Careerist - Get your first job in tech
Helps people get their first tech job in software testing, QA automation, system engineering, or tech sales
I discover a new startup every week and share it with you. This week’s featured startup is Careerist. Subscribe to get each and every issue.
What it does: Careerist is a learning platform that trains job seekers for their first job in tech. By partnering with small bootcamps and high-profile individuals they provide live, job-specific classes for software testing, engineering, DevOps, cybersecurity, support or tech sales roles. They also have a handy tool that helps job seekers automate their job applications to apply to lots of jobs at once (most job seekers typically need to submit over 100 applications to get a single job offer).
How it started: Max Glubochansky came up with the idea for Careerist (formerly known as JobEasy) when he started his career in tech after attending a boot camp. He started helping friends and family do the same and more and more people kept reaching out to him to ask for help to get a tech job. Soon he realized he had a business idea and started Careerist together with his co-founders Ivan Tsybaev (CEO) and Max Gusakov.
Business model: Their programs range from $2,499 to $5,999 upfront fee with no
income share agreement. Their standalone job application automation software (JAS) is $599 / month.
How it works: After acceptance, there are about 6 weeks of intensive training including live sessions with mentors. After that there’s 2-4 weeks of internship and after graduation they’ll help you for about 6 weeks with applying for jobs. It is expected to get your first job 3-5 months after graduation.
Why it’s interesting: I would describe Careerist as a vertically-integrated boot camp that helps you go from nothing all the way to a decent entry job in tech. Whereas most boot camps are primarily focused on training you for software engineering jobs (typically within 9-12 weeks), it is interesting that Careerist chose to focus on different jobs in tech that may be more accessible to the general public. Software engineering itself is definitely not accessible for everyone, as I have personally warned many friends and family members not to take it lightly. Many of my friends have attempted to become a software engineer and have failed to see it through. Even the ones that have succeeded by completing a bootcamp still had an uphill battle to fight against the boot camp stigma and gaining actual useful work experience was a multi-year effort. In contrast, Careerist focuses on lower hanging fruit tech jobs that can actually get you a foot in the door at a tech company in a relatively short time.
