Are Online Coding Bootcamps Worth It?
At the time of writing this I am wrapping up my final week in my full stack engineering bootcamp. These last two weeks have been spent planning and coding a capstone project that utilizes all that we have learned so far, which includes the PERN stack — a JavaScript tech stack for developing full stack applications. I won’t go too in depth as to what our project did (I worked with a partner, optionally), but if you would like to view it I will link it here. One thing that you quickly learn is that it takes much longer to build an app than you think and you end up having to scrap some functionality in order to get things working in the time constraints that you have. This is a perfect transition for what I would like to discuss in this article…
Things to consider when attending an online bootcamp:
- Time- Most bootcamps are somewhere between 12 to 24 weeks long. This means that you will be learning very rapidly, don’t expect to retain everything or use everything you learn. In fact, if you can opt for a part-time bootcamp I would recommend it personally. They are typically cheaper and less brain gluttonous.
- Price- Pretty sure you saw this one coming… Bootcamps are EXPENSIVE! Over priced in my opinion. This is sort of a barrier to entry for some, but bootcamps are beginning to offer some scholarships for underrepresented populations, such as women, people of different race, etc. I highly recommend you take advantage of those if you can, tech is a place that needs some more diversity for sure!
- Acuity- By this I don’t just mean intelligence, you don’t have to be an Alan Turing to learn code; I mean how quickly you are able to pick up concepts. For me this was probably one of the hardest aspects of bootcamp. I don’t consider myself dumb, nor a genius, but I feel I learn a little more slowly. If you fall under this category, I recommend going part-time, or spending a good bit of time before the start date studying at least the basics — HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Data Structures, Object Oriented Programming, web basics(how the internet works, etc.), and whatever else your heart desires. This will allow you to see whether this is for you so you don’t throw thousands down the drain. I recommend FreeCodeCamp to get started.
- Job Placement- K, so don’t get hearty eyes when you see post bootcamp job placement stats. If there’s one thing I learned during my time at college, it’s that stats lie. You can make stats say whatever you want them to say. This means that hiring recent bootcamp grads as Teaching Assistants counts towards that “95% of our grads get hired within [blank] months” placement stat. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but don’t get mislead. You very well might not get hired for months after you graduate, and it might be for a lower salary than what you expected. Bootcamps have a tendency to hire students that just completed their courses to help instructors. Again, this isn’t really bad, but just be cautious.
- Background- Alright, so you probably read that I spent time in college and you realize you didn’t(or did) and now are thinking you aren’t good enough to attend a bootcamp, let alone code. Deep breaths! You can definitely do it. I didn’t even graduate college, I am a college drop out! There were actually many people in my cohort who didn’t attend college, or had some college like me. There were people from all backgrounds and ages. For perspective, I am 22. Most people in my cohort were actually older than me. Ranging from 25 to 40, so don’t be intimidated by your age. If this is what you want, then do it. No one is going to judge you… If they do then don’t take them seriously because that type of person won’t get very far in a programming environment anyway.
- Background… again?- Yep, this one is kinda important. So, if you do decide to attend a coding bootcamp, there will most likely be a couple people there who seem to be real coding wizards. Do not let this affect your growth! This actually bothered me for a while because I would judge my progress based off of how well those people were doing. Keep in mind these people likely have more knowledge and experience than you. They may have CS degrees, attended other bootcamps, or spent time self-learning. This can give you a false sense of failure. You may think, well so-and-so is learning so much faster and building more advanced things than me, this must mean I am not as good. That is not true! They may just be farther ahead than you, so don’t use that as a measurement of your success. A good instructor will pace the class based on how the majority is doing. This leads me to my next section…
- Instructors- You take the chance of getting an instructor you don’t like. This is the reality for really any learning environment. My suggestion for this is to try and contact your bootcamp of interest and look ahead and see what instructor is teaching and when. If you can, maybe try to contact that instructor and get a feel for them. This one may be harder to do, but you give yourself an advantage if you can get as much knowledge as possible. It’s in your best interest since you have a bit more control over this type of schooling. Hopefully bootcamp personnel wouldn’t have a problem with you trying to get a feel for their instructors… if anything that would show you’re a qualified candidate and take ownership and initiative.
- Internet- This one is a given… You have to have internet for fully virtual. If you don’t, then I definitely recommend in person as you have access to facilities and internet on site. My download speed was about 63Mbps and upload speed was about 18Mbps. This was via wifi. Hardwired to a router would obviously be better. I never ran into any network issues, but your experience could be different.
- Learning style- This is a bit different from the “Acuity” section above. You need to ask yourself what learning style you prefer. Are you going to be ok learning all online, or do you prefer in person interaction? Personally, I like learning online over an in-class environment, but you may not.
Well, that about wraps it up. If you made it this far I appreciate your time spent reading this. This isn’t a full curated list, but something to get you thinking in the right direction hopefully. So what’s the verdict? Are online bootcamps worth it? Honestly, that’s a tough question to answer. You need to really question yourself and intentions. You could teach yourself, but are you the type that is able to do that, or do you need a bit of a push? I needed a bit of a push. Bootcamps kind of get you into the mindset of a programmer. They won’t make you a programmer, or get you a job. Those are things dependent on you. So if you are able to, I would say just do it. Starting out self-teaching can be a lonely ride. You need to learn how to self-teach first and I think that’s what bootcamps are pretty good at. I suck at wrapping up articles, so i’m going to end things by wishing you good luck on your coding adventures. When you think about quitting, and trust me you will, try and find a good, uplifting Medium article. Good luck friend!
