An internship after a bootcamp: why not everyone gets in

What an employer sees

Bootcamps produce graduates in cohorts, and everyone in a cohort has the same projects built from the same handbook. Employers recognise them instantly: the same shop, the same structure, the same code.

That doesn't make bootcamps useless. It means the certificate alone doesn't distinguish you from anyone.

Who does get hired

People who built something of their own afterwards.

The difference between two graduates of the same cohort usually comes down to this: one brings the coursework project, the other brings their own — rough, maybe, but with decisions they made themselves and a clear account of why. The second gets hired.

Three reasons for rejection

Knowledge that can't be applied. A course delivers knowledge in pieces: functions here, databases there, interface over there. Assembling that into a working whole is rarely taught. Easy to test — try building something with no guide.

Can't talk about their own project. If it was built by following a video step by step, there are no decisions to explain — the course author made them. Two questions at an interview expose this.

No experience working with people. Bootcamps are studied alone. Work means other people's code, discussions, other people's rules and constant negotiation.

What to do

1. Build something that wasn't in the syllabus. Simpler than the coursework is fine, as long as it's yours, from idea to working link.
2. Work with someone else's code. Finding your way around an open project and submitting a fix is a skill bootcamp graduates almost never have.
3. Work in a team. That closes the third reason entirely and gives you something worth talking about.

How to talk about the course

Don't hide it, don't lead with it. Order on the CV: projects first, then skills, the course last, one line.

Asked what you did after the course, "looked for work" sounds bad. "Built this, here's the link, I owned this part" sounds good.