I'd only recommend the Revature route if you really have no other options. I was coming from a non-tech background with no network or official experience. Got lucky too because most of the people I got hired into Cognizant with after training were let go because of lack of work. If you go this route, prepare for some serious stress and very low pay. Minimum wage for first three months, then 45k for first year after that and only 60k your second year. They definitely got me into a big company (Cognizant) where I've been exposed to big projects like American Airlines. But ya, like I said, I got lucky. Having to move to a brand new place was tough and watching all my coworkers making six figures while I could barely afford rent and bills was really hard my second year. I wanna say it paid off cuz I'm making full salary now and have grown my skills A LOT to the point where I'm fully confident that I could work anywhere. But ya, did it pay off ultimately? I dunno. If you're not desperate to get into a software engineer career, I'd say spend your time interviewing and try to go work for a company directly. Even though I made it this far, I still feel a lot of insecurity around job stability since projects through Cognizant or other contracting companies usually only last a year or two. If you do end up going this route, be well aware that these kinds of companies are set up to take advantage of you. If you're okay with that and have a solid plan on how to leverage the whole system, well then godspeed friend.
