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

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

#111

Post by busterarm »

swyx wrote: post #30
bacontacos wrote: post #26

Graduated from Hack Reactor in 2014. I'm a Senior Software Engineer at a large company now. I was prepared enough to not totally screw things up at my first job. I was an expert in Javascript and reasonably knowledgeable at data structures and how to implement basic web stuff. I'm now more focused on back end things...AWS, infrastructure, services, etc. As far as I know, most of my cohort is still working at good job…

bootcamps are pretty light on backend/devops type knowledge which turns out pretty critical for "real" jobs. Do you think this can generally be picked up later or should people in bootcamps do something like an AWS certification (just to pick an arbitrary skill proof point) to be sufficiently well-rounded?

Bootcamps don't teach you AWS because that would cost them money and eat into their profits if they showed anything useful. Plus they probably don't want to be on the hook for some student goofing up and running up a huge AWS bill.

I get alumni surveys all the time asking what things they should teach and the one thing that is consistently never on the list is ops/cloud-related training.

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

#112

Post by brookside »

I attended a bootcamp Winter 2013-2014, after making a last minute decision not to attend grad school for something unrelated.

My choice was almost entirely pragmatic, and was heavily influenced by the book So Good They Can't Ignore You[0] by Deep Work author and Georgetown CS professor Cal Newport.

As for the bootcamp experience - I have trouble focusing for long classes, and would have benefited from a couple or more months of pre-study. (Classmates who did the best during the course had the most prior knowledge.)

However, the camp was a great launching point. I did work my ass off, staying up all night to work on individual and group projects in the lobby of the Ace hotel. If anything, the bootcamp helped solidify my own internal identify shift.

3.5 years later, I'm happy with my choice. I'm currently working remote for a startup and teaching evening intro to coding classes (yeah, at a bootcamp, so take my account with however many grains of salt). I really like teaching, and enjoy the intellectual challenge, salary and freedom provided by my day job.

Most of my classmates who I am in touch with are working as developers and seem to be doing alright also.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/14555091...

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

#113

Post by flor1s »

gothrowaway wrote: post #107

I got paid to learn to program. 45k a yr to start off with. Then 70k a few months later. You don't need to pay a school to learn to code. The sad truth is, there are recruiters who will throw out your resume if you associate with bootcamps. Why? Because the quality of the programmers they generate is low. Code camps run like mills. From stories I've heard, they pay instructors as contractors below market rate (20-50k…

I did my masters in Computer Science (graduated cum laude) and am currently in the third year of my PhD. I applied for a few companies but I am having trouble getting through the coding tests, which are sometimes very practically oriented (Android and iOS). Maybe I am not skilled enough as a programmer, or the companies tests are not suitable for me, or the companies themselves are not suitable for me, but I believe I would have a better chance of getting hired if I had the practical experience these companies are looking for. Your advice about reading Cracking the Coding Interview is spot on, however I would say a bootcamp aimed at studying exactly that book would be very beneficial for landing a job.

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

#114

Post by 13of40 »

gothrowaway wrote: post #107

I got paid to learn to program. 45k a yr to start off with. Then 70k a few months later. You don't need to pay a school to learn to code. The sad truth is, there are recruiters who will throw out your resume if you associate with bootcamps. Why? Because the quality of the programmers they generate is low. Code camps run like mills. From stories I've heard, they pay instructors as contractors below market rate (20-50k…

> And you do not need any college or bootcamp to work at Amazon, Microsoft, or Google.

Until you can throw some patents and published works in that blank section on the resume where the school goes, it's an uphill battle, though.

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

#115

Post by gothrowaway »

13of40 wrote: post #114
gothrowaway wrote: post #107

I got paid to learn to program. 45k a yr to start off with. Then 70k a few months later. You don't need to pay a school to learn to code. The sad truth is, there are recruiters who will throw out your resume if you associate with bootcamps. Why? Because the quality of the programmers they generate is low. Code camps run like mills. From stories I've heard, they pay instructors as contractors below market rate (20-50k…

> And you do not need any college or bootcamp to work at Amazon, Microsoft, or Google. Until you can throw some patents and published works in that blank section on the resume where the school goes, it's an uphill battle, though.

More like:

A couple of years at startups where the hiring bar is lower. A couple of github projects. A couple of presentations at local meetup groups.

And having a really really good interview when you get to the whiteboard.

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

#116

Post by busterarm »

gothrowaway wrote: post #107

I got paid to learn to program. 45k a yr to start off with. Then 70k a few months later. You don't need to pay a school to learn to code. The sad truth is, there are recruiters who will throw out your resume if you associate with bootcamps. Why? Because the quality of the programmers they generate is low. Code camps run like mills. From stories I've heard, they pay instructors as contractors below market rate (20-50k…

Something just didn't sit right with me about this post and it took me a while to find it.

> The sad truth is, there are recruiters who will throw out your resume if you associate with bootcamps.

Is there _anyone_ in this industry that needs to actively seek out recruiters? The only people I know with strong relationships with recruiters are either at the top of this field or the bottom.

Outside of a couple that I know are good, I don't even really take their calls. Easily 10+ new LI connection requests from recruiters every day.

This comment really doesn't pass the sniff test.

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

#117

Post by lando2319 »

Bootcamps have a lot of haters who want to nitpick the details, it makes me glad I didn't think about it too much when I signed up, I just thought, "hey I want to code, they teach coding... I'm in"

first bootcamp (web dev) 5 years ago, second one (mobile dev) 3 years ago. Unlike most in my CoHort, I had no interest in a dev job, I wanted to provide contract work and perhaps join a startup for equity.

> What are you doing now?

CTO at a startup

> Do you feel that the bootcamp prepared you for the jobs you got?

It got me started, which is what I needed, so yes, but it took lots of work beyond the bootcamp.

> Do you think most of your cohort are still working as developers?

I'd estimate over half

IMO Bootcamps are great, you get a nice headstart with learning, you meet cool people, it's unaccredited so any job prospects are going to be obtained with your own blood sweat and tears anyways.

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

#118

Post by andy_ppp »

mabbo wrote: post #35

Note some selection bias may exist in the answers. If you did a tech bootcamp three years ago and it went fantastically, you're probably reading HN today and will see and reply to this. The more success you had, the more likely you're a developer today! If it went terribly, you might still be working at Starbucks and don't read HN very often.

Yes, it's aways good to think about the cognitive biases we all have before assuming "GREAT NEWS" from a sample of dubious randomness ;-)

I'm much more attuned to these things from the following podcasts and blog:

https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/

http://theknowledgeproject.libsyn.com/

https://youarenotsosmart.com/

A few of my favourite episodes and articles:

- http://theknowledgeproject.libsyn.com/rory-sutherland-on-the...

- https://youarenotsosmart.com/2017/01/13/yanss-092-avoiding-t...

- https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2017/06/habits-vs-goals/

Most relevant I guess:

- https://youarenotsosmart.com/2015/08/04/yanss-055-psychology...

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

#119

Post by jypepin »

I attended DevBootcamp October-December 2012. I was the third cohort of this Bootcamp, and I believe it was one of the first, I think I'm part of the rare ones who reached 4 years of full time work experience after a bootcamp - which is the length of a CS degree.

I've written a blog post about it here: http://jonathanfromgrowth.com/2017/03/14/From-Devbootcamp-to...

> What are you doing now? Senior engineer at Uber

> Do you feel that the bootcamp prepared you for the jobs you got? Definitely. My first job was at a small YC startup doing Rails (that's what I learned) and that first year there taught me a lot and was a perfect continuation of the bootcamp.

> Do you think most of your cohort are still working as developers? Yes

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

#120

Post by gothrowaway »

busterarm wrote: post #116
gothrowaway wrote: post #107

I got paid to learn to program. 45k a yr to start off with. Then 70k a few months later. You don't need to pay a school to learn to code. The sad truth is, there are recruiters who will throw out your resume if you associate with bootcamps. Why? Because the quality of the programmers they generate is low. Code camps run like mills. From stories I've heard, they pay instructors as contractors below market rate (20-50k…

Something just didn't sit right with me about this post and it took me a while to find it. > The sad truth is, there are recruiters who will throw out your resume if you associate with bootcamps. Is there _anyone_ in this industry that needs to actively seek out recruiters? The only people I know with strong relationships with recruiters are either at the top of this field or the bottom. Outside of a couple that I kn…

> Is there _anyone_ in this industry that needs to actively seek out recruiters?

You don't. Recruiters could also mean the people who pour over resumes when people apply for jobs.

The intention is whoever is looking over resumes will overlook candidates merely for attending a bootcamp.

Need proof?

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