Confessions of an Ex Teaching Assistant for a Coding Bootcamp
After nearly three years, my time as a Teaching Assistant at the 2U/edX Coding Bootcamp officially ended on March 13, 2025. And with it, maybe the last thread tying me to the dream of being a Software Engineer. It was a part-time, contract job—part-time because it was three days a week for four hours; contract because I was hired in six-month stints. Once I finished a "cohort," my continued employment depended on student enrollment for the next one. During those three years, there were a few months when I wasn’t working, though I was technically still employed with them.
I wasn’t paid hourly. Instead, I was paid $85 dollars per shift, so my average pay after taxes was about $450 every two weeks. There was always a possibility for picking up extra shifts, but that was nearly impossible. The company had more under-employed, "on the bench" Teaching Assistants and Instructional staff, than actual working ones. See, the only way you could claim a shift was to be glued to Slack or email all day, waiting for an opening to be announced. Your chances of being able to claim a shift was low. It was also rumored from other TA's that people we're using bots to claim shifts.
This wasn't my main job, of course. The only reason I lasted almost three years was because it was the last thing keeping me connected to the pursuit–and the identity– of being a Software Engineer. But now the company has shut down the Bootcamps and all Instructional staff have been let go. Technically, I'm still an employee until June, and I will receive a whopping $500 of severance.
I would be lying if I told you that I don't feel some anger, bitterness, and resentment. First, as a former student that felt cheated that this Bootcamp thing didn't work out. Then, as a TA who watched students being sold dreams. I was skeptical, even as a student, about the job prospects–but now I'm 100% certain: Coding Bootcamps are not worth it, specially today.
And yet, I'd also be lying in saying that I didn't enjoy the job. My favorite moments were when I helped students understand a tricky piece of code or grasp a new concept. When I could drop the perfect analogy and see something click for them—those were the best parts. Those were my favorite
Losing this job has made me reflect a lot. I've been attempting to land a steady programming job since at least 2017–that's been five to eight years, depending on whether you start counting from when I got my Web Design degree in 2017 or my Fullstack certificate in 2020.
It. Fucking. Sucks.
Because I've done all of the things. I've sent out gazillions of resumes. I've worked on hundreds of personal projects. I've practiced Leetcode. I've gotten interviews. I've taken "coding adjacent" jobs like Technical Support and FullStack Coding Bootcamp Teaching Assistant. I even got a call from Meta to potentially do their Apprenticeship Program—only to fail the phone screen.
But If I'm being honest, I haven't really done all the things. At least not 100%. Especially the whole networking thing. I'm bad at that. All I got is hours of Udemy tutorials and hundreds of mostly-useless Github repos.
So I’m mostly burnt out from not even getting to experience real Software Engineer burnout.
I'm letting this go. At least as a career pursuit. I'm quitting–and I think that's ok. For now, I'm gonna take some time to figure out what's next.
This will always be a hobby for me, because I don't think I can ever quit being a nerd.
