Coding Bootcamps, also know as Coding Schools, specialize in rapidly teaching students technical skills. They teach students how to work on a technical product team in 8-36 weeks depending on the area. Compare this to a traditional college education in Engineering or Sciences and it’s obvious to see why these have grown in popularity since their inception in 2011.
This is amazingly fast and seems like a great shortcut, but do they actually make good developers?
How do coding bootcamps work?
Coding bootcamps typically focus on three major skillsets: Software Development, Data Science and Web Development. Each track is taught either full-time or part-time spanning 10-12 weeks on average. They often teach the latest techniques in the field that are directly applicable to product teams. For example, Code Fellows teaches web development using modern web frameworks like NodeJs, Django, Pyramid, jQuery, Git & GitHub. This is great for grads and businesses because they can hit the ground running using tools businesses are already using.
Current state of bootcamps
Bootcamps are a rapidly growing way for students to get skills fast. In 2017, approximately 23k students graduated from a coding school. An increase of 45% just from the prior year.
The Average Bootcamp Grad
- 29 Years Old
- 6 Years Work Experience
- At least a Bachelor’s Degree
- Never Worked as a Programmer
- $70k Salary after Graduation
- 64% Male, 36% Women
- 1-6 Months to Find a Job after Graduation
Skills Taught By Percent of Grads
- 39% Full Stack JavaScript (NodeJS + HTML5)
- 20% Ruby on Rails
- 14% .NET
- 12% Java (shakes head slowly)
- 10% Python
- 5% PHP
Source: CourseReport
What are the pros and cons?
- Pros
- Make great Junior Developers
- Already familiar with modern software development tools
- Practical experience in project and team based work
- Often have experience working in an office setting
- Cons
- Lack a strong education and formal Computer Science background and limited abilities in traditional software engineering
- Require resources to train + mentor to ensure productivity (University grads have this drawback as well)
In addition to the pros and cons above, I screen all developers for these traits:
Developer Temperament
- Demonstrate an ability and desire to learn
- Willingness to try new things
- Humility to ask questions
So, should I consider hiring a coding school grad?
If you answer yes to the coding school hire questions, Yes! If you don’t answer yes to each, proceed very carefully. Your expectations might be higher than what is reasonable for a grad and you could be setting them up for failure. That said, if they exhibit exceptional skill and hunger to learn, they could be worth the chance.
Coding School Hire Questions
- Is the position is for a junior developer or junior data scientist?
- Does my company has adequate resources to train and mentor this person?
- Does this position not require hardcore computer science problem solving?
- Will the position be working on one of the following frameworks/language?
- Fullstack JavaScript App
- Ruby on Rails Project
- Python Web Project
- .NET, Java or PHP Web App