I was working a series of contract jobs. No security, no benefits, and a second job. Still just enough money to pay the bills. I worked the Bowtied system, got the certs, completed the projects. Got a solid contract to hire offer with a major bank. On my first day the company announced layoffs including me. Scrambled and managed to get a W2 job that kept my head above water. Four months later a recruiter who had my resume for a different role called me. More than doubled my pay with full benefits.

I got let go from my job and didn't have any prospects or ideas of what i wanted to do next. I was working dead end jobs with no real future in sight and i felt like a failure. I was always good with computers, but could never translate this into working in the field. One night found BowTied doing a live online, and said why not. I Brought his book, and watched all of his content and was able to see the master plan. I executed on EVERYTHING he said, i got all 4 certs, i took them in the recommended order, i followed the recommend time frames and MOST IMPORTANTLY i did the home labs. My resume was formatted based on BowTied's examples and to my amazement, i kept getting hits. All this being said, i officially start my first job in the industry 1/5/2026 (First Monday of the new year) Side note, one thing i feel that really gave me the edge was of course doing having projects/homelabs on your resume, but in particular RECORDING VIDEOS and linking them in your resume. I made a private playlist on YouTube and i could see in real time, how many jobs were clicking the link and adding views to lab videos. Lastly this will sound super corny, BUT i can for the first time say i have a career.... This is worth its weight in gold. In the past, my leisure time was plagued with "im wasting my time, or i could be doing more, the clock is ticking" so being able to let my brain rest is amazing. If yall have any questions i will try my best to answer. Best of luck to everyone out there, just keep your head up and don't quit. Stats for nerd: 48 total jobs applied I applied between 11/6 - 12/3 11 phone interviews I Literally had 3 jobs that wanted me and i was able to have my pick of the liter and turned down the other 2 (I planned on applying more after the second week of January because there was a lot of delay with thanks giving, Christmas & New Years approaching but i got an offer!)

A Skool Exclusive - build your first homelab in AWS in 10 minutes! Inside of the bootcamp or not, this will give you ALL of the infrastructure you need to make amazing projects and LAND THAT DREAM JOB! WANT ACCESS WHEN IT DROPS??? Comment "ACCESS" and I'll DM you a link when it's ready! Cheers, Evan

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