Why Students Stay On After Coding Bootcamp as Teaching Fellows—And How That Benefits You

As time at coding bootcamp draws to a close, many students find themselves wishing they could stay longer. Whether they’re stoked on the environment, want additional time to review the concepts they’ve learned, or feel the urge to give back, they’re compelled to apply for our competitive teaching fellowships.

Marshall Zobel, recent Fullstack grad, is one of those students. Marshall was a consultant in DC before attending bootcamp; he chose us because he wanted to learn full-stack JavaScript and, like us, he’s got no time for assholes.

Fellows Help New Students Transition…

Let’s get one thing straight: Fellows are not sticking around because they don’t have other options. Our grads aren’t hurting for jobs once they hit the job market; they’re staying on because they genuinely want to continue to be a part of our community.

Fellowships are a 13-week, paid commitment. You must interview and be selected, after which you are essentially a Teacher’s Aide functioning alongside the instructors. Your role as a fellow is to help students with questions, conduct technical interviews, work on code here at Fullstack, and offer emotional support to your assigned cohort.

Marshall relishes being part of the transitional time in a student’s life, a role he is accustomed to from his time as an orientation leader in college. No matter what the students are wrestling with, comparable feelings are fresh in his mind since he’s just gone through it himself, so Marshall is able to truly empathize and offer constructive counsel.

…And Reap Their Own Set of Rewards

Though they’ve completed the 17-week immersive, fellows don’t technically graduate until they finish their fellowship. This bit of bonus time can be used to a fellow’s benefit in a number of ways.

Like another grad told us, it’s important to have a strong personal website in order to illustrate your skills and interests to potential employers. Marshall is building exactly that—along with surveying potential jobs and further tweaking his capstone project, an AR reality game.

He feels well primed for his future job. Having the chance to code on Learndot, our teaching program, has given him insight on working in a professional coding capacity. And the tech lingo is rolling off his tongue easier these days, as he becomes increasingly adept at chatting about programming.

Marshall can also debug code more readily, because he’s been in charge of quickly solving students’ problems and removing obstacles in their way. And he’s surprisingly equanimous regarding the job interviews that are surely on his horizon after graduation—acting as the mock interviewer with students has actually reduced his anxiety when it comes to being on the other side of the table.

Marshall recently closed the door on his chapter as a fellow and started his job search in full force, and he’s optimistic about where he’ll land next. He’s especially delighted to add the capacities of “mentor” and “teacher” to his resume, neither of which would have been possible without his fellowship.

Marshall is far from the only alum who’s loved being a teaching fellow—Jamie Lau and Kevin Ho also both stayed on to support the next cohort. We work hard to create a community that students want to continue investing in, and these grads make us feel like we’re the lucky ones.