

Ask HN: Starter School - $33,000. Worth it? - rfnslyr

I&#x27;m taking the next year of my life off to better my development skills of my own accord. I just got an email from Starter School asking to interview me. Is it worth it? I feel for just a fraction of $33k, I can get some pretty nice resources online myself instead of moving somewhere remote and paying that much..<p>Has anyone any experience with Starter School?<p>http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.starterschool.com&#x2F;program
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shire
33K seriously? with 33k let me show you what it can buy you as far as web
development training. [http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-
dad/ou_product_...](http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-
dad/ou_product_category.getPage?p_cat_id=267) Java training at oracle is
around 2k take a few courses there and become a Java pro, Make amazing web
sites or Android phones. Sign up for a subscription at teamtreehouse which
covers PHP, Ruby on Rails and all things web development I have one myself,
It's awesome. Another one is Codeschool which is also awesome. Udacity and
Coursera are both free

So you're looking at a total of maybe $8k to become a Java pro, Python, PHP,
and Ruby on Rails. Satisfied?

You can take another bootcamp training which is maybe $8k or $12k which
teaches Javascript, or Ruby on Rails or even Python.

shop wisely.

~~~
rfnslyr
Hence why I came here. Thanks. I'm just doing courses via Coursera and reading
books.

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anthonycerra
The advice given in other responses here is spot on - there are many avenues
to learn development. But that's only part of the education that this program
is offering. This looks like a CS + MBA program at a fraction of the cost. And
the teachers aren't just spouting off theory - they've built businesses.

So should you do it? If you have 100k in the bank _and you want to start a
business_ , then go for it. You can afford to pay your living expenses, learn
at an accelerated rate from a highly qualified group of teachers, and build a
business with awesome mentors. Your teachers will be people like Jason Fried
(37Signals) and Troy Henikoff (TechStars Chicago). This is not for someone
looking to become _just_ a developer. They have cheaper programs for design
and development.

Don't have extra money lying around? Buy a list of business phone numbers from
a reputable company (Dunn and Bradstreet come to mind) in an industry you're
interested in and start making cold calls. The list will cost a couple hundred
bucks. Pay for a LinkedIn premium account and prospect there as well. If you
can't reach out to potential customers, you're going to have a hard time
starting a business.

Read about sales and marketing and subscribe to every info marketer out there
to learn what _they_ do. How do they write copy, how do they market, what's
their funnel like? You don't have to buy from any of them - just observe what
they do. Add them to a label in gmail called "marketing", autoarchive every
message that comes in, and review the emails once a week. Here's a list to get
you started: Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome, Derek Halpern from Social
Triggers, Joanna from CopyHackers, Ramit Sethi from IWTYTBR, Dane Maxwell at
the Foundation, Trent from BrightIdeas. Of course, don't forget Pat McKenzie
and Rob Walling. Sign up to Mixergy for incredible master classes and
interviews.

If you have the money and want guidance from an amazing group of talented
individuals, that program is excellent. If not, there are other ways to do it.

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matt_
> I feel for just a fraction of $33k, I can get some pretty nice resources
> online myself instead of moving somewhere remote and paying that much

That seems pretty spot on to me. $33,000 sounds like an insane amount of money
to spend on anything without getting a degree out of it.

If this sort of thing interests you, and you're looking for something at a
reasonable (MUCH CHEAPER) price, check out:
[http://www.gotealeaf.com/](http://www.gotealeaf.com/)

I am finishing up their 3rd course and I'm very happy with it. I've learned
more in the 4 months in this program than the rest of my life half-assedly
teaching myself and taking some classes combined.

if you want to chat - gmail breeden.matt

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Gamblor
Im with shire...there are tons of great resources out there at a fraction of
the cost or FREE. If you already have a college degree I would recommend
getting an MBA if education is what you are going for. Other wise if you have
$33k burning a hole in your pocket my other two recommendations would be 1)
Buy a house or 2) Start a business.

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Casseres
I'm not familiar with Starter School, but they e-mailed you and they're asking
you to pay them money? The fact that they're reaching out to you means that
they trying to find customers and likely the interview will most likely be a
formality, or a way for them to figure out what they can sell you.

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zachlatta
Not worth it in my opinion. I'd use the money you have to pay for rent and
food and completely dedicate yourself to development. Set a few goals and
accomplish them. If you're determined, you won't need Starter School to push
you along.

