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Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

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Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#51

Post by sciguy77 »

greenyoda wrote: post #47
sciguy77 wrote: post #38

I'm a CS major, and have worked a few years as a programmer in embedded systems. For a number of reasons I'm making the switch to Ruby, and am attending Dev Bootcamp to accelerate that process. I find the practical-centered bootcamp makes a nice compliment to the theory-heavy computer science taught in college. I haven't attended the camp yet, but I've worked with a few students on projects so far (there's a lot of p…

"We're asked to work upwards of 100 hours a week." It doesn't seem like one could learn effectively while fighting physical and mental exhaustion. Asking people to work 100 hours a week sounds more like an indoctrination program to make them believe that the long work hours they're likely to find in startups are "normal". Or maybe a way for the bootcamp to market their grads to startups: "Our graduates survived 100-h…

That's an interesting way to look at it. I see it more as a placeholder for "we expect a lot from you, and expect you to work hard." I think any CS major can attest that there are periods in college that call for similarly excessive time investment. Perhaps it's less insidious, a way to give themselves some validity and show that students are covering a lot in those three months. Again, I am biased, so who knows.

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#52

Post by feministy »

sciguy77 wrote: post #38

I'm a CS major, and have worked a few years as a programmer in embedded systems. For a number of reasons I'm making the switch to Ruby, and am attending Dev Bootcamp to accelerate that process. I find the practical-centered bootcamp makes a nice compliment to the theory-heavy computer science taught in college. I haven't attended the camp yet, but I've worked with a few students on projects so far (there's a lot of p…

"We're asked to work upwards of 100 hours a week."

No you're not. I went to Dev Bootcamp. You're required to be present 40 hours a week, any additional hours are because you choose to do so.

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#53

Post by carlsednaoui »

On a related note, if you're interested in joining a bootcamp (or know somebody that might be interested) I helped create this Bootcamp portal at Thinkful: http://www.thinkful.com/bootcamps/all

@glaugh, maybe your friend will find this tool useful (in addition to all the great feedback we've already seen in the thread).

Let me know if you have any questions or feedback!

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#54

Post by nanijoe »

sciguy77 wrote: post #38

I'm a CS major, and have worked a few years as a programmer in embedded systems. For a number of reasons I'm making the switch to Ruby, and am attending Dev Bootcamp to accelerate that process. I find the practical-centered bootcamp makes a nice compliment to the theory-heavy computer science taught in college. I haven't attended the camp yet, but I've worked with a few students on projects so far (there's a lot of p…

Just curious here..If you are already a programmer, why do you need a bootcamp to learn ruby? It seems to me you should be able to spend $40 on a book, and be up and running within a few weeks. Then try to implement some of the stuff you have done in other languages in ruby.

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#55

Post by sciguy77 »

feministy wrote: post #52
sciguy77 wrote: post #38

I'm a CS major, and have worked a few years as a programmer in embedded systems. For a number of reasons I'm making the switch to Ruby, and am attending Dev Bootcamp to accelerate that process. I find the practical-centered bootcamp makes a nice compliment to the theory-heavy computer science taught in college. I haven't attended the camp yet, but I've worked with a few students on projects so far (there's a lot of p…

"We're asked to work upwards of 100 hours a week." No you're not. I went to Dev Bootcamp. You're required to be present 40 hours a week, any additional hours are because you choose to do so.

Hmm. Let me try and figure out where I heard this.

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#56

Post by redsquirrel »

I hired a Dev Bootcamp grad back in 2012. We hired him into our apprenticeship program, which leveled him up to our junior developer standards within 6 months. I was really impressed with the combination of soft skills and software skills he came with.

I was so impressed from this experience with Dev Bootcamp that I quit my job, joined Dev Bootcamp, and launched Dev Bootcamp in Chicago.

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#57

Post by glaugh »

lquist wrote: post #46
glaugh wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure that's because I didn't have that setting on before your first submission, as I'm not able to do multiple submissions. Either way, we'll watch out in the results for suspicious behavior. Thanks for bringing this up.

Still seems to be a problem?

Weird. Not sure why that would be the case for you but not me. Well, in any case, we're planning on doing a lot of checks on the back end around this (b/c after all, anyone can submit a survey multiple times from multiple devices, etc., anyway).

Thanks again

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#58

Post by mikeyanderson »

duaneb wrote: post #30
ChuckMcM wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is similar to what I've seen. It is challenging enough being a startup, its even more challenging to try to be a remedial computer science program and get stuff done. What is strange is the exact same thing happened in the late 90's during the first bubble. In that case it was "webmaster" was the new thing and there were these sorts of boot camps that would turn you into a webmaster in just a few short weeks so…

To be fair, learning to code well is HARD and takes a lot of time, and more importantly, practice. Stayin inside coding as a kid was the best decision of my life, career-wise.

At Code Fellows we have quite a few students who use boot camps to switch stacks or they have legacy CS experience that they are getting back into. We also have a lot of newer folks. One of the things that we've seen at Code Fellows is that incoming students need to have a Foundational understanding of data structures, algorithms, and data types—and also a experience in the stack they are going to take a boot camp in. If they have these ingredients and relevant experience then they can take off in those 8 weeks and be prepared and inspired to keep learning, growing, and get a job. We are super clear that this is a HARD life long process—and that's part of the fun/agony of it all :)

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#59

Post by mikeyanderson »

benihana wrote: post #26

It depends on the school. Some schools are much more well known and can be much more selective in who they accept. Other schools are just starting out and are trying to find their footing. In general though, I find that the people from these bootcamps follow a pretty standard bell-shaped distribution curve with a few people really standing out, most people being average, and a few people being really underwhelming (r…

At Code Fellows we're pretty intense about prep and interviewing. We want to make people have a solid foundation to get the most out of bootcamp. You can see some of those thoughts here: http://www.codefellows.org/learn-to-code

Re: Ask HN: If you worked with a grad from a code bootcamp, how effective were they?

#60

Post by mwildermuth »

sciguy77 wrote: post #55
feministy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"We're asked to work upwards of 100 hours a week." No you're not. I went to Dev Bootcamp. You're required to be present 40 hours a week, any additional hours are because you choose to do so.

Hmm. Let me try and figure out where I heard this.

Perhaps it's just what you heard people tend to do. I also attended DBC and the "general" hours were very cohort specific; even within each cohort there's a huge variation. However, everyone I met during the bootcamp really enjoyed what we were learning, so naturally that led to long hours if there weren't outside responsibilities.
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