Why we started HackerBay University

HackerBay University teaches people to code on real-world projects, and help them find jobs — all for free.

How often have you heard people complaining that their tech education doesn’t give them the skills they require to succeed professionally as a programmer or that they can’t afford to be at a school and hence can’t do much with their life?

Probably a lot.

Tech education is usually very expensive and not everyone can afford it. This is primarily the reason why students are drowned in debt even after completing their education even from a “ivy-league” university. Excessive tuition fee adds to the huge risk but the real reasons are the outdated curriculum and untrained professors in most of the universities around the world. There is a big gap in what is being taught and what is expected out a candidate working in real-world tech jobs.

College tuition has sky-rocketed over the years especially over the past 20 years or so. Just between 2000- 2013, college tuition has risen up by more than 87 %. Here’s the famous article by John W.Schoen.

“The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn’t need to be reformed — it needs to be transformed. — Sir Ken Robinson

Americans owe over $1.48 trillion in student loan debt, spread out among about 44 million borrowers. That’s about $620 billion more than the total U.S. credit card debt. This is insane. Countries in Asia like India and a lot more around the world are also following up on the same trajectory and this won’t end well for students and countries alike.

So, here’s the reason why.

These figures unequivocally suggest that something is seriously wrong with the education system around us and we felt responsible to lead the change and fix the loopholes in the system rather than just sit and complain.

Firstly, we have a huge interest in education and so does everyone around us.

In the words of Sir Ken Robinson, “Education is something that goes deep with people like religion, money and other things. We all have vested interest in education partly because it’s this education that is meant to take us to the future that we can’t grasp.”

Secondly, the future is so unpredictable that we don’t what’s going to happen in the next 5 years and yet we are supposed to train for it. Thirdly, people are so innovative and creative that they can’t all be cast out the same way to shine. Diamond needs pressure to form and cutting to shine while gold needs polishing to shine not the pressure or cut. Still others like wood are meant to make a brush for the next world famous artist’s painting.

What I mean to say is everyone is different, has different levels of creativity and expresses it in yet different ways. The education system today on the other hand teach all of the students the same way and try to cut the wood with the hope to polish it and use the diamond as a brush. Ultimately what happens is we all fail. We all lose. We all turn sad and crib about what went wrong.

“One Size Does Not Fit All. Some of the most brilliant, creative people I know did not do well at school. Many of them didn’t really discover what they could do — and who they really were — until they’d left school and recovered from their education.” — The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.

Over the years we have realized that having a degree is no assurance of being fit for employment. This is primarily the reason why a lot of forward thinking companies don’t lay any importance on the degrees one holds, they rather focus completely on the skills they have and employ them irrespective of the past background. Here’s an example. We at HackerBay never ask any applicant for their degree or their educational background. They go through a series of tests and interviews and if they fulfill the skills required, they are hired.

According to UNESCO, the next 30 years more people will be graduating across the world than since the history of mankind. Read a report here.

So, suddenly degrees won’t be worth anything, and almost everyone will have it!

Does that mean we are against the University Education?

No! Definitely not. University has its own importance. It forms communities. You make meaningful relationships with people. It’s where people get together to learn. But are we really learning?

If you’re in the university just to make relationships — you’re paying an awful lot for that. There are a lot of other ways you can do. Here’s an example — join local meetups. They seem to happen every other day, week or month and you can talk to anyone there, and not just with 50 odd people who you were packed with into the same course / classroom.

The real problem is the outdated curriculum and the professors who don’t really know what it is takes to be a programmer in the real world solving real problems since they haven’t been there. Some of us of-course have good professors in handful of universities, but an awful lot of universities around the world don’t. Some even have untrained professors who have no experience in tech, teaching tech. Maybe they aren’t at complete fault either since it’s the state (in most countries) that decides what should be taught. Yes, state decides — without talking to either teachers and students. Or maybe they both aren’t at fault either since this education system has formed over the years and everyone is blindly following what seems to be working (but is clearly not the way it should) without questioning if it really is delivering value proportional to the money and time invested in it.

So, it isn’t the system but the functioning of the system that is at fault. No-one should be forced to risk taking an education degree on the foundation of debt and fear in the hope of a future that may or may not work out according to the expectations.

Few people (like Peter Thiel) even call it the education bubble (just like the real estate bubble that exploded in the United states in the last decade).

Watch this famous TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson. You’ll get the idea.

Reasons behind suffering employability.

1. Outdated Curriculum: This is probably the biggest reason for the havoc that has been created today. Universities have been teaching the same thing for the past 10 years now (with a bit of changes here and there. But you get the idea. right?) The tech world moves 10X compared to other industries and we can only imagine the gap this has created between the knowledge and expectations of the job. Maybe a few years ago these curriculum could get you a job but today, the world has changed. The real value of having a degree has decreased (perceived value still remains).
2. The lack of good quality professor and trainers: Professors at the universities are the stakeholders of knowledge. They have a huge amount to share as far as theoretical knowledge is concerned. They help students build up the foundation to the next level of knowledge and expertise but it isn’t enough at all. When it comes to practical application, they’re far from the real world. They have very little idea on what goes into developing and deploying real world software and services for example.
3. Lack of innovation and the focus on rote learning: Students need to be motivated enough to innovate or think for themselves. We are stuck in the age old mentality of, “The secret of having a good life is to get good grades.”
   No, it isn’t. Ask anyone who you consider successful. As far as employability and career trajectory is concerned, there is no correlation with grades at all.
4. Lack of skill based education: No university in the world teaches how to develop, deploy, maintain, and scale real world software. Talk to customers. Get product market fit.

“If all you had was academic ability, you wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed this morning. In fact, there wouldn’t have been a bed to get out of. No one could have made one. You could have written about possibility of one, but not have constructed It.” — Out Of Our Minds: Learning To Be Creative.

Education should be free and open to everyone

We believe education should empower people, should be free and open to everyone, anywhere in the world.

Education should stimulate people minds, it should teach them real world skills. An awful lot of education is about following orders and directions. Education should encourage people to build their own path and have courage and faith to follow it.

We are helping people who wish to make a transition into a tech career for free.

This is a comprehensive 4 month program that’s completely free and helps people learn how to code from anywhere around the world. They work on real projects and talk to real clients and be a part of the team that is changing the lives of 50,000 users worldwide.

Our dream is simple, we want to fill the gap that exists in the current education system and enable a huge number of people find a great job. We want to make them employable. We want to lead this change. We know it isn’t much or even enough, but this is our first step.

How do we help you?

If you think of this training in a conventional sense that is being done at coaching centers and bootcamps today, then certainly we don’t train you. What we do instead is help you learn how to train yourself so that you don’t need any other program to teach you for the rest of your lives.

Internet today is full of resources from world class trainers. We direct you to the right resources and you learn it yourself. What we do is help you learn how to implement it. Participants work with our developers who have been ex-Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Infosys employees. They have worked with the silicon valley companies and are experts in the field of programming.

You learn by working on real-life applications using battle tested and latest frameworks, talk to real clients and deliver real projects that change the world. We think that’s the best way to work in tech.

Who should apply ?

1. Anyone who is in the final or the pre-final year of their education and feels that the current education system isn’t fulfilling enough should apply.
2. Anyone who has a bit of fight remaining inside and dreams to be a coder should apply.
3. Anyone who wants to change their lives, make their way to tech and have the guts to do it should apply.
4. Anyone who are scared to code but still can’t give up on the dream to be a coder should apply.

Why should you apply ?

1. You get to learn the real skills that are battle tested, latest and cutting edge in the field of web development. Check them out here.
2. You get to work with the team that is building products that are changing the world and affecting the lives of 50,000 users everyday.
3. You get to learn how software is delivered in real tech companies from design to deployment and do it yourself.
4. No other conventional training programs can give you the ROI that you get here. It’s free.
5. At the end of the program we work with you hard all the way to help you find a good job. Some really good people might also join our family. Yes it’s a win for both of us.
6. You get to be a part of a change that is bigger than yourself — Fixing the education system.

If you want to apply. Please check the program website here.