Nearly 1 year after completing a bootcamp, I got hired!

[torpid bear]

It's tough out there. Really tough! I completed a bootcamp back in December 2022 and found no-one was interested after every application came through as a rejection. That's where I found scrimba, and then decided to get myself a mentor. I worked with him for 7 months refining my JS and React knowledge as well as backend in Node, Express, MongoDB, and MySQL. I had SO many interviews where I got to the final round only to be rejected once again(I'm talking like 7 or 8). I lost my job and I was starting to feel really really low, like I was doing this for nothing. Alas, I persisted and ended up with 2 job offers, 1 full stack and 1 front end. I opted for the front end and start next week!

Don't give up! Your time is close.

[zenith spear]

That's really nice @torpid bear . Congratulations 🥳 Eager to learn from your journey.

[delicate panther]

How did you find a mentor?

[white stream]

@torpid bear Congrats for persevering, that is an amazing achievment!
Where did you find a mentor, do you mean that she/he was part of the Scrimba team? Curious as I feel I could think of a mentor at this point 👍

[torpid bear]

Not part of scrimba. I asked a guy on LinkedIn how he did it, and he sent me a link to Mentor Cruise. Looked for what I needed and signed up. It can cost a pretty penny, but it's been so worth it

[torpid bear]

I paid for one on a site called Mentor Cruise

[white stream]

Thanks a lot, I'll check it out. I am in Norway where everything is very expensive, so that might not be totally awful after all 🤭 Congrats again for the job 🌞

[proper swan]

Congratulations dawg, it really feels great to hear that you finally got what you wanted 🙂

[urban warren]

congrats!!👏

[vapid crest]

This is really inspiring, congrats with what you've accomplished! I was wondering, when applying to these jobs, did you also study LeetCode or was it all just web dev skills?

[spiral patrol]

Congrats and good luck in your new job!

[torpid bear]

No leetcode, but the interview process may be different in other counties

[tacit flame]

Congratulations @torpid bear . So in your opinion, what was missing from the bootcamp you took in 2022 & then scrimba? I mean, what were maybe the top 3 things that the mentor helped you with, that you felt the bootcamp did not address? Thinking of getting a mentor of my own, but looks like the rates are pretty expensive, so want to be sure. Also, do you retain the mentor on a long term basis or was it a 1 month/short stint only?

[torpid bear]

Thank you! It was the 1:1 support to be honest. When we first started, he set me tasks to do (small projects) to see what I knew/my struggles and then we started on my main project. Anything I was stuck with, he helped and pointed me in the right direction. The whole you don't know what you don't know thing, and obviously when first getting into the industry, you don't know a lot! In interview prep he helped a lot with potential questions, and if I had an interview with a question cone up that I didn't know the answers to, we would go in depth about it.
The mentor was ongoing, so it was basically up to me when we stopped, which is when I got my job. However once I'm more settled in this job, I am going to go back to him as a way to try to build my skills up to mid level as soon as I can.

In the bootcamp it was very fast paced and not a lot of explaining why. And obviously with a lot of attendees, there wasn't really any 1:1 support as they just didn't have the time or man-power.

[torpid bear]

It's expensive, mine was nearly £400 per month, but I believe it would have taken me so much longer and i wouldnt be as knowledgeable if I hadn't used him.