The Career Change Podcast with Fexingo: Switching Fields, Bootcamps, and Reskilling

You built a portfolio project during your coding bootcamp. Maybe it's a climate impact tracker or a health tech dashboard. Could you patent it? In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack the surprisingly accessible world of provisional patent filings for bootcamp grads. They walk through the story of a bootcamp grad who patented a machine learning tool for farmers, the $65 provisional application fee,...

Episode 31 of The Career Change Podcast breaks down why technical bootcamp graduates often stumble on behavioral interview questions — and what to do about it. Lucas and Luna walk through the STAR method with a concrete example from a real Fexingo listener who landed a junior data analyst role after a 16-week bootcamp. They discuss how to reframe non-tech work history as transferable strength, why...

This episode of The Career Change Podcast explores how bootcamp graduates can use freelancing platforms like Upwork to build a portfolio and land clients before securing a full-time tech role. Lucas and Luna discuss the specific strategies that work in 2026, including profile optimization for AI-powered matching, the importance of project-based pricing over hourly rates, and how to handle the plat...

This episode explores how bootcamp graduates can pivot into the education technology sector, a rapidly growing field blending software engineering with pedagogy. Lucas and Luna analyze the EdTech job market as of June 2026, highlighting specific roles like learning experience designer and assessment platform engineer. They discuss a case study of a bootcamp grad who joined a major language-learnin...

Episode 28 of The Career Change Podcast explores how coding bootcamp graduates can pivot into climate tech — a sector that raised $45 billion in venture funding in 2025 and is projected to hire 1.2 million new workers by 2030. Lucas and Luna break down the specific roles, skills, and job boards that make this transition realistic, using the example of former restaurant manager turned carbon-accoun...

Episode 27 of The Career Change Podcast with Fexingo explores the rapidly growing intersection of tech and healthcare. Lucas and Luna examine why health tech is a golden opportunity for bootcamp graduates, especially those without a medical background. They dive into the specific skills that transfer—like data analysis, interoperability standards like FHIR, and compliance knowledge—and walk throug...

Lucas and Luna explore how contributing to open source projects can be a powerful way for coding bootcamp graduates to build credibility, demonstrate real-world skills, and stand out to employers. They discuss specific platforms like GitHub and First Timers Only, the types of contributions that carry weight, and how one bootcamp grad used open source pull requests to land a job at a mid-size SaaS...

Episode 25 of The Career Change Podcast explores how bootcamp graduates can build professional credibility when they lack a traditional computer science degree. Lucas and Luna break down the credibility stack—a practical framework combining certifications, open-source contributions, speaking at meetups, and writing technical blog posts. They discuss why a single GitHub repo with real users can out...

Lucas and Luna explore the untapped potential of tech conferences for career switchers. With over 200 major conferences annually in the US alone, most bootcamp grads overlook these events as networking goldmines. The hosts break down how one cybersecurity bootcamp graduate landed three job offers from a single conference by following a specific pre-conference outreach strategy. They share concrete...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how bootcamp graduates can gain real-world experience and build their portfolios by volunteering their tech skills for nonprofit organizations. They discuss specific platforms like Catchafire and Taproot Plus, share a case study of a bootcamp grad who landed a paid role after a volunteer project with a local food bank, and offer practical steps for finding m...

Episode 22 of The Career Change Podcast digs into a specific question: what do you do if your coding bootcamp teaches you technical skills but you don't actually want to be a software engineer? Lucas and Luna explore how thousands of bootcamp graduates each year leverage their new technical literacy into roles like technical account manager, solutions architect, product manager, and sales engineer...

Episode 21 explores a growing alternative in career reskilling: apprenticeship-based programs. Lucas and Luna dive into the model used by companies like Multiverse and IBM, where you earn while you learn and get hired without paying tuition upfront. They break down the structure, typical salaries, and how apprenticeships compare to bootcamps for career switchers. Featuring real data on completion...

Episode 20 of The Career Change Podcast. Lucas and Luna explore an overlooked truth: getting laid off can actually accelerate a career change. They examine the case of a 34-year-old marketing manager who was laid off in early 2025, used severance to fund a three-month data analytics bootcamp, and landed a role paying 18% more by August. The hosts break down the math of severance versus savings, th...

Episode 19 of The Career Change Podcast explores how coding bootcamp students can launch a side hustle before graduation. Lucas and Luna discuss the story of Maria Chen, a former retail manager who built a $2,000-a-month freelance web design business while still enrolled in a full-stack bootcamp. They break down the strategic rationale: side hustles accelerate portfolio building, create real clien...

Salary transparency is reshaping the job market, and career changers from bootcamps have a unique advantage if they know how to use it. In this episode, Lucas and Luna look at how the growing number of state-level pay-transparency laws — New York, California, Colorado, and now several others — are changing the way bootcamp graduates can research, negotiate, and benchmark their first tech salaries....

Episode 17 of The Career Change Podcast explores a surprising and stable career path for coding bootcamp graduates: federal, state, and local government tech roles. Lucas and Luna break down why government agencies struggle to hire tech talent, how the 'U.S. Digital Service' and similar programs are modernizing public-sector IT, and what bootcamp grads need to know about the hiring process—includi...

Lucas and Luna explore a growing but often overlooked career path for coding bootcamp graduates: product management. With over 3,000 bootcamp grads entering the PM pipeline in 2025, according to data from the Product School Alumni Survey, Lucas breaks down why PM roles are a natural fit for those with technical foundations and business curiosity. They dive into specific strategies for making the p...

In this episode of The Career Change Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how coding bootcamp graduates can pivot into cybersecurity, a field with over 600,000 unfilled roles in the US alone. They break down the specific skills bootcamp grads already have—like scripting, networking fundamentals, and debugging—that translate directly into security roles such as security analyst or penetration tester. Lu...

Episode 14 of The Career Change Podcast explores why remote-first companies are often more accessible to bootcamp graduates than traditional offices. Lucas and Luna break down the hiring practices of companies like GitLab, Zapier, and Automattic, revealing how async communication and outcome-based evaluation can level the playing field for self-taught developers and career changers. They discuss s...

In this episode of The Career Change Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how bootcamp graduates can use AI tools not just to learn coding but to supercharge their job search and portfolio building. They discuss specific strategies like using AI for resume tailoring, automating cover letters, generating project ideas, and practicing technical interviews with AI chatbots. The hosts also touch on the eth...

Lucas and Luna dive into a specific skill most career-changers overlook: salary negotiation after a bootcamp. With fresh data from a 2026 industry report, they break down why bootcamp grads leave an average of $12,000 on the table in their first offer. They walk through a real negotiation script from a former retail manager who landed a $95,000 junior developer role — $8,000 above the initial offe...

Episode 11 of The Career Change Podcast explores a rarely discussed angle: the negotiation of coding bootcamp tuition. Lucas and Luna break down why most applicants take the sticker price, how one former restaurant manager got a 30% discount by asking at the right moment, and why employers are increasingly willing to split the cost. They also discuss the rise of income-share agreements and the hid...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the career reset power of lateral moves — switching roles within the same company or industry rather than starting from scratch. They break down the surprising data: internal moves can yield salary increases of 15-30%, often more than external hires, and they dramatically reduce the 'startup lag' of learning a new culture. The hosts use the example of a mark...

Episode 9 of The Career Change Podcast explores why community college transfer students into four-year computer science programs are consistently earning higher starting salaries and receiving more promotion offers than bootcamp graduates with similar pre-program experience. Lucas and Luna break down a 2025 National Student Clearinghouse study of 18,000 career changers, discuss the 'resume trust g...

In this episode of The Career Change Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore why coding bootcamps are rapidly adding AI specializations in 2026. They focus on a specific case: General Assembly's new 'AI Engineering Immersive' program launched in January 2026, which saw 4,000 applicants for 200 spots in its first cohort. The hosts discuss how traditional bootcamp curricula are evolving to include prompt en...