Campfire Episode #36 with Keidus Hall: Facing Rejection in Tech Job Search

The realities of pushing through rejection during the job application process

Nucamp graduate, Keidus Hall joined a live episode of Campfire to share his story about breaking into web development.

During the episode it was clear that Keidus’ determination was key to where he is today.

At first Keidus was pursuing neuroscience and was heading down a pre-med path but realized a year in it wasn’t what he truly wanted.

Keidus finished with a degree in biology, but switched gears and started teaching himself to code through YouTube and Udemy courses.

For a year he self-studied and applied for roles without success before deciding he needed help filling the gaps between what he knew and what most employers were requiring.

Keidus needed to up his game with outside support and considered going back to school or joining a coding bootcamp, but it was too expensive.

This barrier to entry kept him from getting help he wanted. But thankfully he came back to the idea and specifically searched for affordable coding bootcamps—Nucamp was then on his radar.

At first, he thought Nucamp sounded too good to be true, but after some digging he found a lot of honest reviews and decided to take the leap.

Keidus graduated from the Full Stack Bootcamp in December 2021 and started his job search over again with more focus and with a new perspective.

His time at Nucamp propelled his skills exponentially compared to when he was learning on his own.

While applying for jobs, Keidus had to remind himself how far he’d come and to not give up even as each rejection made his imposter syndrome grow.

Nine months after graduating from Nucamp, Keidus clinched his first job in the industry as a Jr. Full Stack Developer at DocNetwork.

Keidus attributes his success at the end to changing his application approach.

Without realizing it, Keidus had been cherry-picking exclusively remote positions.

As soon as he started to apply to local jobs, he landed interviews.

His new job is only 10 miles from his home, and Keidus recommends others in the application process to remember to also apply to hybrid and in-office roles too.

The discussion offered a look into what it can really be like to break into the tech industry.

While it may not always be easy, it is definitely more manageable with a community to support and guide you along the way.

Watch the full Campfire episode: