Beyond Bootcamp: Engineer Talent has Blossomed at Tatari

Tatari is now almost over 40 employees and we’re looking for more talented, smart, and hard-working people to join our team. Our team is comprised of A+ players with different backgrounds and their careers have not always followed a traditional path.

Two examples of this can be found within our engineering team, Brian and Fred.  They both graduated from intensive bootcamp programs to get their start in engineering. These programs have been battling stigmas about job placement rates for bootcamp graduates and if hiring managers should value this training.  If Fred and Brian are any indication, this is not true.

After graduating college, Brian envisioned going into consulting but quickly realized the field was hard to break into as a recent grad.  Brian ended up in the world of advertising at various companies, starting with a media analyst role, to leading mobile media buys, and ultimately leading consumer marketing. In this role, he was forced to look under the hood and understand how things worked. At the recommendation of one of his colleagues, he decided to apply for the full 13-week bootcamp program at Codesmith. “The Codesmith program places a significant focus on skills like understanding engineering best practices and strong technical communication - the kinds of abilities that prepare students to become advanced engineers and future technical leads” says Jenny Mith, Senior Manager, Communications & Corporate Partnerships at Codesmith.

Brian describes his experience with the curriculum and training “They taught the most popular frameworks people were using, and the curriculum was set up so you really understood the material, and not just that you were getting to the right answer.'' Jenny Mith also says that to further prepare students for their careers, “Codesmith also offers comprehensive hiring support during the second half of the program. Hiring support consists of everything from resume reviews to interview practice (mock interviews) to negotiation strategies and beyond."

Brian graduated from the program and spent time with a media analytics company before coming to Tatari and feels that he’s now in a position to really use all of his previous experience and training.

Fred has a similar story as he graduated college with a degree in chemical engineering, but didn’t feel challenged when he started working in his field. Fred applied and was accepted into the software engineer bootcamp program at Hack Reactor, now Galvanize. “They taught you the basics at a very fast pace” explained Fred. “One day we could be working on servers, next day on server framework, then on SQL databases”. Upon graduating, Fred really had to go through trial and error while interviewing before landing at Tatari. Fred now works on a variety of projects, from internal tools to our dashboard that clients use every day to buy, measure, and optimize TV.

So what do both engineers now recommend for potential bootcamp grads? First, you’ll get what you put in. “Not everyone is prepared for the amount of work and dedication required to change career fields. Only the top 30%-40% of bootcamp grads are really putting the extra effort in to truly master their craft," Brian shared. Second, you must continue learning. “The journey doesn’t stop once you get a job” explained Fred.

At Tatari, we feel these principles apply no matter where you come from.  A possible big difference is that we help our people and “bootcampers” become more than just a grad.  Our existing team has helped them grow from a solid crash-course in engineering to fully-fledged software engineers on the Tatari team.  Join us if you’re looking to transform your career, and the future of TV advertising!