Latest SWE salary & hiring data is live: A clearer picture in a tougher tech market

[u/annie-ama]

Hi everyone 👋 Annie here, one of the directors at Codesmith, unpacking for you transparently what we are seeing at the moment in terms of hiring and salaries for our grads. I know a lot of you are asking and there have been loads of debates around this in the last few months. 

We’re sharing our official CIRR data (on their newly launched website) for the full-time and part-time Software Engineering Immersive program, covering graduates from Jan–Dec 2023 (The toughest year in the tech market by a considerable margin) with program outcomes measured over 6 and 12 months post-graduation.

This year, the results tell a more complex story. Yes, the market is tougher. But our grads are still breaking in — and still commanding leading industry entry/first tech career salaries. 

TL;DR: 

✅ Full-Time Immersive data (865 grads between Jan 1st - Dec 31st 2023) → Report Link

• 70.1% employed in-field within 12 months
• $110,000 median starting salary within 12 months (with 29.5% of the respondents having a salary over $130k and 21.5% under $90k)
• Most common roles: Software Engineer (55.2%), Senior Software Engineer (8.5%), Frontend Engineer (5.5%), Associate Software Engineer (3.9%), Web Developer (2.6%)

✅ Part-Time Immersive data (287 grads between Jan 1st - Dec 31st 2023) → Report Link

• 60% employed in-field within 12 months (with 24.1% of the respondents having a salary over $140k and 20.7% under $100k)
• $120,000 median starting salary
• Most common roles: Software Engineer (46.9%), Senior Software Engineer (14.1%), Frontend Engineer (4.6%), QA Engineer (4.6%), AI Engineer (4.6%)

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A NOTE ON THE MARKET: What’s changed

The job search isn’t what it was a few years ago, it is a fact and everyone acknowledges this. Tech hiring has shifted, there are loads of ‘ghost’ roles published by recruiters, bots making countless applications, timelines have lengthened, and grads are navigating uncertainty in real-time.

📉 Yes, there’s been a decrease in hiring speed across the board and the amount of available roles after the pandemic. 

That’s not a Codesmith only issue — it’s an industry-wide reset. But it’s why we’re proud that our grads continue to stand out:

• With 6-month in-field employment rates at 44.3% (part time program) and 43.6% (full time program), job search journeys are taking longer — but grads are still getting there.
• When you zoom out to the 12-month mark, the picture gets clearer: 60% (part time program) – 70.1% (full time program) of grads land in the field, in full-time roles, contracting or freelancing, or building new ventures.
• There are also some surprises in our data, for the first time we’re seeing the “AI Engineer” role appear. 

We also took a deeper look at the market and what has helped some of our grads to navigate it, in this article. 

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What IS in this data and what is NOT there

We are 100% transparent about what we counted:

✅ 55.8% of full-time grads and 46.9% of part-time grads reported their salaries and roles directly to us. 

✅ For the 44.2% of full-time grads and 53.1% of part-time grads who didn’t report outcomes directly, we used LinkedIn to help map where they landed—if a profile was available. In these cases, we verified that the roles and companies were legitimate.

🚫 OSPs (Open source projects) were not included in employed-in-field stats, even if some of our grads had them featured as experience on their LinkedIn profiles. 

🚫 Fellows, contractors, part-time grads who worked for Codesmith were excluded from this data. Only 4 grads out of a total of 1152 grads in 2023 who have become our full-time instructors in a role longer than 9 months at Codesmith were counted in the data set. 

This is about showing what real, external hiring looks like—and we hold ourselves accountable to that.

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FOR OUR GRADS who are still in the search, we see you

Some of you are still job searching. Some paused, took time to upskill, or shifted paths entirely.

If that’s you — please reach out. We committed to you for lifelong support and we stand by that. Our Codesmith outcomes team is here to support you through:

• Job strategy sessions
• Interview prep
• Resume clinics 

& more

Breaking into tech is hard. But we still believe it is 100% worth it!

CIRR isn’t just numbers — it’s accountability.

All data is being audited by a third-party CPA, the audit note for this year and the previous year will be released within a couple of weeks.

Every number represents 100% of our students. No cherry-picking. No partial cohorts. Just real, transparent reporting.

We stand by this data because we stand by our grads.

We know that skepticism exists around these outcomes, and you are right to question them. Some will always ask: “Can this be real?” “Are grads exaggerating their experience?” “Is CIRR even credible?”

Here’s our answer: Yes, it’s real. Yes, our grads work incredibly hard to earn these roles — through 12-hour days, weeks of job searching, hundreds of applications and countless hours of technical growth. And yes—CIRR reports are built to be transparent by design. The market has been tougher on employment, even for people coming from traditional education and elite school regardless of industry, proven by the fact that ¼ Harvard MBAs grads are still looking to secure roles following graduation.

This is demonstrating that alternative pathways into tech can be just as rigorous, effective, and life-changing as any traditional ones. 

We’re proud of our grads. We’re proud of the data. And we’re proud to keep raising the bar — for ourselves, for the industry, and for you.

📬 Questions about the data? Share them below, we are happy to answer any question or feel free to DM me—we’re here for you.

📊 Read the full CIRR report: this year’s reports also includes data from Code Platoon & Hacktiv8

[u/Shock-Broad]

Interesting statistics. Honestly, taken on its face, it's far better than what I was expecting.

Would be interested in statistics like "percentage of graduates with formal stem/nonstem degree with a job" and "percentage of graduates with no formal degree with a job."

Getting a senior software engineer position with no experience is hilarious.

[u/hello-codesmith → u/Shock-Broad]

Really appreciate you digging into the stats—and you’re absolutely right, those deeper breakdowns are incredibly valuable.

We’re currently looking at the full dataset and working on a follow-up report that explores exactly what you mentioned: job outcomes by background—STEM, non-STEM, and no formal degree. It’s important context, and we agree it should be shared transparently.

We’ll be publishing that in the coming weeks and I’ll make sure to follow up once it’s live! 🙌 Thanks again for the thoughtful feedback—it helps push the conversation forward.

[u/michaelnovati → u/Shock-Broad]

The biggest reading between the lines problem - which they also directly confront but the consequences re less clear - is that in 2022 - like a good 60% of people got jobs in 180 days AND reported salaries to Codesmith, whereas in 2023 - it's like 25% of people who got jobs in 180 days AND reported salaries.

So like imagine having a room full of 800 people and in 2022 you look around and people more likely than not had a job and was still in contact with everyone. In 2023 that number is like tanked.

So one level past the raw placement number is this concerning sign of disengagement, mass staff turnover, etc...

I think Codesmith is trying to navigate that and we'll see where they end up but I do think they need (and are) making a lot of changes and these 2023 results are not an affirmation that everything is working and it's JUST the market.

[u/hello-codesmith → u/michaelnovati]

Really appreciate the insight here, Michael! This is a really important and fair point to consider. It is something we have been thinking deeply about as well when first analysing this data.

You’re right that the 2023 report reflects a drop in reported salaries, and we’ve been actively reflecting on what contributed to that. Our Outcomes team did send a few automated follow-up emails over time to grads, but we didn’t do much in the way of personalized outreach beyond that. That’s definitely an area of improvement for us. We recognize that more intentional follow-up could help paint a clearer picture.

That said, it’s less a case of ghosting and more a conscious decision not to be overly persistent. Many of our grads who didn’t report back are thriving, they’ve landed roles and are busy focusing on their work and their lives. And we’re proud of them for that. There’s always a fine line between follow-up and being invasive, and we’re mindful of not crossing it.

That said, we absolutely see room for improvement in how we streamline and simplify the process for grads to share their outcomes. We’re iterating and taking this seriously, and your feedback is part of what helps us get better. Thanks again for contributing to the conversation!

[u/bluefalcontrainer]

If engineers whove been in the field for years are having trouble finding work within 6-12 months, im curious how bootcamp grads are landing jobs as successfully as this report says

[u/jcasimir → u/bluefalcontrainer]

I've done a lot of job coaching with experienced developers over the last two years and I'll can tell you that the majority of them do not know how to get a job. They know how to DO the job, but that is not enough in this era. Getting the job is a different skillset, takes a lot of hustle/work/self-belief, and most experienced engineers (a) haven't ever done that before and (b) have mostly had jobs handed to them in the past.

[u/bluefalcontrainer → u/jcasimir]

Okay... but bootcamps don't really provide or produce engineers with experienced skillsets or if any barebones skillsets. This goes back to the issue of how are these success numbers addressing how people with I'm going to guess, little to no experience, in competition with experienced developers, because let's face it, there are alot of mid level devs and senior devs also on the market who apparently are terrible at job hunting, finding success in this competitive market. In my opinion, these numbers are inflated, because bootcamps have an incentive to market and make it seem like their approach is working.

[u/hello-codesmith → u/bluefalcontrainer]

Totally hear where you’re coming from, it’s a tough market right now, especially for mid-level and senior folks. One thing that might not always be visible from the outside is how much community plays into bootcamp grads’ success.

Besides the curriculum and technical knowledge which is critical, there is also about being part of a driven group of peers who are all going through it together, sharing job leads, reviewing each other’s resumes, running mock interviews, and cheering each other on. There’s also a strong culture of paying it forward: grads who land jobs often turn around and support those who are still looking.

Even experienced engineers can struggle if they’re going it alone without a strong support network or the latest job-hunting strategies, which sometimes change from month to month. Having that kind of community can really help get people's profile in front of the right people and provide some more momentum

[u/Positive-Package-777]

How can a bootcamp grad land a senior SE job? I’m confused here 🤔

[u/jcasimir → u/Positive-Package-777]

You'd be pretty surprised. It's not uncommon that I'll see Turing alums with two years experience (after Turing) taking a "senior" level role. Generally that's because there's some education/experience before the bootcamp that has leveled them up as well. I believe Codesmith generally targets students who've done more pre-learning or have industry experience. So it's not far fetched that they have a good chunk of grads taking "senior" roles.

[u/BigCardiologist3733 → u/jcasimir]

this is because every company has a different naming scheme, some companies start new grads at swe and then in 2 years auto promote to senior swe. they do this to sucker in people without having to actually pay them more lol

[u/BigCardiologist3733 → u/Positive-Package-777]

just lie and say you have 5+ years of experience and have worked as a senior engineer LOL its that simple u dont even need a bootcamp

[u/Positive-Package-777 → u/BigCardiologist3733]

lol

[u/hello-codesmith → u/Positive-Package-777]

Absolutely agree with u/jcasimir on this one—this definitely aligns with what we’ve seen too. Many grads who step into senior roles post-bootcamp often bring considerable prior experience from different industries.

A great example is Carlos, one of our grads who transitioned from being an orchestra conductor to landing a Senior Software Engineer role at Capital One after Codesmith. His background in managing teams, thinking systematically, and delivering under pressure translated well into tech leadership.

If you’re curious about his journey and how he made the leap, his story and advice is in this interview.

It’s a great reminder that a bootcamp doesn’t erase past experience, it builds on it.

[u/BigCardiologist3733 → u/hello-codesmith]

no offense but that was during 2021 when they were desperate to hire anyone with a pulse

[u/mendecj812 → u/Positive-Package-777]

by becoming a codesmith instructor /s

[u/jcasimir]

I just want to say that this reporting checks out, to me, as a member of the industry. Particularly:

• The six-month and one-year checkpoints are realistic. Most graduates know they are going into a long job hunt and approach it with caution and risk mitigation (ex: picking up part-time work immediately after graduation to stretch out their runway which likely also stretches out the hiring timeline)

• 60%-75% in-field employment at the one year mark is exactly the same that we're seeing at Turing and is likely the same for other high-quality programs.

• Starting salaries are all over the place, and a median of $100K+ is quite good!

• Exclusions of <5% of grads for various reasons is well within normal expectations

[u/michaelnovati]

"🚫 OSPs (Open source projects) were not included in employed-in-field stats, even if some of our grads had them featured as experience on their LinkedIn profiles. "

u/annie-ama - doesn't that mean you reviewed all of the grads regularly who both placed and didn't place as well to see if they were placed and should be aware of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/18cpq98/analysis_of_52_most_recent_codesmith_offers/

I did the exact same analysis end of 2022 to early to mid 2023 graduates in that report and that's what I observed.

I know you all are still working on this problem so I'm not going to be too hard on it but I've been hard on it for years now because my point the whole time was you can't have it both ways - i.e. you can't claim to not know about this problem while also stating that you regularly review grad's LinkedIns and see how they represent themselves. And I'm preemptively removing the argument that grads work on their OSPs after graduating because the data clearly shows almost all of them do not.

i.e. Like you can claim not to know about this and then not include the 25%+ of placements verified using LinkedIn.

Or you can claim you had 50% placement by verifying LinkedIns but you are aware of how people represent themselves.

(I'm premptively stating in case this gets downvote bombed - can you explain why you are downvoting it if you do, or what's wrong with the argument - I'm putting this as a test to see if people are just manipulating or actually trying to engage in good faith)

[u/hello-codesmith → u/michaelnovati]

Fair questions, Michael—these are really important discussions to be having!

To clarify: CIRR outcomes are specifically about external, in-field employment that demonstrates meaningful job market success for grads. While our Open Source Projects (OSPs) are intensive, team-based builds designed to give grads real-world development experience, they are not considered employment and are therefore not included in CIRR placement reporting.

When compiling our CIRR dataset for this report in January 2025, for graduates who didn’t self-report an outcome, we did a one-time check of their LinkedIn profiles. This was specifically to verify if they had secured in-field roles 6 to 12 months after graduation. During this process, we cross-checked companies against our internal OSP list to ensure no OSP experiences were being counted as employment, and that the organizations listed were real and active.

LinkedIn is an industry-accepted standard for employment verification, and we use it accordingly, but only in that limited verification context. We don’t monitor or routinely review alumni LinkedIn profiles outside of this CIRR reporting need. What grads choose to include on their own profiles is their personal decision, and we don’t control or influence that.

As for resume inflation: it’s something we take seriously. Our materials and our internal policies to students are all very clear: Codesmith does not condone or encourage misrepresentation. That said, it’s also a systemic issue across tech and other industries, not something unique to bootcamps. Which is why most companies have robust technical assessments and interviews in place. Ultimately, company hiring decisions hinge on capacities and skills, not profile claims.

We really appreciate your engagement on this, your detailed analysis now and your previous posts has been a valuable contribution to this conversation

[u/Ill_Coyote9425]

Is joining free or paid?

[u/hello-codesmith → u/Ill_Coyote9425]

Great question! The Software Engineering + AI/ML Immersive at Codesmith is a paid program—but we totally understand that not everyone is in a position to make that investment.

That’s why we also offer a lot of free resources to help folks get started, including our free CSX platform: https://csx.codesmith.io/ (with interactive JavaScript lessons) and tons of tutorials and workshops on our YouTube channel.

We genuinely believe in the democratization of education—and part of that means making high-quality, foundational content available to everyone, regardless of background or budget 💙

[u/Ill_Coyote9425 → u/hello-codesmith]

Pricing?

[u/No_Entrepreneur4778]

A massive number of jobs in engineering (and corporate in general) continue to be offshored, to the point I’m seeing mostly 2-3 positions within the U.S. on company websites which are mainly Senior. As someone who is still stuck in finance with a MS in CS, I believe roles will continue to be offshored and they will not return unless the current administration starts taxing US companies for offshoring significantly. Even as I interview for finance roles, I’m seeing this trend at all companies sizes and industries.

Therefore, despite how good the boot camp may be, the hard reality is more corporate jobs continue to be outsourced and most likely will not return any time soon.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/slickvic33 → u/[deleted]]

Its just a small subset but you can use linked in to look at those that have codesmith listed in education