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BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

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Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#161

Post by laserlight »

austenallred wrote: post #128
Dwolb wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the hiring rates and the average and median improvements in salary?

You can see our 2021 audited outcomes report here with all of the data https://www.bloomtech.com/reports/outcomes-report . (Note: 2021 outcomes report is very recent as you have to get students graduated, give them time to get placed, etc.) Some of it I'm thrilled about, some of it shows us where we have more work to do (or need to do better in admissions - candidly it's always a difficult balance between giving folk…

This comment got me interested, so I dived deeper into the report [0].

Learners are divided into three groups: graduated (59%), still enrolled (5%), and withdrawn (36%). Graduated learners are further divided into two groups: job seeking (63%: ~37% of all learners) and non-job seeking (37%: ~22% of all learners). Here's the definition of “non-job seeking”:

“A BloomTech graduate who has been unresponsive to outreach, has explicitly indicated they are not pursuing a technical role, or has explicitly indicated they have paused their job search.”

When we apply the base rate to the 90% rate, we conclude that 33% of those who attend the program (learners) got hired.

[0] https://www.bloomtech.com/reports/outcomes-report

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#162

Post by raverbashing »

MivLives wrote: post #133
Manuel_D wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did lambda school have any sort of assessment before accepting students? This really resonates with my observations. The people who got the most out of software bootcamps were those that had tinkered with video game modding, WordPress, etc. and had done some self-learning of coding before going to a bootcamp. In other words, people who knew they liked hacking on tech and had a basic ability to code. They approached t…

They had a prebootcamp with a free course that taught the basics. Some people cheat through that though and didn't quite process that... you can't really pull that off through the whole program? I totally saw people who had never coded before succeed, I'm not sure I could pick out in an interview who would do well and who wouldn't. It's a marathon not a sprint. For the selectivity thing... I'm really not sure. The se…

Funny how some people think that "programming though Stack Overflow" will keep working after you progress to a certain level

School mentality (and I might add: grifter mentality as well)

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#163

Post by ivanche »

chrisfosterelli wrote: post #119
MivLives wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the people I saw get successful were people were people doing like... extra stuff outside of the classes. They were taking what they learned and applying it. Others organized groups of people, and essentially formed a small support network of people in a similar position. I completely understand that not everyone has the time for that. I think two things happened over Lambda's life span that effected the qual…

> Most of the people I saw get successful were people were people doing like... extra stuff outside of the classes. Ironically this is not that different from my university experience.

Not ironically at all! If someone expects to attend programming classes (or any classes for that matter), not do any extra work and as a result to become a programmer, that someone will have a rude awakening. Or as one of my university professors said "Attempt to learn this subject by just listening these classes is equivalent to attemting to become a gymnast by watching Olympics on TV".

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#164

Post by gniv »

MivLives wrote: post #52

I graduated Lambda School and currently have been hired and work in a software position. I don't encourage people to go to... Bloomtech they're calling it now. AMA. I was earlier in the life of Lambda. I got what I needed out of it but I watched a lot who didn't.

Somewhat tangential: Lambda School sounds so much better to me than Bloomtech. Any idea why they changed it?

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#165

Post by OrwellianChild »

MivLives wrote: post #111
malikNF wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you wish they could have done differently?

Honestly, not much. I'm one of the success stories. I think I was just early enough to have small classes and knew enough basic html and programming concepts from doing IT work to have the bootcamp work for me. I was also incredibly lucky the company that hired me had a program where they took on essentially fresh college grads and boot camp grads, and funneled them into Junior positions with a project before you wer…

What do you think you learned at the company thru the early project and junior work that you didn't get from Lambda?

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#166

Post by yunohn »

gniv wrote: post #164
MivLives wrote: post #52

I graduated Lambda School and currently have been hired and work in a software position. I don't encourage people to go to... Bloomtech they're calling it now. AMA. I was earlier in the life of Lambda. I got what I needed out of it but I watched a lot who didn't.

Somewhat tangential: Lambda School sounds so much better to me than Bloomtech. Any idea why they changed it?

I thought it was PR white washing - https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/16/lambda-school-rebrand-bloo...

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#167

Post by jstummbillig »

onetimeusename wrote: post #58
MivLives wrote: post #52

I graduated Lambda School and currently have been hired and work in a software position. I don't encourage people to go to... Bloomtech they're calling it now. AMA. I was earlier in the life of Lambda. I got what I needed out of it but I watched a lot who didn't.

Why weren't lambda grads able to get good jobs? I think that was the main controversy. Was it the instruction or what went wrong there?

Or why were they? What percentage number is to be considered a success here? I don't have the faintest idea.

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#168

Post by AceJohnny2 »

awb wrote: post #6

Has anyone had success hiring bootcamp grads? I’ve interviewed dozens and their resume will say something like “Fellow at [bootcamp]” or “Instructor at [bootcamp]”, and it turns out they made a simple programming 101 app and taught a 1hr intro to JavaScript class. None have ever passed an initial screening by me for mid level dev jobs, but I’m curious if anyone else has hired a bootcamp grad for a junior role and had…

My partner went to Makersquare (since bought & rebranded Hack Reactor).

They joined a successful small e-commerce site (Javascript), then a few years later joined Loon (Google X) (Python), and sensing the wind switched to another Google X project before Loon shut down.

They're doing pretty well, if I say so myself.

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#169

Post by whiplash451 »

gniv wrote: post #164
MivLives wrote: post #52

I graduated Lambda School and currently have been hired and work in a software position. I don't encourage people to go to... Bloomtech they're calling it now. AMA. I was earlier in the life of Lambda. I got what I needed out of it but I watched a lot who didn't.

Somewhat tangential: Lambda School sounds so much better to me than Bloomtech. Any idea why they changed it?

Agree 100%

Re: BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

#170

Post by duped »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #107
ajhurliman wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The range of quality is extremely high in bootcamps. I've interviewed many bootcamp grads the median quality is pretty low. However, I went through a bootcamp (Code Fellows in Seattle) and almost my entire cohort went on to eventually join a FAANG, technical co-founder, or something fairly prestigious. The curriculum, the teaching style, and the aptitude/ drive of the cohort matters a lot.

Fellow bootcamp grad here. This is what drives me nuts. My bootcamp has a legitimately high placement rate (90% hired as SWE or dev within 90 days), that is audited externally, but somehow it is in the same category as something that takes 1/4 the time with a legitimately terrible curriculum. There needs to be some better differentiator for vocational training.

I'm really interested in your last sentence there -

Something that I learned before I converted fully to SWE is that most other domains of engineering have this class of job I'll call a "tech." In the hardware world they're electricians, or electronics lab techs, in mechanical they're mechanics, and in the other domains you'll call them lab techs or factory techs.

It's a highly technical role with a different entry point that has a harder path to a higher tier of compensation, but also contains a pathway to management and more integration at an organizational level (similar to technical vs management tracks for engineers).

What's different is that domains outside SWE have pretty well-defined ways for people to enter into the "tech" position. Vocational training, like through trade schools, community colleges, the military, etc. We do not have that in software, yet.

Bootcamps are like an experiment into the vocational training to develop a "tech" for software development. Our industry is still very young, so we haven't found a way to define the roles for people that go through that training, and people don't know how it fits in or what the job responsibilities/management should look like yet. I think the model of treating a bootcamp grad like a potential junior engineer is wrong - it's really a separate track for career development.

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