How Much Do Bootcamp Instructors Make?

With all the focus around learning to code, choosing the right bootcamp, and preparing for bootcamps, it’s easy to lose sight of the absolutely essential teaching staff that makes the whole experience so valuable. 

One of the prime motivations for attending a bootcamp over learning alone or going to a traditional college is that you get more direct exposure to qualified professionals can help you work through problems and design your own learning projects. 

Many bootcamps hire alumni as teaching assistants, mentors, and full instructors. In a fast-paced learning environment like a bootcamp, having this many boots on the ground is necessary to serve students of varied skill levels. There’s simply no way for a single person to simultaneously address the needs of a student with no coding background and one with years of programming experience. Compounding the difficulty is the fact that the students take on individual projects that require special troubleshooting. 

The solution most bootcamps have settled on is to divide this workload up among instructors, mentors, and teaching assistants with varied interests and skill levels. 

If this sounds appealing to you, it’s natural to wonder about the earning potential of these roles. Career Karma has the answer. 

What Do Bootcamp Instructors Get Paid?

Bootcamp instructors are usually mid- or upper-tier professionals, and their salaries are commensurate with their skill levels. This means there’s quite a range for instructor pay, as salaries adjust to local expectations and cost-of-living expenses. According to Glassdoor, an instructor at Dev Bootcamp in Denver can expect to bring home around $117,000 annually. This matches the regional pay for data scientists, software developers, and similar professionals. At Hack Reactor, instructors earn closer to $90,000, reflecting different expectations and conditions at their location.  

How Much Do Bootcamp Mentors Make?

Bootcamp mentors, like Hack Reactor’s ‘hackers in residence’, usually come from one of the previous cohorts. They’ve gone through the program and understand its rigors. While mentors may not be at the level of full instructors, they are picked for their skills and ability to explain difficult concepts. 

As with instructors, mentors and teaching assistants receive pay comparable to what they could expect in the industry. Hackers in residence receive around $25 an hour. An App Academy teaching assistant earn a little over $22 an hour. 

As teaching assistants and mentors usually stay for a single cohort, their yearly income will depend on the hours they work and whether they stay for multiple cohorts.

Given that these costs are baked into the price of a bootcamp, you have to evaluate whether the value you’ll get out of personalized instruction from teachers, mentors, and teaching assistants is worth the cost. Since bootcamp instructors are often highly rated, it seems their graduates think that the experience is worth the price.