Apprenticeships in tech can trap you in underpaid junior roles
I did an apprenticeship, have 2.5 years of experience now, work on advanced AI/data/backend stuff, and I’m still sitting at 65k in a junior role while finishing my degree at the same time.
And the craziest part is the job itself is actually very stressful. Constant pressure, multiple projects, high expectations, production issues, deadlines, politics — but then your compensation/title doesn’t reflect any of it.
At first they make it sound like if you work hard, stay loyal, and prove yourself, promotions will come. But after a while you realize nobody actually cares how much responsibility you take on as long as the work keeps getting done cheaply.
Managers keep giving vague promises like “you’re doing great,” “we’re working on it,” “next cycle,” “there’s no headcount right now,” etc. Meanwhile years pass and people stay stuck in the same role making barely more than entry level while carrying serious workloads.
What’s frustrating is that these apprenticeship/bootcamp placement programs know exactly what they’re doing. They place people into companies where they’ll accept lower pay because they’re grateful for the opportunity and afraid to lose it. Then you get locked into junior positioning even when your actual work becomes far beyond junior level.
And the junior title itself starts affecting how people treat you. Even if you’re contributing technically, you still get viewed more like an assistant or support person instead of an actual engineer/contributor. People subconsciously low-grade you all the time because of the title and pay band attached to you.
Honestly, it’s humiliating sometimes too. Your friends hear you work in tech/AI and assume you’re doing amazing financially, then they ask your salary and you say 65k in a major city and it just feels embarrassing. I still can’t even comfortably afford to live alone while doing all this work.
And before someone says “just switch jobs,” the market is terrible right now. Tech/AI/data is insanely competitive. Companies want senior-level output for mid-level pay, so leaving is not as easy as Reddit makes it sound.
Honestly it starts feeling depressing after a while. You do everything people tell you to do — gain experience, work hard, get a degree, stay loyal — and still feel stuck financially and professionally.
At this point, honestly, I wouldn’t recommend these programs unless you truly have no other option. If you can, just focus on school, get the degree, intern normally, and keep your positioning stronger from the start. For me, it genuinely does not feel worth it anymore. Don’t blindly believe companies, recruiters, or bootcamps when they promise “career growth.” At the end of the day, most of them are optimizing for cheap labor, not your future.