Breaking into software engineering can feel intimidating, especially if you don’t have a traditional computer science background or bachelor’s degree – but coding bootcamps offer another path.
In this Q&A, we caught up with Hack Reactor graduate Anthony Cella, who made the leap into tech without a bachelor’s degree and landed a role as a Software Engineer at Cisco, where he works on a wide range of projects. Read on to learn more about his background, his bootcamp experience, and what he likes about his role at Cisco.
What drew you to software engineering?
I originally started college as a biology major, and one of my electives was a Java programming class. I absolutely loved it. That experience made me realize that software engineering was calling to me, so I decided to add engineering to my Associate of Science degree.
I attended community college, but I started a bit later, at age 20, because I took two gap years to work at a medical testing laboratory. When I was ready to enter the tech industry, I knew I didn’t want to spend another two to four years earning a computer science degree if there was another path. That’s when I learned about coding bootcamps. I liked the high-intensity, immersive approach, and I liked how it was a cost-effective, streamlined way to learn.
So ultimately, that first programming class made me realize how much I loved coding, and I knew what I wanted to do from there.
What’s your role at Cisco like, and what types of projects do you work on?
Currently, I’m working on creating new APIs for a customer-facing product that’s brand new and expected to be widely used. It’s been exciting to contribute to something from the ground up that will have an impact.
I’m also doing some infrastructure work. I have contributed infrastructure for our testing and developer virtual machines, which has been pretty cool to work on. I’ve been using technologies like Kubernetes and programming in Go, which I hadn’t written a line of before joining Cisco, so I learned it all on the job.
I’ve worked on a variety of other things. I’ve helped build new features for existing products, written and revamped testing frameworks, and expanded those frameworks. Within six months on the job, my mentor went to a different team, and I was asked to lead the backend development of a new feature. That was mostly through the testing phase, but I was responsible for fixing bugs and making sure everything worked smoothly.
The growth here has been great. The folks I work with are incredibly experienced; many of them have been doing this longer than I’ve been alive. I’ve also worked across two teams. I started on one product, and about 11 months later, I migrated to the new product we’re building now.
What do you like about your role?
I love the versatility of the role and how much I’m learning. I don’t have too much responsibility when it comes to design yet, but I’m starting to engage with system design-level questions, which has been exciting. I appreciate the work-life balance at the company. The amount of time off we get is kind of ridiculous, in the best way. Cisco really takes care of its employees and the benefits are fantastic. The pay is really good, too. I genuinely enjoy working for the company, and I like the role itself, because there’s so much to learn.
What challenges have you faced?
I’d say tackling complex tasks under tight deadlines has been one of the biggest challenges. Right now, I’m in a challenging spot where I need to create large, scalable APIs while addressing system design-level questions, all under urgent deadlines. Another challenge has been getting up to speed with unfamiliar codebases, but Hack Reactor really helped me develop that skill, so I’ve been able to handle it well.
How was the post-bootcamp job search for you?
It was challenging for me because I don’t have a bachelor’s degree in anything. In the marketplace, there’s a pretty big difference between having an associate’s degree like I do and having a bachelor’s degree, even if the bachelor’s is in a different field.
As an example, a former cohort-mate who got a job fairly quickly was asked to refer others from our cohort. I asked and he referred me, but the company told me they couldn’t even offer me an interview because I didn’t have a bachelor’s degree. That definitely made the search more difficult.
Even so, I was able to land a job in five months, while most of my cohort-mates found jobs within three. And this was during a really tough job market. A lot of companies that don’t require bachelor’s degrees — like Google and Microsoft — had hiring freezes right after I graduated from Hack Reactor. So even in a tough environment, it’s still possible to get a decent job.
Do you have any advice for someone just starting a coding bootcamp?
Once you’ve chosen a bootcamp, start networking immediately, or even before you begin. Start sending connection requests on LinkedIn and grow your network as soon as you can because it’s a really important tool for the job search.
It also wouldn’t hurt to start practicing LeetCode-style questions early; they’re essential for technical interviews after graduation. Make use of your time outside of class, too. I often did a toy problem as a warmup before class, which helped me stay sharp.
The program can be intense, but my best advice is to take the work seriously, do your best on your projects, network consistently, and practice coding problems. If you do those things, you should be good to go.
Are you ready to start your own career in tech?
No matter your background, we have a coding bootcamp for you. Once you’re ready, start your application!
