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Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

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Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#91

Post by gnicholas »

thinkingemote wrote: post #74

"I signed up for 18 months of programming... They suddenly reduced it to 12 months. As of yesterday, I've withdrawn after 4 months as this is not the program that was sold to me. I completed 22% of the program...but under their new reduction, they said I owe 37%" Seems like they would have a good case for getting their money back, but might need to consult a lawyer.

Well, it's even better for the student because the tuition is paid via an income-sharing agreement. That means you don't have to try to "get your money back" — you just have to defend yourself if they actually sue you for a share of your earnings.

This means that Lambda would have to deal with the bad optics of "suing their students" (which sounds worse than simply refusing to give refunds).

If Lambda did actually sue, students would have to defend themselves. But it's always better to be the party that starts out having the thing at issue (i.e., the money).

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#92

Post by jacobion »

whatyesaid wrote: post #51
AntiImperialist wrote: post #22

Isn't their selling point that you don't have to pay unless you get hired? I haven't read the fine print though.

The people doing such bootcamps are either going to try it, hate it and say bye; or they're going to be the type of people who are determined. To quote the guy: "People in my cohort don't even understand basic Javascript and I'm not faring much better. I'm nowhere ready for a job. Now I have to find an education elsewhere and probably teach myself because now I don't trust bootcamps. Also, I will have to pay it back.…

Arguably it's actually in their interest to filter out less determined people, by providing an environment which is confusing or demoralising.

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#93

Post by philwelch »

sampo wrote: post #83
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend did his Masters from Finland and said his monthly expenses were about 200-300 Euros in his first year. I think he spent a bit more in subsequent years after getting a part-time job. That's 18000+ euros if extended to 5 years. Don't overestimate living expenses in a 500 year old walkable town with a small university in a --socialist democracy-- country that cares about its citizens.

> socialist democracy In Nordic countries, we don't really like it when Americans call us socialist democracies. We are market economies like everyone else. Here's a take from the Danish prime minister: https://www.vox.com/2015/10/31/9650030/denmark-prime-ministe...

There’s some Baptists-and-bootleggers nonsense going on between right-wing Republicans tarring center-left policies as “socialist” and avowed socialists doing the same to bait-and-switch voters into supporting them.

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#94

Post by dmkolobov »

blntechie wrote: post #14

Most open world reviews i.e. non curated ones I have seen for Lambda school have been negative to at best neutral. I believe they have a place in the education market if they do it right. Model is good enough but execution appear to be severely lacking. It’s interesting that pg is a big fan though.

Is it interesting? The fact that pg would ignore the negative behaviors of a YC alumni company is not surprising in the least.

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#95

Post by crumbshot »

> After I was a few Units in (3) and thus financially obligated to pay the ISA, they removed core components of the program.

> Where a mentor was paid to mentor you, you are now forced to mentor other students and vice versa.

So Lambda School is essentially an bait-and-switch pyramid scheme purporting to be an educational institution?

For-profit schools are scams in general, but this one sounds particularly scammy and unpleasant.

I'm not surprised to see it's being backed by YC. Yet another example of venture capitalists using their vast wealth to greedily build even more wealth, no matter who is abused in the process.

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#96

Post by gexla »

Once you're in, why not forget about the quality and problems and just follow the program?

I have only ever gone to low level state schools, but one of my instructors told me that he wasn't there to teach me. He was there to guide me through the curriculum. That stuck.

Stick to the program, sweat out the X months. You'll come out as close to a programmer / designer / X as you would from any other path aside from some sort of paid internship where you can teach yourself on the job.

You could teach yourself. Many do. But most will not.

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#97

Post by dikeledi »

I got drawn into Lambda School at the peak of their hype early last year and considered myself extremely fortunate when I got admitted into one of their pilot EU classes. Suffice it to say that the reality was...significantly poorer than advertised. Not only because of the much-discussed reasons which are true, but most importantly for me because they lied about having hiring partners in Europe when they didn't, and left the students to fend for themselves after graduating. Most of the students saw this happen with earlier cohorts and there was a steady trickle of dropouts while I was there. To top it off, around October last year, LS suddenly announced that they would be "pausing" the EU programs indefinitely to "focus on improving the student experience" which seriously drained student morale. I'm pretty sure no more than 35% of students who enrolled to Lambda EU have jobs currently and since they're not as loud as the Americans, their plight isn't really highlighted. Most of the students who managed to get hired either did it on their own, or were previously experienced and came to Lambda to improve their prospects. I managed to get a job through my own means, but would unequivocally consider enrolling to LS a mistake, and it's telling that they've not bothered to follow up with me for ISA payments.

Addendum: This was the kind of delusional fever dream perpetuated by Austen that kind of attracted me to LS last year:

https://www.coursereport.com/blog/lambda-schools-europe-inco...

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/people/after-us-india-wi...

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#98

Post by ruined »

echelon wrote: post #21
ruined wrote: post #6

Well, this is disappointing. Lambda was my plan B if i didn't make it into the competitive program i selected.

You can learn everything you need on your own without a degree or bootcamp. All you need is a starter project and an interest. You can Google everything. Pick an easy language. I recommend Javascript or Python. There's a wealth of learning material and you can use these two languages to build a wide variety of things. Pick something fun: a simple game, an interactive website, a blog, etc. Make it your objective, and…

i've done this more than once. nobody cares about a toy i made or its website, even if it looks pretty and i'm proud of it.

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#99

Post by lordgrenville »

gnicholas wrote: post #91
thinkingemote wrote: post #74

"I signed up for 18 months of programming... They suddenly reduced it to 12 months. As of yesterday, I've withdrawn after 4 months as this is not the program that was sold to me. I completed 22% of the program...but under their new reduction, they said I owe 37%" Seems like they would have a good case for getting their money back, but might need to consult a lawyer.

Well, it's even better for the student because the tuition is paid via an income-sharing agreement. That means you don't have to try to "get your money back" — you just have to defend yourself if they actually sue you for a share of your earnings. This means that Lambda would have to deal with the bad optics of "suing their students" (which sounds worse than simply refusing to give refunds). If Lambda did actually su…

"Possession is nine-tenths of the law."

Re: Lambda School is the biggest mistake I made this year

#100

Post by Grustaf »

gexla wrote: post #96

Once you're in, why not forget about the quality and problems and just follow the program? I have only ever gone to low level state schools, but one of my instructors told me that he wasn't there to teach me. He was there to guide me through the curriculum. That stuck. Stick to the program, sweat out the X months. You'll come out as close to a programmer / designer / X as you would from any other path aside from some…

Of course you could teach yourself, but why pay 30 k for the pleasure of doing that?
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