About six months ago, I knew I needed a change.  I had a MBA, but the only business related jobs seemed to be in sales. Coding had interested me for some time, but I knew nothing about it.  I bought four books on the subject and dove right in.  It was actually a “For Dummies” book that introduced me to the debate between self-taught and coding bootcamp methods for learning code.

The best way I can describe the difference between self-taught and bootcamp is to compare it to physical fitness.  I hate workout videos.  The goal is to mirror the guy on the TV, with no one to ensure you have the proper form.  This is how I felt teaching myself to code.  A bootcamp provides important keys to coding, help setting up your environment, and an extra set of eyes for debugging code.  The “gem of the day” offers shortcuts and features to improve the function of our projects.  Also, like a gym membership, a bootcamp gives you a class full of people in the same boat as you.

Tech Talent South provides more than in-class training.  They encourage a real life side project, that the instructors offer to help you debug every day during office hours. The Google calendar provided by TTS has all the tech related events in the city.  And they have gone with us to such events, including New Orleans Entrepreneur Week and Hack Night.

The weekly speakers, who are often Tech Talent South alum, provide information of their new tech projects and advice on getting a job in the tech industry.  It’s been only a few days since I graduated from the program, and I already have an interview with a guest speaker’s company.

I recommend a coding bootcamp if you think coding is a good fit for you.  And I recommend Tech Talent South if you think coding is a good fit for you and you want an introduction to the coding community and a jump start to finding a career.