Latest / The Career Change Podcast with Fexingo: Switching Fields, Bootcamps, and Reskilling / How Bootcamp Grads Can Get Hired at Early Stage Startups
Transcript
- Lucas: You know that feeling when you finish a bootcamp and you start sending out applications and it's just — silence. Or a polite 'we went with another candidate.' And you start wondering, who actually hires bootcamp grads? Luna: Right. I think a lot of people default to big tech because that's what you hear about — Google, Amazon, the FAANGs. But those pipelines are actually pretty narrow for someone with 14 weeks of training. Lucas: Exactly. And we've talked on this show before about how to crack specific big companies — Amazon, remote roles, government jobs. But today I want to talk about a place where bootcamp grads have a real edge, and it's one that doesn't get nearly enough coverage. Early-stage startups. Luna: Define early-stage. Are we talking seed round? Series A? Lucas: I'm thinking pre-Series A. Maybe seed stage or even earlier. Companies with fewer than 20 employees. Often the founders are still writing code themselves. And here's the key — they don't have a rigid hiring process. There's no recruiter gatekeeping. No automated resume screen. You're talking directly to the CTO or the CEO. Luna: That sounds both exciting and terrifying. Like, you could get in, but there's also no safety net. Lucas: Yeah, it's definitely higher risk. But let me give you a number that changed my perspective. A survey from early 2025 — I think it was run by a startup hiring platform called Wellfound — polled about 200 founders of pre-Series A companies. 63 percent of them said they had hired at least one bootcamp graduate in the past year. Luna: Wait, 63 percent? That's huge. I would have guessed maybe 30. Lucas: Me too. And when they asked why, the top reason wasn't 'they're cheaper.' It was speed to productivity. Founders said bootcamp grads tend to have project-based experience — they've built something end to end in 12 weeks. That's more immediately useful to a 10-person company than a CS grad who's spent four years studying algorithms they won't use for months. Luna: So the pitch is: bootcamp grads are scrappy and ship fast. But how do you actually find these startups? They're not posting on LinkedIn with big budgets. Lucas: That's the key question. The first thing I'd say is get off the big job boards. The signal to noise ratio on LinkedIn for early-stage roles is terrible. Instead, go to where founders hang out. There are Slack communities like Startup School, Y Combinator's co-founder matching, even some regional tech Slack groups. Also — and this sounds old school — read through the portfolio pages of seed-stage VC firms. Luna: Okay, so you find a company that looks interesting. Then what? You can't apply with a standard cover letter. Lucas: No. In fact, I'd argue you should never apply through a form. You find the founder's email — usually it's firstname@company.com or something simple — and you send a short, specific email. Not 'I love your company.' You show you've used their product. You suggest one small improvement, and you offer to build a prototype over a weekend. That signals exactly what they want: initiative and speed. Luna: That's a big ask. A weekend prototyping something for a company you don't work for yet. Lucas: It is. But bootcamp grads are used to shipping under pressure. And if that prototype actually works, you've essentially passed the technical interview before you've even had a first call. I know a guy who did this for a small logistics startup — built a dashboard over a weekend using an API they had public. The founder called him the next day. He was hired within a week. Luna: Okay, that's a great story. But what about the risk side? I mean, early-stage startups fail all the time. If you're making a career change — maybe you left a stable job to do the bootcamp — you might not have the financial buffer to take a role that could disappear in six months. Lucas: That's a fair point. And I think the honest answer is, you need to be smart about which startups you target. You can read the cap table — check if they have real investors, not just angel money. Look at the founder's background. Have they built a company before? Are they posting regularly about their metrics? A founder who's transparent about revenue or user growth is usually more grounded. Luna: So you're saying you can do some due diligence without being an insider. Lucas: Exactly. Also, look at the compensation structure. Early-stage startups often pay below market salary, but they'll offer equity. And for a bootcamp grad, that equity might be worth literally nothing. So you need to negotiate for cash — push for a salary that covers your rent, even if it's modest. Treat equity as a bonus, not your retirement plan. Luna: I want to circle back to something you said earlier about the interview. If you don't have a CS degree, and the founder asks about your background — what's the best way to handle that? Because I think a lot of bootcamp grads feel insecure about that gap. Lucas: The best answer I've heard comes from a bootcamp grad who's now a senior engineer at a Series B company. He said: 'I don't have a CS degree, but I've spent the last 14 weeks living and breathing this stack. I can show you three projects I built from scratch. And I'm used to learning fast — that's literally what bootcamp trains you to do.' You reframe the gap as a feature. Luna: Reframe the gap as a feature — I like that. So it's not about apologizing for what you don't know, it's about showing what you do differently. Lucas: Right. And founders at early-stage companies value that mindset more than a credential. They need people who can hit the ground running, not someone who needs three months of onboarding. Luna: Let's talk about one more practical step. You mentioned Slack communities and VC portfolios. Are there any specific job boards for early-stage startups that are actually worth the time? Lucas: Yeah, a couple. Wellfound — that used to be AngelList — is still the best aggregator for seed-stage roles. The filters let you see only companies that are pre-Series A or pre-revenue. There's also a newer one called Work at a Startup, run by Y Combinator. And if you're willing to go really small, Hacker News 'Who is hiring' threads — the ones that explicitly say 'no remote' or 'on-site only' — often have founders posting directly. Luna: Okay, so you find a listing, you email the founder, you build a prototype — but what about the actual interview? How is it different from a big company? Lucas: It's less about leetcode and more about problem-solving in context. You might get a take-home that's actually a simplified version of a real feature they need. Or you'll sit with the CTO and pair-program on a bug in their codebase. The bar is lower on algorithmic complexity but higher on practical communication and debugging. Luna: So it's more like a working session than a test. Lucas: Exactly. And that plays to the bootcamp grad's strengths — you've been pair-programming all through your program. You're used to talking through your thought process. Luna: I think a lot of listeners are going to find this episode really useful. If you're a bootcamp grad and you've been banging your head against big company applications, this is a whole different lane. Lucas: Yeah, and it's a lane that's under-discussed. One thing I'd add — if you're listening and this resonates, the best way to keep getting episodes like this — free, no ads — is to support the show directly. If today's advice saves you even a week of job search, maybe throw a few bucks at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's what keeps us going. Luna: Yeah, it really does. Every bit helps us keep the conversation going without any sponsor interruptions. Lucas: So back to the practical stuff. Let's say you get an interview. What's the one question you need to be ready for at an early-stage startup? Luna: I'm guessing 'why us' is a big one. Lucas: That, but even more specific: 'What would you do in your first 30 days?' Founders ask this because they want to know if you can self-start. A good answer is to say you'd spend the first week reading the codebase and the docs, then pick one small bug or feature and ship it. Show them you're thinking about how to add value immediately, not just learn. Luna: And if you don't know their tech stack? Should you learn it before the interview? Lucas: Absolutely. Spend a weekend building something small in their stack. If they use React and Node, build a to-do app. It shows you're serious and that you can ramp up fast. Founders love that. Luna: Alright, so let's say you get the job. What's the first month like? Because bootcamp grads often tell me they feel imposter syndrome joining a tiny team where everyone else has years of experience. Lucas: The thing is, at a 10-person startup, everyone wears multiple hats. The senior engineer is also doing DevOps and customer support. So you're not expected to know everything. What's expected is that you ask good questions, you document what you learn, and you take ownership of something small. Even if it's just writing tests or fixing a CSS bug. That builds trust. Luna: So it's about being useful at the level you're at, not trying to prove you're a senior. Lucas: Exactly. And if you do that consistently, within six months you could be leading a feature. I've seen it happen. The promotion curve at a startup is steep if you deliver. Luna: Let's talk about the exit. A lot of bootcamp grads worry that if they join a startup that fails, they'll have a gap on their resume. Lucas: That's a valid concern. But I'd argue that a failed startup is actually a great story. You can say: 'I joined a 12-person team, built their customer dashboard from scratch, and when the company ran out of funding, I was the one who helped migrate the data for the acqui-hire.' That's way more impressive than a one-year stint at a big company where you fixed JIRA tickets. Luna: So you're saying the risk is real, but the upside — both in terms of experience and story — is also real. Lucas: Yes. And I think for bootcamp grads specifically, the calculus tilts toward startups because the alternative — competing with CS grads for entry-level roles at big companies — is actually harder. The bar there is higher for credentials. At a startup, the bar is higher for hustle. Luna: What about compensation? Can a bootcamp grad expect to make a living wage at a pre-revenue startup? Lucas: It depends. Some pre-revenue startups pay $40k to $60k. Others, especially if they've raised a seed round, might pay $70k to $90k. You can check salary data on sites like Levels.fyi or Glassdoor for specific startups. The key is to ask upfront: 'What's the salary range for this role?' If they dodge, that's a red flag. Luna: And equity? How do you evaluate that? Lucas: Honestly, for most bootcamp grads, I'd say ignore the equity number and focus on the cash. Equity at a pre-revenue startup is a lottery ticket. It might be worth something, but it probably won't. So negotiate for a salary that lets you live. If they can't pay that, consider whether you can afford the risk. Luna: Final question: If a bootcamp grad is listening right now and wants to start applying to startups today, what's the one action they should take? Lucas: Go to Wellfound, filter by 'seed stage' and '1-10 employees.' Find three companies whose product you actually like. Use their product for an hour. Then write a short email to the founder with one specific piece of feedback and an offer to help. Do that today. By next week, you'll have a response. Luna: That's concrete. I love it. And if you try it, let us know how it goes. Lucas: Yeah, we'd love to hear. And if you found this useful, remember — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Helps us keep the lights on and the episodes ad-free. Luna: Alright, next time we'll talk about another overlooked path for bootcamp grads. See you then.