How to Find Time for a Bootcamp

New year, new you! Between Dry January, decluttering your home, and other resolutions, you may be torn as to whether you could also pick up a new skill this season.

The thing is, there’s a lot more time to spare in the day than you think — if you approach professional development with the right mindset.

Signing up for a bootcamp could be just the 2025 goal for you: It will expose you to real-life applications of relevant skills, while also keeping learning flexible and fun (not to mention, affordable). If that sounds intriguing, but you’re still not convinced you can find the time to make it work, read on.

Establishing the facts: How much time do you really need?

Every bootcamp is different, and even those provided by the same organization may differ based on the skills they’re teaching or format they take. Another thing to keep in mind is how (and how quickly) you pick stuff up, and how that might deviate from others. All this to say, it’s complicated to pinpoint the exact amount of time a bootcamp will take you from start to finish.

However, we like to prep students by noting you’ll likely need to dedicate around 20 hours a week to our programs.

The good news? That 20 can adapt to your schedule. Many bootcamps, including ours, incorporate asynchronous communication, meaning you can often sign on when it’s best for you. Work night shifts? Tag on a few hours of studying in the mornings. Less motivated during the week? Consolidate your assignments on the weekends.

Weeks may vary as well, depending on the topics covered and the amount of hurdles you face. You’ll find that some tasks are harder than others, requiring more time commitment, while other days you can breeze through a lecture or coding project in half the time allotted.

Which makes finding time that much easier!

How to make time for a bootcamp

Of course, we want to show you how to really walk the walk — which is why we suggest taking the following steps to squeeze a skills-based bootcamp into your schedule with ease. 

Bonus: These tips are backed by real students who achieved real career success.

Tell Netflix and TikTok that you need some space

Let’s put it out there: We spend a lot of our time looking at screens, and not in a productive way. Nielsen recently reported that the average US adult spends about 32 hours a week watching TV. And that’s just for warm periods: When the weather is particularly frigid, that number shoots up to 35 hours a week — practically a full-time job in itself!

Consider, too, the role social media plays in our everyday. One estimate puts the time people spend on social platforms a day at almost three hours. 

We know what you’re thinking: Yes, I could be using that time more effectively, but I like television and Instagram, I deserve to treat myself, and it's not like I could just stop using these devices completely.

We hear you, but we’ll also pose this: What if only a portion of those hours went toward something else? More importantly, what if you could find more fulfillment by swapping those habits out on occasion?

We can’t guarantee that latter, but you also can’t deny the evidence that finding and doing meaningful work frequently leads to a happier, richer, and healthier life. So if a bootcamp is scratching an itch, maybe set aside a half hour before doomscrolling in bed for skills exploration, or treat yourself to a movie after you’ve achieved a new coding task.

TripleTen graduate Jeremy Rivera_{Balancing College, Work, Family, and a Part-Time Bootcamp to Find Tech Success: Jeremy Rivera’s TripleTen Story} took this leap while balancing family duties, finishing a college degree in communications and media, and working a full-time job in distribution. He saw how valuable landing a role in web or software development could be for his long-term career and life trajectory.

“It just came down to time management,” he said. “I worked my distribution job 4-5 days a week. I would leave work, drive to school, go to class at 2:30 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m., and get home around 10 p.m. before waking up at 3 a.m. to get ready for my job. I managed to fit the bootcamp in the time I would’ve spent binging Netflix or being out every weekend.”

That short-term sacrifice paid off, with Rivera snagging a prestigious job at tax planning and support platform The Walters Institute before his bootcamp experience was even up.

Plan ahead — and stick to the plan

Staying off of TikTok and on top of incoming bootcamp assignments both require a solid plan — and the commitment to stick to the plan.

What that plan looks like is up to you! Maybe it’s a digital or handwritten calendar, or a set of Post-it reminders tacked to your computer. Whatever suits your fancy, make sure to utilize an accountability partner by sharing your plan with your family, friends, and other relevant parties who can support your decision and provide distraction blockers when necessary.

This was the strategy Evgeniia Unzhakova_{How an Immigrant Landed a Career in the US: Evgeniia Unzhakova’s TripleTen Story}, a former math teacher, used when she signed up for TripleTen’s data science bootcamp upon moving to America from Russia. A set schedule was especially helpful for staying motivated during the pandemic and with her kids at home. 

I would take a full day, close the door, and say that nothing and no one should interrupt me.

Evgeniia Unzhakova TripleTen grad

Today, she’s a research analyst at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she’s helping increase enrollment in the school.

Then, Jeremy Laurange_{Switching to Tech for His Family: Jeremy Laurange’s TripleTen Story,} who had always been interested in data while working as an operations manager at a nonprofit, also prioritized making a plan during his time in one of TripleTen’s first business intelligence analyst groups.

What I would do is I put the kids to bed and essentially study for around three or four hours each night. And it was kind of my relax time.

Jeremy Laurange TripleTen grad

“I liked to be able to go at my own pace,” he added. “So if one day I felt burnt out coming home from work, I didn't need to do it because I had enough time to do it.”

Thanks to upskilling, Laurange was able to land a new role at the same company that was a step up — and provided better work-life balance for his family.

Sneak in studying whenever you have the opportunity

Taking several hours to tackle homework or listen in on a class isn’t your only option with a bootcamp — the flexible programming is highly conducive to microlearning, or smaller sessions of studying.

This is exactly the approach Jessica Powers_{Tying a Career Together with QA: Jessica Powers’s TripleTen Story}, a former customer service rep turned QA specialist at marketing firm Tandem Theory, took.

If I had downtime or I was on my lunch break, I got through the reading portion, and then I would go home, and I would work on the practical portion.

Jessica Powers TripleTen grad

And when a family emergency struck, she was able to get in touch with the TripleTen team, explain the situation, and pause her studies for a week and a half. “Learning something new can be stressful, but it was probably one of the least stressful learning experiences I've ever had,” she added.

Want to make sure a bootcamp is right for you?

Your time is precious, which is why you shouldn’t jump into something new without doing your research. 

We want to help: Take our short bootcamp quiz to figure out if this is the move for you and will set you on your ideal career path — and thus make your time spent worthwhile.