Changing careers with Microsoft's LEAP apprenticeship program

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If you have ever considered changing careers and working in one of the tech companies as a product manager or developer you may find Microsoft's LEAP Engineering Acceleration Program of interest to you.

Software engineers with experience usually apply to full-time jobs, while those in college or fresh out of the college may try an internship first. There are those who don't have college degrees in Software Engineering or Computer Science and don't really have real-world programming experience, yet they have some familiarity with coding as a hobby and/or personal projects. There is a high demand for software engineers, and they offer attractive wages and benefits. Self-learned programmers or those who attended accelerated Bootcamp schools still face difficulty finding jobs they desire.

Apprenticeship programs like Microsoft's LEAP seem to be a good way to get the foot in the door. What sets the LEAP apart from apprenticeship programs offered by other tech companies is that it focuses on recruiting people with diverse backgrounds who have experiences in other fields and want to change careers.

Those who have an interest in programming and have some programming skills, but primary job/career has been non-programming related. Those who are self-learned programmers and/or graduated from accelerated 3-months to a year Bootcamp schools like Codingdojo.

One of the requirements is to have 6-12 months of programming experience. Having a documented active GitHub page may be helpful. But mainly they are looking for talented team players with problem solving skills and can add value to the company with their diverse background/experiences.

I believe LEAP is offered 3 times a year. Qualified candidates will be enrolled in a 16-week apprenticeship program. They will be paid full-time salaries of $40-45/hour. The first few weeks of the program they will teach in a classroom-like setting. Then candidates will be placed with Microsoft teams like Xbox, Skype, etc. Upon completion of the program, candidates will be given an opportunity to become join Microsoft as full-time employees. While full-time job placement is not guaranteed, from what I understand a high percentage usually ends up with a job. In some cases, being hired will depend on job availability.

Even if an apprentice doesn't get a job upon completion of the program, they will be compensated for their time, and gain experience working at Microsoft. Which may help them find a job elsewhere.

1. Steps to apply:
   - Login with your LinkedIn account.
   - Submit your resume formatted in Markdown via a GitHub Gist.
   - Submit a one-page online application which includes two essays.
2. Selected candidates will be invited to interview.
3. The interview process will consist of two 45-minute interviews (either online or in-person in Redmond, WA).
4. Candidates will be notified of their acceptance status soon after the last interview.

Visit the application page.

Selected candidates will be compensated full-time wages of $40-45 an hour. However, they do not offer any moving expenses or housing. Participants will have to make arrangements for moving and housing. Microsoft will not provide assistance with visa for program participants either. This may disqualify international candidates unless they have proper visas and/or work permits already. Please do more research regarding this.

Visit https://www.industryexplorers.com/ for more information on the LEAP. Applications for the new cohort should be opening soon. If you are interested, bookmark the page and keep an eye on when they open for new applicants. Lastly, as mentioned above they run the program 3 times a year. If you are not accepted the first time. Keep trying. I have read some made it in their 2nd, 3rd times.