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The New York Times has coverage on the phenomenon of Developer Bootcamps, that claim to do in a matter of a couple of months what used to take at least a couple of years for an associate's degree. These cram courses are apparently getting about a 75% job placement rate.
Have any Soylentils either gone through these programs, or worked with others who have? If so, what are your experiences?
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Developer Bootcamps - Be a Programmer in Two Months!
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Do not use if foil seal is broken.
(Score: 1) by jorl17 on Wednesday October 15 2014, @10:36PM
I'm now teaching a course which aims to turn people with high mathematical and logical skills into programmers. Several factors were taken into account and it was concluded that to create highly competent programmers (and, do note, nothing beyond "just" a programmer) they would have to have these skills and need at least a year. It's intensive work throughout around 8 months, 10 hours a day. Last year's edition was met with great success, and the companies which partly funded this are already finding these programmers to be highly valuable (there was a high need for programmers, not engineers, in these companies).
My opinion is that 2 months is impossible. Just outright ridiculous to think that good programmers are actually being made. Sure maybe they'll be able to build this particular thing, or that specific thing, but they will lack a much needed deeper understanding of some concepts..
(Score: 2) by jackb_guppy on Wednesday October 15 2014, @11:06PM
A year does not cover it either.
There are two needs both are independent of each other.
1) What is ... What is name? A date? A time? An address? -- hence asking questions and understanding the world as whole. Think of the kid that takes part watch and puts it back together. Understanding the relationships and how the sum of the parts are greater than whole.
2) How to do ... How to code a loop. How to layout program for clear and efficient design and understanding for the next person.
These traits are needed to be programmer. Not a coder, a programmer.
Anyone can write code. Excel VBA is coding. Through sh*t against the wall and see if it sticks. Seen some great project with cr*p code in the bowels, no one said "Enough!"
(Score: 1) by jorl17 on Thursday October 16 2014, @09:56PM
You might be right. But do understand that, as I said, these people aren't meant to be asking that many questions. They'll mostly just act as tools to get the job done. They have to be given very specific orders and not have that many architectural decisions going on. The entities that funded this program know this, and they've been thrilled with last year's outcome because of that. Do note, however, that these people aren't the "average Joe". They're highly skilled people in maths, logics, etc who are harding a hard time finding a job here (Portugal). Some of them have PhDs!
But yeah, of course a year doesn't cut it either, except for very specific scenarios.
Actually, you are right. It's just semantics. They are coders, not programmers, nor engineers. They might become one or the other if they keep investing in their studies, but right now they're just coders.