A bootcamp can be someone’s best entry into the field if they’re later in their life where a 4-year institution would be difficult to swing.

The average lower bound for the quality of a bootcamp graduate is likely lower but the upper bound is limitless.

And I’m saying that as a electrical engineering graduate who knows some basic things that some CS grads don’t know that they should really know better than I know.

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herbst 7 months ago | parent | next [-]

Its still an mostly American phenomen. I've met plenty of people in my career who didnt learn CS and changed in the field later, mostly trough self education and interest.

In Switzerland if you make a second degree it's usually shortened and better payed. Plus often sub-financed by the state. I made my programming degree with people between 19 and 50.

Never did I meet anyone proclaiming doing a private certificate bootcamp thingy.

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kid64 7 months ago | parent | prev [-]

That's ridiculous. If you can't afford actual education, settle for a scam? Wtf?

	▲	xyzzy123 7 months ago \| parent [-]
		> If you can't afford actual education For working people it's not necessarily the cost of a degree, it's the opportunity cost of time out of workforce. Rent/mortgage still needs to be paid. > settle for a scam? Yes, boot camps are a "scam" in a sense, but when done right they are a happy one. The service they are providing is legitimacy washing. It is working around credentialism in the hiring process by providing a baseline credential or ticket to participate. A company that wouldn't hire a "self taught programmer" will often be more inclined to give a "boot camp grad" a chance. Really it's the same person, just with 100% more rubber stamp. It is VERY rare in my experience that you're going to take someone with no aptitude or experience in software development and make them employable in a few weeks or months. This part is oversold. But targeted training on in-demand skills (e.g. the modern JS horror show) can be quite beneficial for people who already have some foundational skills.