
You Can Now Use Federal Money to Pay for Unaccredited Coding Boot Camps - prostoalex
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/you-can-now-use-federal-money-to-pay-for-coding-boot-camps#.uu3K0nmQB
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dudul
My post will sound cynical or judgmental, but I really don't understand the
real value in these coding boot camps.

Programming is so easy to learn on your own. Books, blogs, meetups, tutorials,
why would someone spend thousands of dollars to attend a 4 weeks boot camp and
learn essentially the same thing?

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mgirdley
Bootcamp founder here.

There's a big difference between learning enough to tinker with code and
enough to work professionally at it.

The vast majority of people don't have the network, self-motivation or ability
to get to a level where they can work professionally as a dev.

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dudul
What is the added value of the bootcamp compared to a good set of books, a
couple of meetups where you can meet great mentors and some tutorials online?

I've interviewed candidates whose single "experience" was a code bootcamp and
they were terrible. I think that propagating the myth that a couple week
bootcamp can teach you how to be a professional developer is insulting to
developers.

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mgirdley
I think there's a wide spectrum of bootcamps. Some are elite and some aren't.

It's important to recognize bootcamp grads for what they are: people who've
been coding for 3-4 months max. Many folks expect them to be seasoned devs
with 5 yrs experience but they truly are entry-level.

Most people, as I said, are missing motivation, structure, connections and
auto-didactic skills to even get to the point of doing Hello World.

[Oh, and if you interviewed someone who'd been to a 4-week (?) bootcamp, that
explains why they couldn't do much. Nothing great in life is accomplished by
working for 4-weeks.]

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Taylor_OD
Can I ask what bootcamp?

I'm a technical recruiter in Chicago and see a lot of Bootcamp resumes come
across my desk. I placed a dev bootcamp developer once but other then that I
haven't been able to get them interviews because of the stigma behind
bootcamps.

My theory has been that people with a math or science degree that join a
bootcamp are much more likely to get a job than those from other walks of
life. Do you see this as well?

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reagency
The question isn't bootcamp vs STEM Bachelors. It is STEM bootcsmp vs English
Bachelors or No Bachelors.

Boot camp is essentially equivalent to one good semester of college. The most
calale first-year college students are ready for a internship, not
professional programming job.

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mgirdley
I used to be in the "eff college do bootcamp" side of things. I think that's
wrong now. Young people need some of what college gives you and also what
bootcamps provide -- if they want a coding career.

