Booting Up: Recent Episodes
Rod Danan
The live show where we talk to Bootcamp Grads & self-taught techies working at the best companies. You'll learn about how to get your first job and how to stand out once you get there. Every episode is filmed live on our YouTube channel where you can ask guests questions yourself. For more career resources, join our community of bootcamp grads at prentus.co/bootcamp-grads.
Podcast hosted by Rod Danan, Founder and CEO of Prentus.
The most inspirational episode of the season with Charity Garcia who is a Software Engineer at The New York Times and graduated from Fullstack Academy in 2017.
1:32 What her plan was before diving into tech
8:43 The fateful car crash that set her back
14:02 How to learn with a weakened memory
18:50 4 hour commutes to Fullstack every day
21:20 Why giving up was not an option
23:23 Starting her job search with a kid in hand
27:53 The secret that got her 10 job offers
31:55 Finding the mentor that propelled her career
35:33 Biggest surprise of the first year on the job
38:14 Leaving Toast to start her second job
41:56 What she works on at The New York Times
45:45 Informing POC about opportunities in tech
49:18 Final questions
Follow Charity on Twitter and Instagram at @charinreellife or find her on LinkedIn! She's always happy to help.
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RSVP to this event to get a reminder and please SUBSCRIBE to the channel! To listen to the podcast after, go here:
https://BootingUpPodcast.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/boo...Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod Looking for a community of 100s of bootcamp grads? Join our Discord at https://prentus.co/community
Vivek is a Senior Software Engineer at UserLeap. He first spent 3 years in Technical Sales at Texas Instruments before joining Hack Reactor. Then, he joined the startup WorkSpan and became a manager in just 3 years. Listen in to gain some secrets to level up your career.
6:08 Selling to startups in Silicon Valley (environment is key!)
12:04 Surrounding yourself with people that will lift you up
18:28 Bootcampers are always extra motivated
21:07 The process of landing a first job
27:14 Startups the perfect fit for career transitioners?
35:56 How an old relationship led to his first job
41:29 The BIGGEST factors in getting promoted to manager so quickly
46:28 What he looked for when hiring junior engineers
51:56 Why he left management to code again
54:50 Final Questions
Find Vivek on Twitter or LinkedIn if you want to hear more from him!
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RSVP to this event to get a reminder and please SUBSCRIBE to the channel!
To listen to the podcast after, go here: https://BootingUpPodcast.com
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/bootingup
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod
Looking for a community of 100s of bootcamp grads? Join our Discord at https://prentus.co/community
Laura Weaver started at Hack Reactor and has worked at Yelp & Slack. Her latest venture is at an exciting new startup called WhatNot. Some of the things we dived into include:
8:24 Why she chose the bootcamp route to get into tech
11:56 Freaking out coming out of bootcamp
13:40 iOS is harder than web development?
18:26 Searching for iOS jobs vs. Web Dev jobs
22:46 Why companies actually hire junior devs
25:32 The key to gaming the job search
27:16 Joining an unstructured startup within Yelp
33:41 Leaving Yelp because of it’s stock
37:03 Interview process for second job at Slack
44:25 Dealing with bug reports from the CEO of Twitter
45:38 Returning to startup world at WhatNot
51:07 Unique tactic for dealing with impostor syndrome
Follow Laura on Twitter to stay updated on her latest work.
PLEASE throw us a REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new! ------------------
Follow us on LinkedIn for all our events & tips: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-up
Or Twitter works too: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod
Join our community of bootcamp grads on Discord at: https://prentus.co/community
9:21 How to get support from manager on transitioning into tech
14:40 What the QA role is like
19:05 Lessons of the first year as a Software Developer
23:49 Interview process after a cold DM from Google recruiter
26:37 How she prepared for the technical interview
31:24 Life at Google vs. working at a startup
36:35 Learning new languages on the job
39:30 How work changes when you go remote
43:17 Game plan to get hired out of a bootcamp today
44:52 What to do in your first year as an engineer
Follow Danielle on Twitter to stay updated on her latest work.
PLEASE throw us a REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new! ------------------
Follow us on LinkedIn for all our events & tips: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-upOr Twitter works too: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPodJoin our community of bootcamp grads on Discord at: https://prentus.co/community
Jessica Gaddis is a Product Designer at Twitter that taught her way into the field. She worked at Netflix and did some pro-bono work too. Listen in on her secrets to learning:
6:30 How she discovered product design and started learning
13:38 Why she didn’t go to a bootcamp (but still used one)
19:28 Getting experience without a job
22:38 Product design is impossible without collaboration
23:56 Real-life design is different from those listicles
29:45 Process for kicking off her job search
33:14 The structure of tech company’s like Netflix teams
38:16 Finding peer mentors to make the first year easier
45:50 Difference between designing internally vs. for clients
52:40 What she would do if she was trying to break into product design today
54:35 What designers need to do in their first year of their career
Follow Jessica on Twitter to stay updated on her latest work.
PLEASE throw us a REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new! ------------------
Follow us on LinkedIn for all our events & tips: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-upOr Twitter works too: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPodJoin our community of bootcamp grads on Discord at: https://prentus.co/community
Skye Free went from sociology and sales to tech. It wasn't easy but she did some freelancing with a heavy lean on her network. Listen in for how she did it:
11:04 - Starting off her career as a freelancer
22:21 - What were her multiple roles in her first company
26:12 - How is it to be a women in an engineering position
30:46 - Biggest factor in staying in a company for a long time
37:40 - Difference between working in a small or a big company
43:41 - How important networking is and taking care of your mental and physical health.
Follow Skye on Twitter to stay updated on her latest work.
PLEASE throw us a REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new! ------------------
Follow us on LinkedIn for all our events & tips: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-upOr Twitter works too: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPodJoin our community of bootcamp grads on Discord at: https://prentus.co/community
Ryan Jones founded a startup called Pixbi in 2015 and realized that tech was the way. He enrolled in Hack Reactor engineering program and then worked his way into a Product Manager role. Learn how you can wiggle your way into Product Management – no matter what bootcamp program you did.
4:57 Getting pushed down the “safe” finance path
10:36 How his startup came to start
18:08 The decision to shut down the startup
20:48 Why he chose Hack Reactor as his first post-startup step
24:49 Start a company vs. bootcamp to break into Product Management
32:54 The interview process for PM roles
38:52 What he looks for when hiring PMs on his team
43:00 How developers and designers can make their PM’s life easier
48:17 How he would land a job if graduating from a bootcamp today
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn to stay updated on his latest work.
PLEASE throw us a REVIEW and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new!
Follow us on LinkedIn for all our events & tips: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-up
Or Twitter works too: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod
Join our community of bootcamp grads on Discord at: https://prentus.co/community
Abhi Bhattacharya went from graduating CareerFoundry’s UX Design program to Product Designer at Facebook. Along the way, he made stops at CARFAX, Capital One, and other companies which gave him unique insight into how different design teams work. If you want to know what UX Designers do, listen in.
7:57 Getting his feet wet in UX
18:30 What is Design Thinking?
26:11 How the UX role works at different types of companies
30:44 Breaking down UX designer interviews
36:42 Design systems mean you don’t need as much UI skills
41:00 Giving back as a mentor at CareerFoundry
Connect with Abhi on LinkedIn to stay updated on his latest work.
PLEASE RATE the episode and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new!
Follow us on LinkedIn for all our events & tips: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-up
Or Twitter works too: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod
Join our community of bootcamp grads on Discord at: https://prentus.co/community
Chloe Condon is a Senior Developer Advocate at Microsoft and graduated from Hackbright in 2017. She got pushed into tech by accident but has now helped to touch so many lives. Hear her story and lessons in this fun episode.
8:08 How a random talk pushed her into tech
18:20 Why diversity of opinions matter in building products
21:20 Authenticity helped make her Twitter famous
31:53 Applying bootcamp learning to multiple things
34:31 The lows (& highs) of searching for her first job
41:40 Don’t settle when choosing your first job
44:34 What does a Developer Advocate do every day?
47:42 How streaming has democratized information sharing
Follow Chloe on Twitter (@ChloeCondon) to stay updated on all the stuff she does for untraditional techies.
PLEASE RATE the episode and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new!
Follow us on LinkedIn for all our events & tips: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-up
Or Twitter works too: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod
Join our community of bootcamp grads on Discord at: https://prentus.co/community
Raymond is currently a Senior Software Engineer at Tubi. He started at Flatiron School and moved his way through working with Will.I.Am, working for $300 a month in Ecuador, and a host of other gigs. We dive into a ton of interesting topics around bootcamps and learning like:
11:00 - Switching to a new career path
17:20 - Starting a bootcamp
19:44 - A better way to teach
28:15 - What it means to be a great student
37:46 - The downside of bootcamps
49:45 - Difference between being a junior or a senior level
54:19 - Best way to present yourself in an interview
Feel free to connect with Raymond on LinkedIn or Twitter (@rgan0).
PLEASE RATE the episode and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new!
________
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-up
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod
Looking for a community of bootcamp grads? Join our Discord at https://prentus.co/community
Despite getting a Bachelors's in Biology from Stanford, Samuel never went into that field. Instead, he played squash professionally until 2017 when he decided to enroll at Thinkful. He leveraged his network to get a shot at a Twitter job and snagged a position with his hard work. Listen in on what happened during the first years and lessons you can learn from him.
7:02 Why he chose Thinkful to learn software engineering
12:35 Starting at Thinkful
16:23 Mindset of being a bootcamp grad
19:04 Landing an interview with Twitter
23:06 First year in a new job
27:50 Going from solo projects to giant teams
33:15 It's ok to ask for help
35:40 Biggest difference between Year 1 & Year 2 of being a dev
PLEASE RATE the episode and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new!
________
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-up
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod
Looking for a community of bootcamp grads? Join our Discord at https://prentus.co/community
Clement Kao is a Product Manager at Blend and Co-Founder at Product Manager HQ. He's one of the smartest people in the Product Management field. Some topics we go over in this episode include:
- What is Product Management?
- How he accidentally became a Product Manager
- How to level up once you get your first job
- The inspiration behind launching & growing Product Manager HQ
- What Product Managers WISH developers and designers knew
- His gameplan if he were job searching today
- Overcoming impostor syndrome to publish 3 books
Feel free to connect with Clement on LinkedIn or Twitter (@ClementKao1). For more product management tips, check out www.productmanagerhq.com where his articles are posted.
PLEASE RATE the episode and SUBSCRIBE if you learned something new!
________
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/booting-up
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BootingUpPod
Looking for a community of bootcamp grads? Join our Discord at https://prentus.co/community