Live data from Hacker News

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

businessinsider.com

241–250 of 412 posts

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

#241
post #38

My partner went through a bootcamp, and there was an interview process after the application process. In my partner's case, they hold an advance degree in a STEM field from an Ivy League. A few of their peers had similar backgrounds, and that group didn't have trouble finishing. I wonder if the push to scale out these programs meant lowering standards, since folks with the ability / discipline to finish are few. If s…

> I wonder if the push to scale out these programs meant lowering standards, since folks with the ability / discipline to finish are few.

This always seems to be the rub with for-profit education. When you need to grow at all costs eventually that means accepting more students...

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

#242

I was a 2015 UX Bootcamp grad (Chicago local, later acquired and run into the ground.) I think I paid $8k and have had a pretty great career, though it took a couple months to find that first job. The last 2 years, I've had a side gig where I do practice UX interview - usually to bootcamp grads. Y'all I felt bad for most of these folks. The majority were not taught how to solve problems, but rather how to take generi…

> How are you supposed to learn from someone who's never executed in the real world is beyond me.

As the old saw says, those who can do, those can't teach. And this is sadly particularly prevalent in IT, because a competent SWE will make a lot more grinding out code at a FAANG than teaching at a boot camp.

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

#243
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I should have used the word lecture. Maybe they do lecture now, it's been awhile since I was involved.

Many would argue that lecturing is (/should be) the least important or impactful part of teaching.

Man, in college I designed the curriculum for, led 7 other TAs, graded and lectured the introductory CS course with 300+ students for two semesters. Clearly I should have told them I was the teacher (Ha!) and should have been paid more than 23/hr but nope my title was Head TA while the professor, who admittedly I hold in high regard supervised to make sure things didn't go off the rails. Honestly it was a great learning experience but yeah sometimes I think about that and laugh to myself.

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

#244
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's the issue. The issue is that the United States provides such a poor safety net for those with health issues that one person's failing health destroys the economic potential of one or more people around them. From a sheer utilitarian perspective, healthcare and safety nets are positive ROI. Imagine the job-producing startups that don't exist because "how do you pay for insurance?"

It's worse than just lost startup opportunities. I think healthcare in the US is riddled with ways to "accidentally"* spend the entire accumulation of your wealth, leaving absolutely nothing to the next generation. Long term care is needed by a lot of folks over the age of 65 (~70% of adults age 65 will require at least partial long term care). Even "reasonably cheap" care (in my experience, roughly the same quality…

My partners grandmother in Sydney moved into a care home earlier this year as she nears the end of her life. She had to pay over $500,000 upfront which gives her 10 years of care there, and then its a pro-rated amount is refunded upon death.

I can't imagine there are too many people in this world with half a million dollars ready to go.

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

#245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly enough, all of these comments could have been said about my experience at $BOOTCAMP that I attended and then was later hired at as a mentor. The degradation of quality from the removal of human presence is a common narrative, and the students react to it so much more than management ever realizes. > at no point did I feel like Lambda at its top level prioritized student wellbeing over PR, costs, or metr…

Every time I’ve seen a company bought by private equity, it spells the beginning of the end. The strategy always seems to milk every last drop of cash from the business, without any long term sustainable plan. As an anecdotal case, I visited Sea World over the summer and half the concessions and shows were closed. It was still expensive and crowded and and there were service bottlenecks everywhere. Long lines for a b…

It's an issue in market information where regulation can't really work [1]. Vendors have a brand. They establish the value of the brand such that purchasers have a signal that they aren't going to be ripped off. For example you can be pretty sure coca-cola isn't going to cut costs to the point where they don't care about putting poison in the bottle - and you don't need regulation to know they won't do it. Zeus-Cola? Brand means nothing. On holiday in an unregulated land when it's only just launched do you advise your family it will be completely safe to drink?

An entrepreneurial team comes along and puts their hearts and souls into setting up a business and establishing the brand with some high quality product. That brand becomes worth something. The easiest way to monetize that brand is to use it for a con job. It sucks.

You thought you were getting quality, it's what you paid for, well you're getting cheap and nasty and we're taking excess profit for as long as the brand lasts. You took the bait and got the switch. Usually (but not always) the original entrepreneurial team is unwilling to do this, because they believed what they were doing was something more than just making money. Private equity is just making money and are extremely willing to do this.

[1] I prefer unregulated markets as far as the alternative is usually worse. There are obvious exceptions at the extreme ends (monopoly, health and safety, fraud, adverse externality etc.) How far away from the extreme you think regulation stops working is a lot of interesting case-by-case discussion where intelligent, reasonable and informed people can disagree in good faith improving their understanding and the quality of suggested policy in the process. It would be nice to see a bit more of it in the media!

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

#246
This is exactly why I started building https://qvault.io over a year ago. Boot camps are full of shit, they aren't teaching all they need to. We need an alternative to college that isn't expensive and based on exaggerations and lies.

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

#247
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't companies just speak plainly about these kinds of changes? "We are doing this to cut costs, which we need to do to [Survive/Buy a Yacht/Whatever]" People tend to be really understanding when you are brutally honest, and brutally cynical when you bullshit them even a little.

For engineering or other pragmatic types? Definitely. For those who are used to hard reality and know how to make it fit in a nice way or move on like field sales? Often. For most everyone else? There is often a need to provide at least some surface ‘here is why everything is not actually super terrible so you should stay’ sugar coating or it is not going to go down well. The larger the group, the more apparent the e…

This is a little ironic...

  - We really don't appreciate bullshit, all it does is erode trust
  
  - No, no, let me explain how bullshit is actually good for you...

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

#248
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't companies just speak plainly about these kinds of changes? "We are doing this to cut costs, which we need to do to [Survive/Buy a Yacht/Whatever]" People tend to be really understanding when you are brutally honest, and brutally cynical when you bullshit them even a little.

Maybe in some engineering/phd bubbles that's true, but that most definitely doesn't work the majority of the time.

An organization that treats their students with a "your feeble minds won't understand, so let me put some spin on this for you" deserves all the eventual backlash they get.

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

#249
post #247
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For engineering or other pragmatic types? Definitely. For those who are used to hard reality and know how to make it fit in a nice way or move on like field sales? Often. For most everyone else? There is often a need to provide at least some surface ‘here is why everything is not actually super terrible so you should stay’ sugar coating or it is not going to go down well. The larger the group, the more apparent the e…

This is a little ironic... - We really don't appreciate bullshit, all it does is erode trust - No, no, let me explain how bullshit is actually good for you...

This is very close to the language Lambda School actually used. Here is a snippet of something Lambda wrote after a LOT of students complained about the changes the school made to the program (removing TLs, grades, code review):

- First, we need to clarify how we've changed the accountability model.

- Second, we need to clarify why we've changed the accountability model.

- Third, after we understand the bandwidth and instructor availability in this new model, we'll continue to tighten the proactive feedback on technical skills.

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

#250
I went to Lambda School.

Lots of problems with Lambda, especially the way they teach.

I learned a lot. Faster and better than I could on my own. I only stopped because I fell very ill.

Better than college.

If Austen was more truthful and transparent and moved a little slower, they'd be number one in the space. But you can't move quick when taking people's lives and time. They're not as flexible as software.

Post reply on HN