I discussed my plans to join a bootcamp-style program with a friend who is a Google engineer. My friend told me that bootcamps are a waste of my time and money and that he believes that anyone can break into SWE with just a few weeks of trying.
His suggestion was to join and score well on programming competitions (such as Google Kickstart), which he describes as a direct funnel to SWE jobs. I have not heard of this option before. I have never tried competitive programming, so I do not know how much effort it takes to win at them. My Google friend says that the effort is minimal and that these competitions have a low bar to score well.
Are code competitions an option you found useful during your job search? Would you recommend this path?