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Lambda School leaked documents show poor performance over the last two years

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Re: Lambda School leaked documents show poor performance over the last two years

#4
This article takes the angle that Lambda's profitability efforts may hurt its students:

> the school can still reach profitability by enrolling 2,000 students a month while only placing less than half of its graduates in qualifying jobs.

>Class sizes are like 150 students to one instructor — I've only heard that number going up

I don't see what the problem is here. For students, the only cost associated with Lambda is the opportunity cost. The incentives are still aligned here -- the school wants people to get placed. It can't "scam" students with higher teacher:student ratios or bad curriculums without hurting its bottom line. If it's failing at teaching students, that's incompetence, not a drive for profitability. If only 40% of students get placed -- that's still 40% more than would have been placed without Lambda, right?

>"Those students that are in the bottom 10%, why would they invest resources into helping those students succeed? Just let them fail out after six months"

...exactly? You are going to school for free. The school is not obligated to waste resources on students falling behind, because those students aren't paying anything.

If you think 6 months of wasted time is a bad deal, just wait until I tell you about this other educational program that lasts 4 years, costs over $100,000, and has a much lower placement rate: Your local university's liberal arts degrees.

Still, it's unfortunate to hear that Lambda is playing the same placement-rate games as bootcamps. I'm surprised they have to do this at all; if I was running admissions, I would be extremely selective, only accepting extremely bright students that I feel the university system had "missed," to get placement rates as high as possible. Maybe they try to do this, and this is just a sad sign of the state of non-college education opportunities?

Re: Lambda School leaked documents show poor performance over the last two years

#5
The author’s tweet thread has the key points and documents: https://twitter.com/fulligin/status/1452658640809197569

edit: on top of the problems with Lambda’s offerings, losing 7 out of 9 executives since 2020 is rough: https://twitter.com/fulligin/status/1452658652448362497

Re: Lambda School leaked documents show poor performance over the last two years

#6

This article takes the angle that Lambda's profitability efforts may hurt its students: > the school can still reach profitability by enrolling 2,000 students a month while only placing less than half of its graduates in qualifying jobs. >Class sizes are like 150 students to one instructor — I've only heard that number going up I don't see what the problem is here. For students, the only cost associated with Lambda i…

    I don't see what the problem is here. For students, the only cost associated with Lambda is the opportunity cost.
The terms of the ISA are five years, and they don’t just apply to coding jobs. You could conceivably go back to school for a degree after the program fails, get a job without any of their help, and still get your wages garnished. They just have to say you learned something in the program that helped you get your job.

Another scenario: you’re making slightly below $50k, you get a promotion to $50k in the middle of the program. The promotion had nothing to do with what you learned in the program, but it’s up to you to argue otherwise.

Students have brought up both of these things in the official subreddit, but I can’t link to them since they set it to private after last year’s major backlash.

I'll also add that while most students opt for the ISA, some students pay the up-front price. That's because the ISA historically attached a premium e.g. $20k pay up front or go with an ISA with a $30k cap. If you were sold on their claimed 86% placement rate, who needs that insurance?

Re: Lambda School leaked documents show poor performance over the last two years

#7

This article takes the angle that Lambda's profitability efforts may hurt its students: > the school can still reach profitability by enrolling 2,000 students a month while only placing less than half of its graduates in qualifying jobs. >Class sizes are like 150 students to one instructor — I've only heard that number going up I don't see what the problem is here. For students, the only cost associated with Lambda i…

It depends on what you conceive of the school as - is it an educational institution that has an incentive to improve the lives of each one of its students, incurring variable cost for each? Or is it a fishing expedition to land as many students as possible for as cheaply as possible, and letting the ones who were going to get jobs on their own anyway pay for the rest?

Re: Lambda School leaked documents show poor performance over the last two years

#9
I'm curious about the future of Lambda School. Apparently, the co-founders have been lying about the numbers for years like there's no tomorrow, but the money still came in.

It's pretty clear that the business is not sustainable nor does it have much hope of becoming profitable even in the short term.In addition, the school's reputation is tarnishing, and there have also been a few clashes with the institutions that must provide the certifications necessary for the school to operate.

The co-founders, particularly Allred, between the constant lies, problems with reporters, and personalities that many psychiatrists would call delusional do not bode well.Even the casual observer would easily notice his bizarre statements, the furious backpedaling observed over and over, the constant distractions that can be inferred from his almost pathological tweeting about anything but what concerns his position as CEO of a company that is making promises to people who are often in need.

You could say that these visionary leaders are what is needed to disrupt entrenched industries, and that the fight with the authorities are the result of the status quo trying to hold the line, and that some lies are nothing more than making the future, present. I just don't see it for Lambda School.

Re: Lambda School leaked documents show poor performance over the last two years

#10
The best way to get your foot in the door is by actually getting your foot in the door. I had great success working with a staffing company and others who have followed my advice also became full-time employees. You'll be a contractor or vendor for a bit but you'll meet the right teams and even get a chance to sample the culture before you make the move in.
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