Sorry, developer bootcamps: I was wrong
I think the first problem with this article is that it&#x27;s based on anecdotes and, judging by LinkedIn[1], the author doesn&#x27;t seem to be a coder.<p>The problem with bad code is that it takes a long time to really bite you, and then it infects your body until you have gangrene and die. But when it&#x27;s first written and it works, many non-technical people think that&#x27;s all that matters.<p>An experienced coder will see code that &quot;works&quot; and know whether it&#x27;s going to bite you badly in the future. That&#x27;s insight that only comes with painful, long-term experience.<p>&gt; <i>Most critics haven’t even worked with or hired a bootcamp grad</i><p>This is a straw man. Most critics aren&#x27;t basing their criticism on the quality of the graduates, but rather the concept of teaching someone how to code (well enough to be paid) so quickly.<p>&gt; <i>I’d bet they still interviewed better than the average university candidate</i><p>Well, yeah, of course. Universities aren&#x27;t <i>directly teaching coding interview questions</i>. Why didn&#x27;t he also mention that coding interview questions are, generally, bullshit?<p>&gt; <i>One of my bootcamp grad friends told me, “Bootcamp ROI beats college any day.”</i><p>Again, that&#x27;s a single-person anecdote. Even if it&#x27;s true, I&#x27;m terrified to live in a society where people spend a few weeks in a trade school rather than going to college.<p>College has a lot of benefits that can&#x27;t be measured in salary or jobs. Students learn how to learn, they learn how to manage unstructured time (hopefully), and they&#x27;re exposed to subjects they didn&#x27;t necessarily like before. It&#x27;s a great time to figure out what you want to do with your life, meet people that are different from you, and find great mentorship from smart people.<p>Boot camps should be part of college or an add-on. In a society that relies on citizens to be intelligent and worldly when they vote, a trade school should not widely be used as a substitute for college.<p>&gt; <i>Many engineers feel bootcamps diminish their profession by suggesting that programming can be commoditizing and packaging into a 10-week bootcamp. For their own self-worth, they want bootcamps to fail.</i><p>Again, how do you know this? I have two fears about boot camp: 1) that I&#x27;ll inherit terrible code written by a novice, and 2) that boot camp grads are being ripped off. #1 has certainly happened to me, and #2 may or may not be happening (I don&#x27;t know).<p>&gt; <i>Thankfully, we don’t have to be so contentious. This industry has more than enough room for everyone to be better off.</i><p>There is enough room for many more people, but those people should still be properly trained. The JS community is a total mess because of how many poorly-trained people are working in it. They don&#x27;t understand that reinventing the wheel is a problem, and I don&#x27;t blame them. That&#x27;s something you learn with experience.<p>&gt; <i>If you’re considering a developer bootcamp, I’d highly recommend you do it.</i><p>Everyone who&#x27;s considering it? Even people who don&#x27;t know if they want to be a CRUD coder for the next 10 years? Even people who are on their last $20k? Even people who are 45 and will run head-first into age discrimination?<p>&gt; <i>If you’re looking for a cofounder for a startup or a project, do NOT forget about bootcamp grads!</i><p>No no no no no no no no! When you&#x27;re starting a company, you <i>don&#x27;t have time</i> to wait for someone to learn how to do X or Y. Your coder needs to be someone who has done those things a dozen times and can crank out a new iteration of your product daily or weekly, if necessary.<p>1. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.linkedin.com&#x2F;in&#x2F;dillonforrest" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.linkedin.com&#x2F;in&#x2F;dillonforrest</a>