Ask HN: People who completed a bootcamp 3+ years ago: what are you doing now?

I know a few folks who did a six month bootcamp almost exactly three years ago. At present they are: two front end devs, three back end devs, two 'enterprise' (aka Java) devs, a dev evangelist, a devops, a stay at home dad, a currently job hunting, and an agile consultant.

I'm going to speak for my girlfriend who went to a bootcamp about two years ago. She says it didn't really prepare her (she did that on her own through self study) but it did open up doors. She's a data engineer at Airbnb.

I did App Academy in New York two-three years ago (10-week bootcamp). I'm now a front-end dev and work from home making about 80k per year. I believe most of my cohort are in the same situation (App Academy appears to be above average for boot camps from what I've heard about other boot camps, but not by much). Although most of my cohort probably stayed working in New York or moved to SF and so make more money but don't get the luxury of working from home.

The boot camp served its purpose in preparing me for the job. Namely, serving as a commitment device to force myself to study the initial couple hundred of hours one needs to be able to do entry level programming from scratch. Plus having them provide a curriculum and teachers was nice too, I guess, but secondary to the commitment factor. Having graduated from that was also probably not a detriment to have on my resume and I keep it on there since I have no other programming related education.

I suspect my experience is not unusual-- that the boot camp's value is in being a catalyst that unlocks someone's ability to be a programmer and teach themself most of the skills they need, rather than in being an information-imparting institution.

I graduated from General Assembly in the summer of 2015. That is less than 3 years, but I can tell you that my outcome was very positive. I am now a full stack developer team lead in a quickly growing web application company, and I was certainly empowered by the training I received. Self study is great, but I was able to leverage the kick in the pants I received from my teachers.

As for my colleagues, I believe most are employed, but I will offer that you only get what you put into that kind of intensive training. It's only meaningful and effective if you really care. The folks who might have been enticed by a cool job in a growth sector don't do as well as those who code simply because it's a compulsive habit and joy.

I'll submit that there are myriad things you can't absorb in a brief program, that's life. If I was rich I would live to go to college again. But I would also say that I've met plenty of CS grads of traditional 4 year programs that don't have the same drive or problem solving skills as that I've seen come from bootcamp students.

Worth it, especially if you're a grown up with the passion to push yourself and the maturity to follow through.

Hype is all nonsense.

Agreed. Likely to get a good deal of survivorship bias here.