Coding Bootcamps or College?
I have been having this question even before we launched 4Geeks. I did know the reasons to launch a non-traditional platform as an option to traditional education. But I did not know -back then- how to answer this question. Let’s see if we can build a strong argument about it.
- An honest conversation
There are common places to go when considering what kind of education you want to pursue; however, there is no reason to go deeply into the cost/ROI conversation. Let’s be clear, Colleges are expensive, are longer and are built in a way that the amount of money you have to spend could never be compared to Coding Bootcamps. It’s not a fair competition.
The real conversation shall be around education, syllabus, skills, capabilities, jobs, and how your decision could take your life towards one direction or another. A report from 2017 says that 84% of employers think that bootcamps graduates are more or as prepared as a college graduate. That’s why this is a real discussion.
2. Education and Methodology
Coding Bootcamps are hands-on (must of them) and Colleges are not (must of them). That means everything. Yes, everything is different. You need to come ready to start Coding at a Bootcamp since the very beginning; however, if you get into College, your coding practice comes later (if you ever get seriously into that).
Coding at a Bootcamp means that 90% (at least) of the time you spend there will be invested in writing code. Learning technologies, libraries, syntax, frameworks, etc. No matter if you enroll in a Full-time, Part-time or Online Bootcamp, your experience will be around a computer, building a website or doing exercises, and projects.
3. Syllabus
The Syllabus in a Coding Bootcamp is pretty straight forward. Every school will tell you what technologies you will learn, why and how to find a job afterward. JavaScript will be pretty much everywhere. There are some people still teaching Ruby, but let’s be honest, if you want to become a developer, you need to learn JavaScript.
Normally it takes 14 -16 weeks to go through a web development program. Yes, 4 months and “clank”, you are a web/software developer. I still remember the first time we were building the Syllabus, and how surprised I was that we were able to accommodate everything in 16 weeks (and it’s Part-time!).
4. Outcomes: what to expect?
The question we get the most is: am I getting a job after the program? Yes, if you are a decent, professional, passioned person, who is willing to push forward in order to grasp all the information and put a lot of work into the exercises and projects mandatory required at a Bootcamp, you are getting a Job after the program.
The majority of Coding Programs are helping students get a job afterward. Around 80% of graduates get a job as a software developer within the next 120 days. Job placement is key at a Coding Bootcamp.
According to Glassdoor, the average salary of a web developer in the US is $66k. The salary of someone coming out of a Coding Program is around
College graduates are not getting a better payment as web developers. They are not. In general terms, College graduates and Bootcamp graduates are ready to face the same coding challenges and able to earn the same amount of money.
Being a software developer does not mean that you need a degree; it means that you know how to code. Coding Bootcamps helps you get there in a faster and more efficient way.