A friend of mine was looking for a life change, and I suggested he try out Tech Elevator, with the caveat that I'd only heard the ads and thought it might be a good thing to try out. It was ~$15k.
He wasn't sure he could do it at all, but we wound up meeting about once a week to make sure he was on track, as I'm a programmer. It was challenging for him, but he made it through.
I think the most powerful part of the bootcamps isn't necessarily the curriculum, but their ability to place you in a job afterward. This one boasted something like a 90%+ placement rate in the first ~6 months after completion.
And, true to the ads, they placed him in a job! And he's been there since. I believe it's been well over a year now that he's done it.
He learned a lot, too -- they really put him through the wringer. I watched him come to understand a lot of important concepts in a very short period of time.
So so so. It's hard to say. I'd say definitely give a discerning eyeball to any of these bootcamps: what's their placement rate? What's the curriculum like? What will you actually learn?
A big part of it for him was that he wasn't sure he wanted to be a programmer full-time. But then, if you really don't like it... just work until you pay your loan off, and you can try something new.
I dunno. Ymmv of course, but when he went through it seemed like an awesome and worthwhile experience.
Of course, this is anecdata. Keep reading and researching to make the right choice for you.
I have one friend who kickstarted his career with a 3 month course in software development.
The deal was:
- The study programme is free if you complete it, otherwise it's $22.000.
- Once you complete it, you are guaranteed a job at a junior starting salary.
- You have to keep this job for one year; you may get relocated between projects.
The consulting company that ran this programme put him on as a "free" consultant: They had sold a number of consultant for a project, and he was deployed along without counting. This meant the customer didn't explicitly pay for his intro, but indirectly they did by overpaying the consultancy.
My friend is currently learning data engineering and so far it has been a mixed bag, the teacher was only exposed to the teaching materials a week before the beginning of the course, and they just found out most of the new course content isn’t finished yet.
It’s a pretty reputable bootcamp, in the past they had great teachers but it looks like certain batches are less lucky than others, my friend has been struggling a lot but I guess it’s part of “the charm of it”.
Honestly I see bootcamps as a way to force yourself to ingest as much material as possible within a few weeks, you always have to fill the gaps anyway, and it’s usually good for networking, I was told.
I went to General Assembly 7 years ago, and a friend of mine just finished it as well. I don’t have any other personal experience. If you can afford GA, it’s worth it. They provide you with a lot of career coaching, resume and cover letter help, in addition to a ton of time with teachers and some group work. It’s intense, roughly 60 hours/wk for 13 weeks, but if you can commit to that you’ll be employable at the end of it.
He wasn't sure he could do it at all, but we wound up meeting about once a week to make sure he was on track, as I'm a programmer. It was challenging for him, but he made it through.
I think the most powerful part of the bootcamps isn't necessarily the curriculum, but their ability to place you in a job afterward. This one boasted something like a 90%+ placement rate in the first ~6 months after completion.
And, true to the ads, they placed him in a job! And he's been there since. I believe it's been well over a year now that he's done it.
He learned a lot, too -- they really put him through the wringer. I watched him come to understand a lot of important concepts in a very short period of time.
So so so. It's hard to say. I'd say definitely give a discerning eyeball to any of these bootcamps: what's their placement rate? What's the curriculum like? What will you actually learn?
A big part of it for him was that he wasn't sure he wanted to be a programmer full-time. But then, if you really don't like it... just work until you pay your loan off, and you can try something new.
I dunno. Ymmv of course, but when he went through it seemed like an awesome and worthwhile experience.
Of course, this is anecdata. Keep reading and researching to make the right choice for you.