances of being laid off. At the time, I told myself that I was acting out of virtue, but really it was fear. My strategy carried me for a long time, but eventually the psychological impact of being treated as a second rate human being caught up to me.
Just sharing my own personal reflections on a very specific set of experiences in case someone finds themselves with similar thoughts.
I'm back in an office now working in a contract tech role that involves a little bit of coding on the side and it's alright for now I suppose. It isn't glamorous, but I'm happy to be working to be honest. I wanted to respond to your post because I found that cold calling and networking was the way to go for opening doors. I needed to talk to real people and build personal relationships. It took time and some surprisingly interesting opportunities opened up here and there. No one gave me a hard time about looking for work. I met a lot of people who were more than willing to take time out of their day to talk to me. It took a long time to get back into a full time role - about 6 months.
I also applied to a couple hundred jobs online but that approach didn't lead to much. The couple of interviews that I did get weren't even genuine. I deleted my LinkedIn account and never looked back.