Next week I’ll be attending a 14-week software development bootcamp in Columbus, OH. I have no professional IT experience, and expect to have a full-time job as a software developer when I finish in April. I have a bachelor’s degree in business, and recently quit my sales job with a Fortune 300 dental distribution company. I was never completely unhappy with sales, but I’ve always had the itch to work in technology. I’m writing this blog to spread awareness about careers in tech, and share my personal bootcamp experience.

It’s Sunday following my first week of Tech Elevator’s coding bootcamp.

We started the first day with introductions and administrative information, with a short lecture in the afternoon. Starting the second day, we got straight to coding, with homework exercises and reading each night. The daily format at Tech Elevator is a lecture from 9am to 12pm, lunch from 12 to 1pm, followed by coding exercises for the rest of the day. It’s really important to soak in everything from the lecture, because if you don’t, you’ll spend the rest of the day, and night, trying to understand the concepts.

It’s the Sunday following my second week of Tech Elevator’s .NET coding bootcamp.

As I expected, the course material got a little more difficult this week. We dug deeper in the C# language, learning about things like string manipulation, class creation, namespaces, and encapsulation. While the first week focused mainly on syntax and basic programming logic, we’re now taking a step back to learn about the design of complete programs. These topics will allow me to break projects into smaller, more executable pieces.

It’s Tuesday following my third week at Tech Elevator. Week 3 added complexity to the coursework, but it continues to get more interesting! We learned about concepts in Agile Software development and Object Oriented Programming (OOP).

In addition to the coursework, Tech Elevator provided a couple of events to help the students’ career searches. On Monday, they hosted four senior software developers who gave us industry advice, and told us about their experiences. Then on Tuesday, executives from a company called Improving Enterprise bought everybody lunch and presented us with information about their company. After the presentation, we were encouraged to mingle with the executives. These meetings are called ‘showcases,’ and Tech Elevator will host eight of them throughout the bootcamp. Each company who hosts a showcase will be part of Tech Elevator’s ‘matchmaking events,’ which are like the job interview version of speed dating.

Today is the Sunday following my 4th week at Tech Elevator’s coding bootcamp.

The 4th week is known to be one of the most challenging times at Tech Elevator. We finished our focus on object oriented programming, then worked on a ‘Mini Capstone’ which combined the skills we learned in the first four weeks. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we learned about exception handling, how to make our C# programs read and write to basic files, and topics like thread safety, buffering output, and garbage collection. On Thursday we were assigned the Mini Capstone project, which was to be completed in pairs by Monday.

Today is the Sunday following the 5th week of Tech Elevator’s Spring 2017 coding bootcamp.

This week we started learning about databases. Databases are a fundamental piece of the IT puzzle; they allow us to store and change information in safe, secure, and efficient ways. Databases are created and changed using a computer language called SQL, which stands for Structured Query Language, and is pronounced like the word ‘sequel.’ Most database environments use SQL, and universal SQL Standards are set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

It’s the Sunday following my 6th week of Tech Elevator’s Spring 2017 coding bootcamp.

This week was a challenge. On Monday and Tuesday we learned how to connect databases to C# programs and write integration tests to ensure functionality. This will allow us to create programs which interact with databases; pulling, entering, or changing the information. On Wednesday we discussed object oriented design concepts like dependency injection (DI) and inversion of control. We finished off the week with our second ‘Mini Capstone’ project which was assigned on Thursday, to be completed by Monday.

It’s Sunday following my 7th week in Tech Elevator’s .NET Coding Bootcamp. This week we began studying the ASP.NET Model View Controller (MVC) Framework.

Model View Controller, or MVC, is a design format for modern websites. When we started learning about it, MVC made my head spin because it was difficult to understand how each piece interacted with one another. But once we dug deeper in class, it all made sense.

It’s Sunday following the 8th week at Tech Elevator’s 14-week coding bootcamp.

This week we dug deeper into the ASP.NET MVC framework. The career-prep component of Tech Elevator is ramping up, so we spent a lot of time job-seeking for after the bootcamp. We learned about HTTP requests with the Post/Redirect/Get (PRG) pattern, sessions, server side validation, and we touched on automated testing with Selenium. Last week I explained how Model View Controller (MVC) works, and how the ASP.NET MVC framework relies heavily on libraries and convention.

It’s Sunday following the 9th week of Tech Elevator’s 14-week coding Bootcamp in Columbus, Ohio.

This week we finished our course on the ASP.NET MVC 5 Framework. We studied automated testing and worked on our third ‘Capstone’ project. In addition to the school work, I’ve put a lot of time into my job search and worked on my own ‘passion project.’ Completing the course on ASP.NET MVC is a major benchmark in the bootcamp. I’m now able to develop fully-functional web applications using the MVC design pattern; if you’re not familiar with MVC, read back to Week 7.