Want to Really Learn Tech? Get Hands-On Experience

We can read, listen, and watch how to do something all day, but it’s hard to beat hands-on experience. You can’t really master, say, baking a pie or building a dresser, when you only observe people on YouTube doing it (even if it’s entertaining and thoroughly explained). It’s when you pick up that rolling pin or hammer that the pieces start to fall into place and your confidence soars.

Take a more relatable example: whatever you do at work on a regular basis. Creating spreadsheets, drafting emails, fielding calls — did you develop these skills by shadowing a manager or colleague, or did you just practice, practice, practice? We’d bet that the majority of your expertise came from the latter. (We’d be remiss to completely ignore the value of a great mentor_{How Can a Mentor Help Kickstart Your IT Career?} and support network.)

It’s for this reason and more that we believe hands-on learning is crucial to break into and succeed in tech, no matter where you’re coming from. Below, we’ll dive into the value of real-world exposure and practical training, and how TripleTen incorporates it into all its bootcamp programs.

Practical experience matters

Beyond mastery of craft, practical experience makes you a better job candidate, period. Our recent survey of over 1,000 tech decision-makers found that 68% vet for hard skills when hiring for key roles. More specifically, 50% look for examples of work, while 60% keep an eye out for applicable experience in a similar job. When asked what materials can make a candidate stand out, 55% of hiring managers listed a portfolio, and another 15% mentioned a GitHub profile when relevant.

Your application might sparkle, but if you can’t answer basic questions about applying your skills to the job or prove you can hit certain goals with past examples, you’ll quickly lose the interviewer’s interest.

It’s worth mentioning other benefits practical experience provides you, the job seeker, career changer, or ambitious professional. If you’re considering an industry switch, this experience allows you to “test-drive” a new career before you actually make the full leap. If you’re unsure whether you’d enjoy or be good at a certain skill, it can increase your confidence — or confirm your suspicions. If you’re looking to move up or take on more responsibility, it acts as a clear source of proof you’re worth more money or a bigger title. Hands-on training is simply the best way to learn more about yourself — your goals, your weaknesses, and your passions.

That’s why we use practical tasks to teach tech skills

Because we want our students to land lucrative and fulfilling jobs in tech as soon as possible upon graduation, we make it a priority to teach using real-world examples, assignments common to popular tech jobs, and updated tools and software. Our lectures are consistently paired with tasks such as debugging code and manipulating data in JavaScript, QAing a website with Selenium, or ideating an app design through Figma. (If you don’t know what any of those platforms are, good news — we cover that, too!) 

The curriculum is even structured to mimic an actual tech team dynamic, with weeks-long sprints (a specific period dedicated to building or iterating on one thing), feedback sessions, and presentations with industry leaders. Not only does this expose you to all aspects of a tech role so that it feels familiar, but you’re guaranteed to come away with solid projects to showcase in-demand skills_{The Most In-Demand Tech Skills That Will Get You Hired} to an employer.

You can get real-world experience, too

Of course, the working world is full of a lot more nuance than a classroom case study can provide, which is why at TripleTen we also offer externships that take you out of a controlled environment and put you directly in front of real problems companies, nonprofits, and other institutions face every day. 

TripleTen students can apply to join these externships during their time with the bootcamp to really lock in their skills, or they can participate after they graduate to keep their skills sharp as they job search. They’ll have the chance to work alongside other students and tech employees at a company, attending team meetings and brainstorms, collaborating on code and data analysis, and presenting ideas for feedback and buy-in. Not to mention, they’ll be rubbing elbows with experts and decision makers who can vouch for them down the road.

In return, students get to assist a burgeoning business with their online presence, customer experience, and tech know-how. Synthesis Workshop, an open-access video podcast for scientists and researchers, recently partnered with TripleTen students_{What TripleTen Externships Are Really Like: Rebuilding Synthesis Workshop’s Website} to redesign its website. “It’s already clear from the community that this is a much better version of the site,” said Matthew Horwitz, the startup’s founder and editor-in-chief, adding, “I think [the community response will] be very positive, and I think the product delivered will be enormously useful in the long run.”

“Participating in an externship with TripleTen was a defining moment in my learning journey,” said Ian Dizney_{3 Things That Made TripleTen's Software Engineering Program Exceptional}, a graduate of TripleTen’s software engineering bootcamp who worked on the Synthesis Workshop project.

I encountered a diverse range of challenges that encouraged me to continuously expand my skill set. Additionally, collaborating with fellow engineers in a professional environment provided insights into the importance of effective communication, teamwork, and project management — skills that are indispensable in the software engineering industry.

Ian Dizney TripleTen grad

Thanks to that externship, he now has the bona fides on his portfolio to prove his know-how to prospective employers. He’s not the only one who’s benefitted from externship experience either. In fact, another former student, Jessica Powers_{Tying a Career Together with QA: Jessica Powers’s TripleTen Story}, sees how valuable this hands-on learning experience was in convincing a company that she was the right choice.

The way the externship team was set up was very similar to how my current team is set up. I think having that experience and being able to tell my current team about that experience during the interview process helped them go, ‘Oh yeah, that's kind of how we work, too. So that'll be a good transition.

Jessica Powers TripleTen grad

Find out more

You can book a call with a career advisor — for free! — at TripleTen today to learn more about how we incorporate hands-on training into your desired program, or hear more concrete examples of practical experience in action.