Introduction To Coding Bootcamp Experience
“Modern problems require modern solutions.”
In deep adherence to this, tech-innovative came up with the idea of Coding boot camp. A Coding boot camp provides an ingenious and vying atmosphere so that the problem-solving enthusiasts can showcase the best of their skills.
A Coding Bootcamp aims at optimizing a solution to the maximum extent such that it consumes the least space and time.
The solutions written by candidates are evaluated by the mentors and improved by them. A continuous evaluation of a student’s performance is done, to keep them on their toes. Apart from this, webinars and workshops are organized so that candidates can explore numerous domains and know about the latest technology events.
A lot of candidates have bagged lucrative placements via Coding boot camp, the best part being, you pay after getting a job.
Hear out the success story of Harsh Agrawal, an 18-year-old Indie Game Developer, a college dropout & a Software Developer who pursued Coding Ninjas Career Camp & Machine Learning programs and got placed in Avalara with 10LPA.
He is like all of us, grew up in India, in its hard-set ways and conservative mindsets. But unlike us, he defied so many of them and still continues to defy them. His story is the one that sets new paths and inspires all of us to be more practical, smart, and driven.
At the age of 13, Agrawal started making games, at 15 he learned his first programming language, and at 18, he got placed at an IT company during the first year of his college (Amity University). He dropped out later and is currently working with Avalara with a package of 10 LPA.
Let’s take a sneak-peek to his success story.
He started making games when he was in 8th grade. “I loved playing video games and the prospect of being able to make my own games was very exciting. Therefore, I started researching more about them and slowly learned to build my own games. It took me two years to become comfortable with the vocabulary and basics of game development in Unity,” he said.
Since the beginning, he was persistent in not spending time in college and instead wanted to start working. “To complement the traditional teaching methods with significant practical exposure, I was looking for a professional course of coding and that is when I came across Coding Ninjas Career Camp program on Instagram,” he informs.
After having a detailed conversation with Coding Ninjas Co-Founder and Faculty, Ankush Singla on Slack.
“He, unlike most people, understood my viewpoint and even supported me. He was kind enough to make an exception for me and after an aptitude test, he let me enroll in the Career Camp Programme,” explains Agrawal with glee.
Sharing his experience at Career Camp, he mentioned that the course started-off from the bare basics to immense rounds of practice on recursion, basic Data Structures (Linked Lists, Queues, Trees, BSTs) to Advanced Data Structures (Priority Queues, Graphs, etc). Full-stack web development was also part of it that covered HTML, CSS, JS, and MERN which was covered in great detail.
“The course teaches you concepts and methodologies in a span of six months, which an average student would learn in three years. The course is beneficial for students who are serious about it and want to give 100% dedication,” he exhaled.
Agarwal’s most liked features were:
- The course payment which starts only when your job starts
- Excellent quality of video lectures
- A substantial amount of quality questions after each topic for practice
- Regular tests to keep you on track
- An active and energized community of students and faculty on Slack
- Frequent webinars with faculty and industry mentors/experts
- Round the clock assistance by the Teaching Assistants
- Industry mentors to solve queries and take mock interviews
- Active placement cell to assist you in resume building to keep you posted about the latest job opportunities
Career Camp, is a coding boot camp in which you are taught programming from scratch and are guaranteed a job of a minimum of five Lakhs per annum.
“This is a great opportunity for computer science students who are about to graduate to learn to program and get assistance in placement. Also, it is ideal for people from other industries who are looking to transition into the tech industry. I was extremely happy with the course because it helped me to land a job as an 18-year-old with only 2.5 months into the course. I passed the interview round of the first company that I appeared for that came for placement,” he said.
He further explained that during Avalara’s interview there were four rounds in which the first round was a test on HackerRank. It comprised five questions that they had to solve in two hours.
- A string representation of the data in which he had to tell the percentage of the year that passed.
- In the other one, a list of TV channels was given in which some channels were blocked and the other channels had to be watched in sequence. He had to tell the minimum no. of button presses to view all the channels.
- In the last question, there was a deck of cards and the ace was at the bottom. A person shuffles the cards according to some given rule in which he had to return to the final position of the ace.
The second round was a personal interview in which he was asked questions from his CV, his perspective, and questions on SQL.
The third round was a technical round which was held virtually from Pune in which he was asked to propose his approach and coding process for coding questions followed by the fourth was the HR round.
He made the following 2D and 3D games that are available on GitHub.
- Pattern Mania: It is a 2D game aimed at a young audience to teach basic cryptography like Atbash, ROT13 ciphers, and mathematical patterns by giving different and challenging problems in the form of different levels.
- Dino Run: It is a 2D infinite runner game loosely based on the Chrome Dino game. Players need to make the highest score possible by continuously avoiding incoming obstacles.
In addition, he has made three other games and self-published at Google Play Store and has also presented a game pitch at Replay Gaming Fund by Alok Kejriwal when he was in 12th grade. Besides gaming applications, he has extensively worked on Python and Web Development projects.
Agrawal boasts prestigious certifications in Scientific Computing, Python, Web, Development, and Game Development from international universities.
Sharing his future plans, Agrawal states,
“Currently I am pursuing a Machine Learning course from Coding Ninjas and would want to work in the industry for a few years to strengthen my technical skills and become financially independent. However, the gaming industry in India is at a very nascent stage compared to the IT industry, so in the future, I wish to invest in it.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Coding bootcamps are fruitful for students who require to focus on a specific skill only. Employers usually acknowledge these programs optimistically but at the same time seek accountability. Coding bootcamps aren’t regionally or nationally accredited. A coding bootcamp cannot replicate the curriculum of a computer science degree.
Referring to the latest survey report by Course report, out of 3,043 graduates, we observed that a coding bootcamp graduate earns an average of $69,079, with a median salary of $65,000. It is not that the beginning salary is impressive, rather it also comes with a 56% salary increase in comparison to an alumni’s pre-bootcamp salary.
No, experience is needed before joining a coding bootcamp. But, at the same time, it is highly recommended that you go through some coding tutorials before enrollment. Any applicant should at least know what coding is actually like and are confident that they really want to embrace a career as a software developer.
The bootcamp courses are intense. You don’t just learn how to code, but you also learn how to think like a web developer. The main task is to think of a relevant approach towards a given problem.
This completely depends on the bootcamp. Typically, the difficulty level of any bootcamp depends on the subject taught and the duration of the program. Unless a bootcamp is made a bit challenging, it can’t improve the student’s performance.
Follow these tips to survive a bootcamp code:
1. Tenacity
2. Stay Goal-oriented focus
3. Always solicit questions from your mentors
4. Stay attentive
5. Meditation and mindfulness increase retaining capacity
6. Take scheduled breaks.
7. Don’t let stress bottle up; be straightforward if you feel anxious.
Remember, learning is a slow and successive process. Do not pile up tasks at once.
No, coding bootcamps are quite cost-effective and come with a few really impressive and pocket-friendly clauses, such as:
1. It allows students to pay after getting a job.
2. Students can even pay the fees in instalments.
3. Students can choose to pay nothing upfront and pay after placement.
4. If students are not able to get a job higher than the minimum offer guarantee, then they are not liable to pay anything at all.
Key Takeaways
Summing up, Harsh has been accredited as a remarkable developer because of his dedication and determination. There are numerous students out there who have a passion for Software Development but aren’t able to focus on their upskilling because of multitasking or ambiguity.
Do sign up for a coding boot camp, if you wish that your skills are duly recognized by the employers and you aren’t merely deemed as a college drop-out.
The best part about a coding Bootcamp is that they allow you to pay after the placement course.
Not just training, Bootcamp also provides mock interviews and soft-skill development opportunities for candidates.
Coding Ninjas offers a helping hand to students, by updating the terms of the Ninjas Career Camp – “Launches “0 upfront cost, 0 security deposit or registration fee“.
Pay only when you land a job!
By Vidhi Agarwal
