College + Bootcamp, differentiate yourself further

Your degree + Real-world tech skills = A recipe for career success.

 

The tech industry is no longer the only industry that requires tech experience.  With the insanely fast, nonstop evolution of AI and all things tech, employers are looking for more than a degree these days—they need real-world skills, hands-on experience, and proof that you can learn and adapt quickly to keep up with the tech evolution.

 

This post is sponsored by General Assembly and written by Sarah Sarah St Laurent and Zac Otzelberger.

 

Make your degree stand out with real-world skills

 

A college degree is extremely valuable, and is still a requirement listed on many job descriptions—but if you want to really stand out, tangible skills are where it’s at. 

 

Adding a short course or bootcamp on top of your college degree can really make a difference in your job search. Our tech programs at General Assembly are designed to immerse you in real-world scenarios and teach you the practical skills to produce portfolio projects you can use to demonstrate that your job readiness is higher than the average college graduate. Having these skills in hot topics like data analysis, UX design, and software engineering will give you—and your resume—a competitive edge.

 

Plus, continually adding new skills to your toolbelt, like the 1,907 grads on our LinkedIn page showing “artificial intelligence” as a skill in their profile, shows future employers that you’re ready to take on new challenges. 

 

Not quite sure where to start? Test the waters in a free class. These are two-hour webinars where you can show up in your pj’s—we won’t see you or hear you. But we will give you two hours of live instruction, with optional hands-on participation, in hot topics like generative AI, Python, UX design, and data analytics. Or take your beginner skills up a notch in one of our two-day evening workshops—a low-risk, low-commitment way to learn a new skill and get your foot in the door of industries like AI, data, and design.

 

What exactly is a bootcamp or short course?

 

We’re so glad you asked—we love talking about our training programs. Here’s a quick breakdown of our bootcamps and short courses:

 

Our bootcamps in UX design, data, and software engineering are 420-hour immersive training programs that prepare you for a full-time role in that field, including completing three to five projects for your portfolio. Every bootcamp includes a support team from beginning to end, and bootcamp grads have access to our exclusive career services to help them land a job.

 

A short course, on the other hand, gives you a resume-boosting 40 hours of hands-on practice with in-demand skills like product management, web development, Python, and UX design—to name a few—that you can start applying to your work, or education, right away. Plus, a final project to showcase what you’ve learned.

 

How to fit a bootcamp or short course into your schedule

 

Are you a rip-off-the-band-aid kind of person? Or do you prefer more of a slow, steady pull? Either way, you’ve got full-time and part-time options when it comes to working a bootcamp or short course into your schedule.

 

Bootcamps

• Full-time bootcamps are basically like having a full-time job. Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. for 10–12 weeks. These are a great option for a gap year, or a “bonus quarter” after undergrad.
• Part-time bootcamps are meant to fit into your existing schedule, with just two days a week of live lectures over 32 weeks. They include self-paced content, dedicated project time, access to 1:1 support whenever you need it, and a catch-up week between each unit.

 

Short Courses

• Full-time short courses are a quick and effective 40-hour week. Monday–Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., with final project presentations on Saturday. They’re perfect to fit into holidays or summer breaks.
• Part-time short courses are just four hours of live classes a week, split over two weeknights, for 10 weeks. These are meant to fit into your existing schedule, and involve some solo work outside of class.

 

Don’t have time for any of the options above? We’ve still got you covered. Check out one of our six-hour workshops, where you’ll spend two evenings, live with classmates and an expert instructor, learning the basics of in-demand skills to give you a solid starting point to grow your tech skills.

 

Worried about landing a job? Not here.

 

So once you’ve learned the skills, the idea is to get a job, right? 

 

Arguably the best part about our bootcamps is that you have access to exclusive career services from day one to help you with things like networking, resume building, interview prep, salary negotiation, and so much more. We’re here to make sure you’re prepared and on track to land the career you deserve.

 

It’s important to mention, access to career services is only available for our bootcamp students, but that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten about our short course and workshop students. You’ll still have access to our massive global alumni network of over 67,000 tech professionals. 

 

Real success stories from real people, just like you

 

We could spend all day telling you how great our programs are, but we’ll let our alumni take it from here.

 

Hear from David, who left a job in healthcare to enroll in our Software Engineering Bootcamp and is now happily working as a Cybersecurity Engineer. Or maybe Barbara’s story will resonate with you—she felt stuck going through the motions until she found our UX Design Bootcamp, and you can now find her at JP Morgan as a UX Researcher.

 

These are just two examples from our massive alumni network, who, according to their reviews on Course Report, think their experience at General Assembly was definitely worth it. Could it be worth it for you, too?

 

Start your tech skill journey

 

Working with our Admissions team isn’t like your typical college application process. Our specialists work with you to test and learn which tech course is most aligned with you and your goals.

 

Whether you’re just looking to learn new tech skills, or you’re interested in pursuing a tech career in UX design, data analytics, or software engineering, connect with us to learn more. Make sure to let a parent or guardian tag along, too—they’ll be a great resource in helping you decide if one of our tech training programs is the right addition to your education journey.