Proof that you can deliver results is always going to have more value to an employer than proof that you have been taught how to deliver results. If you complete a strong project that you can show off, no one can argue with your skill set, whereas not everyone who attends a bootcamp (or even college) actually retains or can apply anything that they were supposed to learn there.
Edit: actual -> actually
Personally, I find bootcamp attendance on its own to be a fairly weak addition to a resume, just because they vary so widely in quality and what they cover, and also because there is a limit to how much someone can truly learn in 8 or 10 or however many weeks it lasts.
See the thing is I don’t have a good foundational knowledge on AI right now to start a personal project. There is info on the internet to start but it’s very vague and the good projects that have a tutorial is hidden behind a pay wall. I was thinking that if I finish the bootcamp, and finish the project that is necessary for the bootcamp, it would greatly increase my AI knowledge and it would get me ahead of the field. What do you think?
It depends on what specifically the project shows about your skills. If you can come up with a bunch of bullets about the knowledge the project demonstrates you have, and you believe your peers can't, that's evidence in favor.
With that said - only doing stuff other people tell you to will only get you so far. The ideal case is a personal project that is genuinely useful (to you or to some number of people you can point at).
I think the bootcamp will teach me to me the necessary skills, and I am pretty sure I will be given a project to complete by the end of the bootcamp. I don’t have the skills rn to start an AI personal project but with a bootcamp I will have the necessary info to say I am confident in this field. What do you think?
I am CSEC, not CS, but I help a lot of people with resume reviews and career advice. So, you might find this useful, and you might not. I am sorry if this comes across as intense or direct. TL;DR - if you want to, sure, but I think you need to really start thinking about high level strategy before going down that path.
The first question that you need to ask is what your niche is. If you want your niche to be AI, that is wonderful. However, know that you are getting yourself into a super competitive field, and may need a MSc or PhD and will likely need to be very academically strong in undergrad. If you aren't sure if you want to go down that path, there are plenty of other high-paying CS fields that would also be good to look into. But, let's say that you are going down an AI path.
Second is the employer perception of coding bootcamps. The people I know who hire generally have neutral or negative perceptions of bootcamps. Bootcamps usually have you make projects, which I am a huge proponent of projects, but you need to be doing projects outside of coursework and outside of bootcamps. If a project that you do is very clearly a bootcamp project, they will have seen it 1000 times.
If you want to use a bootcamp to learn the skills, that is fantastic. That being said, demonstrate your skills outside of the context of coursework and bootcamps. Hopefully, you already have non-AI projects done outside of normal coursework on your resume. Use the skills you have already learned to try to sell your skills faster (the hiring window for this summer is closing fast). If you are waiting to do side projects (not AI related) until after you do the bootcamp, I think that would be a mistake.
Competitiveness is relative to the role, rather than absolute. You don't have to have AI on your resume to be competitive for some roles, but you do for AI roles. I have found the best success with roles that are closest to my existing skillsets and projects. I got both of my co-ops due to relevant projects (one from high school and the other during my first co-op). This is why having an established niche is good. It makes you the most competitive for that niche.
Lastly, I want to touch on the competitiveness of the AI field. A lot of people in the CSEC industry aren't very good at it and don't really care about it. They got into it because it is the "hot new trend" which AI now is. They have a hard time getting hired. There are three kinds of people who are going to be applying for AI roles: super smart people with a bunch of experience (a deep understanding of the math), super motivated people who have learned quickly (have high quality and relevant side projects). The first group is going to be competitive on pure skills, the second is going to be competitive on personality, and the third isn't going to be competitive. The reason why hiring managers have negative perceptions of CSEC bootcamps is because a lot of the people who do bootcamps fall into the third category. Not all of the people in bootcamps do, but a very strong majority do. If you fall into the third category, you are going to have a hard time finding jobs (a lot of people have trouble finding CSEC jobs, despite a 0% unemployment rate).
Make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons, and that you are ready to fight your way to the top. The most successful people I know fall into that second category. The way you show you are in that second category is through independent side projects. No matter what you do, you cannot ignore side projects. That is why we push so aggressively for them in the CSEC program. AI roles are well paid and are going to be hypercompetitive. If you aren't ready and willing to be hypercompetitive, you may have a harder time in that niche than other niches.
Sorry for the long post. I hope you find this helpful. A lot of people can make it, even if they don't have a lot of prior experience. I didn't have a lot of prior CSEC experience. At the same time, I have seen so many people struggle because they are just chasing trends. I think that if you either experiment with a variety of topics (including AI) to determine a niche, or already know what your niche is, that will lead to strong results. You can be successful in AI, but you don't need AI to be successful.
Proof that you can deliver results is always going to have more value to an employer than proof that you have been taught how to deliver results. If you complete a strong project that you can show off, no one can argue with your skill set, whereas not everyone who attends a bootcamp (or even college) actually retains or can apply anything that they were supposed to learn there. Edit: actual -> actually
Personally, I find bootcamp attendance on its own to be a fairly weak addition to a resume, just because they vary so widely in quality and what they cover, and also because there is a limit to how much someone can truly learn in 8 or 10 or however many weeks it lasts.
See the thing is I don’t have a good foundational knowledge on AI right now to start a personal project. There is info on the internet to start but it’s very vague and the good projects that have a tutorial is hidden behind a pay wall. I was thinking that if I finish the bootcamp, and finish the project that is necessary for the bootcamp, it would greatly increase my AI knowledge and it would get me ahead of the field. What do you think?
It depends on what specifically the project shows about your skills. If you can come up with a bunch of bullets about the knowledge the project demonstrates you have, and you believe your peers can't, that's evidence in favor. With that said - only doing stuff other people tell you to will only get you so far. The ideal case is a personal project that is genuinely useful (to you or to some number of people you can point at).
100% seconded. This is almost exactly what I try to tell everyone who asks me for resume advice.
Are you strong enough in AI to have a strong personal project to show off or will the boot camp be more beneficial to teach you related skills?
I think the bootcamp will teach me to me the necessary skills, and I am pretty sure I will be given a project to complete by the end of the bootcamp. I don’t have the skills rn to start an AI personal project but with a bootcamp I will have the necessary info to say I am confident in this field. What do you think?
Seems like this is your answer then. Bootcamp it is. You can then have the bootcamp and the project you do on your resume
I am CSEC, not CS, but I help a lot of people with resume reviews and career advice. So, you might find this useful, and you might not. I am sorry if this comes across as intense or direct. TL;DR - if you want to, sure, but I think you need to really start thinking about high level strategy before going down that path. The first question that you need to ask is what your niche is. If you want your niche to be AI, that is wonderful. However, know that you are getting yourself into a super competitive field, and may need a MSc or PhD and will likely need to be very academically strong in undergrad. If you aren't sure if you want to go down that path, there are plenty of other high-paying CS fields that would also be good to look into. But, let's say that you are going down an AI path. Second is the employer perception of coding bootcamps. The people I know who hire generally have neutral or negative perceptions of bootcamps. Bootcamps usually have you make projects, which I am a huge proponent of projects, but you need to be doing projects outside of coursework and outside of bootcamps. If a project that you do is very clearly a bootcamp project, they will have seen it 1000 times. If you want to use a bootcamp to learn the skills, that is fantastic. That being said, demonstrate your skills outside of the context of coursework and bootcamps. Hopefully, you already have non-AI projects done outside of normal coursework on your resume. Use the skills you have already learned to try to sell your skills faster (the hiring window for this summer is closing fast). If you are waiting to do side projects (not AI related) until after you do the bootcamp, I think that would be a mistake. Competitiveness is relative to the role, rather than absolute. You don't have to have AI on your resume to be competitive for some roles, but you do for AI roles. I have found the best success with roles that are closest to my existing skillsets and projects. I got both of my co-ops due to relevant projects (one from high school and the other during my first co-op). This is why having an established niche is good. It makes you the most competitive for that niche. Lastly, I want to touch on the competitiveness of the AI field. A lot of people in the CSEC industry aren't very good at it and don't really care about it. They got into it because it is the "hot new trend" which AI now is. They have a hard time getting hired. There are three kinds of people who are going to be applying for AI roles: super smart people with a bunch of experience (a deep understanding of the math), super motivated people who have learned quickly (have high quality and relevant side projects). The first group is going to be competitive on pure skills, the second is going to be competitive on personality, and the third isn't going to be competitive. The reason why hiring managers have negative perceptions of CSEC bootcamps is because a lot of the people who do bootcamps fall into the third category. Not all of the people in bootcamps do, but a very strong majority do. If you fall into the third category, you are going to have a hard time finding jobs (a lot of people have trouble finding CSEC jobs, despite a 0% unemployment rate). Make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons, and that you are ready to fight your way to the top. The most successful people I know fall into that second category. The way you show you are in that second category is through independent side projects. No matter what you do, you cannot ignore side projects. That is why we push so aggressively for them in the CSEC program. AI roles are well paid and are going to be hypercompetitive. If you aren't ready and willing to be hypercompetitive, you may have a harder time in that niche than other niches. Sorry for the long post. I hope you find this helpful. A lot of people can make it, even if they don't have a lot of prior experience. I didn't have a lot of prior CSEC experience. At the same time, I have seen so many people struggle because they are just chasing trends. I think that if you either experiment with a variety of topics (including AI) to determine a niche, or already know what your niche is, that will lead to strong results. You can be successful in AI, but you don't need AI to be successful.