Anyone done (or know much about) these programming "bootcamps"?

[Coldblackice]

Any thoughts/input on these ~10 week programming bootcamps that are popping up in CA and other places, and claim to have a ~95% placement rate post-grad, with jobs averaging $80k/year?

Anyone have any experience with them, and particularly, any idea what a typical "syllabus" from one of these would be?

 

[sharknice]

Do you have any examples? It sounds like an exaggerated claim to me.

If I was an employer and saw this on a resume I would probably treat it similar to a 3 month contract job's experience.
It might help get you into a junior position if you haven't had a job yet, or help you transition into a job with that particular technology if you've only had experience using another.


When I was between jobs about 5 years ago I got contacted about one of these where they would teach you .NET web development. Instead I just learned everything for free on my own using the internet and I was able to get a job. I was previously a C++ developer.

 

[pxc]

Any thoughts/input on these ~10 week programming bootcamps that are popping up in CA and other places, and claim to have a ~95% placement rate post-grad, with jobs averaging $80k/year?

CA is starting to crack down on those places. Earlier this year almost all were issued warnings, with ultimate consequences of being shut down.

Any place claiming to have a 95% placement rate and which throws around figures like $80,000 are likely pure scams. A couple operate with little to no up-front costs, but take a % of your salary when you are hired. Note that you may get a sucky job in "tech", so the school could turn out to be relatively expensive for such a short course.

I think the concept in general may work to quickly learn concepts if the mentor/student thing works for you, but as a strategic career move you'll just wind up with a lot of debt and may not have employers throwing themselves at some 8-16 week non-accredited paper tiger.

This is a list of bootcamps warned by CA earlier this year: App Academy, Dev Academy, Hackbright Academy, Hack Reactor, and Zipfian Academy, Coding Dojo, Coding House and General Assembly. Google them to look up the syllabus of each. You can likely copy much of the instruction topics with some significant effort. Free MOOCs aren't bad either if you want an introduction to the topics.

 

[Dogs]

Any thoughts/input on these ~10 week programming bootcamps that are popping up in CA and other places, and claim to have a ~95% placement rate post-grad, with jobs averaging $80k/year?

A lot of these camps in New York and California have $80k/year job placements because $80k/year isn't very much in these areas. For example, $80k/year in San Francisco is more like $26k/year in the part of the mid-west I currently live in.

Furthermore, from the individuals I know who have attended boot camp style training programs for people with little/no professional background, it will cost you a lot of money and not make you any more worthwhile a candidate than when you started. I haven't come across any resumes with 'boot camp' on them, but if I did and it was the primary feature of the resume, I would promptly throw it in the trash.

 

[Dogs]

This is a list of bootcamps warned by CA earlier this year: App Academy, Dev Academy, Hackbright Academy, Hack Reactor, and Zipfian Academy, Coding Dojo, Coding House and General Assembly. Google them to look up the syllabus of each. You can likely copy much of the instruction topics with some significant effort. Free MOOCs aren't bad either if you want an introduction to the topics.

I was curious, so I looked into it.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/1/5366622/california-regulator-threatens-coding-bootcamps

The fact that an institution would not bother to go through the proper channels to be legally allowed to teach is a fairly strong warning-sign, to me.

Also note the last paragraph, where the author mentions that a lot of these schools kick people out if they're not on the track to success.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3023456/become-an-ios-developer-in-8-weeks-the-truth-about-hack-schools

The OP need only read that link to understand what a pile of horse-nads these bootcamp programs really are.

 

[pxc]

A lot of these camps in New York and California have $80k/year job placements because $80k/year isn't very much in these areas. For example, $80k/year in San Francisco is more like $26k/year in the part of the mid-west I currently live in.

No, it's not that bad. $80k in San Francisco is still a nice salary. Cost of living is about 20% (more than Boston)-30% (more than Los Angeles or Seattle, for example) higher overall than many other major American cities (but cheaper than NYC). It's possible to reduce that somewhat by moving to the suburbs since rent/mortgage will be cheaper (the immediately surrounding communities to SF have reasonable rents and are only a couple of miles away). It's unlikely a person working in the Bay Area would choose the city both because of cost and lack of unit availability.

But that comparison, claiming $80k to be equivalent to $29k in another place suggests it's not very nice place. On the cost of living scale such a place would be, relatively, 10% cheaper than a dirt poor place like El Paso, TX. If where you live is comparable in any way to a place people want to move, it's possible that $29k there is about equal to $60k in SF.

SF is cold and cloudy, but it's beautiful. I would never want to move to the city proper though. Parking is a nightmare and it's a better destination place than a home IMO.

Also note the last paragraph, where the author mentions that a lot of these schools kick people out if they're not on the track to success.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3023456/become-an-ios-developer-in-8-weeks-the-truth-about-hack-schools

The OP need only read that link to understand what a pile of horse-nads these bootcamp programs really are.

The other thing too is many of the people who complete the bootcamp already have college degrees, which is often a bare minimum to be considered for many programming positions (regardless of major).

 

[jiminator]

they don't care about you, but about your money, preferably with a govt backed loan

 

[pxc]

they don't care about you, but about your money, preferably with a govt backed loan

Actually those places are not eligible for federal/state financial aid since they don't do the required reporting. People generally pay for those courses themselves, through private loans* or through deposit + deferred repayment agreements with the "school". I'm not aware of any bootcamps which received government-backed loans or had students eligible for state or federal grants since those schools don't comply with reporting regulations, and don't seem interested in seeking participation in those government backed loan programs.

* not federally backed, instead from places like Upstart and Prosper.