Recurse Center 2.0 ...
Eh, kind of. We're a structured class with people teaching you full-time.
Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
41–50 of 275 posts
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#42Bravo! This is overdue.
Back in the early 80's my dad ( a chess teacher from Odessa ) immigrated to NYC ( with just $150 ). My mom worked 3 jobs to put him through Yeshiva Uni where he learned Cobol, JCL, and Fortran.
He ended up getting hired right away by Lehman Bros, and realized he was sitting on a gold-mine. Tons of well-educated immigrants were coming onto the golden-paved shores, with 0 knowledge of computer programming.
So we upgraded our family 1.5 bdrm apt in Jackson Heights, Queens, to a modest 3 bedroom tower apt in Forest Hills, where he proceeded to lecture evening and weekend classes by the droves.. (all on 1 white board!) * my job ( i was 13 at the time ) was to serve everyone instant coffee and bagels.
One day I was curious and asked him “Dad, these folks can barely speak english.. how are they going to even pass their interviews?” — he looked up from his hand-drawn spreadsheet he kept a strict record of students..”Oh that part is easy… I already know all their future managers” — It was the perfect funnel.
best of luck fellas!
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Brilliant, I've long thought that all universities should run under this model I strongly disagree. Let universities be universities. The point of a university is to develop your mind, not train for a job. There's no reason we cannot have a parallel vocational system which teaches people practical skills. Let the market decide which one better serves students.
If that's what universities are, that's fine, but I'd argue that's not why the vast majority of students attend a University.
Completely agreed. The US needs a robust vocational system a la Germany to fill in the gaps.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#44IMO, the cost of living is the core problem with CS education programs like this. It's always been possible to teach yourself to code for free if you have a computer, Internet, and 40 hours a week to spend on practice. But who can afford to do that? What these programs need most of all are cheap dormitories that offer room and board. (Close proximity to students can also help provide one another with a support networ…
> What these programs need most of all are cheap dormitories that offer room/board. That's also true, but it's much more easily for someone to find a place to crash for six months than to come up with $10k out-of-pocket. Eventually we'll be able to provide a stipend for living expenses and/or dormitory style living as well, but for now it is what it is.
A studio apartment in Oakland is $1,500 a month. There are already a bunch of great free resources to learn to code, including Codecademy, Coursera, Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseware, and freeCodeCamp.
Right now, the people who need to learn to code need room and board, not yet another free coding school.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#45I was curious about the type of students you'd want to recruit. The type you're featuring all seems to be out of college and have experience under their belt.
Your schedule is full day learning. So now I wonder: are you targeting people who are out of jobs? It seems a little confusing to understand your criteria of recruiting students (I have not paid too much attention yet).
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#46How will you prevent this from becoming predatory as pressure for improving the bottom line mounts?
It feels like a very fine line between altruism and taking advantage of ignorance.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#47What's the application criteria like? I notice that the current students listed in the website all have some sort of technical/reputable background (one even had an MS in Computer Science already!) Does this mean that the computer science course is not for complete beginners?
I also noticed a mini web dev bootcamp, when will this be launched?
Thanks :)
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#48Have you run across any prior business that trade education for a percentage of future income? Ask since I've looked at this model before and while I'm not able to find it, I recall court cases that ruled against this type of finical agreement.
Holberton School is also using this model since we announced in 2015.
We are working with VEMO http://vemo.com/ISAinitiative/ they are specialized in ISA - most schools are using them.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#49Any potential for time changes in the future? I'm on EST and being in a class M-F 12p-9p is a bit harsh.
We're always trying to figure that out, but it's the time that (barely) works for all parties
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What these programs need most of all are cheap dormitories that offer room/board. That's also true, but it's much more easily for someone to find a place to crash for six months than to come up with $10k out-of-pocket. Eventually we'll be able to provide a stipend for living expenses and/or dormitory style living as well, but for now it is what it is.
A studio apartment in Oakland is $1,500 a month. There are already a bunch of great free resources to learn to code, including Codecademy, Coursera, Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseware, and freeCodeCamp. Right now, the people who need to learn to code need room and board, not yet another free coding school.
First, why live in Oakland? A lot of our students move to more friendly environments (read: cheaper) during that time.
There are a lot of great resources, no doubt, but those don't really compare to an in-person experience with an instructor and a school incentivized to take you all the way to hired.