Dev Bootcamp, Iron Yard, what’s next?

Sheel Bedi
Jul 23, 2017 · 1 min read

The past two weeks have seen the closure of two major coding bootcamps: first Dev Bootcamp, then the Iron Yard. Neither school was a fly by night operator; both were established institutions with a record of results and multiple campuses.

What does this mean? Is this pattern, or just coincidence? I’m not sure, but I hope these closures don’t reflect the job market for Developers, or for bootcamp grads in particular. I went to a boot camp, and I know some employers are skeptical of their graduates.

I haven’t had the chance to read deeply into this, but my understanding is that both closures were driven in large part by profitability/sustainability considerations. This carries unfortunate implications- are there fundamental tensions between running a bootcamp well and staying in business? Is delivering good outcomes at odds with turning a profit?

Accredited educational institutions by and large don’t face these problems. They operate in a seller’s market, and they have access to government sponsored student loans, without strong incentives to manage costs or deliver value.

We’ll see what happens.

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