Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?

You R CRAZY, but not because of that reason. I cite as proof:Even if you are paranoid, it does not mean Murphy's Law, or criminals are hunting you!

The decision is 'generalist versus specialist.' THE WORLD IS FULL OF PAUPERS who are 'genius generalist.' Phd in ANCIENT GREEK literature or Phyd in music - Mr. Glass (related to Ira Glass) almost got killed in a robbery while driving a taxicab in New York City. Writer of Harry Potter, now millionaire was on welfare as single mother.

Your Answer. It is high risk/high reward. Being a genius generalist means you will be either a rich Bill Gates (mediocre coder) or a part-time freelancer PAUPER.

conclusion: ONLY YOU KNOW THE ANSWER. So, you are atheist, who cares? Start praying, meditating.

My favorite technique about Wall Street New York was to buy free drinks for WALL STREET LIFERS at the bars and pump them for REAL ANSWERS. This is known as the KGB method. I had a great time on Wall Street, big money, and I hated it. Obviously, the racism and sexism on Wall Street, NYC. Same like, I love doing 24 hours sprints and my eyes are blurry. I was too damnnn hungry to sleep and crash, but i had no time to eat while coding. U have to love the lifestyle. and... learn your QUOTE: 'tangible skills as a PM' from the book or the best PMs I know run volunteers at churches and non-profits. They could easily convert you from a different religion.

funny joke: If you are an UGLY DUCKLING (a swan) python "duck typing" will never be natural to you. KNOW your true self, future Bill Gates, billionaire software entrepreneur or Pauper.

1 U R half-CRAZY, but not because of that reason. 2 I cite as proof:Even if you are paranoid, it does not 3 mean Murphy's Law, or criminals are hunting you! 4 The decision is 'generalist versus specialist.' 5 THE WORLD IS FULL OF PAUPERS who are 'genius generalist.' 6 doctorate in ANCIENT GREEK literature or PhD in music - Mr. Glass 7 (related to Ira Glass) almost got killed in a robbery 8 while driving a taxicab in New York City. 9 Writer of Harry Potter, now millionaire was on welfare 10 as single mother. 11 Your Answer. It is high risk/high reward. Being a genius 12 generalist means you will be either a rich Bill Gates 13 (mediocre coder) or a part-time freelancer PAUPER. 14 conclusion: ONLY YOU KNOW THE ANSWER. So, you are atheist, 15 who cares? Start praying, meditating. 16 My favorite technique about Wall Street New York was to 17 buy free drinks for WALL STREET LIFERS at the bars 18 and pump them for REAL ANSWERS. This is known as the 19 KGB method. 20 I had a great time on Wall Street, big money, and I hated 21 it. Soft corruption, cronism, racism and sexism. 22 Same like, I love doing 24 hours code sprints and my eyes are 23 blurry. I was too damnnn hungry to sleep and crash, but 24 i had no time to eat while coding. 25 U have to love the lifestyle!! 26 QUOTE: 'tangible skills as a PM' from the book or 27 the best PMs I know MANAGE volunteers at churches and 28 non-profits. They could easily convert you from a 29 different religion. Their hobby is herding cats and making them do tricks, just like a GENIUS PM does. 30 funny joke: If you are an UGLY DUCKLING (a swan) 31 python "duck typing" will never be natural to you. 32 KNOW your true self. duck typing is a CRIME against nature, almost worse than homosexuality - this is joke. 33 life philosophy: the normal folks are 'half-crazy'. 34 the CRAZY ones(psych ward) NEVER question. 35 THE GLASS IS HALF FULL.

I think doing it on the side is less feasible because (1) work takes up too much time for me to make meaningful progress in say 6 months, it will be very slow progress (2) I find that the best coding bootcamps also help in getting you a software engineering job which I think will be a lot harder just studying on your own

> I'll stick up for coding bootcamps as a general concept

Sure, and similarly there isn't anything inherently wrong with for-profit universities: You can certainly find people who excelled in an environment like DeVry and don't regret their decision to attend.

Over time one can expect that the "cream will rise to the top" and good bootcamps will have a certain reputation associated with them. Similar to for-profit universities. Still, I hope it goes without saying that many of the same concerns about for-profit universities also apply to coding bootcamps.

> I do think that the credential is important.

Why? What does the credential prove in this case?

> sure enough, three months later she got a job at $110k coding the consumer website for a bank.

That's great! I'm happy for her. Still, I hope that sentence gives you (and her) some pause for concern.

If three months is enough time to train someone for a $110k job, I would suggest that job is unlikely to remain paying $110k in the foreseeable future. It's hard to think of other professions that pay so well for so little investment. The supply can (and will) increase precipitously to match the demand, and salaries will drop precipitously.

For a recent example, see the recent glut of law students and freshly-minted lawyers making a pittance. There are quite a few parallels between that scenario and the current one facing software developers, except that law school is even more of an investment than coding bootcamps.

> at least be in a place where you might see another $50k/year over the next 5-10 years

That's my point though: I don't think that's likely. Maybe over 5, but it seems unlikely that 10 years from now she'll be making $160k. I'm suggesting that those kinds of salaries will be reserved for people working in specialized fields, not people doing basic web development.

For a more realistic future salary, I'd say look at developer salaries in places like Canada, or much of western Europe (where $60k/year a year is probably much more realistic than $110k).

> Google isn't going to hire a bootcamp grad, but they also almost certainly won't hire an autodidact

Google absolutely hires autodidacts. I know a few of them. Clichés about "non-Stanford students need not apply" aside, Google just hires smart people. Smart people don't always have degrees or certificates.

I'll trade my front end dev job for yours.