Front end dev from Stanford, bootcamp or self studied, who should you hire if both do the work well
Khoa Pham
Posted on
What is the difference between a front end dev from Stanford and from bootcamp ?
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Top comments (6)
Almost true story,
Given a list of objects A (array of Items
{id:2, name:"a"}), and another list of search results S (array of Items), filter the items from search results that exists in the A list.Probably one of the candidates will not consider the computation complexity and will do something like: for each item in S search for the id in A, making S.length unnecessary loops.
I would point out that a bootcamp is not a replacement for a 3 year CS study, is just a quick way to make websites. But maybe that what the company needs, a freshman who can deliver something in their first weeks.
As who should be hired, you only presented a superficial property of the candidates, no sane person could choose only based on this arbitrary fact. (Except for an HR, similar arbitrary rejections happen to me right now)
I don't care if they're from Standford or a bootcamp or self-studied.
I'm going to interview them and ask them the same questions. I know they're green and entry-level, so I'm not even going to really bother with algorithm questions (I don't care), or tricky brain teasers (so dumb), or things like that.
I will ask them what they know now, what they want to learn about next, and what excites them the most. I'm going to ask to see code examples if they have some, I'm going to talk to them about what they learned and how they learned it and what their thoughts are about their journey.
I'm looking for eager learners, fast thinkers, and people cool under pressure. You can find out all of that from having conversations with a candidate, instead of treating them as just another resume or as someone you have to try and catch faking their way into a job. Too many interview processes are set up as a trap to try and catch bad candidates, instead of a chance to try and catch a great employee.
"Who should you hire" depends on what you need for your team or company, as others have pointed out.
If you ask me about the difference between the bootcamp and Stanford grads, in my experience bootcamp grads tend to have greater maturity and are typically a more rounded team member, with more ability to self-manage and collaborate with others in the real world. On the flip side, bootcamp grads might have some surprising gaps in basic knowledge (which they tend to be able to overcome on the job, since they are usually quick learners and hard workers).
(I have no opinion on "self study" candidates -- that feels like a much more heterogeneous group than "bootcamp grads" or "Stanford grads".)
I wouldn't care what kind of paper they have in their pockets. The interesting point is not about what they actually know now, it is about potential. Lack of knowledge is easy fixable - lack of motivation or lack of social skills not so.
P.S.: my first reaction to
»What is the difference between a front end dev from Stanford and from bootcamp ?«
was: the paycheck
I would hire whichever one seemed best to work with. Teaching someone to be good to work with can be difficult or impossible. By comparison, teaching someone (or allowing them space to self-learn) technical skills/perspectives is easy.
In my current corporate IT position, I probably would never interview a Stanford grad who wasn't damaged goods in some way. It's unlikely that someone who had those credentials and connections would be interested in working here. They would probably be looking for something with a hot startup or big tech company. I'd also wonder if they would leave as soon as a bigger and better deal came along.
I would prefer to hire someone who was hungry who has the basic knowledge we need, a willingness to learn and to be a team player.