from Hacker News

Ask HN: Attend a coding bootcamp or self study?

by johndavid9991 on 6/1/20, 8:59 AM with 2 comments

Are coding bootcamps still worth it? My brother-in-law is doing a career switch. He wants to accelerate his learning in coding; however, coding bootcamp tuition has gone up high already even for online. Do you know someone who attended a bootcamp recently, and is it still worth the time and money?

  • by ementi on 6/1/20, 9:46 AM

    I recently had to make this decision. It was a tough decision but in the end I made my own curriculum based off of the syllabus of the bootcamp I was accepted to. I’m already disciplined at self study and been remote working happily for years so a self-bootcamp works for me. It depends greatly on your brother’s learning style and current life situation.

    Also, I decided that online bootcamps at the price of offline is not worth it.

    And these articles really helped me made the decision:

    To learn more about bootcamps https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/coding-bootcamp-handbook/

    To help me make a long term decision https://fs.blog/2014/02/decision-journal/

    Bootcamp ROI calculator https://www.coursereport.com/blog/calculate-coding-bootcamp-...

    I also talked to a lot of alumni of the coding bootcamp I was considering and talked to other people online including those who self-studied and currently had a development job.

  • by cerberusss on 6/1/20, 9:06 AM

    I am an experienced iOS developer currently mentoring a friend. The time has come that we should look for an employer to get some working experience.

    However this proves to be very hard, at least here in The Netherlands. If the boot camp comes with some sort of job guarantee, it might be worth it.