#3 The Coding Bootcamp Trap

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Despite graduating college with a degree in engineering, James could only find employment in the service industry. While continuing to search for technical positions, he noticed job postings for a company called Revature. The company, which calls itself the “largest employer of entry level software engineers,” advertises positions in states like Kansas and Alabama, as well as in Texas where James was living at the time.
“One day someone is going to ask you where you got your start,” read one Revature job posting. “This is IT!”
As James — who asked that his real name not be used in this article due to the confidentiality clauses in his contract — looked more closely at Revature, he realized the company wasn’t recruiting for a typical job. Instead, it was recruiting college graduates from all over the country to participate in a three-month training program, which prior to the pandemicwas held in person at one of Revature’s six campuses. During this training period, Revature provided associates housing and paid them $8 an hour — although housing costs were deducted from that wage. After students completed the program, successful graduates were placed on a tech project for a Revature client. The idea was that if all went well, that client may hire the Revature associate to a full-time position.
For James, participating in Revature’s program felt like a last resort. “I was looking for somewhere I could start working immediately,” he told OneZero. He applied, and after a quick interview process, received notice he’d been accepted.
Half training program, half staffing firm
Revature, which was founded in 2016, is two businesses rolled into one: a training program and a staffing firm. Many of the current and former associates interviewed by OneZero praised Revature’s training as being more practical and job-oriented than the education they received during their undergraduate studies. Revature advertises its training as tailored to the needs of employers, and it develops custom programs in specific technologies to meet employer demand.
But many Revature associates also expressed concern about Revature’s practice of hiring former associates as instructors, including in some cases hiring associates immediately after they had completed Revature’s training themselves, something confirmed by three instructors interviewed by OneZero.
Phillips defended the practice of hiring former associates, telling OneZerothat “gifted software engineers who took our training themselves are often in the best position to teach from experience.” Phillips added that Revature gave its instructors “extensive additional training to teach our program, including in-depth development of enterprise grade digital applications.”
After the training, Revature lines up interviews for associates with its client companies. If successfully placed, the associates will go work for the client company and Revature will pay their wages. Revature pays associates between $45,000 and $55,000 in annualized wages during their first year of working for its clients, depending on whether they are placed in a high-cost city such as Chicago or Boston, according to documents reviewed by OneZero. Wages will increase to between $60,000 and $70,000 a year during the second year, and to more than $75,000 a year during the third year.