Over the last few years - notably during the global pandemic - Austin became a destination for a great migration of tech talent and entrepreneurs. Founders and businesses relocated for a reduced tax footprint, beautiful weather, and a burgeoning tech climate made possible by nearby coding bootcamps and university software engineering programs.
Choosing the right coding bootcamp is difficult. With so many remote, hybrid, and on-ground bootcamps to choose from, the search process can be overwhelming. Not only are you weighing important decisions about your professional future, but also deciding the type of life you’re looking to build as a coding professional. “What’s the best coding bootcamp?” is too broad of a place to start with so many coding courses at your disposal. In order to answer that question, you need to consider the investment (in both cost and time spent), benefits, and what outcomes are the most attractive to you: Job placement, core competencies of the coding bootcamp (data science, web development, UI/UX, cyber security), and what eventual jobs the bootcamp will prepare you for in both Austin-based companies and beyond.
As we start thinking about how to choose the best coding bootcamp in Austin, you have to begin with questions that that will put you on the right coding journey for your career:
- What’s driving your interest in coding? What are some of the projects or problems you hope to solve personally and professionally with the skills that a full or a part-time bootcamp can teach?
- What’s your current coding proficiency? Coding bootcamps offer programs to different abilities, and the introductory courses in Austin-based coding bootcamps can help prepare you to succeed once the term kicks off.
- Consider your budget. Depending on the bootcamp you choose, this may become a factor. Perhaps you’re eligible for GI bill benefits or considering deferred tuition. While the average bootcamp in Austin has varying costs, most have several financing options for their students. We’ll discuss this in more detail later in this article.
Consider these questions as you plan for a career in the tech industry in the heart of Hill Country. There are several benefits to choosing a coding school in the “Silicon Hills” , so let’s explore the advantages of being here and review the type of coding skills you want to learn.
The Benefits of Attending Coding Bootcamps in Austin
Only a short ride to Lake Travis and some of the finest barbecue in America, Austin is also home to some of the most important American companies and startups. The city boasts a rich history of entrepreneurship. It’s the home of companies like Whole Foods (later acquired by Amazon) Sonic Healthcare, and Keller Williams continues to incubate and grow startups. The demand for digital marketing, machine learning, and software engineering talent post-graduation in the city is high, so students enjoy learning and working in Austin.
The attraction that attendees and boot camp grads feel about Austin is more than professional. Those who have Austin on their short list for their coding camps have a positive perception of the ATX and the type of talent the city attracts. There are several other reasons why Austin is an attractive option for the aspiring software engineer:
Coding professionals are in high demand.The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the employment for software developers will grow 21% through 2028. This is four times higher than the average industry. Software developers earn a median six-figure salary, a healthy income in a city whose median household income is just under $70,000.
Considering HackerRank’s findings that full-stack developers are among the toughest jobs to find qualified candidates for, choosing a program that specializes in your field of interest can be invaluable in the marketplace.
Boot camp graduates have an opportunity to immerse themselves in a thriving startup community. After the affordable median income and the tax advantages of relocating from higher tax states, Austin’s ability to fuse startups and culture is undeniably a part of its reputation. The same is true for its bootcamps. The coding bootcamps in Austin attract personalities of all types that share a common thread: they are interested in meeting like-minded partners skilled in web development, data science, and UX design that unlock potential for enterprising companies building to compete in crowded verticals.
These personalities come together to learn, build, and network. More and more publications emphasizing network, news, and lifestyle for the Austin coder are being built. Moreover, the coding bootcamp networks in Austin facilitate an environment that encourages active alumni networks where students can collaborate on and deploy projects together. This allows them to continue practicing Demonstrating coding expertise and fundamentals is a pivotal interview step at tech startups and in increasingly competitive software engineering roles in corporations.
Choosing the right bootcamp will offer more than just a foundational coding class. It will create an opportunity to learn to position yourself as a respected programmer, work collaboratively with a team, and ideally be a catalyst for building solutions that change the world -- no matter the programming language that solution is built in.
What makes Austin a desirable place to attend a coding bootcamp?
The city of Austin is increasingly attracting some of the heaviest hitters in Silicon Valley into the hills of Texas. According to the Kauffman Index Report, Austin is now the #1 city for startups in the United States.
With a large influx of capital being invested in startups in ATX, the city and its surrounding suburbs are a recruiting magnet for companies looking for full stack web developers and other web development roles. Students gravitating more toward careers in data science also have opportunities to network with companies looking for expertise in Python, SQL, Knack, and more.
Lifestyle.
Located Northeast of San Antonio, Austin is an ideal city to live for those who want sunshine, world-class barbecue, and opportunities to work hard. Though homes have increased a whopping 29% over the last year (to an all-time high of $425k), salaries for coding professionals far exceed the costs in the area. Coupled with a more manageable cost of living versus other cities, it would be difficult to find a more desirable city to learn coding languages in 2021. Coding professionals can also play a central role in local affairs. In recent years, the city benefited from partnering with tech companies to improve civic engagement and overall quality of life.
Despite what’s in the news, we see encouraging signs from Texas coding bootcamps around safety. While the State of Texas’ response to the pandemic has been anything but unified, most coding schools in Austin are operating in the same manner as much of the other cities -- remote or hybrid until the levels of COVID dissipate. As we approach a world where remote-first experiences are naturally top of mind, Austin’s individual success at creating a safe reopening will soon provide more options for students to attend a boot camp in person. Students interested in coding (physically) alongside other members of their cohort are communicating their desire to learn and interact with one another in person, and both options will be available once bootcamps can reasonably accommodate the safety of all of its students.
Coding bootcamps that fit your lifestyle. While we’re seeing some positive indicators following the pandemic, future software engineers and developers naturally have different work styles and levels of comfort getting back into the office. Some would like to learn coding outside a home they’ve been confined to for multiple months. Others are moving into homes that have a second bedroom they’ll use as a dedicated workspace.
Reputation & Prestige
Austin’s startups are competitive and its bootcamps are no different. The city is home to reputable on-ground programs including Austin Coding Academy (with locations near the North Loop and in downtown Austin) and the Flatiron School, located just below North Side. Additionally, famously selective and highly desirable bootcamps like The Flatiron School and Fullstack Academy offer online bootcamps that can be completed at home or in Austin’s many coworking spaces.
Austin is a city that has something for everyone: from foodies to bachelorettes to nature lovers and - ever increasingly - software developers.
Before Attending a Coding Bootcamp in Austin: Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
Coding bootcamps in Austin offer several benefits to students. Depending on the chosen programming language, data science immersion, and/or design tracks you choose, curriculums will vary both on content, breadth, and on length. “Typical” bootcamp coursework will have several paths that require a base knowledge of the concepts. Let’s explore the steps an aspiring software engineer, full stack web developer, or data science professional will need prior to entering the bootcamp.
Prior to enrolling in most bootcamps, you’ll usually need to complete a short assessment on your coding ability. However, some programs like Austin Coding Academy lean harder into the interview vs. a coding challenge for admission. Even so, we always recommend that all students review basic coding fundamentals. Highly reputable online programs like Hack Reactor will offer free tutorials and support for less experienced, aspiring software engineers. allows each student to dive into the basics of coding in some of the most commonly used programming languages: HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Ruby.
The main reason to take this important step before applying and enrolling in the boot camp is that it allows you to take inventory of your current skill levels, and choose the programming course that best suits your budget and proficiency. Perhaps more importantly, preparing for your boot camp allows you to understand the nuances of coding languages and engage in introductory projects with other students. Preparing for the coding bootcamp and the evaluations you’ll complete will help ensure that you receive a return on investment from the time and money you put toward your coding education.
Cost of Coding Bootcamps in Austin
The cost of a full stack coding bootcamp in Austin isn’t that different from the national average. According to Nerd Wallet, the average cost for a bootcamp is nearly $13,500, but multiple payment options are available should you be exploring ways to pay for coding school outside of upfront payments.
If you’re considering paying for a coding boot camp upfront with a credit card, you may want to consider applying for a travel card to meet the minimum benefits of a bonus card while earning miles. However, several other options exist. Many students use third-party financing options like Meritize or Ascent, two popular private bootcamp loan providers that provide a loan and feature grace periods for repayment. This may not be a bad option for a student projecting to earn a software engineer salary and budgeting after the course is completed. However, students should always be aware that these are private loans and not educational loans, so the APR is much higher.
Considering the rising cost of real estate in Austin, there’s belt-tightening opportunities for all bootcamp students. Here are three great tips to funding your coding bootcamp enrollment:
- Apply for every coding scholarship. Several coding bootcamps offer scholarships geared toward increasing the amount of underrepresented coding professionals in the tech sector. Coding Dojo - a bootcamp offering remote bootcamps across the country - provides scholarships incentivizing LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and military veterans to apply and attend the bootcamps. Several need-based scholarships are also popping up across different coding schools across the country.
- Research income-share agreements. Some bootcamp graduates pay for their tuition using income-share agreements (ISAs). An income share agreement is a written agreement between you and a bootcamp provider that says you’ll commit to paying the provider a percentage of your income for an agreed amount of time.
- Project your salary earnings. Carefully evaluate the tech job you can realistically land and the median salary of your desired position. Is that desired position going to be paying you significantly more than your current role? Will it earn you a higher multiple several times over than the cost of the bootcamp itself? For example, if you want to be a full stack developer and or are also seriously considering data science roles, know the market rates for each of those positions.
Popular Coding Bootcamps in Austin
Austin’s coding bootcamps are currently in various states of in-person, hybrid, or remote (most common due to the pandemic), but here are some notable coding schools to look into.
- Austin Coding Academy. While many of the course options are remote, Austin Coding Academy also hosts on-ground classes in partnership with St. Edward’s University. Founded in 2014, this program is highly competitive on price (currently $4,000 less than the average bootcamp cost nationally) and mentions a 91% job placement rate. However, we’d like to see a deeper dive into the job placement numbers. (e.g. what percentage of total student uses the job placement services and are students placed in full-time coding roles). This is worth exploring should you be matched to this bootcamp.
- UT Austin’s Coding Bootcamp. UT’s coding school bills itself as the “first coding bootcamp in the state of Texas.” A curriculum built in partnership with Trilogy Education Services (a 2U, Inc. brand), the University of Texas at Austin provides students the option to complete its bootcamp from 12-24 weeks with its full-time and part-time options. Students are able to learn coding languages fullstack developers need in the modern workplace: HTML5, Javascript, jQuery, MongoDB, React, Node and more.
- Hack Reactor (Galvanize). Hack Reactor, acquired by Galvanize in 2018, remains one of the premiere coding bootcamps in the country. With a physical campus located in the Seaholm District, aspiring coding bootcamp students have the option to attend remotely or use the coworking option in a chic industrial space alongside other students in your cohort. The curriculum features fundamentals of computer science, full stack Javascript, and application design capstones that provide students with an immersive experience.
Austin’s rising influence as a key city in America’s tech future will likely require more entry and mid-level software developers to fill out the many available positions.
Deciding to Attend a Coding Bootcamp in Austin
Austin’s reputation precedes it. The city that produced Willie Nelson and Drew Brees is also known for its innovation, and a community of top-tier web developers and tech companies awaits bootcamp graduates seeking a personal and professional network. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, major tech companies like Whole Foods, Sonic Healthcare, and Dell are planning a safe return to office with an intact roster of full stack developers, data scientists, and software engineers at highly competitive market rates. The potential for career growth as a developer in Austin is certainly there.
If you’ve been thoughtful about what drives your interest in coding, analyzed the benefits of attending a bootcamp in sunny Austin, properly budgeted for a life during and after becoming a bootcamp grad, and have a strong sense of what you want to pursue, we can match you with the right program.