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Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

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Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#161

Post by manish_gill »

bradleyjg wrote: post #118
manish_gill wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be willing to extend the same logic to the medical profession? What about law? Or perhaps architecture? Would you let a 12 week bootcamp graduate design your home? Or really, any other type of engineer. After all, the argument about "theory" differing from "real world practice" and becoming "good enough" can be made for those as well. You don't need to know about how germs work in order to treat a cold. You…

>> Can they be? Sure, but as some graduates in this thread themselves admitted, it took them 2-3 years to reach that position anyway. Meanwhile they were taking home a paycheck instead of paying tuition dollars. Maybe they've got family to support and taking four years out of the workforce wasn't a possibility. Or maybe sitting in a classroom is just not how they learn. What exactly is the problem with some people le…

> Meanwhile they were taking home a paycheck instead of paying tuition dollars. Maybe they've got family to support and taking four years out of the workforce wasn't a possibility. Or maybe sitting in a classroom is just not how they learn.

How is that in any way the problem of the company said guy is joining?

> What exactly is the problem with some people learning on the job if they want to and employers want them to?

Because it is inherently a risky proposition. Why should the rest of the team be held back or be responsible for plugging the gaps in the education of the guy/girl who doesn't know their stuff? It's not an Internship, is it? If you're getting paid a full time salary you better be able to fucking to the job.

Anyway all this talk is pointless. Any company worth its salt will weed out the weaklings in the Interview process.

Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#162

Post by itslennysfault »

cfreeman wrote: post #159
itslennysfault wrote: post #150

To all the skeptics... I spent a year teaching the web development immersive program at General Assembly. I felt skeptical about the program too, but I always wanted to try teaching so I thought it was worth a go. by the way, I'd recommend it to anyone. It's a great way to take a break from dev work and teach the next generation of developers. It is extremely rewarding to watch people go from next to zero knowledge t…

Which GA did you work at? I have a friend that went to the one in Santa Monica and had a bad experience. Of course, he did eventually get a job as a developer afterwards so I guess it could've been worse. I went to a bootcamp recently and when I was picking my school I remember the reviews for GA varying a lot from location to location.

I taught in Seattle. I actually read a bunch of reviews before applying and noticed the same trend. I think the quality of the actual instructors plays a huge role which reflects on each markets ability to hire top talent with adequate industry experience. I've met Instructors from all over and from what I can tell it seems like GA generally does a great job at hiring, but being in 14 different cities there is bound to be some variance.

My advice to anyone considering any immersive program would be to meet/vet the actual instructor(s) teaching your particular cohort.

Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#163

Post by bigtunacan »

aioprisan wrote: post #139
bigtunacan wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying "you will have enough skill to be useful" is naive if you are basing it on your own personal experience of learning to "write code in a little under three months and immediately got a job as a Jr. Dev". +++ On My Personal Experience +++ I also learned to write code on my own and had a junior dev job with no college experience. I then attended college part time to get my CS degree because 1) There are a large s…

Did you really expect the people who chose to drop out to be counted in job placement rates? I believe the same standard is used when talking about placing graduates to jobs from colleges, so I don't find that misleading.

I'm not surprised the numbers are being published that way, but it is certainly misleading. These things are being pitched essentially as "Why waste four years of your life and bury yourself in debt? You can have a six figure career, working from your home, in just twelve short weeks at a fraction of the cost! We have a 100% placement rate!"

Someone should be telling these students the truth. "This is going to be the most intensive, gruelling twelve weeks of hell on your life so far. Three out of four students will drop the program and will still owe the equivalent of one years (state university) tuition at a standard college. If you do finish then you still may not find a job in the field."

Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#164

Post by oldmanjay »

Ologn wrote: post #148
MangezBien wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forget how much I hate Hacker News sometimes. Thanks for reminding me. > (although "no motivation" sounds worse than "no opportunity at the time") 18 was ten years ago. I was playing college football, thinking I was going to go pro. I was an idiot, but I got a college degree. I then went on to have a career in a different field, grew up a little and taught myself to code. I've been working in the industry for three…

> Seriously, fuck you for acting like the only way to become a respectable or successful developer is the path you picked. Can you name me the respectable, successful, known developers that did not get a college degree? I mean, I can think of a few who were in the math/CS program of a top-tier school, who started a company on the side that took off, and dropped out since they were already on a rocket ship. I can also…

I understand that you feel very strongly about your perspective, and notice that the arguments you make rely on your personal opinions and experiences. I wish to assure you, that you feel this makes your arguments compelling does not speak well for the college education you prize so strongly.

Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#165

Post by bcx »

I feel like a better title for this article on HN would be "General Assembly partners with Google to create bootcamp for Android Developers"

The current title implies two things: 1) That Google is creating this bootcamp on it's own 2) Google is hiring the developers

As written it's pretty linkbaity.

I am not even sure if they are promising jobs in any literal sense "General Assembly has said in a statement that it will connect developers who finish the course with jobs in its hiring network".

To be clear I am a big fan of GA and bootcamps in general, I just feel that the title of this article is misleading.

Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#167

Post by Ologn »

oldmanjay wrote: post #164
Ologn wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seriously, fuck you for acting like the only way to become a respectable or successful developer is the path you picked. Can you name me the respectable, successful, known developers that did not get a college degree? I mean, I can think of a few who were in the math/CS program of a top-tier school, who started a company on the side that took off, and dropped out since they were already on a rocket ship. I can also…

I understand that you feel very strongly about your perspective, and notice that the arguments you make rely on your personal opinions and experiences. I wish to assure you, that you feel this makes your arguments compelling does not speak well for the college education you prize so strongly.

> rely on your personal opinions and experiences

Here's an employment rate and weekly earnings chart from the US Department of Labor correlated by education level:

http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#168

Post by oldmanjay »

Ologn wrote: post #167
oldmanjay wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that you feel very strongly about your perspective, and notice that the arguments you make rely on your personal opinions and experiences. I wish to assure you, that you feel this makes your arguments compelling does not speak well for the college education you prize so strongly.

> rely on your personal opinions and experiences Here's an employment rate and weekly earnings chart from the US Department of Labor correlated by education level: http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

This does not change my stance that your perspective on the necessity for a college education to program well is occluded.

Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#169

Post by [deleted] »

Ologn wrote: post #148
MangezBien wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forget how much I hate Hacker News sometimes. Thanks for reminding me. > (although "no motivation" sounds worse than "no opportunity at the time") 18 was ten years ago. I was playing college football, thinking I was going to go pro. I was an idiot, but I got a college degree. I then went on to have a career in a different field, grew up a little and taught myself to code. I've been working in the industry for three…

> Seriously, fuck you for acting like the only way to become a respectable or successful developer is the path you picked. Can you name me the respectable, successful, known developers that did not get a college degree? I mean, I can think of a few who were in the math/CS program of a top-tier school, who started a company on the side that took off, and dropped out since they were already on a rocket ship. I can also…

[deleted]

Re: Google Launches a Developer Boot Camp, Promising Jobs for Graduates

#170

Post by pcunite »

kotojo wrote: post #160
redbluff wrote: post #157

My first impulse is like a lot of people to be fairly skeptical. Then I cast my memories back to when I started, and this is how a lot of big companies got their developers. You took the IBM Data Processing aptitude test and if you did OK, the company inducted you into a trainee programmer role and you were sent on a course and got your PL/I book. You then spent 6 months working with the senior programmer gaining exp…

I actually just went through General Assembly's Web Development Immersive course and finished in July. I'm in a similar situation to that. I learned HTML/CSS/JS, then ruby on rails and MEAN stack. After I finished I was at the point to know enough to know I don't really know much of anything, and got hired into an apprenticeship program a local company was running, even though the majority of the stack I learned at G…

When everyone became a photographer it brought confusion to the market. However, this seems to have settled down and stabilized now. I guess something similar will take place when everyone becomes a programmer.
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