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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

#191

Post by cto_of_antifa »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #39
ucm_edge wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hire them and give them a task somewhere between support engineer that executes well documented code snippets in run books and junior engineer that does very basic CRUD web app development. Making internal dashboards for the customer success team, etc. Give them about 32 hours of work a week and 8 hours of tutorials on other things. Build them up from there. I still lose about 35% of them. A combo of firing for lac…

> I still lose about 35% of them. A combo of firing for lack of ability and the devs getting upset and leaving when promotions and raises come slow. I've had similar problems. We've had some bootcamp grads who were good to work with and acknowledged that they were still very junior. We've also had some bootcamp grads who felt entitled to mid-range to senior compensation after their first year, while still getting the…

No post body was provided.

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

#192

Post by j-bos »

throwaway5959 wrote: post #173

Why anyone would give money to this guy is beyond me. Hey, we fucked up our reputation so bad, instead of making good on it, let’s change our name to a shitty Silicon Valley-esque one. It’s a shame nothing will happen to Austen after all the people he’s hurt.

Were you hurt?

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

#193

Post by j-bos »

Bias declaration: I'm a hired Bloomtech grad, so overall a satisfied customer/student.

Meta comment: It's intersting to see how many comments on any Bloomtech/Lambda post are very knee-jerk in nature, mostly negative some positive. And to be clear, I'd say most are thoughtful. The thing that strikes me is that I can't tell if this is normal HN tenor for a tech story or if it's just because I have opinions on the subject. The only other stories witg comments that strike me as remotely similar are those dealing with privacy.

So an ask, if Bloomtech is something you don't care about, neither positively nor negatively, do you find the comments for this article of average "pitch"?

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

#194

Post by ptero »

disruptthelaw wrote: post #86
ucm_edge wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hire them and give them a task somewhere between support engineer that executes well documented code snippets in run books and junior engineer that does very basic CRUD web app development. Making internal dashboards for the customer success team, etc. Give them about 32 hours of work a week and 8 hours of tutorials on other things. Build them up from there. I still lose about 35% of them. A combo of firing for lac…

Have you observed any other path for new want-to-be developers other than boot camps that tends to yield better outcomes ?

Not the person you are asking, but I'd say a genuine interest in the field.

A couple of simple hobby projects and participation in meetups and chats can give both faster ramp-up (beyond very basic) and solid job leads. My 2c.

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

#195

Post by lazypenguin »

j-bos wrote: post #193

Bias declaration: I'm a hired Bloomtech grad, so overall a satisfied customer/student. Meta comment: It's intersting to see how many comments on any Bloomtech/Lambda post are very knee-jerk in nature, mostly negative some positive. And to be clear, I'd say most are thoughtful. The thing that strikes me is that I can't tell if this is normal HN tenor for a tech story or if it's just because I have opinions on the subj…

Yes and perhaps your bias clouds your perception or desires a more positive reception of your “alma mater”. Boot camps generally illicit a negative reaction from experienced programmers. Primarily because their primary stated goal is to give a “student” enough experience in an extremely compressed amount of time for them to enter the workforce as productive developers. The issue is that experience, by definition, can only be gained over time and with diverse trials and tribulations. Only the most motivated bootcampers can achieve this during their program by supplementing with copious amounts of self-learning.

Unfortunately even then a boot campers “experience” is quite limited but many come out of their program believing they are equals to more experienced mid/senior level programmers which results in those in the industry having animosity to those individuals. I think this explains the general “negative tone” you see in this comment section.

Are boot camps bad? No, I think they are quite useful but I think we need to acknowledge that they really only effectively create a pipeline of junior developers and replace the need for corporations to have internal education/training programs.

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

#196

Post by safog »

j-bos wrote: post #193

Bias declaration: I'm a hired Bloomtech grad, so overall a satisfied customer/student. Meta comment: It's intersting to see how many comments on any Bloomtech/Lambda post are very knee-jerk in nature, mostly negative some positive. And to be clear, I'd say most are thoughtful. The thing that strikes me is that I can't tell if this is normal HN tenor for a tech story or if it's just because I have opinions on the subj…

Neutral observer, don't particularly care about lambda.

I think it's worse than average - lots of strong opinions being bandied about. If I had to make up a score it's somewhere slightly above Google shutting down Stadia and significantly below FB / Cambridge Analytica scandal.

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

#197

Post by jdsleppy »

j-bos wrote: post #193

Bias declaration: I'm a hired Bloomtech grad, so overall a satisfied customer/student. Meta comment: It's intersting to see how many comments on any Bloomtech/Lambda post are very knee-jerk in nature, mostly negative some positive. And to be clear, I'd say most are thoughtful. The thing that strikes me is that I can't tell if this is normal HN tenor for a tech story or if it's just because I have opinions on the subj…

The comments seem of average pitch to me. I did have to scroll to the bottom to see the more inflammatory ones, but even with those it matches what you get on any exciting topic. Ask devs what they think of golang and you almost get the same!

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

#198

Post by dokein »

j-bos wrote: post #193

Bias declaration: I'm a hired Bloomtech grad, so overall a satisfied customer/student. Meta comment: It's intersting to see how many comments on any Bloomtech/Lambda post are very knee-jerk in nature, mostly negative some positive. And to be clear, I'd say most are thoughtful. The thing that strikes me is that I can't tell if this is normal HN tenor for a tech story or if it's just because I have opinions on the subj…

Over the years, I've subjectively found HN to be less optimistic. The tone of the comments here are not significantly different from many other topics.

Note that I am not saying that HN is now less neutral--it may be that the current level of optimism vs. cynicism maps better to reality.

That said, I think more optimism is generally better (for motivating action) if you want to start a new business or build a new technology; more realism is generally better if you want to go down an established path or join a venture purely as an employee; and more cynicism is better if you want to be a rabid online commentator (joke!).

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

#199

Post by sidlls »

lazypenguin wrote: post #195
j-bos wrote: post #193

Bias declaration: I'm a hired Bloomtech grad, so overall a satisfied customer/student. Meta comment: It's intersting to see how many comments on any Bloomtech/Lambda post are very knee-jerk in nature, mostly negative some positive. And to be clear, I'd say most are thoughtful. The thing that strikes me is that I can't tell if this is normal HN tenor for a tech story or if it's just because I have opinions on the subj…

Yes and perhaps your bias clouds your perception or desires a more positive reception of your “alma mater”. Boot camps generally illicit a negative reaction from experienced programmers. Primarily because their primary stated goal is to give a “student” enough experience in an extremely compressed amount of time for them to enter the workforce as productive developers. The issue is that experience, by definition, can…

The experience argument seems thin: new grads have a similar issue, and yet companies have hiring programs targeting these individuals, sometimes aggressively.

It seems the core of your argument is not that they are inexperienced, but rather that the bootcamps somehow convince them they are not and this leads to friction in the positions they seek and the expectations around the work they're capable of accomplishing.

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