Comment by rossdavidh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rossdavidh | Hacker News Reader

So, I learned to code at an odd program at Univ. of Texas - Austin, essentially a bootcamp for coders that began in the 1970's and still runs today. They take about 9 months to get you to a beginning programmer level, then you program (for UT administration) up through a kind of apprenticeship. It worked very well, and the washout rate has historically been about 10%; that is, 90% of those initially admitted go on to become professional programmers. That 10% includes people who quit, move, are expelled, etc. Truly 90% of those admitted get programmer jobs.

They have an admissions test, which is essentially an IQ test.

They would never admit to that, and their admitted population is very diverse (gender, race, age, etc.). But, they don't just admit anybody; in times of high unemployment the vast majority of people who take the test are not admitted. They also interview prospective candidates to weed out anyone with obvious, serious people skills issues. I wonder if this is what's missing from most bootcamps?

That the dirty secret of all higher education. The value of the credential comes from the screening, not the education. Research shows people accepted to ivy league schools who don't attend have the same future incomes as the people who attend.

Because we as a society decided that IQ testing job applicants was illegal, we created the behemoth that is our student loan crisis. Fun times.

I'm sympathetic to that kind of view, but it's not quite as simple as that. It's legal to ask job applicants for their SAT scores (which are directly comparable to IQ tests), but most employers don't.

That research could also be interpreted as showing that the value of the credential is not the education, just the bare credential on your CV.

This sounds like a decent way to run an educational program but a very poor way to run a business (at least a VC backed one). You probably won't get enough volume by doing a hard screen. You need to ensure that your program is good enough that even moderate or marginal candidates come out able to find a job. Otherwise, your business is quite small.

I think you would probably need to sell a "first look" privilege to prospective employers. The program at UT required volunteers from various administrative departments to spend time supporting it, and the primary reason they did so was to get a peek at who they wanted to hire, ahead of competition (from other departments). Of course, this would only work in times of labor shortage for good programmers, but that is most of the time.

almost sounds like education is one of those things that shouldn't be 'disrupted'

VCs never make anything good enough, just better than nothing -sort of.

Its funny because Lambda School sent me (alumni) a test recently which was basically a wonderlic test.

Can you link to this programme please? Do they accept people who can't legally work in the US?

No, it's for people who are legal to work for UT, in fact. While in the program, you are an employee (albeit with a lower salary than after you complete it). They ask that you commit to working for UT for 3 years at least. It's meant to fill UT's need for developers for their administrative systems.

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