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It could be less about them being CS grads per se and more about their age and relative experience in the world. I'm a CS grad who originally dropped out and sc

It could be less about them being CS grads per se and more about their age and relative experience in the world. I'm a CS grad who originally dropped out and screwed around for a few years, but in the end came back to it. In fact, while researching at the graduate level, I realized then that even professors and advisors aren't necessarily going to teach you everything you need to know or set you on a course, it's your job to extract their knowledge and find the answers to the questions you come up with. I also worked all through high school and college. I think my experience sets me up for disappointment in the workforce because I know how to get things done and see what's important, and often I feel like the only adult in the room with a bunch of kids who don't want to listen and who don't know how to really chug through long-term challenges while minding short-term issues.

duxup 7y ago
At one point I did a bootcamp as part of a career change. Some folks who completed it with me went on to work on a CS degree as well. We talk a lot and many of them think a bootcamp like experience before a CS degree would be a good idea. A sort of fast paced, intense, and "ok now it is time for you to hit the internet and figure out steps 7 through 10" might be a good place to start for a lot of them. But more specifically to your point working with people is so important. I did some customer service years ago, and I find myself using that all the time, no job asks for it, but when talking to customers (and people who talk to customers) it is indispensable.
- sixstringtheory 7y ago
  That's a fantastic idea, and I haven't really heard of people who do bootcamp then CS. It would serve as a good motivator and also a way to weed out the people who really have no idea what they're getting into (as long as some good expectations can be set during the bootcamp). Several people in my program wanted to do fun stuff like work with video games, which is totally fine! But they were not prepared for the not-so-fun linear algebra, Unix gruntwork, UML modeling and algorithm analysis involved in the course study. Sadly some people washed out, others cheated their way through it (neither of which is exclusive to CS students, to be sure). Seems like doing bootcamp first would give them a chance to decide not to go with CS and just start their career from there, or do something else altogether. Or like your cohort, discover that they just want to know more. And yeah, nothing taught me how to work with people like working for tips–your livelihood literally depends on your figuring out how to make them happy! Or at least making them think they're happy :)
  - duxup 7y ago
    The downside being that CS and bootcamps are similar topics but diverge in important ways. There's limited math in bootcamps and etc... but at the same time it would give them exposure to "You're gonna be working stuff out that you haven't been told ... and you have to go figure it out without hand holding."

duxup 7y ago

At one point I did a bootcamp as part of a career change. Some folks who completed it with me went on to work on a CS degree as well. We talk a lot and many of them think a bootcamp like experience before a CS degree would be a good idea. A sort of fast paced, intense, and "ok now it is time for you to hit the internet and figure out steps 7 through 10" might be a good place to start for a lot of them. But more specifically to your point working with people is so important. I did some customer service years ago, and I find myself using that all the time, no job asks for it, but when talking to customers (and people who talk to customers) it is indispensable.

sixstringtheory 7y ago
That's a fantastic idea, and I haven't really heard of people who do bootcamp then CS. It would serve as a good motivator and also a way to weed out the people who really have no idea what they're getting into (as long as some good expectations can be set during the bootcamp). Several people in my program wanted to do fun stuff like work with video games, which is totally fine! But they were not prepared for the not-so-fun linear algebra, Unix gruntwork, UML modeling and algorithm analysis involved in the course study. Sadly some people washed out, others cheated their way through it (neither of which is exclusive to CS students, to be sure). Seems like doing bootcamp first would give them a chance to decide not to go with CS and just start their career from there, or do something else altogether. Or like your cohort, discover that they just want to know more. And yeah, nothing taught me how to work with people like working for tips–your livelihood literally depends on your figuring out how to make them happy! Or at least making them think they're happy :)
- duxup 7y ago
  The downside being that CS and bootcamps are similar topics but diverge in important ways. There's limited math in bootcamps and etc... but at the same time it would give them exposure to "You're gonna be working stuff out that you haven't been told ... and you have to go figure it out without hand holding."