Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 275 posts

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#81

Post by sigstoat »

omalleyt wrote: post #27
jedberg wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I've long thought that all universities should run under this model I did too, until I though about it a bit more. You'd end up with Universities cutting all of their "non-profitable" majors, but those things still have some value to society. Perhaps a hybrid model, where the "profitable" majors are free but you pay afterwards, and the unprofitable ones you pay up front.

Sure, I'd be good with that. I also think that if there are some things that are non-profitable but still valuable to society (and no doubt, there are), then the problem is really that the agent isn't capturing enough of the value they are creating for society, and society ought to find an incentive mechanism that changes that. But since we live in a practical world and that is an impractical demand, I agree a hybrid…

> Sure, I'd be good with that. I also think that if there are some things that are non-profitable but still valuable to society (and no doubt, there are), then the problem is really that the agent isn't capturing enough of the value they are creating for society

more likely (and IMO obviously, when you make this more concrete), educational institutions are overproducing the unprofitable degrees.

for instance, if some degree X is "unprofitable", do we really need to produce new PhDs in it at well above the replacement rate + population growth? that'd be maybe a handful of new PhDs per professor's _lifetime_. then maybe enough undergrads to ensure there's some competition for the PhD pipeline, and that should be about it.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#82

Post by hysan »

Out of curiosity, I signed up for the JavaScript Mini Code Bootcamp - Archive to evaluate the quality of the lectures. I've been watching/listening to the first 20+ min and so far, I'm quite skeptical of the quality of the instruction. Are the archives some sort of practice run or are they reminiscent of the actual lectures?

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#83

Post by bambataa »

I think this is an excellent idea. There definitely is a gap in the market for non-CS grads who want to get a more robust grounding than a ten-week bootcamp can offer.

I'm interested in how you select applicants but your website doesn't let me look at the application process. Your funding model means selecting the right students is crucial as you carry the risk. How do you select from the candidates? Are they meant to be already quite experienced? I looked through the curriculum and it seems very intense even for someone with a bit of coding experience. How do you make sure people keep up the pace?

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#85

Post by bipbip »

Looks very similar to Holberton School - https://www.holbertonschool.com/ - launched 2 years ago, it's also 17% after students get a job. Their curriculum covers low-level programming, high-level programming and system engineering. They have a pretty good track record so far, students finding opportunities at NASA, LinkedIn, Apple, Dropbox, Docker.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#86

Post by jansho »

webwanderings wrote: post #74
austenallred wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

But how would a person in high school dedicate full time learning 'how to program'? That seems impossible. The same goes for full time college student. 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 sum…

I think the concept is awesome and I hope that my comment won't be taken as cynical:

I get the dedication part but some people may have commitments that they can't avoid at all - childcare, for example. Having commitments shouldn't be confused with lacking dedication, IMO. For me, the biggest USP about a remote school, or any MOOC really, is the flexibility that it offers. Structured, yes, but 3-5 hours a day would be more manageable than 9-5 five days a week. That will probably add extra months to the course though - but that's OK, a Masters takes 1-2 years for comparison.

Of course Lambda instructors are world-class, but technically you can train yourself; there are very good guides signposting to free resources, and online communities for support. It might not be to the level of depth that the Lambda course offers, but is indepth knowledge really a key employability trait? (I'm not questioning the value of knowledge.) After all, many recruiters now emphasise on having a good portfolio over a certificate.

But hey this is more like a feedback than a criticism. I sincerely think that this concept is super and hope that the Academy succeeds :)

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#87

Post by austenallred »

koolba wrote: post #75
austenallred wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We only take a percentage if you get a career in software engineering, so we have built that kind of risk into our model.

Is there a time limit after which the debt is forgiven? 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…

The income share is forgiven after five years. Hopefully we can weed those types out in application process.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#88

Post by joshuarcher »

dfabulich wrote: post #30

IMO, 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…

100% agree being around other students would be a huge plus. I went to a school where I was surrounded by 40 other amateur programmers all driven towards building awesome products and writing quality code. Being in that environment is what made me obsessed with software.

There's actually a program called Make School that's pretty similar to this Lambda school, except they DO have student dorms and even offer a 2k/month living stipend in SF. Finding Make School on ProductHunt a few years ago was probably one of the highlights of my young adulthood.

https://www.makeschool.com/product-college https://www.producthunt.com/posts/makeschool-gap-year

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#89

Post by austenallred »

bambataa wrote: post #83

I think this is an excellent idea. There definitely is a gap in the market for non-CS grads who want to get a more robust grounding than a ten-week bootcamp can offer. I'm interested in how you select applicants but your website doesn't let me look at the application process. Your funding model means selecting the right students is crucial as you carry the risk. How do you select from the candidates? Are they meant t…

We keep that kind of close to the chest. We have pre course work for applicants to complete, and let's say we can learn a lot from that.

Re: Launch HN: Lambda School (YC S17) – CS education that's free until you get a job

#90

Post by austenallred »

hysan wrote: post #82

Out of curiosity, I signed up for the JavaScript Mini Code Bootcamp - Archive to evaluate the quality of the lectures. I've been watching/listening to the first 20+ min and so far, I'm quite skeptical of the quality of the instruction. Are the archives some sort of practice run or are they reminiscent of the actual lectures?

That's where we test new instructors. It's a class taught to thousands of people at once, so very, very different.
Post reply on HN