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Hey, there. I also went to Hack Reactor. It's not a joke.My first job out of the program was Groupon and the algorithm-heavy style of the interview wasn't a pro

by xiaoma 10y ago

Hey, there. I also went to Hack Reactor. It's not a joke.My first job out of the program was Groupon and the algorithm-heavy style of the interview wasn't a problem. The hardest thing for me while there was CSS (because they supported some old versions of IE). I'm not saying that I was stronger on the data structures and algorithm side than top students who spent four years staying up coding during their nights and weekends but I was definitely ahead of most fresh grads I encountered. I don't know how that is, given what a typical CS curriculum (at least what I saw later on Open Courseware) but my guess is that a lot of CS grads don't actually practice what they're learning enough so that it sticks. One thing it appears a lot of people on this thread are missing is that it's not a school for complete beginners. There are prep courses for people looking to enter the school. I had been programming simple things for my blog for years before I went. About 1/3 of my class already had CS degrees before entering. The other factor is that intensity really does matter. The reason focusing on duration of 12 (well actually 13 weeks) is wrong isn't because nearly 1000 hours of instruction and work are packed into those 12 weeks. It's even more wrong because working at double the intensity leads to more than double the progress. I saw the same phenomenon with language learners when I was living in Taiwan. It's very common for someone who did a full four year degree in Chinese to speak poorly compared to someone else who did a much shorter, more intensive study at a top immersion program like ICLP. Anyway, the degree of animosity here is a little surprising, even considering the cognitive biases that might come from having spent a fortune on a university credential. Large numbers of my peers from Hack Reactor went on to do well at YC companies and/or large companies like Google. One I remember well did both (was an early engineering hire at a YC company that got acquired by Google). I still consider the tuition I paid to HR one of the better investments I've ever made (and one that I easily recouped within the year. Thank you Marcus and thank you, Shawn. You guys were fantastic instructors and project mentors!

throwawaysbdif 10y ago
Comparing a bootcamp to random schools in developing countries is laughable. It's well known that CS degrees from most of these schools are worthless. Having been to school and coded for most of my life, there is no possible way you know as much after bootcamp as someone from a decent 4 year school. It was probably over 1000 hours of just studying alone. Code camps are comparable to an associate's degree or certificate.
- xiaoma 10y ago
  >"Comparing a bootcamp to random schools in developing countries is laughable." First of all, your characterization of Taiwan is both laughable and offensive. It's a developed democracy of 23 million, a stronger economy than many EU countries and a better transit/medical/internet infrastructure than I've seen in any western country. In terms of educational attainment, Taiwan is world-class. Secondly, it looks like you misread my comment. I wasn't even comparing a boot camp to "random schools in developing countries". I was comparing one of the very best programming immersion schools, Hack Reactor, with one of the very best language immersion schools for Mandarin, ICLP (which was started by Stanford FWIW). >"Code camps are comparable to an associate's degree or certificate." No. It's not about credentialing. It's about what you can do. I got no credential whatsoever and I wouldn't have respected it if I had. Nobody had ever graduated when I started and when I finished, my prospective employers had never heard of the school. It's about the education, not some stamp of approval. At least in my own opinion, there is no evidence whatsoever that our centuries-old model of higher education (or our k-12 educational system based on Prussia's model) are the pinnacle of efficiency. There are many ways to learn more quickly, ranging from working through OCW on one's own to getting help from experts while studying in an immersive school.

by xiaoma 10y ago

throwawaysbdif 10y ago

Comparing a bootcamp to random schools in developing countries is laughable. It's well known that CS degrees from most of these schools are worthless. Having been to school and coded for most of my life, there is no possible way you know as much after bootcamp as someone from a decent 4 year school. It was probably over 1000 hours of just studying alone. Code camps are comparable to an associate's degree or certificate.

xiaoma 10y ago
>"Comparing a bootcamp to random schools in developing countries is laughable." First of all, your characterization of Taiwan is both laughable and offensive. It's a developed democracy of 23 million, a stronger economy than many EU countries and a better transit/medical/internet infrastructure than I've seen in any western country. In terms of educational attainment, Taiwan is world-class. Secondly, it looks like you misread my comment. I wasn't even comparing a boot camp to "random schools in developing countries". I was comparing one of the very best programming immersion schools, Hack Reactor, with one of the very best language immersion schools for Mandarin, ICLP (which was started by Stanford FWIW). >"Code camps are comparable to an associate's degree or certificate." No. It's not about credentialing. It's about what you can do. I got no credential whatsoever and I wouldn't have respected it if I had. Nobody had ever graduated when I started and when I finished, my prospective employers had never heard of the school. It's about the education, not some stamp of approval. At least in my own opinion, there is no evidence whatsoever that our centuries-old model of higher education (or our k-12 educational system based on Prussia's model) are the pinnacle of efficiency. There are many ways to learn more quickly, ranging from working through OCW on one's own to getting help from experts while studying in an immersive school.