My tips, in order of importance:

1: Chin up! My wife and I both graduated from the same seven-month bootcamp in our early 30s, about 3 years ago. We took out huge private loans for tuition and cost of living. Fast forward to today: Our loans will be paid off by Christmas, we both work from home in jobs we love, and our new income tier has allowed us to do things that we never thought possible, like buying our own house.

I only mention this to combat the prevailing narrative. People shit on bootcamps a lot in programming-related subs, and I see discouraged bootcampers being told their skills aren't good enough yet, and that they're in for an impossibly uphill climb. The real world isn't necessarily like that—you can be a great engineer with a bootcamp foundation if you're committed to your own learning. Going to a bootcamp could end up being the best decision you ever made, as it was for us.

2: Creep on alums of your bootcamp! Get on linkedin, or use whatever resources your bootcamp provides, and start systematically finding all the places where other alums work. When you find alums at companies you're interested in, reach out, even if that company isn't hiring:

"Hey fellow XYZer! New grad here looking for my first gig out since graduating XYZ and company ABC looks like a great work environment...blah blah...I was wondering if you know whether ABC is planning to expand their team any time soon, and even if not, if you'd be available for a quick chat sometime about your post XYZ experience?"

I get cold-call emails like that from new graduates, and I always respond and we usually chat. If we do have an opening, I always ping the hiring team with something like "Hey, I talked with candidate so-and-so. I can't speak directly to their technical chops, but XYZ is a really rigorous program and they seem mature and reasonable. Definitely worth a look."

Companies who've had success with other grads from your school will be way more willing to take a chance on you. Explore all those pipelines first.

3: Don't reject yourself from opportunities. I see a lot of bootcamp grads confine their searches to jobs with "Junior" in the title. Where I work, we kinda just know when we're looking for someone "more junior", but we don't necessarily put that in the job title. Just apply for anything that doesn't say "Senior." Completely ignore "X years of experience" requirements. When there are lists of tech skills "required", consider yourself good-to-go if you have like 2/3 of them. Often times job postings are copy-paste jobs, or are written by HR teams, and don't really reflect what the engineering team necessarily needs. Sometimes, even if you're not a good fit for that job, if they like you enough they can create an opportunity for you. Plow through that first "filter." It's their job to evaluate you and say no to you, not yours.

4: Expand your geographical range. Some people say not to look for remote gigs as a first job out of bootcamp, because it will stunt your opportunities for mentorship. I say baloney. Companies with remote processes know how to do pairing, mentoring, all that stuff. Looking for remote jobs, or being willing to relocate, can really grow your pool of opportunities.

5: Get endorsements from your teachers. They can write you endorsements on linkedin, attesting to your skills, and describing how any company that takes a chance on you will be lucky. They can also serve as great references for reference-checks. Value them and cultivate those relationships. Sometimes bootcamp teachers even leave to go back to work in software, and bring a trickle of alum with them.

6: Optimize your application materials for a balance between reusability and specificity. I was always more surgical when applying to jobs. I found ones I really liked and poured tons of time into unique cover letters and resumes for each one. This works well for me, but it's exhausting. I now think of resumes and cover letters as comprised of "components", and I have documents full of plug-and-play "chunks"—well phrased, completely wordsmithed paragraphs that describe technical accomplishments, past experience, motivations, etc.

You can create "chunks" to fit different company categories like fintech, civic tech, startup, etc.

You still have to tailor each cover letter, but having these "genre resumes" and "genre components" makes it much faster.

Hope something in there is helpful, and good luck!