No. You only have one life.
Instead of something like a coding bootcamp, I've taken courses at the local university. Almost all universities (including Berkeley) allow non-enrolled students to enroll in 1 or 2 courses.
Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
151–160 of 229 posts
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#152I'm a CTO and active developer with a Harvard MBA, and I think you're nuts. Not because the opportunities you see aren't there; they are. Not because management isn't losing its lustre in tech companies; it is. But because coding is hard . I have a great software education (top school, top program), I've had tremendous opportunities to learn from the best and build amazing things from scratch, and I've been coding pr…
Fellow HBSer, thanks for your input super helpful!
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#153Yes you are. I'm a PM and researched this decision myself a few months back. Most of the "well regarded" bootcamps teach basic front skills (HTML/CSS/JS). You're going to struggle to get a job in any of the the exciting technologies you've listed with this skillset. It's also not widely talked about, but I get the sense that there's a bit of negative signal associated with these boot camps a la ITT/University of Phoe…
I don't believe anyone who says management is becoming less important. If anything it's good management that is becoming vastly more important. Like software engineering, software engineering management is evolving.
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have a company taser for people who do this. You have to self-tase one second for every commmit you blew away. Top score is 4 seconds.
I'm not a fan of complicated git flows, but are there really people who force push to resolve conflicts? I mean professional developers who do this on real projects?
I hesitate to call folks who do this "professional", but yes. I have also worked around people who blindly resolve all conflicts with their version and then comment out the failing tests.
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#155Yes very crazy. I have a anecdotal survey of all coders I know: most of whom all graduated from only median Tier-2 US & News Report Ranked Nat'l Universities (>15) and whom have on average, earn only median Fortune Magazine's Best Jobs annual ranked salaries as Application Developer, and only very few employed by Forbes' Most Admired Companies list or who are on the Mattermark's Top 100 Startup Index. Most don't feel…
If you're interested in working with cool tech like blockchain and AI, but are tired of startup culture, a good option might be one of the "Digital Innovation Lab" organizations that more traditional companies are putting together. I just started working for one, and it's pretty great - I have stability, sane hours, solid compensation, and a healthy culture, but I also get to work with a bunch of really smart people…
Interesting, I am currently in the process of setting one up here in Singapore. Could you give me more information about staffing (FTE devs, PM's, Mentor's, etc). How long is the process from Ideation to Innovation Lab?
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#156>I have an MBA from a top 3 school and have a high-paying job as a PM at a top 3 tech company. But I don't feel like I am building tangible skills as a PM, it is more about project management and coordinating.
And how are those not tangible?
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know if it makes sense for the OP, but I'll stick up for coding bootcamps as a general concept. I don't agree that most people can just self-study in the same time period and get as effective an education, and I do think that the credential is important. A friend of mine just did a bootcamp -- from a stalled career as a lab technician in which she was making something around $60k/year (in the Bay Area) -- and…
> 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 un…
>>If three months is enough time to train someone for a $110k job
Most fail the training, it's a necessary but not sufficient condition.
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#158A successful career switch depends mostly on your ability to support yourself with money throughout the process, your ability to be dedicated to your goal, and ability to do lots of hard work. There is a tremendous opportunity to make the switch to many other fields, but a switch to our field is a lot easier in regards to bureaucracy because many companies in our field tend to focus more on the value that you can provide and a lot less on your background (this also depends on physical location). I made a career switch myself about six years ago. I can hardly call it a career switch though because previously I didn't have a solid career; mostly I did odd jobs for a living.
In my experience it hasn't mattered that much where knowledge has been "downloaded" from (college, bootcamp, self-teaching, etc). What has mattered is maintaining this "downloaded" knowledge and having it always updated to keep up with current times. Also, having actual projects to show to employers has helped me tremendously (e.g. open source contributions, client projects, personal projects, etc).
I'm self-taught and work at a BIG-BRAND company now as a Front End Engineer and make a six figure salary in the SF Bay Area; no college degree whatsoever, just a high school diploma. My resume says "Education: self-taught" and I'm happy to explain what "self-taught" has meant for me in the past six years to any employer. I've been able to work with people from all kinds of backgrounds: devs from bootcamps, self-taught engineers, devs with degrees unrelated to CS, devs with BS and MS degrees in CS and other subjects, and from many more backgrounds.
I'm contacted by many other BIG-BRANDs and small companies all the time to interview with them, and before I even accept to interview, I make it clear that I don't have a CS background, and that I'm unwilling to waste each other's time white-boarding algorithms - usually they're fine with this as they can clearly see my experience and instead they focus on the value that I'm able to provide. Many times I come across companies that ass-u-me I'm incapable because I chose a different path than them, but I've learnt to ignore the ignorant, and instead I focus on improving my skills and bettering myself as a programmer and a human being.
Any path you choose will lead you to a similar result. That's the beauty and uniqueness of our industry. As a final note, don't bother with comparing your salary with other people's salaries when/if you make the switch, as it won't matter at all if your income will allow you to live a really good life.
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#159Universities are pumping out like 50k CS students a year. Not boot camp grads, computer scientists already exposed to machine learning, advanced algorithms, databases, etc. I really don't see a tangible benefit of boot camps that only teach web development beyond short term web development jobs. This is just my own opinion obviously.
Re: Ask HN: I will quit my job as a PM to join a coding bootcamp. Am I crazy?
#160A successful career switch depends mostly on your ability to support yourself with money throughout the process, your ability to be dedicated to your goal, and ability to do lots of hard work. There is a tremendous opportunity to make the switch to many other fields, but a switch to our field is a lot easier in regards to bureaucracy because many companies in our field tend to focus more on the value that you can pro…
fantastic and super helpful reply, thank you for taking the time to write it!