This is an awesome idea. What I'd really like to know, however, is if any of the existing loan options will accept this as schooling in order to loan a student money for living expenses. Some students already have a family, and thus they cannot crash at a flophouse.
Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
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Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#72That's how public education should work in my view. Repay a certain percentage of your income for a certain amount of time.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#73Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#74I 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).
There's not a "type" we're looking for; some of our best students barely finished high school, let alone college. Our schedule is full-time just because we're looking for people that are dedicated. We're working on part-time, but have to be more careful with that, as it would be about a year long.
Let's say I think I am dedicated (I know you'll have your own criteria on identifying my dedication). Say that I am in high school. How do you expect me to study during your defined hours full time? The best I could think of is dedicating my full time hours during summer vacation (if I have to let go of my part time job, camps, or home-work - testing, AP etc).
The same would apply when I am in college trying to get a degree.
In addition, I also don't see how any full time working individual could find time to accommodate learning schedule during the day. Say that I may be looking to change career.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is a student decides not to pursue software engineering? Do you still take your cut? In my experience, the market is oversaturated with code bootcamp grads; many of them decide to go back to their previous profession.
We only take a percentage if you get a career in software engineering, so we have built that kind of risk into our model.
What prevents someone with no intention of finding a job of signing up for the free education?
EDIT: I'm entirely serious about part two. I know quite a few people that would love to learn programming but, AFAIK, have no intention of working in the tech world. I could see them taking advantage of something like this. Most of them work in non-tech functions in an office environment. So learning programming would be useful to them but it's not their actual job.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#76Have 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.
Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#77Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#78Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job
#79What are the differences between this and Make School?
A lot of things. We're online-only, focus on CS not building apps, 6 months long (vs 2 yrs), a bit less expensive, and generally speaking target different markets. I don't have anything bad to say about Make School. Have never met them, but they seem like they're doing a fine job!
We have a 4 term sequence of CS courses that cover most if not all the topics listed on your curriculum page. These topics are also touched upon and put to practice in our mobile, web, and to some extent our data science courses.
It's only our Summer Academy which caters to students enrolled at others schools on summer vacation which focuses on app or VR development.