When considering a career in Software Engineering, there are typically 3 paths that an individual can take. They can either join a coding boot camp, a vocational style "training school" designed to give them the skills they need to get a job as a programmer, they can take the traditional route of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science, or they can "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" and teach themselves how to code. If you are considering these three options and want a balanced take based on my personal experience as well as the job placement and annual earnings data, then read on.
How I became a Software Engineer
I was sitting on the patio of my cousin's backyard, sipping some soda. It was a hot summer day, and he had just put his kid down for a nap. I was a young 19-year-old with a passion and desire to turn my hobby of making personal websites into a professional career. So, I asked him, "Should I pursue a bachelor’s degree?" After all, my cousin had obtained a bachelor’s degree at a university, went the traditional route, and was an accomplished software engineer at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. But what he said surprised me. "You don't need a bachelor’s degree." He said. "I wished I hadn't spent years and so much money obtaining a degree. Nowadays companies don't even require a bachelor's. Ford is one of the last companies to require a bachelor’s degree for their applicants." To him, a company requiring a bachelor’s degree was antiquated and didn't reflect the current climate of the tech industry. After all, coding was a skill, it's not like a doctor or a Lawyer, where the educational institution was responsible for harboring that knowledge. No, coding is different. You could browse the vast arrays of tutorials on the internet and given enough time and technology, one could teach themselves how to code. But I still felt like I needed some kind of credential or educational experience to put in front of an employer.
The Bootcamp Route
I took my cousin's advice and opted for a bootcamp. However, I had heard stories of aspirant Software Engineering students taking a 3-month bootcamp, getting placed at a tech job, and discovering that 3 months of coding school wasn't enough to prepare them for their role. Some of which were even dismissed from their first Software Engineering role because of it. I didn't want that to happen to me, so I opted for a sort of middle-ground option. I attended Kenzie Academy's 1 yearlong "bootcamp"; I use quotes because Kenzie didn't want to associate with that label. To them, they were more like a vocational school and the length of the course was a distinction that separated them from a more traditional coding bootcamp. I attended from October 2019 - October 2020. The school was in Indianapolis, but I attended remotely via the Metro Detroit Area. After 12 months of schooling, 4 long months of searching for a job, submitting over 400 applications, and working with my career advisor, she directed my attention to an organization by the name of Firefly Integrations in Middlebury IN. Firefly was looking for new entry level grads to join their engineering team, and they had caught wind of Kenzie down in Indianapolis. She passed along my resume, as well as a letter of reccomendation to them, and I was called shortly after for a phone interview.
How I Got My First Role
I didn't think I did fantastic on the phone interview, after all, I had been pretty rusty, since it had been months since I had done a job interview. But to my surprise, they scheduled another interview, this time over zoom. I crushed the interview, and completed their coding assesment as well. There was just one problem. Their coding assesment was given to me on a Thursday, and they expected it on Monday. I only had a few days to complete it, and I was scheduled for a whole weekend of shifts at my retail job. I knew I wouldn't have time to build the calculator app that they wanted by myself. So I followed a YouTube tutorial, being careful to code along with it instead of copying and pasting any of the code. I sumbitted it over the weekend and recieved a response from the Lead Engineer. He said he had scanned my code and found it on a repo! I was mortified! Was he thinking that I merely plaigurised somebody else's code, hastily copying and pasting it? I thought after that point, my chances of getting the job were slim. I linked him the video of the tutorial and explained myself; that I was coding along to it and didn't copy and paste, as well as the time crunch that I was in. He was surprisingly understanding. He gave me one more chance to prove myself. He wanted me to do some "extra-credit" features so that he could see some code that I would write. "some Paul code" he called it. So I added some features like color schemes and a history of computations and submitted my work. I didn't hear back for a while, and then I got the call. I was rejected. It was devastating. After 4 long months of job searching, I got so close to getting my break-out role, but it didn't pan out. But, you might be wondering, if you have seen my experience, then you know that I do work at Firefly. So what happened? Well about a week and a half later, I recieved another call from the HR person. They asked me if I still wanted the job. Of course I answered yes. I recieved my offer letter, and began to pack my stuff up to move 3 hours away to Indiana. At so many points, it seemed like I wasn't going to make it, but now I confidently believe that God opened a door for me. When I arrived at Firefly, I learned that another Kenzie grad that I worked alongside was hired instead of me. He beat me in that final round of interviews. However, they decided they needed more engineers anyway, so of course I was the next in line. By relentlessly submitting applications and working with a career placement advisor, I was able to start my career in Software Engineering with a "bootcamp" school. And 3 years later, I can say that I was ready for that role and now excel at it! Although, I always wondered if more opportunities would open up if I did pursue a Bachelor's degree.
The College Route
After I graduated, I remember sitting in a zoom call with some of the other Kenzie alumni that were in my cohort. We all took turns showing our resume to the career advisor. Her job was to help each of us tailor our resumes in a way that would help us land our first Software Engineering job. Then she asked each of us a question. "How many job interviews have you had so far"? Most of us had gone weeks, or even months without landing a single interview. Then one student spoke up. "I have about 3-4 job interviews a week." I couldn't believe it. I didn't understand how this student seemed to get so many job interviews and the rest of us did not. Then later, I found out he had a master’s degree in computer science. I didn't ever find out his full story, but from what I had heard, he obtained a master’s degree in computer science, but took the Kenzie Academy course because he still needed to sharpen his coding skills; he didn't feel like he was ready yet for an enterprise level role. Undoubtedly, that credential on his resume gave him a big boost. It was the difference between getting 1 job interview a month, and 3-4 a week. Sure, it is possible to become a Software Engineer without a degree, but there is no denying that at any level of experience, an applicant will always receive a boost if they have a degree in Computer Science. But the question remains, is it worth the cost and time?
Placement Rates and Cost for University Alumni vs Bootcamp Graduates
On average students can expect to pay $163,140 for an entire 4-year bachelor’s program for computer science. (Source A). However, the average cost of a coding bootcamp is around $13,579, (Source B), with most bootcamps being around 12-20 weeks. So, the bootcamp is 4 magnitudes less time spent at the school, and more than 10 times cheaper. But does the additional cost of the bachelor’s degree make up for it by providing higher salaries and higher placement rates? Looking at the placement rates, 4Geeks Academy, a popular bootcamp has an 81% job placement rate for their graduates within 6 months, and Bloom Institute of Technology, formerly known as Lambda School, was 90%, with 57% of their graduates receiving a job offer within the first 90 days of their graduation. (Source C). It seems these bootcamps have very high placement rates, and with numbers like 81% and 90%, there is no need for college to outdo them. On the college side of things, University of Maryland reported a 96% placement rate for the class of 2023 (Source D), and Michigan State University reported 91.8% for their graduates (Source E). While the Universities have slightly higher placement rates, it hardly justifies the additional cost and time investment. Let’s look at the salaries and decide if that makes more of a difference.
Starting Salaries Comparison
"The data shows that while coding bootcamp grads do earn slightly less on average than entry-level software engineers in most major cities, the difference is not huge – generally in the 5-15% range. And bootcamp grads‘ salaries are higher than the overall city averages for all occupations." (Source F). Bomberbot compared different cities and their starting salaries for Entry Level Software Engineers and found that the difference was not substantial. But there is more to this story. "CS degree holders tend to have an easier time progressing into higher paying roles like software architect or engineering manager later in their careers. Fewer bootcamp grads end up in leadership roles." (Source F). I think this rings true for my personal experience at my company as well. Of all the individuals that ended up in leadership roles, only one did not have a bachelor’s degree, and that person stepped down from their role to focus on programming. But why? I think the answer is simple. The Computer Science Degree holders had more experience and knowledge from the 4 years of traditional schooling. Firefly contained engineers of all 3 types, some self-taught, some bootcamp graduates and some degree holders. But the degree holders got a head start early in their career, because they had more knowledge and skills that the other programmers would take years to accumulate. That head start often meant that they knew more, could solve more advanced problems, and naturally ended up in those roles. The bootcamp graduates and self-taught programmers would and often do obtain those skills, but it takes them longer.
The Self-Taught Route
It's difficult to get specific data on the self-taught programmers and their job placement rates, however I would surmise that this path would be the most difficult. It's not impossible, but I think the strongest factor that will get a self-taught programmer's foot in the door is having a strong resume, portfolio, and knowing the right people. At the small company I work for, 2 programmers were self-taught. One programmer had a family member that worked in the company, and that connection helped them get into the company, and another was local to the area and simply applied. Since the area is not known for being much of a technology sector, and the company was just starting to expand its engineering team, there wasn't much competition for the role at that time. Searching for those opportunities and networking can land you a job, even if you don't have any educational background.
Conclusion
While CS Degree holders have higher starting salaries and higher placement rates, the difference is not substantial enough to warrant the cost and time. However, I don't think that should stop anyone from pursuing a bachelor’s degree if they want to. The experience of gaining 4 years of knowledge and experience in a classroom setting is invaluable and will greatly strengthen any programmer's knowledge and experience. If you decide to go the route of college, do it because you want to learn and have fun with the coursework, not because of salaries or placement. While bootcamp grads will pay less for their education, and get into the industry faster, they will earn less, and it may simply take them longer to land their first role. Where I think the CS degree holders have the edge over the bootcamp grads on, is lifetime earnings. The jury is still out on whether bootcamp grads will earn substantially less than their CS degree counterparts over the course of their careers, but, it seems likely. Having a traditional and solid foundation in education will always give a software engineer a boost, no matter how much experience they have. While it may not make the difference in getting hired or not, it will over time, cause that degree holder to possibly attract higher paying and more lucrative offers.
Sources
- (Source A): https://www.coursereport.com/blog/are-coding-bootcamps-worth-it-in-2025
- (Source B): https://www.bestcolleges.com/bootcamps/find-bootcamps/cheap-bootcamps/?
- (Source C): https://www.bestcolleges.com/bootcamps/find-bootcamps/job-guarantee/?
- (Source D): https://www.cs.umd.edu/article/2024/09/umd-computer-science-graduates-secure-96-job-placement-rate?
- (Source E): https://www.careers.egr.msu.edu/computerscience?
- (Source F): https://www.bomberbot.com/career-advice/coding-bootcamp-vs-college-grad-salaries-in-2024-analyzing-the-data/?