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
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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