
General Assembly was a waste - poor_ga_grad
I did one of General Assembly classes at the beginning of the year. 6 months later barely any of us have a job and I&#x27;m w&#x2F;o any leads and on the verge of homelessness. I feel as though me and the other students were lied to about the job prospects and the career coaches were useless. Any advice? What should I do? Is there any hope?
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WheelsAtLarge
I can tell you from personal experience that getting a job in tech is hard if
you are just starting out. Even if you're veteran it can be very difficult at
times.

When I started out what got me going was to take anything that came my way. My
first job was part time and low paid. Once I got a job I was able to use that
as a stepping stone and move up. The other thing I can tell you is that 6
months of tech is just the start. I've found that tech is a lifestyle. You
always have to work to get better. Remember that you're competing against
people the live and breath technology. In many cases they would rather
continue on a problem than to eat or sleep without compensation. Their reward
is solving the problem. And they've done this for years. Can you keep up with
them?

There is hope. My advice is to get the first job you can get whatever that is
- tech or no tech - and continue looking for a job in tech. Also be sure to
continue to improve your tech skills. Look to specialize in something and hit
it hard. Look for a project that will help you improve your skills. If you
can't come up with one just look at something you find interesting and copy
that. You're job is to improve your skills enough so you can get a job not to
put out a product.

Also make sure you work on your networking skills, join a group that can help
with your goals and make sure they know about your skills and what you have
done. Yes, networking seems phony but how else will you know where the jobs
are before a company needs to post it or go to a recruiter.

General Assembly was only the start. Yes they filled your brain on how easy it
is to get a job after you take their classes. Well, it's not that easy. It's
your job now to continue improving and move forward with hard work.

Good luck!

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kafkaesq
Very sorry to hear about your experience (which unfortunately jibs with the
general word-of-mouth reputation of GA). Can you go into specifics about how
they misled you about the job prospects, or the things the career counselors
said?

 _Any advice? What should I do? Is there any hope?_

Yes, quite definitely there is hope. Unfortunately there's something of a
negative backlash against coding camps going on right now. But in the longer
term, if you love what you do, life will find a way of making opportunities
for you.

