After all the problems with GoSchool, or actually after what happened after Go Live (December 2020). I formed a Batch 1 group chat with my classmates, and shortly thereafter. Some of them dropped out of the course as they had found a job, thats when I started sending out my Resume and applying for jobs. I was lucky that a Tech recruiter found me on LinkedIn for my current job. The intervew was blazing fast, from the time the intervew was arranged to the day they offered.

During this short span of period, I've managed to pick up so many skills that joining a bootcamp or a course like GoSchool will never be able to cover at all. Maybe other bootcamps would have covered, but the one that I joined did not even mention about it.

So what did I learn?

Let me try to list it out:

• Frontend Stuff

  1. Redux
  2. Redux Sagas
  3. Indepth use of Hooks.

• Backend Stuff

  1. microservices
  2. Automated Testing

• Full Stack Stuff

  1. Builder pattern
  2. Rails based structures
  3. Scalable architecture
  4. Concurrency methods
  5. Building a mock API server for Testing
  6. Docker / Kubernetes / Nginx
  7. Manipulating the database on Docker

• Other Stuff

  1. Kinsta / Wordpress
  2. Agile

Its a pretty long list, and its not as simple as it is written. But thats the gist of what I managed to pick up over the course of a month, I'm really happy being able to learn from my Senior Developers. All of them have so much knowledge and expertise, that I feel I've only scratched the surface of what it means to be a Developer.

The journey has been bittersweet so far for me, whilst I've managed to make the career switch. Many of my peers are still stuck and unable to find a job, it feels like the Government and News agencies are over-hyping the IT industry for mid-career switchers/professionals. The lukewarm responses from the companies is very evident, because I've encountered many rejections, so what if the News reported that this company is going to hire 400 more people into tech jobs? Its just a marketing gimmick to get some coverage. It does not benefit any career switchers/professionals as they are looking to hire fresh graduates only.

Also most "junior/entry" roles are asking for stuff, which are I feel is not realistic at all. How can a junior/entry role have 2-3 years of industry experience, and know a tech stack that requires years of using the technology to be even close to the standard? This could just be my own perspective on things, and I definitely cannot judge this industry with just what I have experienced so far.

However, none of this matters, as whatever that was learnt in "school" will have to be re-learnt to fit to the production code standards. And that's when you sort out whether this person is able to code well enough or not. Don't be so quick to want to contribute to the code to determine your self-worth, try to find out how each portion of the code is linked instead. Once you familiarise with the codebase more or less, then start working your way upwards with small simple tickets.