The world of tech is changing. It’s no longer just for people with computer science degrees. In fact, people from all walks of life are joining the industry to find flexibility and meaning in their work. But increasingly, these people aren’t choosing Big Tech. Here’s why.
For decades, tech jobs have been widely portrayed as coveted and elite. The “lucky few” worked on cutting-edge projects, developed new technologies, and pushed the boundaries of what’s possible — and were rewarded with job security and handsome compensation.
Then came 2023. According to Crunchbase, more than 160,233 workers in U.S.-based tech companies have been laid off in mass job cuts. Big Tech, which to the general public may have felt untouchable, also felt the squeeze; Amazon laid off 16,080 roles, and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, laid off 12,000.
There will always be data and engineering jobs in the tech industry writ large, but we are witnessing a mass exodus of talent away from the Big 5. Part of the reason is that with a growing market of coding bootcamps offering flexible learning options, tech jobs have become feasible for those without any prior STEM or coding background.
TripleTen’s enrollment data backs this up. In total, only 13% of TripleTen students came from a background in STEM. Instead, TripleTen’s 1K-plus graduates have come from a variety of non-tech backgrounds — from bartenders to nurses to teachers. And these newly trained TripleTen graduates are opting to pursue smaller and mid-tier companies that have a need for experts in software engineering, quality assurance, business intelligence analytics, or data science.
One thing a majority of these new devs share is a desire for the flexibility and autonomy that smaller firms provide. Once COVID-19 did away with in-office work requirements, opportunities opened in secondary and tertiary cities like Denver, Asheville, and Orlando, making remote work nearly a standard practice and paving the way for new coders to get tech jobs regardless of where they were. No need to move to Silicon Valley — a new career and the benefits it promised became much more accessible.
These bootcamp grads now work in the industries that excite them most — from artificial intelligence to aerospace and from agriculture to fashion. Best of all, they often have the chance to do so remotely, something that Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta are moving away from.
TripleTen graduates are doing incredible things
It’s not just smaller companies’ flexibility that makes them tempting to fresh grads. Many TripleTen students choose these companies because they align with the grads’ values and goals.
Take Denver-based Tiffany H. 
She was a special education teacher with 15 years of experience who recognized that her students could benefit from tech platforms that offered personalized material. So she thought, “Why not build these tools myself?” After graduating TripleTen, she became a full-stack developer, and she now works at Scholastic to expand literacy instruction worldwide.
Or consider Jake M. Coming from a background in psychology and wilderness therapy, he could see the impact this sort of help could have. 
“I have vivid memories of making fires with sticks in the woods and teaching other people how to do that. I’d see kids crying because they’d discovered something about themselves that was so transformative. It was really rewarding. It taught me a lot about who I am today,” he says. Soon after that experience, he chose to shift his career focus to tech, went to a bootcamp, and now he’s working for Zencare, a small mission-driven company that helps people connect with therapists.
These are just a few examples of how students and graduates from all walks of life have gone on to work at companies that, for instance, make neuroscience more accessible to the masses or build digital immigration resources for those aiming to make living in the U.S. a reality. More than half of TripleTen’s alumni receive job offers before they even graduate, with 87% getting hired within 180 days of graduation at a median salary of $75,750.
But TripleTen doesn’t only focus on getting its grads jobs in smaller companies; the skills taught are applicable in tech across the board. While the preference is for smaller companies outside traditional tech hubs, some TripleTen graduates have gone to work for bigger names. Rachelle P. left the tourism industry to work as a data scientist at Spotify. And others have landed at places like Accenture and IBM.
Changing careers is a big leap. Financial considerations, uncertainty around the skill gap, fear of the unknown, and perceived failure are incredibly daunting. But TripleTen is lessening the load so that people, regardless of their background, can pursue new, more flexible, and more meaningful work. And, increasingly, that work is being found at smaller companies.
Not all bootcamps are created equal. Learn how TripleTen’s fully remote, part-time online bootcamp gives you everything you need to break into tech.