Are there any significant differences between these developer paths?
Yes. You can easily spend 4+ years at college and learn a ton of theory not focus much on a specific given language. You could spend 4+ years learning JavaScript like the back of your hand and be a fantastic programmer but not understand the underlying theory.
Is their mindset on the same page?
Kinda? Often one goes to upper education to get a job. Its possible they also go to school just to learn, and end up doing research. There are multiple paths and multiple "goals" one can make. Not everyone goes to college for 4 years just to get a job.
Do you need a computer science degree to become the "better" developer?
No. Better is relative to yourself and to your yesterday. That could mean you go to school to get that degree, or you could spend it learning what you need to learn to improve.
Is a JavaScript developer coming from a Bootcamp worse than a Java Developer shifting towards JavaScript?
This is too much apples to oranges. What if the Java developer has 20+ years of experience? Changing the language doesn't really do much to "take away" all that experience. On the flip, what if the JS developer also has 20+ years of experience before taking the bootcamp? There isn't a right answer because the possibilities are too broad.
The New Way of the Developer?
I dislike the title as it insinuates there is one way to be a developer which isn't right. There are multiple paths to becoming a developer and none of the paths are "the right one". There might be new paths that pop up every now and then that might offer different pro's and con's to other paths, but at the end of the day if you can develop stuff, your a developer, regardless of what path you took. :)
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Yes. You can easily spend 4+ years at college and learn a ton of theory not focus much on a specific given language. You could spend 4+ years learning JavaScript like the back of your hand and be a fantastic programmer but not understand the underlying theory.
Kinda? Often one goes to upper education to get a job. Its possible they also go to school just to learn, and end up doing research. There are multiple paths and multiple "goals" one can make. Not everyone goes to college for 4 years just to get a job.
No. Better is relative to yourself and to your yesterday. That could mean you go to school to get that degree, or you could spend it learning what you need to learn to improve.
This is too much apples to oranges. What if the Java developer has 20+ years of experience? Changing the language doesn't really do much to "take away" all that experience. On the flip, what if the JS developer also has 20+ years of experience before taking the bootcamp? There isn't a right answer because the possibilities are too broad.
I dislike the title as it insinuates there is one way to be a developer which isn't right. There are multiple paths to becoming a developer and none of the paths are "the right one". There might be new paths that pop up every now and then that might offer different pro's and con's to other paths, but at the end of the day if you can develop stuff, your a developer, regardless of what path you took. :)