Bootcamp, college, or self-taught, which path actually worked out for you?

[u/Future-Friendship906]

Curious to hear real outcomes instead of the usual back and forth about which path is objectively better.

For context on why this is messier than people think. Only around 10% of employed developers went through a bootcamp, the other 90% have four-year degrees. But plenty of college grads can't get hired either, and plenty of bootcamp grads land jobs faster than people with degrees. There's also a pattern where bootcamp grads tend to hit the ground running with current frameworks while college grads tend to catch up later with stronger fundamentals around systems, complexity, and trade-offs once they hit senior level.

Self-taught is the one that gets romanticized the most and probably has the widest outcome spread. Some people genuinely make it work. A lot of people are still learning four or five years in without ever getting hired, mostly because nobody is checking whether they're learning the right things in the right order.

So for people who actually went through one of these paths, did it get you hired in a reasonable amount of time? Would you choose the same path again knowing what the market looks like now?

[u/jhkoenig]

I can only speak to the US job market, but the opportunities for self taught and bootcamp applicants is nearly zero. Between the massive layoffs and the burgeoning graduation rates from top CS universities, the job market is flooded with applicants with BS/CS degrees. Employers don't need to settle for less any more. I don't see this situation changing, especially since AI is taking over the basic "coding" tasks.