Why Start-ups Should Consider hiring Bootcamp Grads

Having worked at CodeClan and employed many bootcamp grads in previous roles, it is always frustrating to hear companies overestimate the amount of work needed to support a bootcamp grad and underestimate the speed at which they can start to deliver value.

Bootcamp grads can bring a ton of prior experience along with a proven ability to adapt and learn at pace, all of which are invaluable in the start-up space. I'll go into more detail on how best to support bootcamp grads in another post. In this one, I'm going to stick with sharing the reasons why you should add bootcamp grads to your hiring plans.

Prior Experience

Bootcamp grads are typically career changers with on average, 7 years of previous work experience before they decided to retrain for a career in technology. This means they know how to function in a business environment, how to interact with a team and in most cases how to work independently. You're not going to need to hand-hold them through the world of work, like you might with a university graduate.

In addition, if you can find a bootcamp grad whose previous career lines up with your start-up's business, you're bringing in a wealth of domain knowledge as well as technical skills. It's an extra bonus if they're actually experienced the problem you're trying to solve and can bring market insights you may not have considered.

Adaptability

By the nature of taking and passing a bootcamp course, these people have shown their ability to learn quickly and adapt to new situations. They're used to change and they're used to having to learn new things so they'll have developed a resiliency and self-sufficiency that can be invaluable to a start-up. There are also plenty of bootcamp grads who don't see being a developer as their ultimate career goal. Many are after alternative roles such as product owner, business analyst, tester etc. So even if you absolutely require senior developers on your team, a good bootcamp grad may make sense for your wider team whilst still having the skill to pitch in on the dev work when it's all hands on deck for a release.

Diversity

Bootcamp graduates typically come from a wider variety of backgrounds than is typical of the tech industry. For instance CodeClan had a higher percentage of grads who were women and grad from minority ethnic groups compared to the wider Scottish tech eco-system.

It's long been demonstrated that more diversity in teams leads to increased profits for businesses. Bootcamp grads are a great way to add different perspectives and backgrounds to your team. If you can create a culture where their views are respected and listened to, then you can make use of their differing view points and lived experience to enhance your existing product and find new markets for your services.

Enthusiasm and Drive

Finally, don't discount the passion for technology and a career in tech that comes with having given up your job and career to retrain as a developer or data scientist. It takes guts, self-belief and plenty of drive to get through a bootcamp course and the graduates bring that with them into their new roles. They're excited to learn more, to grow their skills and to get stuck in writing code. Give them a bit of guidance and the space to grow and you'll reap the rewards.

To wrap up, bootcamp grads have a lot to bring to any role, but are often discounted from start-up teams due to their lack of experience, when in fact they can bring many much-needed skills and a different view-point that can contribute to your start-up's success.

If you'd like to discuss how to support your junior team members better, I offer product and technology leadership services to support start-ups and small businesses, including low-touch team leadership and management for technical teams.