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Couldn't you have done it using Internet, books, video tutorials, etc.?

by laredo 11y ago

leesalminen 11y ago
I did, as I'm sure many here have as well. However, not everybody has that kind of self motivitation. Some people need that $30k expenditure to keep their wandering minds in check when the going gets tough at the beginning. I remember my first paid experience coding...was reading/learning 6+ hours every day on top of the project itself.
trowawee 11y ago
Not the OP, but for me, I'll be honest with you: no, I probably couldn't have. I was holding down a full time job, working part time elsewhere, and between two jobs, hitting the gym, and holding down something of a social life, I didn't really have the bandwidth to do anything else. I could have stopped working out and going out, but that would have cratered my mental and physical health. The bootcamp I went to let me put everything else aside and make that jump.
sleazebreeze 11y ago
Not the person you asked - but I did it with those resources while holding down a more than full time engineering job (not in software). Most people don't have the drive to do it on their own and that's fine too. Getting guided through a 3 month bootcamp is a straightforward way of learning the basics of software development. With that said, I can't say enough good things about developing the skills of self-education. I was homeschooled K-12, so I probably have a leg up in that department.
jypepin 11y ago
Maybe. Not sure. I had nobody around me who had those skills to ask questions to, to help, etc. One of the biggest advantage of those bootcamp is being surrounded by 1. teachers helping you, 2. other very motivated people offering help, people to relate to and peer pressure, and 3. a better curriculum to follow (since as a beginner you don't really know what's valuable to learn or not) and 4. help to get a job through mock interviews and intros to startups.
hiphipjorge 11y ago
I did a bootcamp after having worked a year as a developer. A job I got by being self-taught. The advantages were huge. I got to learn how to interview properly, getting a feeling for where I was skill wise, have an awesome network of people who were also into programming, and have a clear roadmap for what to do next. Basically, a bootcamp can provide a lot more than just teaching you how to code. People forget there's a certain insecurity that comes with being self-taught that can be hard to shake off.
yomly 11y ago
All really great responses already to this comment but to add one more - a bootcamp is a structured and trialled course. Ultimately this leads to fast acceleration in learning: The topics you learn are current and high priority (e.g. learning to write clean and readable code while or testing) Common issues are well documented/there is a support network in place - you hit diminishing returns on learning quite fast when you get stuck. Yes, you could probably learn this stuff yourself but it'll take longer and don't underestimate the value of collective intelligence/group learning

Couldn't you have done it using Internet, books, video tutorials, etc.?

by laredo 11y ago

Couldn't you have done it using Internet, books, video tutorials, etc.?

I did, as I'm sure many here have as well. However, not everybody has that kind of self motivitation. Some people need that $30k expenditure to keep their wandering minds in check when the going gets tough at the beginning. I remember my first paid experience coding...was reading/learning 6+ hours every day on top of the project itself.

trowawee 11y ago

Not the OP, but for me, I'll be honest with you: no, I probably couldn't have. I was holding down a full time job, working part time elsewhere, and between two jobs, hitting the gym, and holding down something of a social life, I didn't really have the bandwidth to do anything else. I could have stopped working out and going out, but that would have cratered my mental and physical health. The bootcamp I went to let me put everything else aside and make that jump.

sleazebreeze 11y ago

Not the person you asked - but I did it with those resources while holding down a more than full time engineering job (not in software). Most people don't have the drive to do it on their own and that's fine too. Getting guided through a 3 month bootcamp is a straightforward way of learning the basics of software development. With that said, I can't say enough good things about developing the skills of self-education. I was homeschooled K-12, so I probably have a leg up in that department.

jypepin 11y ago

Maybe. Not sure. I had nobody around me who had those skills to ask questions to, to help, etc. One of the biggest advantage of those bootcamp is being surrounded by 1. teachers helping you, 2. other very motivated people offering help, people to relate to and peer pressure, and 3. a better curriculum to follow (since as a beginner you don't really know what's valuable to learn or not) and 4. help to get a job through mock interviews and intros to startups.

hiphipjorge 11y ago

I did a bootcamp after having worked a year as a developer. A job I got by being self-taught. The advantages were huge. I got to learn how to interview properly, getting a feeling for where I was skill wise, have an awesome network of people who were also into programming, and have a clear roadmap for what to do next. Basically, a bootcamp can provide a lot more than just teaching you how to code. People forget there's a certain insecurity that comes with being self-taught that can be hard to shake off.

yomly 11y ago

All really great responses already to this comment but to add one more - a bootcamp is a structured and trialled course. Ultimately this leads to fast acceleration in learning: The topics you learn are current and high priority (e.g. learning to write clean and readable code while or testing) Common issues are well documented/there is a support network in place - you hit diminishing returns on learning quite fast when you get stuck. Yes, you could probably learn this stuff yourself but it'll take longer and don't underestimate the value of collective intelligence/group learning