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Other => Off Topic => Topic started by: goalphish2002 on March 20, 2019, 07:14:07 AM

Title: Coding Bootcamps - Thoughts?
Post by: goalphish2002 on March 20, 2019, 07:14:07 AM
Does anyone have experience with this?
Title: Re: Coding Bootcamps - Thoughts?
Post by: the_gastropod on March 20, 2019, 08:36:20 AM
I work as a software engineer. I went the traditional CS degree route. But several of my coworkers went to boot camps. As with anything, the quality varies greatly, but the good ones are really good.

There are a few (App Academy is the one I’m most familiar with) that charge nothing to attend the classes, then charge some percentage of your first year’s salary. I like this business model, because their incentives are aligned with yours: prepare you to be qualified for a high paying job.

There are others, (General Assembly, for example) that seem much more like profit machines. I’ve never seen anyone come out of GA with much skill.

What are you looking to get out of a boot camp? What’s your current situation like?
Title: Re: Coding Bootcamps - Thoughts?
Post by: goalphish2002 on March 21, 2019, 11:45:38 AM
I work as a software engineer. I went the traditional CS degree route. But several of my coworkers went to boot camps. As with anything, the quality varies greatly, but the good ones are really good.

There are a few (App Academy is the one I’m most familiar with) that charge nothing to attend the classes, then charge some percentage of your first year’s salary. I like this business model, because their incentives are aligned with yours: prepare you to be qualified for a high paying job.

There are others, (General Assembly, for example) that seem much more like profit machines. I’ve never seen anyone come out of GA with much skill.

What are you looking to get out of a boot camp? What’s your current situation like?

Thanks for the response.  I guess I am considering a career change.  I have an M.S. in Accounting and work as a Project Controls Analyst (Cost Engineering).  I don't have a CS background, but I thought maybe I could pick up certain skills with enough practice and some guidance.  My thought is I have a business background, and if I learned data mining or some other Big Data skill set, then I would be able to use my accounting background in tandem with data analysis. 
Title: Re: Coding Bootcamps - Thoughts?
Post by: the_gastropod on March 28, 2019, 02:51:09 PM
Nice. If you're not looking to do a massive career switch, and are more so trying to bolster your skills to be more effective at your current job, I'd skip the bootcamp thing. There are TONS of free online tutorials, video lectures from top-notch universities (MIT, Stanford, etc) that you can use to learn on your own.

For more data-leaning stuff, Python is a great language to get into. It has pretty widespread adoption in that field, and lots of great libraries, and it interfaces well with other really powerful "big data" tools like Apache Spark and such. Codecademy has a solid Data Science course that's pretty inexpensive, and maybe a good place to start. Check it out: https://www.codecademy.com/learn/paths/data-science
Title: Re: Coding Bootcamps - Thoughts?
Post by: goalphish2002 on April 05, 2019, 07:45:12 AM
Nice. If you're not looking to do a massive career switch, and are more so trying to bolster your skills to be more effective at your current job, I'd skip the bootcamp thing. There are TONS of free online tutorials, video lectures from top-notch universities (MIT, Stanford, etc) that you can use to learn on your own.

For more data-leaning stuff, Python is a great language to get into. It has pretty widespread adoption in that field, and lots of great libraries, and it interfaces well with other really powerful "big data" tools like Apache Spark and such. Codecademy has a solid Data Science course that's pretty inexpensive, and maybe a good place to start. Check it out: https://www.codecademy.com/learn/paths/data-science

Thanks for the help!  I will look at these courses; I have done a few free intro courses thru flatiron (since I started this thread).  I definitely will hold off on the boot camp until I do some more of the free and cheap options.  If I decide to go all in, then I might consider paying for a boot camp.
Title: Re: Coding Bootcamps - Thoughts?
Post by: seattlecyclone on April 06, 2019, 05:23:57 PM
I know two people who have done these. The first never found a job in tech and now is an Uber driver. The other one is now a software engineer at Amazon. It clearly does work for some folks, and it's much quicker than a degree, but it's far from a sure thing.
Title: Re: Coding Bootcamps - Thoughts?
Post by: A Fella from Stella on July 01, 2019, 05:13:31 AM
I know two people who have done these. The first never found a job in tech and now is an Uber driver. The other one is now a software engineer at Amazon. It clearly does work for some folks, and it's much quicker than a degree, but it's far from a sure thing.

So helpful. My daughter is in vocational HS and having learned a few software programs said "I think I'd be good at coding." So now we're exploring what coding camps would be good.

Does anyone have a suggestion for camps in NYC, specifically?
Title: Re: Coding Bootcamps - Thoughts?
Post by: Ynari on July 01, 2019, 06:11:15 AM
Friend did this - BS in physics from high ranked uni, but all the jobs he could get were nearly minimum wage. Signed up for a bootcamp thing halfway across the country that promised job placements after 3 months - sounded quite intense and grueling (definitely seems to target young folk who aren't settled down. Long hours, and they bunked him with like 5 other guys in an apartment.) Since the idea is to prep you for immediately available job openings (companies who fund the bootcamp tell them what languages and stuff they need people to know), they also seem to target the "grunt work" of tech. I think he was saying the bootcamp signs him up for a 1-2 year contract with wherever he's placed at like 10% of salary, and if he left early he'd have to pay back the $20,000 or whatever, but otherwise it was free.

He got a job in the new state, something for an insurance company. Pays well. He likes his new area.

This one in particular seemed like a decent way to go level up from "unemployed college graduate" to "corporate tech grunt" in a year. Others probably serve other needs, but it did what it said on the box.