Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a “coding boot camp”?

Re:Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a... by kwang88 on Sunday February 26, 2017 @09:54PM (#13741490)

My company has hired several coding boot camp alumni; some directly from bootcamps, some after a coding bootcamp + some years of work as a dev. We've had good results and most of the grads I know have had positive experiences.

It's important to note that coding bootcamps are not created remotely equally -- some have stringent application requirements, whereas many are essentially scams / chop shops. I strongly caution against the latter.

In particular, at least one bootcamp that I know of only charges tuition after you get a job as a software engineer, and charges a % of your first year's salary. It's a really great way to align incentives between the bootcamp, students, and employers and I'm a particular fan of this program.

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Re:Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a... by everybodyknows on Sunday February 26, 2017 @10:18PM (#13741615)

I'd be grateful for specific pointers on vetting the camps. The one in question is legally an LLC, with no industry sponsors, but some association with a local religious college. Interested to see your positive view on the percent of salary tuition arrangement. There are at least two such camps: in SF, and in Seattle.

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Re:Ask HN: What should I tell my cousin who wants to go to a... by kwang88 on Monday February 27, 2017 @10:41AM (#13744974)

Have seen good results from App Academy (in NYC in particular) - they follow the business model that I mentioned above. I don't know the details of all the bootcamp alums on my team, and am also unfamiliar with the tuition structures of different bootcamps. My info is also about 2 years out of date.

IMO these bootcamps are producing a basically undifferentiated product curriculum-wise (which, by the way can be learned via self-teaching on the internet). Only a few have real brand recognition. Drive, curiosity, raw horsepower, etc are a lot more important.

For specific pointers: your cousin should speak to as many recent alumni of various programs as she can to ensure that she has a legit program on her hands. Speaking with hiring managers is a good bet as well; "I've never heard of that place" is bad; "That place is a scam" is worse. She should also ask what the pass/fail rate is for students in the program. High graduation rate + upfront payment is arguably bad (shows they're incentivized to just get you out the door).

Best of luck!

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