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The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

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Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#51

Post by dguaraglia »

cheriot wrote: post #39
madenine wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did a bootcamp program. In-person, 13 weeks, 9-5, 5 days a week, plus HW/Weekly projects/Capstone project. If I had locked myself in my apartment could I have learned the same things in the same amount of time? Maybe. Going through an organization took the legwork out and let me focus on the learning. I didn't have to seek out my own materials (I did anyways, but that was for added depth into things that interested…

It sounds like the investment paid off, but if you don't mind me asking, what did the bootcamp cost?

My SO went through a similar setup as the one described by the grandparent. Hers was ~15k, maybe up to ~17k by the end of the day, considering food and whatnot. I can't speak for her, but from my perception, the investment seems to have paid off: she's now working at a much lower stress level than before (her previous job was in high stress environment) and her salary and benefits (vacation time, perks like company-provided food and activities, etc.) have improved substantially. The job is also much more intellectually stimulating than her previous job. Given a couple years of experience, which anyone needs when changing a career, she could be making almost double than the cap at her previous job. All in all, she is way happier now than before.

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#52

Post by anoctopus »

jdhawk wrote: post #2

Has anyone done a coding bootcamp? With the plethora of relatively cheap/free resources out there from Universities, to professional institutions, all the way to YouTube, what is the appeal? Do the certifications count for anything to hiring managers? Do you need someone to kick you in the ass on a daily basis to keep moving? Do you need the higher touch Q&A thats not available in Forums/StackOverflow type places?

I went to App Academy, and it was definitely worthwhile. I could have gotten the same information elsewhere, but there's a lot of value in having a curated, focused curriculum and a large amount of time dedicated to learning.

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#53

Post by mountaineer22 »

dogma1138 wrote: post #44
jdhawk wrote: post #2

Has anyone done a coding bootcamp? With the plethora of relatively cheap/free resources out there from Universities, to professional institutions, all the way to YouTube, what is the appeal? Do the certifications count for anything to hiring managers? Do you need someone to kick you in the ass on a daily basis to keep moving? Do you need the higher touch Q&A thats not available in Forums/StackOverflow type places?

Probably more than you think, for some reason people think it's a new thing, it isn't. Go back to the mid to late 90's to early 2000's and there were tons of them usually branded under one of the large IT/Tech companies like Sun or MSFT. Java programming schools were very popular same goes for .NET/ASP the only difference now is that bootcamps are slightly less vendor oriented but they are still usually not stack agn…

Also, Cisco was also running programs in high schools to train the next generation of network administrators.

Also remember AOL server with Philip Greenspun?

http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/bootcamp/week1/week1

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#54

Post by robertjm »

I know this guy, he worked for me on a project for a bit. At the time, he was in Mexico on a sail boat just going from port to port working on projects remotely. He would exchange tid-bits about his life, he was definitely unhinged. At the time, I think he was avoiding prosecution in the US by being in Mexico. This is super crazy but I'll be honest, not out of character for the guy.

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#55

Post by daveguy »

cheriot wrote: post #39
madenine wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did a bootcamp program. In-person, 13 weeks, 9-5, 5 days a week, plus HW/Weekly projects/Capstone project. If I had locked myself in my apartment could I have learned the same things in the same amount of time? Maybe. Going through an organization took the legwork out and let me focus on the learning. I didn't have to seek out my own materials (I did anyways, but that was for added depth into things that interested…

It sounds like the investment paid off, but if you don't mind me asking, what did the bootcamp cost?

And what bootcamp? This one sounds solid. Were the students around you similarly driven to learn the material?

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#56

Post by dogma1138 »

mountaineer22 wrote: post #53
dogma1138 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably more than you think, for some reason people think it's a new thing, it isn't. Go back to the mid to late 90's to early 2000's and there were tons of them usually branded under one of the large IT/Tech companies like Sun or MSFT. Java programming schools were very popular same goes for .NET/ASP the only difference now is that bootcamps are slightly less vendor oriented but they are still usually not stack agn…

Also, Cisco was also running programs in high schools to train the next generation of network administrators. Also remember AOL server with Philip Greenspun? http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/bootcamp/week1/week1

Never heard of the AOL one, but I always find it funny that some how people think that bootcamps are new.

I would wager that more people learned to code via a bootcampish route (especially between 1995 and 2005) than through CS/SE degrees.

The before the dotCom bubble burst there were advertisements for Java/C++/SAP/ASP/W/E++ programming certificate courses on every website/newspaper.

Then there was a consolidation period with CS degree again becoming some sort of a filter pre-requisite and now where the "demand" at least for cheap(er) labor (and labor with 50-100K+ in student debt can never be cheap) bootcamps are touted as the next best thing again.

The only difference really is back then those certifications could actually easily land you a job because companies would advertise specifically for "XYZ certified programmers".

Now it's LF Full-Stack Engineer 19 years of experience in some framework that is 2 years old and is going to be in perpetual beta until its decline.

Thats not saying that bootcamp graduates won't find a job, they'll just be thrown into the same recruitment hell pool.

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#57

Post by kafkaesq »

His uneasy students began to formulate theories. "We really didn't want to believe that we had been deserted," says Lundgren, who had paid $5,988 in tuition.

My heart goes out to these bootcamp students -- scammed and otherwise. That's a heck of a lot money for someone not earning a tech salary to pony up. For a set of skills which (at that level) just aren't going to be enough to get them into the kinds of jobs the envision being in reach, at the end of the tunnel.

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#58

Post by passivepinetree »

robertjm wrote: post #54

I know this guy, he worked for me on a project for a bit. At the time, he was in Mexico on a sail boat just going from port to port working on projects remotely. He would exchange tid-bits about his life, he was definitely unhinged. At the time, I think he was avoiding prosecution in the US by being in Mexico. This is super crazy but I'll be honest, not out of character for the guy.

That's super interesting. Can you offer any more details about him/his skills/his life?

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#59

Post by gaius »

rajangdavis wrote: post #42
jdhawk wrote: post #2

Has anyone done a coding bootcamp? With the plethora of relatively cheap/free resources out there from Universities, to professional institutions, all the way to YouTube, what is the appeal? Do the certifications count for anything to hiring managers? Do you need someone to kick you in the ass on a daily basis to keep moving? Do you need the higher touch Q&A thats not available in Forums/StackOverflow type places?

I went through General Assembly's Web Development Immersive 2 years ago. I have made good use of what I have learned in that program; however, I would be reluctant to recommend that everyone should take it. It really depends on how much of your own time you are willing to invest in learning the material. I had 1 year of some web development experience at that point, so I was familiar with some of the material and did…

Wait, web dev in ASM? That sounds cool but not very hireable...

Re: The Strange and Sudden Disappearance of a Coding Bootcamp Founder

#60

Post by gaius »

s0uthPaw88 wrote: post #13

I attended a coding bootcamp 3 years ago, and this was a major concern of mine going into it. The instructor had only taught one small class previously, so there was not much of a track record to trust. I spent quite a bit of time researching the instructor's background and speaking with his former students. Even with all that, there really was no way of knowing going into it whether it would deliver what I was hopin…

$3k is a bargain, some charge $20k!
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