Ask HN: Does anyone actually hire from 'developer bootcamps'? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually hire from 'developer bootcamps'?

#261

Post by sscotth » Mon, Jan 12, 2015, 7:31 PM UTC

subelsky wrote: post #239

seandhi wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do her initials happen to be AK, from Nashville? If so, I know exactly who you are talking about. She used to come to a meetup that I organize for teaching beginners Ruby on Rails before she moved to Baltimore. She's fantastic. Also, if we are talking about the same person, I will say that the quality of people coming out of the program that she attended is really high. One of my co-organizers is also a graduate, has…

yes! that's who I'm thinking of! A great inspiration.

Nashville Software School instructor here. AK was definitely green coming in, but was one of the hardest working people I have seen come through the program. She networked, asked questions, extended herself with every project, and ultimately took ownership and made the most of every opportunity she had during her time here.

Takeaway: Bootcamps can only do so much. What you do while your there is what makes the difference.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually hire from 'developer bootcamps'?

#262

Post by sax1johno » Sat, Jan 17, 2015, 3:20 AM UTC

stevepm wrote: post #244

raderj89 wrote: post #74

I got my BA in journalism and Chinese. I started coding on my own and eventually found Bloc, an online bootcamp with courses in web dev, frontend, UX design, iOS and Android development. I took their web dev course little over a year ago. I now work at Bloc as a web developer (oh, we're hiring engineers by the way). It worked for me and it's worked for tons of our students.

Hi, I just applied to Bloc.io, any chance I could speak with about it?

Hey there - I'm a mentor for Android and Frontend Web Development at Bloc. Feel free to reach out any time. twitter: @sax1johno Would be happy to help.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually hire from 'developer bootcamps'?

#263

Post by sax1johno » Sat, Jan 17, 2015, 3:29 AM UTC

I'm an Android and Frontend Web Development mentor at Bloc. I've had a few of my students get hired as a direct result of their coursework at Bloc, one whom I was able to place with a consulting firm myself.

Most of the students that are super successful at the program have some form of previous exposure to development and are at least computer power users. However, they do learn a substantial amount through their work at Bloc (12, 18, or 36 week programs). Many of these students would be attempting to learn the material on their own so having a structured curriculum that's still project-based seems to be useful to them.

Also, companies very often hire people that don't fit the standard "2-6 years" model, even if the application states that, because asking for "2-6 years of experience" really just means they want someone that can get up and running quickly. If your interview consists of showing off the apps that you've built and demonstrating how you'll solve their problems, most companies don't care how many years you've been at it.

Re: Ask HN: Does anyone actually hire from 'developer bootcamps'?

#264

Post by avinassh » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 12:23 PM UTC

jmarc wrote: post #233

jmckib wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App Academy claims on their homepage that SF graduates receive an average salary of $100,000. So unless they are blatantly lying or fudging the statistics somehow, it's not BS.

App Academy SF grad here, I am making over $100,000 for a company in SF.

and you are just registered on this site to say that. I trust you!