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Lambda School is a predatory bootcamp that lies about students outcomes

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Re: Lambda School is a predatory bootcamp that lies about students outcomes

#2
Agreed. Austen Allred is notoriously terrible on Twitter, too. Constant snark, immediately blocking people who point out the predatory business model, and shamelessly holding himself up like some gift to could-be coders.

Dude’s just a thief. Even the way they handle their comms internally is hilariously bad to read about. Gives me the same vibes as the chick from AWAY that finally was forced to step down.

Re: Lambda School is a predatory bootcamp that lies about students outcomes

#4
A few Twitter bots brought this submission to attention. If you don't have much background, here are some good starting points:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/11/21131848/lambda-school-co...

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/lambda-schools-job-p...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25415017

Re: Lambda School is a predatory bootcamp that lies about students outcomes

#5
Lambda School seems questionable for a few reasons I was already aware of as a semi-habitual hirer of bootcampers: trying to scale too fast & degrading the product, possibly disaligned incentives if ISAs are sold off immediately, etc. If I weren't aware of these issues, this tweet/thread would not have taught me about them.

However -- "Naturally they're partnered with Amazon"...to get people jobs as programmers at Amazon(who are evil I guess?? The unspoken assumption?) does not seem like a problem.

It is difficult for me to imagine thinking an entry-level FAANG(even Amazon dot com, the lowliest FAANG where few HN posters would deign to work) programming job is not a golden ticket 99th percentile outcome for any bootcamper.

The twootist subsequently implies Austen is out of touch for thinking there are towns where an Amazon FC job @$15/hr + healthcare is a "holy shit amazing" job. This is true tons of places. It's double minimum wage! Affordable healthcare!

If Amazon FC isn't a good job, and Amazon Programmer isn't a good job, what is? Are there bootcamps putting people directly into Netflix, Stripe, Jane Street, etc?

Re: Lambda School is a predatory bootcamp that lies about students outcomes

#7
Colleges are predatory, putting kids deep into debt that they may never be able to repay and can't even remove with bankruptcy. And said debt has exploded in recent decades with no corresponding improvement in outcomes.

Whereas Lambda aligns their interests with the student. If their students don't get a job, Lambda doesn't get paid. Why is a better model being attacked like this?

Re: Lambda School is a predatory bootcamp that lies about students outcomes

#9
post #5

Lambda School seems questionable for a few reasons I was already aware of as a semi-habitual hirer of bootcampers: trying to scale too fast & degrading the product, possibly disaligned incentives if ISAs are sold off immediately, etc. If I weren't aware of these issues, this tweet/thread would not have taught me about them. However -- "Naturally they're partnered with Amazon"...to get people jobs as programmers at Am…

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