It is true that it is never too late to start. I might also add that getting a job in tech is a numbers game.

I retired at the age of 51. A year and a half later I picked up a book on JavaScript programming from the clearance table at my local Barnes & Noble Bookstore. I spent two months working through the book and completing every example. I was hooked. At that moment I decided I wanted to become a programmer.

The traditional path of attending four years of college to get a Computer Science degree was not a viable option. At my age, I was not interested in giving up the next four years of my life to become a college student again.

Attending a Coding Bootcamp

Luckily for me, coding bootcamps were becoming more prevalent as an alternative to getting a Computer Science degree from University. I researched and found out that one of the highest-ranked coding bootcamps in the United States was starting an online version of its curriculum. I applied and was accepted into the 5th beta cohort.

I finished the three-month coding BootCamp in June 2015. As I already had 30+ years of work experience I had no problem with a fully-filled two-page resume. Most of my classmates in the BootCamp had zero to less than two years of work experience. This made my resume stand out compared to theirs.

My Job Search Process

Two weeks before I graduated from my coding BootCamp, I send resumes to apply for jobs. I also talked to six recruiters and decided to leave my resume with three of them. Several of the larger companies in my city only accept candidates that are referred from their approved list of recruiters so applying directly will guarantee that your resume will not be seen by the hiring manager. Three days before graduation the recruiters started sending my resume out to their client list.

From the two weeks prior to graduation to two weeks after graduation, I sent out 84 resumes to apply for local jobs. The recruiters sent my resume out to an additional 23 companies. In a one-month period, I applied to 107 jobs.

Interviews

Two weeks after graduation I started getting phone interviews for about a dozen positions. These resulted in 8 on-site interviews. I did not get past the first on-site round from three of these companies but I did get second-round interviews with five companies!

Of these five companies, two did not offer me a job. But three did offer me a job!!! Now I had a choice to make. Of the three job offers one involved driving 25 miles each way to the office. And in Atlanta traffic, this meant one to two hours each way of commuting. This offer became my third option because of this.

Choosing the Best Job Offer

Now I am down to deciding between two offers. Most people say you should start negotiating between the two companies. Let each company know. you have another offer and see if they will raise their salary offer to you. I did not do this for two reasons. The first reason is that I did not feel comfortable doing this.

The second reason is the coding BootCamp advertised the average starting salary for graduates is $105,000. That sounds enviable to get a six-figure salary after just studying for three months. But that is for a wage in San Francisco, CA and I live on the other coast in Atlanta, GA. According to the CNN Money cost of living calculator, a salary of $105,000 in San Francisco is equivalent to earning $56,780 in Atlanta.

My lowest job offer from these two companies was way above that amount. So even without negotiating, I was set to make tens of thousands more than any of my classmates.

One job offer was from a local startup that had been voted one of the ten fastest growing startups in Atlanta for the past two years running. This job had a higher job salary and included stock options. Stock options do not guarantee you any future income but they might.

The other job offer was from a Fortune 100 company that was founded here in Atlanta and had international name recognition. The salary was slightly lower and did not include any stock options. But the benefits like insurance, daily meals, commuter cards, 401k match, and PTO were greater.

After much consideration, I decided to pick the lower salary with the greater benefits. The job offer was with CNN at a starting salary of $80,000. As you can see from the chart below I was earning on average almost $45,000 more than my coding BootCamp classmates.

It is a Numbers Game

Getting your first job in tech is a numbers game. Here is a summary of my job search to get my first job in tech:

• 107 job applications
• 12 phone interviews
• 8 on-site interviews first round
• 5 on-site interviews second round
• 3 job offers