Posted on 04/12/2013 7:15:30 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
"Learn to write software in 9 weeks? New coding boot camps promise to launch tech careers"
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Looking for a career change, Ken Shimizu decided he wanted to be a software developer, but he didn't want to go back to college to study computer science.
Instead, he quit his job and spent his savings to enroll at Dev Bootcamp, a new San Francisco school that teaches students how to write software in nine weeks. The $11,000 gamble paid off: A week after he finished the program last summer, he landed an engineering job that paid more than twice his previous salary.
"It's the best decision I've made in my life," said Shimizu, 24, who worked in marketing and public relations after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010. "I was really worried about getting a job, and it just happened like that."
Dev Bootcamp, which calls itself an "apprenticeship on steroids," is one of a new breed of computer-programming school that's proliferating in San Francisco and other U.S. tech hubs. These "hacker boot camps" promise to teach students how to write code in two or three months and help them get hired as web developers, with starting salaries between $80,000 and $100,000, often within days or weeks of graduation.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
and then his new job gets outsourced to india
Bootcamps, and their associated certs, are good to fool your way past HR people who don't know better.
As soon as these folks get in front of me, they stand out like a sore thumb.
That having been said, if my boss came to me and said, "WBill, you need to be certified. I need a piece of paper that says you know what you say you know".... I'd likely use a bootcamp.
Also, newly minted developers making 80-100K? Nice thought, but that ain’t the truth either.
Nothing beats experience in coding. I would laugh these people out the door if they showed up looking for a job.
Sounds like Richard Pryor’s character in the old Superman movie........
“Also, newly minted developers making 80-100K? Nice thought, but that ain’t the truth either”
Could be in San Fran, but adjusted to cost of living, that equates to about $40k-$50k in Peoria... which is about right for a recent grad.
My son is in this business in Seattle.
Several of these “boot camp” people have come and gone in his office. A two or three month course of study doesn’t provide the background to do the job.
I had one of these instant experts interview with me awhile back. It was obvious that he was in over his head. I asked him a question about internet resources that he used...
....He'd "Seen the internet". In his bootcamp class. He was "meaning to get on a computer, and really check it out sometime."
Fail. But, the gentleman DID have a pile of Microsoft certifications, which our HR weenie looked at and thought that made him a genius.
Are salaries really doubled in SF? I was travelling out there for work in '99 and 2000.....there was a TON of money out there back then. But it was also during the dotcom boom, too, so my experience isn't really accurate.
What this guy did is better than the taxpayers paying for years of college for kids to take gender studies or other worthless classes and then pay their support because they can’t find a job.
For everyone that spends $30,000 and doubles their salary, fifty more are unemployed. Still it is intriguing enough where I should setup a boot camp training system at $11,000 a pop. The only thing holding me back is integrity.
It gets you one of two things.
If you've done the job for years (like me), then it provides you with a piece of paper that says, "No, really. WBill might know what he's talking about." If I had to wade through HR Departments and the like again to find a job, then I might look at getting certified.
OR, it's an excellent start. Gets your feet wet, and might set you up for a low-level entry position where you can actually start to learn something.
So, in those regards, I suppose that a bootcamp might be useful. Anything else, meh.
You know, the way I knew that the Dot-Com boom (back in the late 90s) was coming to an end, was by the flyers that were tacked up on phone poles: "Become a MICROSOFT CERTIFIED ENGINEER in THREE WEEKS or LESS!!!!!" At that point, I said "The market is saturated, better find myself a safe solid job and hunker down for awhile.".
Might need to start thinking in that direction, again.
I have seen a whole crop of younger people who did this or had degrees in a non-computer science or math field. They go into “web” development. Last place I worked before getting sick of it and moving on they had dozens of these types who all did make $95K+ with only 1-2 years of experience (I did not make that much until I was in the biz for 10 years). The competition in this field has driven salaries for entry and mid level up artificially with all the “software companies” out there wanting to make something new.
They can code all day long if it is simple but have no real concept of data structures and how to solve problems. They also write shi_t code that has no flow and hard to read. The over complicate the simplest things and have a propensity to want to use a lot of open source crap and plug-ins when they cannot make something work. They usually know java script or something like that and say they know C#, C++, but have no knowledge on how to use it. The also cannot write complex queries in a sql language and rely on frameworks and tools.
They are also the chumps that insist on wearing flip-flops to work and having ping-pong tables and such. They insist on a start-up environment and eventually drive off the level header more seasoned folks because we CANNOT stand them.
RE: web developers, with starting salaries between $80,000 and $100,000
Show me the listings!
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Not sure what he means by “starting salary”. Entry Level web developers don’t earn that much.
However, web developers in general DO earn that much.
See here for instance:
http://www.biviumgroup.com/search_job_details.php?job_id=455&url=%2Fsearch.php%3Fcategory_id%3D-1
Yes, and the cost to rent an apartment is much higher than even New York... we are talking $2000 per month for a 600 sqft studio to be in a safe neighborhood. San Fran is the costliest place in the US to live.
This site has $50k salary in Peoria as $81k in San Fran so I was a little off, but if you look at the costs, it seems the $50k in Peoria is a much better quality of life.
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