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Coding Boot Camps Attract Tech Companies

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Re: Coding Boot Camps Attract Tech Companies

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in the industry since 1999 with no CS degree, and there were no boot camps back then. I'll bypass the horn-tooting, but I've managed to do pretty well in my career :-)

Do you perceive that a CS degree could have helped you overcome challenges or mitigate risks through your career? Have you resorted to trial an error on tasks that could have been solved by applying CS knowledge?

There have certainly been moments. However, I suspect the time and expense wouldn't have balanced out yet, and becomes more skewed the older and more experienced I get. (I was a full time developer 6 months before I would have graduated, had I done a CS degree in 4 years out of high school, so throw that income in the mix as well)

These days my role is focused on a breadth rather than depth of knowledge, my ability to learn new skills quickly, and an emphasis on solving business problems through technology. (The company I work for focuses on logistics problems core to most businesses, not Twitter-level concerns)

Re: Coding Boot Camps Attract Tech Companies

#52

A coding camp graduate can be considered with respect to a computer science graduate what a paralegal is to a lawyer, or what a nurse is to a doctor. They can perform some procedures, but not all of them, and at some point there might be supervision. Now to be fair, paralegal and nursing programs take much longer than 12 weeks, are very strict and are regulated occupations that require a license that you can actually…

Some of the best engineers I have worked with did not learn CS in college, or even in a boot camp. They learned on the job. Some programmers want to believe that computer science is harder than it really is, because it inflates their egos. CS is not as difficult to learn as law, or medicine, or electrical engineering, or many other disciplines for which self-taught practitioners are exceedingly rare. Furthermore, I'v…

I agree with you but I don't think the comparison to other disciplines is fair.

It's incredibly easy to self study CS, by applying your theory, with a quick feedback cycle on 1 pc and the internet.

Something that is almost impossible in law or medicine.

Re: Coding Boot Camps Attract Tech Companies

#53
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Relax. All they need to do is teach, not be experts. I asked the same of a MechE friend who used to teach AutoCAD at a community college despite not having known it before. His answer? I just need to stay a week ahead of the class.

$1000/week seems alot to be taught by such a guy, IMHO. A student could do that for free, from Apple's website, and be only one week behind where they would be. So Flatiron is charging $15k for a one week head start!

People pay for value. If they see value in doing X over Y, then they'll pay for X.
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