Happier in their jobs
With a majority of our graduates now working as developers or in other tech-related roles, we were happy to learn that almost everyone (96%) said learning to code equipped them for the future of work. Moreover, 90% said they enjoy their post-bootcamp job more than the one they had previously, and another 90% said that the bootcamp helped them achieve their goals.
What aspects of their new careers do they prefer? They embrace the flexibility, freedom, and opportunities to learn, as well as the people and culture of startups, and in the tech industry generally.
“Do what you love! If you’re thinking of going into tech, make it happen!” — Alumni, Montréal
We benefit from a very collaborative and vibrant tech community in Montréal. We’re proud to count on a large network of hiring partners, among them
Ubisoft,
Mylo,
Coveo,
Shopify,
Potloc,
Surmesur,
Alithya, and
Décathlon. During every batch, we make sure to connect students with key industry players and local entrepreneurs through tech events and startup talks we organize, like our popular
Le Wagon Talk series.
Even after the bootcamp ends, our relationship with alumni continues. We keep in touch and offer support through workshops and resources, preparing them for jobs in the tech industry. We host career events that connect new graduates with our hiring partners and facilitate one on one coaching with alumni and Le Wagon staff. The majority of alumni who answered our survey said it only took them 1-3 months after graduating to find a job.
“[If you want to change your career] pitch your career path to everybody — companies, friends, recruiters — collect information and get updated on tech news and new methodologies.” — Alumni, Montréal
Among those surveyed, 60% are now working as developers, 7% as product managers, and 33% are working either in growth, customer success, tech-related roles or other.
A bootcamp for everyone
Diversity and inclusivity are integral to our core values and we’re proud to see that reflected in the students we’ve welcomed in Montréal. Our alumni hail from 40 different countries, span the gamut of ages from 18 to 60, and have an assortment of different professional backgrounds. Our students have worked as cooks, marketers, health professionals, lawyers, architects, designers, finance specialists, and communication managers, just to name a few.
Their unique expertise and ambition to change their lives is something that our hiring partners highly value:
“What we like the most about Le Wagon's alumni is that they have “grit” and we don't find that quality often.” - Héloïse Guillemot, 1492 Studio Manager at Ubisoft Montréal
On the inclusivity front, we're keen on improving gender diversity in coding and tech. By striving for parity with guest speakers at our events, increasing the number of women on our staff, promoting events focused on women, and working with partners who support women entering and thriving in the industry, we're increasing the ratio of women in our batches. According to our overall statistics, 68% of our alumni are men, 30% women, and 2% identify as non-binary. Our numbers show that we’re headed in the right direction.
Our winter 2020 batch was the first to have a female majority: 60% of students are women and people who identify as non-binary.
The learning doesn't stop after bootcamp
One thing that makes our community unique is that our alumni are continuously learning and pushing themselves to stay up to date with new advances in programming and development. This is a key factor in their success. During bootcamp, they learn full-stack web development with Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and UX/UI design, practicing the right developer workflow and best practices — but this is only the beginning.
Our alumni are hungry for knowledge. When they leave Le Wagon, they upskill by learning new languages like React, Python, and Angular, some even branching out to C#, Java, and others. The Le Wagon alumni Slack and Le Wagon learning platform are where we share resources, knowledge, jobs, social events and lots more. Best of all, you’re part of this dynamic community for life. In their words:
“Stay curious! Learn, learn, learn by yourself, but even more, learn from others!” — Alumni, Montréal
A few more final words of advice from our alumni
- "If this is what you want to do, commit to it. Go ahead and take the plunge."
- “Keep coding, enjoy the hustle!”
- “Don't give up. Keep yourself updated and don't stop learning. It might look hard in the beginning, but so are all the good things in life."
