Long story short, my project is winding down and I want to transition to a SWE role. I have a MechE degree, 3 years experience at G (2 as a contractor, 1 FTE), and have written a decent amount of code during my time here for a non-SWE role. 300ish CLs in JavaScript/TypeScript/C++, made a web app, and did all kinds of scripting. I absolutely lack proper data structures/algo knowledge though. If you had 6 months of free time to transition to a SWE role, what would you do to prepare? I’d like to do mostly backend related work. Is a boot camp worth it? Coursera courses + personal project? Seems like there’s a lot of avenues. To be clear, this would be for a new role outside of Google.
I don't know OP but I thought bootcamps were for taking people who don't know how to code and getting them to code at a level where they can make something useful albeit with some oversight. Sounds like you can already code. If people are using your work then I am not sure how much your coding skills would improve from a bootcamp so if you're going that route then make extra sure you know what they're going to teach you and how it's going to help you. Look up the conversion process. I'm not sure if you need to interview or not for it but I'd try to find out exactly what it says and follow it closely.
Hi, can I DM you about your experience at Google as a mechie
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CLs? Is that supposed to be LC? Don’t do a boot camp. It will taint your resume because you already have an awesome track record. Coursera + personal is great. Why not try an internal transfer?
Thanks for your reply! CLs are change lists aka commits. I’ll look more at coursera and a personal project. I was flat out told I couldn’t transfer to a SWE role without more experience. It’s okay, I moved away from the Bay Area and they don’t have much near where I’m at now. I’m fine going somewhere else.