Many aspiring career changers have fears and doubts when breaking into tech. Among others, some believe they lack the abilities to pursue meaningful and exciting careers in such a big and dominant industry. What if we told you you could gain the skills and knowledge to join a tech company as a developer or a data scientist and jumpstart your tech startup from scratch?
Le Wagon bootcamp provides educational opportunities that help drive successful career transitions into tech. Here, we take a close look at how Le Wagon addresses its students’ biggest fears when entering the industry. We also sat down with two Le Wagon alumni to hear how their lives have changed since graduating from the bootcamp.
Le Wagon bootcamps seek to transform the lives of their graduates by closing the skills gap and helping them build confidence to launch their careers in tech.
Join the next cohort!Challenges with Starting a Tech Career and How to Overcome Them
The tech industry can be an intimidating sector for career starters and career switchers given its fast-paced development and increasing demand. There’s also the fact that tech professionals are often portrayed as archetypal nerds in mainstream media, leading many to believe that one needs to be a genius to break into tech.
Below, we uncover the biggest obstacles that you might face when starting your tech career and how Le Wagon bootcamp can help you overcome them. Having reskilled more than 15,000 students, Le Wagon knows how to address the challenges of career changers and help them thrive in tech.
Fear of Failure
If you’re looking into making your way into tech, chances are you’ve asked yourself countless times whether you’re making the right choice or whether you’re even cut out for the industry. Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Whether you’re just starting your professional career or giving up your old one to transition into a whole new career, it’s only normal to feel scared. You might be worried that you won’t be able to live up to the expectations of your new role or afraid of leaping into a new career only to regret it later. While these fears are understandable, it does not have to bring a halt to your career plans.
How Le Wagon is addressing it
For many Le Wagon students, it is a revelation to find out how much they can learn in nine intensive weeks (full-time) or 24 weeks (part-time) of the bootcamp.
Le Wagon’s Web Development course equips career changers with all the essential skills a software developer needs to create web applications from scratch. Le Wagon’s Data Science course, meanwhile, teaches everything a data scientist needs to know to solve real-world problems using AI and machine learning.
Besides closing the skills gap, Le Wagon builds confidence in students by creating an environment where it is okay to fail. Students receive instructor support throughout the program and are encouraged to help each other. Thanks to team projects and numerous networking events, every student of the school feels a sense of belonging to the Le Wagon global tech talent community.
Having No Time to Go Back to School
If you’re an adult learner, focusing solely on education might be a tall order as your attention divides between commitments to your community, family, friends, and job. The inability to make time for learning new skills can often make adults put off career change.
How Le Wagon is addressing it
Le Wagon offers multiple formats of tech education. If you prefer to reskill in a short time, the school has designed full-time programs in web development or data science. In just nine intensive weeks, you will learn fundamental tech skills to help you land your first tech job, work as a freelancer, or create your tech startup. To stay on track with the full-time program, expect to commit at least 40 hours every week to your studies.
Alternatively, you can opt for Le Wagon’s part-time web development and data science programs. The part-time schedule makes room for a job, family duties, other commitments, and more time for self-studying.
You also have an opportunity to choose to study on one of the 41 campuses worldwide or online.
Not Getting a Positive Return on Investment
Bootcamps serve as a fast and more cost-effective alternative to a computer science degree for many people changing careers. However, many aspiring bootcamp students worry if tech bootcamps are sufficient to get you a job in the industry.
How Le Wagon is addressing it
Le Wagon provides robust career services to drive student success. To help alumni launch tech careers, the Le Wagon Career Services team collaborates directly with 200 hiring partners. According to the school’s website, 15,985 alumni have received job-search assistance from Le Wagon through career fairs, networking gatherings, and one-on-one coaching sessions.
A whopping 93 percent of Le Wagon alumni have either accepted a job offer, started a freelance career, or founded tech startups after graduation. On average, the bootcamp reports that it takes 34 days for graduates of Le Wagon European campuses to launch their careers. Below, we will highlight some of Le Wagon’s alumni’s most significant career transitions.
Le Wagon Alumni Biggest Career Changes: Before and After
Samuel Rasetti: From Customer Support to Data Analyst
Samuel Rasetti has always been interested in tech. This passion led him to familiarize himself with different programming languages and engage in web-related activities, like project management, affiliation, quality, and support. However, without a proper tech education or background, he didn’t have the confidence to pursue a tech career. He found himself working as Customer Support for a crowding platform.
Samuel shares, “…I was close to 10 years of working in customer support positions…It was not [how I wanted my career to progress]…Tech was a passion of mine, so I decided to learn Python and data science as a hobby.”
Samuel’s motivation to transition into his dream role inspired him to look for a bootcamp that can equip him with the necessary tools and knowledge. And this is what he found at Le Wagon.
Upon hearing about Le Wagon’s Data Science bootcamp, he joined the first-ever cohort in Montreal. He describes the program as challenging but beneficial. In his words: “The training I received from Le Wagon prepared me to work with teams of different experts. I became highly efficient in finding solutions to a variety of problems.”
Every day, like clockwork, students attend an hour of lecture and work on exercises that mimic real-world problems for the rest of the day. With close guidance from Le Wagon’s team, Samuel completed the bootcamp and successfully transitioned into tech.
“By the end of the bootcamp, Le Wagon organized a career week…It immensely helped us as we transitioned into the job market. They also organized events for alumni to share experiences,” says Samuel. Le Wagon also taught him how to build his portfolio and keep his skills sharp through practice while applying for jobs.
Samuel now works as a Data Analyst for a Montreal-based mobile video game company. He shares that his responsibilities revolve around creating in-depth analyses and dashboards that aid several departments in their decision-making process. In the end, Samuel has landed the perfect role to start his tech career.
Karine Bialobroda: From Art Director to Startup Founder
Karine Bialobroda started her career in the world of art, later becoming an art director. As her portfolio grew, she had the chance to work on web designs for several organizations, serving as her first brush with the tech industry. Eventually, she found herself scouring for web developers who can breathe life into her creative concepts down to a tee.
She shares, “Having no network in the tech industry, I struggled to find developers who understood the impact of my designs…I wanted to go deeper into programming to understand the whole aspect of it.”
Taking matters into her own hands, Karine enrolled in Le Wagon’s online Summer Coding Program.
At the time, Le Wagon was the only bootcamp offering programming courses in Paris. It was the bootcamp’s beginner-friendly yet immersive learning experience that sealed the deal for Karine.
All-around support was also provided by the mentors and through pair programming where students work with each other on projects. Karine says, “I love that I can stop by Le Wagon to meet other students and teachers. We also have a Slack community where we can share industry trends and job opportunities and meet other community members worldwide.”
After completing her training, Karine took advantage of the lack of web design agencies in Paris and founded her own, Poulpe.
She explains that her Le Wagon bootcamp experience elevated her career. “I can communicate what I want with my web developers, design product interfaces, and understand the needs of their users. [My decision to enroll at Le Wagon] brought me a life-changing experience,” says Karine.
Turn Your Dreams Into Reality
Since its inception, Le Wagon’s commitment to bringing cutting-edge education to career shifters and tech beginners has not wavered. Such made it possible for Samuel, Karine, and thousands of other graduates to pursue their dreams and land fulfilling roles across the globe.
While making a career shift can be a frightening journey, it doesn’t have to be with Le Wagon on your side. Aside from well-designed curricula, the bootcamp fosters a tight-knit community of learners, alumni, and mentors you can count on.
Join the next Le Wagon cohort and successfully transition into web development or data science.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
