Jonathan Kim, a would-be US software engineer, began his job search over 50 weeks ago, tracking his efforts on a spreadsheet. He applied for more than 600 software engineering jobs. Six companies replied. Two gave him a technical screening. None have made him an offer.
That was not the plan when Kim paid nearly US$20,000 in 2023 for an intensive part-time coding boot camp he thought would equip him to land a software engineering job.
“They sold a fake dream of a great job market,” said Kim, 29, who works at his uncle’s ice cream shop in Los Angeles while continuing his job search. Without a college degree, he believes his chances are low, but boosts his résumé by contributing to open-source software projects.
“I see so much doom and gloom throughout everything,” he said. “It’s hard to stay positive.”
It began eliminating the kind of entry-level developer roles that boot camps have traditionally filled, in what has been dubbed one of the fastest job shifts in any profession ever.
