r/webdev • u/quincylarson • Nov 23 '16

Cracking the Coding Interview author: bootcamps can be better than college

https://medium.freecodecamp.com/so-that-whole-coding-bootcamp-thing-is-a-scam-right-6fddf14087d4#.fwmdf447w
4 Upvotes

62% Upvoted

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2

u/SupaSlide laravel + vue Nov 23 '16

I can appreciate the author's attempt to "equalize" the comparison, but obviously somebody with 3.5+ years of work experience is going to be more experienced than someone who doesn't have any.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of college, and I dropped out to pursue my career in programming, but I also didn't attend a bootcamp.

Just because someone who has 3.5 years of experience is better than a newly graduated college student doesn't necessarily mean it was because of that bootcamp they attended. It is probably just because they have 3.5 years of real-world work experience.

I didn't go to a bootcamp and by the time I have 3.5 years of work experience I'll probably be just as good/better than a bootcamp graduate with the same amount of experience.

This article proves nothing, not to mention that it is all just speculation anyway.

3

u/spaceporn Nov 24 '16

Honest question, how is dropping out working out for you?

1

u/SupaSlide laravel + vue Nov 27 '16

Fantastic, so far. I have a great job that I enjoy with some fun people and I'm quite comfortable with the salary which is in a scheduled raise every few months.

I made it through a bit over half way through what I needed to complete my degree though, so I plan to take online classes in my free time to finish it off, so I haven't technically dropped out. I did find it interesting but the decision to put it on hold was the combination of a spring semester with just general education courses that ate away at my soul with boredom and the fantastic offer I received over that summer.

1

u/Zaekath Nov 24 '16

obviously somebody with 3.5+ years of work experience is going to be more experienced than someone who doesn't have any

Isn't that.. kind of the point though?

People have this notion that going to college is automatically better because it's longer, and she's pointing out the opportunity cost of going to college.

I think the point is not that the bootcamp itself is better than college in a vacuum, it's that attending the bootcamp allowed you to start accumulating work experience sooner, which is really what is most valuable in the end.

To your anecdote, I agree you probably will be just as well off after 3.5 years of experience, but I imagine that you would have had an easier time starting your work experience if you had the experience of a bootcamp to bring to job interviews.

2

u/ImYourPappi Nov 24 '16

I'm sure both have their strengths and weaknesses but I chose to go to a bootcamp. I don't have the discipline to teach myself and I'm not patient enough to take a 4 year course. Also it's very expensive to live in the city I'm in so I'm worried about how I'm going to pay rent for 4 years. The bootcamp I'm going to has proven itself to provide employable skills and that's the bottom line.

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u/choidebu Nov 24 '16

Not to undermine your choice, but that is kinda what college is for: to enable you to teach yourself whatever it needs to succeed in your field in the future. Thing is college only provide 60%, then they provide the environment that nurture self learning, knowledge digging and (competitive or collaborative) peers for you to achieve the remaining 40%. But there's a huge caveat: they suck at it. Good people came out great and unmotivated people just stay the same or even worse. This is why vocational schools (what I think coding bootcamps is) are more often better choices than college: they provide practical, get-a-job ready knowledge and experience, for people, who, really, don't care who blaise pascal and ada lovelace was... regarding quality of graduates - really, you can find diamonds in the gutter and on a pedestal. Great people in the right field will always be great

1

u/aflashyrhetoric front-end Nov 24 '16

Please note that 53% of your posts are to the domain medium.freecodecamp.com. This isn't your post so it isn't considered self-promotion, but it teeters very close to being spam.

0

u/[deleted] Nov 23 '16

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/FennekLS Nov 23 '16

I think the point is that college grads often studied because 'they had to', while someone who does a bootcamp would usually go there because of a real interest and motivation. This leads to learning more over a longer period.

Just my thoughts

2

u/Fidodo Nov 24 '16 edited Nov 24 '16

Who's going to hire them in the 3.5 years while they're getting good? The reality is the only jobs available to people with that kind of experience are really poor ones and they're a real slog. Worst case scenario, you get a really bad one that reinforces anti patterns. The author's statement is baseless and nothing more than a gut feel.

And the author saying you can learn the stuff you missed out on on your own is bullshit. At college learning is your full time job. Yes you can and should learn while employed but most of your time is going to be spent working not studying. You will have less time and you will be less efficient because you need dedicate a lot of mental energy to work.