This is a really touchy subject for both people who have attended a boot camp and those who are considering a boot camp. Some coding boot camps are absolute crap while others are amazing.
I'm just going to give you a few pros and cons about committing to a boot camp and then a little snippet of a few things I've seen from boot camp grads.
Pros
It's completely immersive. You'll live, breathe, and eat code for a few months.
Employers aren't as averse as it might seem. 72% of employers
think boot camp graduates are just as good as college graduates.
You learn fast. They push you through all of the concepts and some big projects very quickly. That way you can start a new career a lot sooner.
They can keep you motivated. Since you're in a class with other people and you've paid thousands of dollars, it's easier to keep going.
You have the potential to build a strong network. Some coding boot camps have industry connections that make your job search less stressful.
Cons
It's expensive. The average cost of a boot camp is $12,000. To put that in perspective, that’s almost a full year of college at an in-state, public university!
They can move too fast. Sorry if this hurts some feelings, but there is no way you will learn and be proficient in 3 - 5 programming languages and a framework or two in 12 - 14 weeks.
The quality varies wildly. You could end up spending thousands of dollars just to get in a class with a poor curriculum, low class participation, and a teacher that just doesn't care. But you might not! It's hard to say.
You might have to quit your job and live off of loans. If your boot camp requires you to be there 40+ hours a week, you have to make a big decision.
There's no guarantee you'll get a job. While most boot camps boast incredibly high job placement rates, it's not because they give you a job. You still have to get out there and apply and interview.
You already know there are pros and cons to everything, but these are a few I've seen with coding boot camps. Typically grads aren't ready for junior positions. Most of the time they haven't been trained for those real world problems that come up in legacy code or in debugging in general. On the other hand coding boot camp grads can spin up a new project with the latest frameworks relatively fast.
Either way, companies have to decide whether or not they want to spend the time and resources getting you up to speed. So really it comes down to whether you want to spend the money or not.
Hey! You should follow me on Twitter because reasons: https://twitter.com/FlippedCoding
Top comments (3)
I am a curriculum developer for Tech Elevator and we are a 14-week Coding Bootcamp. I would agree with a lot of what you said here but I want to add something to it. One of the biggest advantages of bootcamps is going through this journey with people who probably have similar backgrounds to you. When you can talk to fellow students who are struggling just like you and talk to past students who were in your same shoes it doesn't make the journey seem impossible. It is certainly not easy but what awaits you on the other side is certainly worth it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
People would be lucky to be proficient in 1 programming language in that time frame. I guess that depends upon how one defines the word proficient.
I've never seen a coding bootcamp of that length of time claim you'll become proficient in 3-5 languages. I've never even seen any that cover more than a single main language (Java, .NET, etc).
Nice summary though. I've never been through a bootcamp -- they didn't exist when I got into this field, but I am self-taught. There is a local bootcamp that I support and have participated in mock interviews, career panels, meet & greets, and other such things because I believe in what they're doing.