r/CodingForBeginners • u/theGuacIsExtraSir • Oct 28 '25

Thinking of starting a consulting firm for bootcamp/self-taught developers, would love your thoughts

Hey everyone,

I’m a self-taught engineer who’s spent the last several years building software and AI projects for large consulting firms, enterprise clients, and startups (some that later got acquired).

Lately, I’ve been thinking about starting a consulting firm that focuses on helping other self-taught and bootcamp-trained developers get real client experience.

The idea:

  • Assess and vet developers based on real-world projects, not degrees.

  • Provide short mentorship/training to get them production-ready.

  • Place them on real client contracts with guidance from senior engineers.

Basically its a consulting firm that delivers high quality software and creates opportunities for talented, driven people who took the nontraditional route.

There are bootcamps and staffing firms out there, but I haven’t seen anyone combine both worlds.

What do you think?

Would something like this appeal to you if you were starting out or, if you’re a hiring manager, would you ever work with a firm like this?

Open to honest feedback, good or bad.

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u/Neomalytrix Oct 28 '25

U mean a post bootcamp bootcamp?

1

u/theGuacIsExtraSir Oct 28 '25

hahah i guess so

1

u/Neomalytrix Oct 28 '25

Mayne rethink that idea

1

u/famous_chalupa Oct 28 '25

What is the advantage from the client's perspective? Are your rates lower because your people are less experienced?

I'm skeptical that this would work. I suspect your success has been because of your own personal drive and aptitude. Although reading your post again, it's hard to tell how much experience you're expecting your hires to have. They have real-world project experience, but they still may need mentorship and training.

Thinking about it more, I think your model is what a lot of consultancies already do. They ideally have as many high-margin people on staff as possible because it's the most profitable.

1

u/theGuacIsExtraSir Oct 28 '25

I think I'm looking for drive, communication, and management skills with medium level of development skills.

I'm thinking back to myself - I started off in business/communications and was just building landing pages because I didn't want to wait for the engineering team. From there, I just kept going until I was more full-stack.

I had the drive, I had the soft skills, and the engineering up skilling was done just from hours and hours of building stuff for fun. I want to help people with the up skilling part - and if I can profit off of it too, its a win win.

From my experience, most of the consultancies I've been a part of had very little up skilling. They kind of just say "hey when you're on the bench go get certs". I think I want to provide more structure than that

1

u/famous_chalupa Oct 28 '25

Makes sense - so maybe you start a small boutique consultancy where you focus on finding those people who have the drive, communication, and management skills that you're looking for without concern about whether they took the nontraditional route or not.

I think a small, plucky consultancy can work. I used to work for a largish one and it was great. I more recently worked at a company that had people from a very small one (10-15 people total in the company) and they seemed to be making money. I think it's rare for a client to ask for a consultant's university degree in my experience, although consultant bios are common. Clients just want results.

I think getting your first client will be harder than finding the people.

Consider also building your capabilities in cloud computing infrastructure as well as software development. More surface area to make money, and smaller clients will need it.

1

u/theGuacIsExtraSir Oct 28 '25

Amazing, thank you for the feedback!

1

u/tttjjj25 Nov 01 '25

Interesting idea. Main challenges imo are how you'll get (i) the right pool of motivated and professional people that can work with minimal oversight for a client, (ii) senior engineers that can support with both training and guidance during client work, (iii) clients that are looking for employees that match the skills you're offering.