What’s the key to landing the best computer programming jobs? It might be a coding bootcamp, if recent research is any indication.
Seventy-three percent of coding bootcamp graduates secure a STEM job after they graduate, according to a survey from Course Report. Those numbers offer a stark contrast with the 49.5 percent of engineering undergraduates and 49.2 percent of computer, math, and statistics undergraduates with bachelor’s degrees who land STEM jobs, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. That data also indicates 74 percent of people with a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field aren’t working in those professions.
Eighty percent of recent graduates from coding schools—sometimes called coding bootcamps—say the job they obtained after graduation is directly related to, and requires use of, the skills they learned during their coding training, according to the Course Report survey.
Coding bootcamp grads also say they experienced an average salary increase around 51 percent, and the average starting salary of a coding bootcamp grad is $70,698. The typical coding bootcamp student is nontraditional by college and university standards—they are 29 years old, have six years of work experience, earned at least a bachelor’s degree, and they have never worked as a programmer before.
Research shows 36 percent of coding bootcamp students are women, compared to undergraduate computer science degree programs, where women account for just 17.9 percent of students.
As coding bootcamps grow in number and in popularity, more aspiring developers see them as a viable option, due partly to their shorter duration and their targeted, real-world focus.