
Ask HN: Would you pay $3,500 for an Interview Bootcamp?  - streakerbee
In 3 months you are guaranteed placement into top 30 companies or you get money back. (Google, Facebook, Quora, Palantir, etc)<p>The program lasts for 12 weeks. You need 2 hours per day commitment, everyday.<p>Any takers?
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nadocrew
Why not give it away? People come for the bootcamp and after the 12 weeks you
represent them during their job search. The companies will pay you $5-15k,
depending on the candidate, as a referral fee. No cost to the participants.

~~~
lsc
>The companies will pay you $5-15k, depending on the candidate, as a referral
fee.

I have tried, and from what I've seen, it is quite difficult to get that sort
of a relationship with a company. If you have a recruiting agency that has
that sort of relationship with a big company? You can sell your recruiting
agency for a lot of money.

If you don't have a relationship with the company doing the hiring, you have
to go through recruiters who do, and you will get $0-$2500 per referral. I've
placed a lot of people at this level. I've gotten $2500 once. The rest of the
time? I get a "thank you" (and the person I placed, often, feels they owe me a
favor.)

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hawkice
12 * 7 * 2 = 168 total hours of commitment for a program I know nothing about,
except that if you ask me to do something I believe is a waste of time I have
to burn five figures in billable hours to ride it out and get the refund or
sacrifice the $3,500.

I highly recommend you provide details of what precisely you are selling --
you've raised the stakes for all customers, so pitch me that I'll have more
success with you than on my own.

~~~
streakerbee
>> you ask me to do something I believe is a waste of time

You can see the proof for yourself when you burn through the following two
books within the three months. a) [http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Programming-
Interviews-Inside...](http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Programming-Interviews-
Insiders-Guide/dp/1479274836) b) [http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-
Interview-Programming-...](http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-
Programming-Questions/dp/098478280X)

You need to spend 4hrs+ on weekends though. You will get to talk to candidates
already working in the top companies and will be working in a group of 20+
highly motivated and intelligent peers.

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Madmallard
The work required for passing programming interviews is rote practice of
solving problems for which you cannot immediately think of a solution.

There's already hundreds of resources available to do this. Top-coder,
practice-it, project euler, coding interview books, etc. etc.

Teaching negotiation and soft skills are probably more valuable for the
general programming population.

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8_hours_ago
If I were looking for a job, then yes, I would. A signing bonus would easily
cover the 3.5k.

But why not work with the companies directly as a recruiting agency? Or work
with already existing recruiting agencies to train their recruits? There is a
lot of money to be made in the recruiting business, you definitely could make
much more than 3.5k per hire.

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arikrak
Interesting idea, but I think it will be difficult for you to find people who
can actually land jobs at those companies (and need you to help them do it).

I though of covering interview questions on my site
[http://www.learneroo.com](http://www.learneroo.com) , but I decided for now
to focus on general learning (though there's a lot that's relevant for
interviews too).

~~~
streakerbee
We are betting on the idea that a reasonably smart person would surprise
themselves on how far they can get ahead if they can diligently work in a
consistent manner. 2 hours per day may not seem much but over the course of 3
months it is pretty effective in hacking the interview process.

We will actually call/text the candidate before and after study period is over
to ensure focus. Kind of like having a personal trainer for interviews.

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jgautsch
Interesting idea. Would there be any sort of pre-requisites? I could see
something like this being pretty successful at private universities (where
parents sometimes have more money than their kids have ambition/drive/talent).
It would resonate with the same folks who pay big bucks for SAT and ACT prep
classes

~~~
streakerbee
The only pre-requisite is that the candidate should be reasonably intelligent.
Someone who is already working in a big company/school and is putting off
preparation for the interviews is ideal.

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jamilv
I'd commit. However an easier model to attract more people is percentage of
income (annually or monthly).

I seen people work with headhunters before, giving up 1 months salary as the
commission to land a job they want and in the end it seems like a win/win
situation. Both people are happy.

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wodenokoto
I've seen companies offer similar deals in Denmark. It can't possibly be a new
concept in the US, can it?

Most often they'll ask for 50%-100% of the first paycheck (hopefully after
tax, or else nobody can pay that in Denmark!)

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aspHax0
If you'd take the $3500 fee after I have the job, I think anyone would do it.

I'd even go so far as to say I'd be willing to give you guys 40-50% of my pay
for 3 months.

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thisiswei
Sign me up. I'll commit 6-8 hours, how to contact you?

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rsmaniak
Yes definitely

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jesusmichael
guaranteed? right...

