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The resources are not scarce; they are free online.

brudgers 9y ago
There are resources for many endeavors that greatly increase the likelihood of success. It might be a Harvard education. It might be YC's startup school. It might be a retraining program in Kentucky. All are scarce and therefore selective. One of the things each offers is sustained direct access to other people's time and in particular sustained direct access to expert's time. That's the difference between a personally tailored answer and closed as duplicate on StackOverflow. It's the difference between here's the answer and ten other things I can tell you about and here's someone else's question and several divergent answers to your duplicate question which might not have been the same.
austenallred 9y ago
I run an online code bootcamp, and I think most people assume that learning resources being available is all that's needed. That's true for some super dedicated people, but for most it's not enough. For a while I thought the biggest value we provided as a bootcamp was direction and on-demand expert help. But now I don't think that's true. I think the biggest value we provide is that we make everyone show up at the same time every day and work until some other time, and we help direct what they should be working on during that time. In short, it's social pressure, discipline, and scheduling. Those are everything. Look at Thinkful's "part-time self directed" bootcamp - all the material is there, there's a mentor to help you once/week for a few mins, you pay $8,500 to do it - people are obviously dedicated to learning when they start. And the end graduation rate? ~31%. I know another bootcamp that decided to just record their bootcamp and put it online, and charge you $2,000 for access to the videos. 28 people signed up and paid the $2,000, and one person watched past the first lesson. I would guess that the percentage of people who can discipline themselves enough to learn on their own while balancing other responsibilities and not paying $2,000-8,000 is much, much smaller. Think back to when you were in college - say it's a Calculus class. What do you think the graduation rate of that class would be if you gave everyone a Calculus book and said, "Fit it in when you can!" I'd guess it would approach zero except for a few superstars. The same thing seems to be happening in programming. In 2017 the thing holding you back from learning something isn't resources. It's direction and discipline.
- icantdrive55 9y ago
  "I know another bootcamp that decided to just record their bootcamp and put it online, and charge you $2,000 for access to the videos. 28 people signed up and paid the $2,000, and one person watched past the first lesson." 1. I've noticed this in so many fields. 2. There are devious businesses/entities that count on this. 3. I think Programmers will have employment for a long time. In absolute honesty, I don't find Programming, or Web Developement that exciting. I guess when you build something useful, or money making, that's where the love comes? In my twenties, you couldn't pay me to sit in front of a screen all day. 4. I still think there's room for a better way to pass on this information. I'm not sure if any bootcamp, or school has nailed it yet.

There are resources for many endeavors that greatly increase the likelihood of success. It might be a Harvard education. It might be YC's startup school. It might be a retraining program in Kentucky. All are scarce and therefore selective. One of the things each offers is sustained direct access to other people's time and in particular sustained direct access to expert's time. That's the difference between a personally tailored answer and closed as duplicate on StackOverflow. It's the difference between here's the answer and ten other things I can tell you about and here's someone else's question and several divergent answers to your duplicate question which might not have been the same.

austenallred 9y ago

I run an online code bootcamp, and I think most people assume that learning resources being available is all that's needed. That's true for some super dedicated people, but for most it's not enough. For a while I thought the biggest value we provided as a bootcamp was direction and on-demand expert help. But now I don't think that's true. I think the biggest value we provide is that we make everyone show up at the same time every day and work until some other time, and we help direct what they should be working on during that time. In short, it's social pressure, discipline, and scheduling. Those are everything. Look at Thinkful's "part-time self directed" bootcamp - all the material is there, there's a mentor to help you once/week for a few mins, you pay $8,500 to do it - people are obviously dedicated to learning when they start. And the end graduation rate? ~31%. I know another bootcamp that decided to just record their bootcamp and put it online, and charge you $2,000 for access to the videos. 28 people signed up and paid the $2,000, and one person watched past the first lesson. I would guess that the percentage of people who can discipline themselves enough to learn on their own while balancing other responsibilities and not paying $2,000-8,000 is much, much smaller. Think back to when you were in college - say it's a Calculus class. What do you think the graduation rate of that class would be if you gave everyone a Calculus book and said, "Fit it in when you can!" I'd guess it would approach zero except for a few superstars. The same thing seems to be happening in programming. In 2017 the thing holding you back from learning something isn't resources. It's direction and discipline.

icantdrive55 9y ago
"I know another bootcamp that decided to just record their bootcamp and put it online, and charge you $2,000 for access to the videos. 28 people signed up and paid the $2,000, and one person watched past the first lesson." 1. I've noticed this in so many fields. 2. There are devious businesses/entities that count on this. 3. I think Programmers will have employment for a long time. In absolute honesty, I don't find Programming, or Web Developement that exciting. I guess when you build something useful, or money making, that's where the love comes? In my twenties, you couldn't pay me to sit in front of a screen all day. 4. I still think there's room for a better way to pass on this information. I'm not sure if any bootcamp, or school has nailed it yet.