The leap of faith into a new career can be nerve-wracking. Even if you’re in a situation where you feel stuck and underappreciated, you may feel like there’s no guarantee that a new situation would be any better. Especially if you have to learn a whole new skill set to get out of your current job and into something else.
But even if you’re worried about taking the leap, you may already be showing signs that you’re ready for a new career in tech. A coding bootcamp like Tech Elevator can help you transform your potential into a more satisfying career with a higher salary.
We’ve previously discussed how the bootcamp is helping to make room for everyone in tech and shown you how its 90 percent job placement rate for graduates transforms lives on a personal level.
But, how do you know if you’re ready for a career change? If these five telltale signs apply to you, you’re capable of leaving your unfulfilling work situation and making the switch to a rewarding career in software development.
Tech Elevator’s full stack program provides a comprehensive and faster entryway into a tech career, along with built-in career support.
Take Tech Elevator’s Aptitude Test today.How Do I Know If I’m Ready for a New Tech Career?
If you feel like you’re stuck in a rut where you’re being undervalued, underutilized, and especially underpaid, a new career in software development can change that. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the United States to add almost 1.5 million software development jobs by 2029. Here’s how to know if you’re prepared to lock in your spot.
1. You’re a Problem Solver
You love figuring things out and optimizing solutions, even if they’ve been in place for years. You’re not satisfied with unanswerable questions, and you’re willing to work harder than most to find an answer. You can also take a creative look at problems that most people may not see.
If you want to test your problem-solving skills, Tech Elevator’s Aptitude Test is the perfect opportunity. This risk-free test is certified as unbiased and involves no coding whatsoever. Instead, you get to test your ability to think like a coder with logical challenges. If you do well on this test, you can move forward with confidence that you have the aptitude to succeed in a tech career.
2. You Want a New Challenge
Maybe you went to college and got a degree, but after a few years in your field, it’s starting to lose its luster. Maybe you never went the traditional higher education route, and you’re feeling like you could be doing more. No matter how you came to your occupation, you’re sitting at your job and dreading the idea of spending 20 more years in your field.
Learning to code is a great way to push yourself. Learning programming languages is a lot like learning a new language. There will be times where your communication isn’t perfect, and the machine you’re talking to won’t quite know how to handle your directions. Professional instruction can ease those growing pains, and though it’ll take years to master the language of your choice, the right educator can help you lay the foundation that gets you a junior-level job.
A coding bootcamp can also help you jump into a new career without a significant delay to your routine. In as little as 14 weeks, you can be on the path to a new career with an entry-level salary of around $63,226. Even if you decide to hold off on enrolling in a coding bootcamp, you can see how you like the process of coding with free options. It won’t be easy, but if you’re ready to commit, you can start a new journey.
3. You Think It’s Time To Get More
The COVID-19 pandemic has given a lot of workers a chance to reevaluate their work situation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in April 2021, about 4 million workers quit their jobs. Those 4 million workers represent the highest quit rate that the BLS has seen since it began tracking that statistic in the year 2000. So if you’re thinking it’s time to get a new career, you’re not alone.
Finding a new career means learning new job-hunting skills and forging new connections. Tech Elevator’s Pathway Program provides the connections that make the school’s outcomes so impressive. Students start reworking their resumes from the beginning of their time at Tech Elevator and continue with multiple career readiness sessions that include meetings with experts, alumni, and more.
By the end of the program, students attend events where they speak with several job recruiters from Tech Elevator’s hiring partners. These are companies that continually hire Tech Elevator graduates because they trust the school’s training and process.
4. You Don’t Want to Go Back To School
Maybe college just wasn’t for you, or maybe you’re worried about the rising costs and time commitment of a college education. After all, you’ll have to pay an average of $16,318 in tuition and fees alone each year if you’re working towards a bachelor’s degree.
Instead of spending around $65,272 on a four-year degree, you can spend $15,950 to start a new career in just a few months at Tech Elevator. And that’s only if you pay upfront. You can pay a $2,000 deposit and only pay the rest once you’ve landed a qualifying job under the new Tech Elevator income share agreement program. You can also finance your education with private loans, or shave off some or all of the cost with a Tech Elevator scholarship.
There are plenty of student-friendly financing options at bootcamps that can help you spend less time and money making a change. Your money shouldn’t hold you back from opportunity, and many coding bootcamps work with students to make sure that doesn’t happen.
5. You Need More Balance
You could find yourself working a job that takes all of your time and returns your hard work with too little money. Maybe you’re working a job that leaves you too exhausted to enjoy anything after you get off of work. A career in tech gives you more flexibility. You may find a job with a better work-life balance, or work on your own terms with freelance projects.
Whether you find a job instantly or decide to freelance, you can take your time back with a challenging, yet rewarding, new career. Because of the nearly boundless opportunity in this job market, you can afford to be picky and find a job that truly fits what you want in your life.
Why Tech Elevator?
We’ve discussed a lot of Tech Elevator’s appeal, but it may be better to hear from an alumnus who saw the signs that led them to a new career.
Clayton Stasenko has worked as a software engineer for multiple major companies including FedEx after graduating from Tech Elevator in 2018. But before he committed to the program, he was in a tough situation.
“I was a consultant for a software as a service company. I’d talk to people on conference calls all day who use our software,” Clayton said. “I realized that that was not a good fit for me. I was having panic attacks having to deal with the general public and was having a really hard time. I eventually ended up quitting that job outright. I spent a summer working in a hotel and decided to do Tech Elevator around the same time I quit that marketing job.”
Clayton is a problem solver, and before he got into his new career, it was causing him some issues at his job.
“Even though I was good at customer service and client service, I would really want to fix the problem every time,” Clayton said. “And a lot of those problems aren’t problems that can be fixed. So it was pretty tough.”
Clayton had worked with software in a limited capacity before he decided to attend Tech Elevator. He worked in client services for another software company where he regularly logged bugs and communicated with the engineers who fixed them. He was intrigued by the new challenges that they faced every day.
“During that time, I realized that I was really interested in knowing more about what was going on underneath the hood and what they were actually doing,” Clayton said. “I started asking around and started trying to teach myself. I made little bits of progress, but not necessarily that much.”
Two weeks before he quit his marketing job, Tech Elevator opened a new campus in his city, and he went to an open house to see what it was about. Eventually, he decided to take the leap and join the program. He enjoyed how intense it was, and the support it gave him as he began his new tech career.
“It was great. It was intense, but I did a lot of research on it, so I was expecting that,” Clayton said. “I was probably getting there at like 8 a.m. or so, sometimes a little before, sometimes a little later. I was staying until around 7 p.m. every day, so I was putting in a lot of work. Everyone was really helpful though.”
Clayton feels like his instructor, Tom Medvitz, helped make his journey much more manageable than his self-study had been.
“There were a couple of times, in the beginning especially, where I wasn’t necessarily understanding things,” Clayton said. “I would go see him and he would explain things to me and really take some time. I definitely credit that a lot, along with the time that I put in, to helping me get over the hump.”
The Pathway Program gave him the skills to nail the interviews he’s encountered in the years since graduating. It gave him a different perspective than his previous college career guidance—one that he felt was more helpful.
“I had done some of that stuff before, from when I was in college the first time,” Clayton said. “But it was really nice to get the refresher on that with more of a tech focus. Because when I did it in college, it was more general career breadth stuff.”
Since completing the program, Clayton says his life has improved drastically, and that he’s happy he took the plunge.
“It’s hard to even compare it to even be honest,” Clayton said. “My current career is leaps and leaps and leaps and bounds better than where I was at before. If you had told me four or five years ago that I was going to be here, I would not have believed you. I’m not going to downplay the amount of work and stuff I’ve done even since Tech Elevator to stay on top of things and learn new things to develop my skills, but it really put me in the right place to be able to get the opportunity to do that, to begin with.”
Clayton has found a better balance in his life and is far happier with both his compensation level, as well as his daily workload.
“I’m making quadruple what I was making before I was at Tech Elevator and I am not miserable every single day and so anxious that I don’t want to leave my house when I’m done with work. I do something that I find mentally rewarding, something that works with my personality type, and something that has a continual path for developing and growing into the role.”
Clayton showed every sign of being prepared for a new career in tech. He worked hard, took advantage of all available resources, and his effort has paid off. And you can do the same if you think that tech is right for you.
Follow the Signs: Start A New Career in Tech
If you’re a problem solver that wants a new challenge, or if you just want more money or a better work-life balance without going back to college, a tech career can help you accomplish those goals. And a coding bootcamp can be your ticket to this career.
“Take the plunge,” Clayton said. “Make sure you can make it work for your life situation, but if it’s something you’re thinking about and you feel like you might have the right kind of mindset for this and the time to give the bootcamp, I highly recommend it. It was the best decision I’ve ever made, bar none. Make sure that you pay attention to learning your fundamentals, and make sure you pay attention to the Pathway Program. I was doubtful, and it was a risk for me, but it was a risk that worked out really well.”
You can start your path to a new tech career by taking Tech Elevator’s Aptitude Test today.
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.
