Comment by zorrb | Hacker News Reader

Comment by zorrb | Hacker News Reader

Everyone I've talked to who has taken a developer bootcamp has been severely disappointed with the programs except for one, and it's the one that costs the most. I've also heard good things about Hackbright.

The sentiment I got from a majority of bootcamp attendees is feeling like they got legitimately scammed.

Examples include: * 95% of the time being spent with a "teacher's assistant" who "graduated" 1 week before and had less experience coding coming out of the program than most did going into it. * A week spent on basic HTML (which should obviously be pre-requisite knowledge) * After bringing up legitimate concerns about teaching material, and instruction being poor during the program looking for any type of refund and to part ways being met with extreme hostility. * Zero communication or follow-up on the job search a couple months after the program (which since they obviously couldn't get a job after a very basic program, they spent that time building out projects)

The advice people give is to not mention attending a bootcamp during interviews. Whether or not it's "fair", the "credential" of having attended a bootcamp is a negative signal.

Yeah when I spoke with instructors I found it was a mix of experience. My instructor was great, but some of the others were clearly inexperienced.

I think a lot of people mention bootcamps thinking that it is their ticket into the industry. I looked at it as one piece of my resume that I can use to sell myself, not a golden ticket.

I never expected my bootcamp to help me get a job, and boy did they meet that expectation. In the end I tapped the network I was building along the way and that's how I got my job. People need to take a bit more initiative on things like that rather than hope someone else will secure the interviews and jobs for them.

A week spent on basic HTML (which should obviously be pre-requisite knowledge)

Why? I thought these places were about learning to program?

Many bootcamps cover web development. Also, HTML is what I started with so I could get used to: I type code, something happens. Sounds super simple to people in tech, but I came from the hotel industry. I wanted to start at a very foundational level and build up.

Many bootcamps cover web development.

Oh right. Well that explains it. Web dev does seem to get an enormous amount of press and attention for such a small part of the industry, but then it is the most obviously visible and as you say, it can have a very tight feedback loop for the coder[1].

[1] I expect, based on your words :) Never touched so much as a single line of it.

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