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Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

lambdaschool.com

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Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#31

Post by incompatible »

austenallred wrote: post #26
incompatible wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose the contract obliges them to look for / accept a job after graduating? I mean, I'd be happy to take money to study for a while, but I wouldn't look for a job afterwards.

Looking for a job is built into the curriculum itself. Of course, you could just turn job offers down and never get paid a high salary, but most people aren’t optimizing like that.

Interesting, is the job market in the US so good that even new graduates without work experience can expect to find well-paying jobs? I'm in Australia, where things seem a bit different.

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#32

Post by austenallred »

incompatible wrote: post #31
austenallred wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking for a job is built into the curriculum itself. Of course, you could just turn job offers down and never get paid a high salary, but most people aren’t optimizing like that.

Interesting, is the job market in the US so good that even new graduates without work experience can expect to find well-paying jobs? I'm in Australia, where things seem a bit different.

The good ones can with a lot of help. Weak ones or those that don’t know how to navigate a job search well struggle.

Our first cohort, for example, hit 100% employment.

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#33

Post by jamestimmins »

austenallred wrote: post #7

Hey, co-founder of Lambda School here. We launched our online CS academy with no upfront tuition almost two years ago. Now with thousands of students enrolled and hundreds already employed and paying back we wanted to take the next step and open up access to folks who couldn’t afford to pay to survive while attending. Of course, that introduces significant risk on our part, as students still only pay us back if they…

This is amazing!

I'm curious, one of your student stories mentions a student who was immediately hired into a senior engineering role upon graduating. While I've heard great things about Lambda School and its students, that gives me pause. When companies hire new grads directly into senior roles, do you think that they're set up to succeed in those roles? I'm genuinely curious.

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#34

Post by austenallred »

jamestimmins wrote: post #33
austenallred wrote: post #7

Hey, co-founder of Lambda School here. We launched our online CS academy with no upfront tuition almost two years ago. Now with thousands of students enrolled and hundreds already employed and paying back we wanted to take the next step and open up access to folks who couldn’t afford to pay to survive while attending. Of course, that introduces significant risk on our part, as students still only pay us back if they…

This is amazing! I'm curious, one of your student stories mentions a student who was immediately hired into a senior engineering role upon graduating. While I've heard great things about Lambda School and its students, that gives me pause. When companies hire new grads directly into senior roles, do you think that they're set up to succeed in those roles? I'm genuinely curious.

It’s rare that that happens. That particular student is now leading a team of 40, so he was well suited, but we tell most students to be at “try to go senior quickly” level (with regard to ability not necessarily title).

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#35

Post by vikp »

austenallred wrote: post #7

Hey, co-founder of Lambda School here. We launched our online CS academy with no upfront tuition almost two years ago. Now with thousands of students enrolled and hundreds already employed and paying back we wanted to take the next step and open up access to folks who couldn’t afford to pay to survive while attending. Of course, that introduces significant risk on our part, as students still only pay us back if they…

This is very interesting, and I'm curious about the nature of the risk that you're taking on.

It seems like risk would only become a factor for Lambda School if you're taking 10% of pre-tax income from graduates for the 5 chronological years immediately after they graduate (regardless of employment status).

If you're instead taking 10% of pre-tax income from graduates for the next 5 years in which they're working (non-chronological), then the risk on your side actually seems fairly low, since most software jobs in the US pay >50k a year.

If you're taking 10% of pre-tax income from folks for the next 5 years in which they're employed AND making >50k, then the risk for Lambda School is basically zero. I believe this scenario is what is actually happening.

If the final scenario I laid out is what is happening, then this seems very close to traditional debt (take a loan out for living expenses + tuition, then repay a much larger amount down the line).

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#36

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

incompatible wrote: post #24
austenallred wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We get students’ tax returns to verify income and they sign a contract. What’s stopping them from not paying is the American contract law system which is severely underrated.

I suppose the contract obliges them to look for / accept a job after graduating? I mean, I'd be happy to take money to study for a while, but I wouldn't look for a job afterwards.

I hate to break it to you, but I don't think many people can afford to live without a paying job, and if they can, I doubt they're willing to exchange their time for $2k a month.

I don't think people not looking for a job is a problem you need to heavily consider. Especially if there's a selection process for admission -- which the founder says there is.

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#37

Post by austenallred »

vikp wrote: post #35
austenallred wrote: post #7

Hey, co-founder of Lambda School here. We launched our online CS academy with no upfront tuition almost two years ago. Now with thousands of students enrolled and hundreds already employed and paying back we wanted to take the next step and open up access to folks who couldn’t afford to pay to survive while attending. Of course, that introduces significant risk on our part, as students still only pay us back if they…

This is very interesting, and I'm curious about the nature of the risk that you're taking on. It seems like risk would only become a factor for Lambda School if you're taking 10% of pre-tax income from graduates for the 5 chronological years immediately after they graduate (regardless of employment status). If you're instead taking 10% of pre-tax income from graduates for the next 5 years in which they're working (no…

> then the risk to Lambda School is practically zero

If only!

We only get paid if a student is making $50k/yr or more and the agreement is time-bound (10 yrs).

A student may teach those levels of salary without our involvement, but when our possible downside is $18k + the cost of training and our potential upside is somewhere between $0 and $50k any level of default or non-hiring destroys returns immediately.

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#38

Post by runT1ME »

austenallred wrote: post #37
vikp wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very interesting, and I'm curious about the nature of the risk that you're taking on. It seems like risk would only become a factor for Lambda School if you're taking 10% of pre-tax income from graduates for the 5 chronological years immediately after they graduate (regardless of employment status). If you're instead taking 10% of pre-tax income from graduates for the next 5 years in which they're working (no…

> then the risk to Lambda School is practically zero If only! We only get paid if a student is making $50k/yr or more and the agreement is time-bound (10 yrs). A student may teach those levels of salary without our involvement, but when our possible downside is $18k + the cost of training and our potential upside is somewhere between $0 and $50k any level of default or non-hiring destroys returns immediately.

Love what you're doing. Think the model could work for other well paying jobs such as the medical field or legal?

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#39

Post by jamestimmins »

austenallred wrote: post #34
jamestimmins wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is amazing! I'm curious, one of your student stories mentions a student who was immediately hired into a senior engineering role upon graduating. While I've heard great things about Lambda School and its students, that gives me pause. When companies hire new grads directly into senior roles, do you think that they're set up to succeed in those roles? I'm genuinely curious.

It’s rare that that happens. That particular student is now leading a team of 40, so he was well suited, but we tell most students to be at “try to go senior quickly” level (with regard to ability not necessarily title).

Impressive.

As someone a bit later in their career (4 years in), I'm a bit jealous of this opportunity. I'd be very curious in some kind of midlevel->senior program like this. Something like Bradfield but more widely available geographically. The content is more difficult at that level, but the salaries are substantially higher as well.

Re: Lambda School (YC S17) now pays eligible students $2k/month

#40

Post by austenallred »

runT1ME wrote: post #38
austenallred wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then the risk to Lambda School is practically zero If only! We only get paid if a student is making $50k/yr or more and the agreement is time-bound (10 yrs). A student may teach those levels of salary without our involvement, but when our possible downside is $18k + the cost of training and our potential upside is somewhere between $0 and $50k any level of default or non-hiring destroys returns immediately.

Love what you're doing. Think the model could work for other well paying jobs such as the medical field or legal?

Watch this space.
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