While COVID-19 hasn’t managed to wipe out the rideshare and delivery driving business, it surely has made it riskier, as well as more difficult. Because of that, many drivers are looking around for new career opportunities.
If you’re among them, and the right opportunity came along, would you be tempted to drop driving for a new career?
It would have to be something worth taking a shot at. It would need to deliver on the financial side, and not require that you spend a lot of money and time to get started. It would need to be an in-demand and marketable career. And of course, you’d want it to be challenging and enjoyable.
What kind of career would offer all that and make it worth giving up driving, or at least putting driving on the back burner while you get up to speed with a new career?
The answer: coding.
Coding bootcamps are extremely popular now. For many reasons, a growing number of drivers view coding as a career that can get them out of the driving and delivering rut in these tenuous times. In this post, we’re going to look at the pros and cons of coding bootcamps from the point of view of a driver. Here’s what we’ll cover:
- What coding bootcamp is
- Why drivers might want to consider coding bootcamp
- The benefits of bootcamps
- The not-so-great aspects of bootcamps
- Is bootcamp worth it?
What coding bootcamp is
Does the word “bootcamp” make you break out in a cold sweat? Don’t worry, it’s not that kind of bootcamp. You won’t have to prove your physical prowess or report for reveille every morning before dawn.
Being in coding bootcamp can be an intense workout for your brain, though. It is a high-intensity, fast-paced program that teaches students how to write programs, analyze data, and provide security for websites and apps.
At coding bootcamp, you’ll learn about the field of development. This will teach you about creating and supporting software-based platforms that are used by corporations, governments, and nonprofit organizations. By the time you’re done with coding bootcamp, you’ll have learned enough to get a job writing apps, curating user experiences, analyzing data, and ensuring the security of websites and apps.
Coding bootcamps give you specific, job-related skills. Instructors don’t focus on the broad view or history of the field you’re training to enter. Rather, you get down to the business of learning computer languages and trying your hand at creating programs right away.
Bootcamps last anywhere from three to nine months, depending on what you choose to study. Some bootcamps are full-time, but others are part-time, so you could still drive and make money while you’re going through training.
For the most part, coding bootcamps are conducted online—and this is not due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many bootcamps have always been online, so any program you enter now won’t differ from what it was before March 2020.
There might be occasional class meetings, but they are mostly for social and networking purposes. Now, even these are conducted online, so you’ll still be able to interact with your classmates if your bootcamp includes group projects or gatherings.
Why drivers may want to consider coding bootcamp
The most obvious reason for drivers to consider coding bootcamp is money. While there’s still a possibility to make good money driving, getting into the development field is going to pay a lot more. The right bootcamp can make a huge difference in your life.
Let’s look at one example: Kenzie Academy
An especially popular bootcamp, Kenzie is designed for people from all walks of life. You don’t have to be a lifelong geek or rocket scientist to succeed, and the academy respects the experience you’ve already had in your work. After all, who could be a better designer for an app’s screens or user experience than someone who uses apps all the time?
In a bootcamp like Kenzie, you’ll find support for your desire to make your life better with a new career. Bootcamp training is intense, to be sure, but it’s designed for people who want to go from zero to sixty fast, and get to a more prosperous place in life.
Bootcamps might sound too good to be true, but an estimated 80 percent of people who attend them land a job in their field, with median salaries around $66,000. You’ll have to pay for your tuition, of course, but it is much more affordable than what you’d be charged to get a degree at a four-year college.
A fabulous advantage of this type of program is that coding jobs are comparatively secure. You can get full-time work with a company that pays benefits such as health insurance, unemployment compensation, and paid vacation.
If you’d prefer to keep working part-time, that’s possible too. You can put in a limited amount of hours with a company, or you might even work out of your home as an independent consultant. That allows you to choose your own schedule, and decide how much work you can handle based on your home, family, or other responsibilities.
Now, we’ll look at some other pluses of attending coding bootcamp.
The benefits of bootcamps
Bootcamps aren’t the only way to get into the development field. You could go to a four-year university and study computer science or website design. You might also attend community college and get some of the skills that could lead to a job in coding.
However, if you enroll in a bootcamp like Kenzie, your education is streamlined. Here are just a few of the benefits of bootcamp training over college or university schooling.
- Flexible hours: You won’t have to sit in a classroom during set times; rather, most programs allow you to work from home. Although you may need to attend a class from time to time. This leaves you time to keep driving, and earning money, if that’s what you want to do.
- Short program duration: Unlike a long-term program at a college or university, bootcamps range from as short as three weeks to 48 weeks. You can even take self-paced courses and stretch out your program for as long as is practical for you.
- Job-oriented skills development: You’ll waste little or no time learning anything besides what you need to know to get a job in your chosen field. There are no language courses, electives, or any other requirements other than your full attention to developing your coding and other skills.
- Career assistance: Most bootcamps offer guidance about available careers, and some even assist you when it’s time to get a job. Many bootcamps have an urgent incentive to get you into the workforce … they won’t collect tuition from you until you’re actually employed.
- Networking: Other students can be a great resource for job leads, including those you attend with and those who attended before you. This is a good reason to lean toward a bootcamp that lets you interact with the other coders in your community.
- Reasonable cost/Flexible plans: No training school is cheap, but coding bootcamp isn’t outrageously expensive; the full cost can range from $7,800 to $21,000. There are loans, of course, as well as Income Sharing Accounts (ISAs). These programs allow you to pay a certain percentage of your income, once you get a job in the field, until your tuition is all paid off. Some also have deferred tuition, which allows you to hold off paying until after you’ve been working for a certain time period.
As the old saying goes, “There’s good and bad in everything,” and that’s the case with bootcamps. In that spirit, it’s wise to look at all aspects of these programs, including negatives as well as positives.
The not-so-great aspects of bootcamps
While most people who attend coding bootcamps give them positive reviews, there are some negatives to consider before you invest your time and money in one of them.
- Financial commitment. Even though bootcamps are much less expensive than the cost of a four-year college degree, they still aren’t cheap and can cause a financial strain for drivers.
- Time commitment. There’s no doubt that you’ll be dedicating a lot of time to bootcamp, for your classwork as well as the projects you’ll be required to develop.
- Lack of fundamentals and theory teaching. The job-specific skills that coding bootcamps focus on don’t always give students the background they need to understand the big picture. This can be a problem when on-the-job experiences, or even job interviews, wander into theoretical territory.
- Skill limitations. Bootcamps strive to be cutting-edge, so they typically teach modern programming languages only. This can create challenges for graduates because not all companies are state-of-the-art, and older website designs or apps might be written in older languages that bootcamp grads can’t code in.
- Exaggerated promises about job placement and networking. Schools will say they’ll hold your hand through the process of securing a high-paying job, but in many cases, you’ll still have to do much of the legwork. The same goes for networking. You are likely to find that an independent spirit is required to find the kind of job you wanted when you first decided to enroll in bootcamp.
Is bootcamp worth it?
Only you can answer that for yourself. But keep in mind …
Even if you go through bootcamp and decide you don’t want to work full-time, you’ll have valuable skills that you can always use. If you find it too technical for you to do 40 hours a week, you can finesse a way to use those skills for a career in marketing or social media advertising.
But if you really take to your new coding career, and you’re willing to put in the effort it takes to find the right job and get on a great professional path, the investments you’ll make in bootcamp can definitely be worth it.
And remember, as a driver you always have the option of driving part-time, while you’re studying, and also if you decide to work as a part-time coder. With these considerations in mind, we think it’s definitely worth your while to try coding bootcamp.
Before you do, though, we have a few suggestions:
- Read about coding to learn what it really is, and what else coding bootcamps teach;
- Assess your skills, and be realistic about how well you think you’ll do at coding;
- Be honest about the time commitment, and take a hard look at whether you have the time to devote to bootcamp;
- Make sure you’re self-motivated so you don’t fall behind;
- Be pragmatic about the financials: Are you certain that you can handle the costs?
To learn more about coding bootcamps, check out this article by Course Report, which provides a comprehensive and impartial list you can use to begin your search. We also advise that you look closely at Kenzie Academy, because we know that one of their highest priorities is helping drivers like you make your life more rewarding and prosperous.
Kenzie caters to drivers
When you make the commitment to bootcamp, it’s important that the one you choose is geared toward someone like you. Here are some reasons why Kenzie Academy is a great choice:
- Simple, easy to understand programs: Kenzie offers web development, software engineering, and UX design;
- Choose how long to attend: Programs are six or nine months long;
- Both full-time and part-time programs: Even the full-time programs leave time for driving if you wish to continue to earn while you learn;
- All online classes: No need to visit campus, and long-established experience with online format;
- Job guarantee for User Experience (UX) students: Kenzie sets you up for a future-proof career, meaning one that’s unlikely to be obsolete;
- Personalized attention from instructors: Small classes and career coaching;
- Fully accredited program;
- Solid alumni network.
For all these reasons and more, if you want to make a move from your driving career into the exciting field of coding, web design, and development, a great bootcamp like Kenzie Academy is well worth your consideration. They know what you need to be successful, and they want to help guide you into a rewarding, challenging, future-proof career.
