5 reasons why the MIT Bootcamp might be worth it for you
“Bootcamp” a buzzword
The term Bootcamp is trending all over the world, and if you are acquainted with the tech industry or the entrepreneurship world, you have most likely heard of it.
Coding Bootcamps are a relatively new phenomenon that emerged around 2012 in response to the growing business needs of fast-growing technology companies in North America. Since then, the number of Bootcamps offered, and participants, has grown more than 11 times.
This growth is the result of a growing global demand for digital skills and entrepreneurship education as the future of work and education evolves.
With more and more options available, finding the right fit for you can be confusing. In terms of my own needs and career, the MIT Bootcamp was exactly what I needed and proved to be a valuable resource that allowed me to advance to the next level.
The purpose of this article is to answer the following question : Is the MIT Bootcamp worth it for you? To do so, I will share with you my personal experience of the program and some data collected from the MIT Bootcamp alumni community through a survey (thanks to all of the participants for your contributions).
Let me start by saying this : MIT’s motto is “Mens et manus” which means “mind and hands”. I can assure you that from the beginning to the end, all the Bootcampers are challenged in their mind and hands with regards to the entrepreneurship journey.
Reason 1: A practical setting to take a significant risk — evaluating the potential of one week for more than $ 8000 (Capacity for Calculated Risk)
Entrepreneurship is all about taking risks. According to the Chambers student dictionary, risk is: “(…) a situation where something bad might happen”. When you invert the meaning, risk is: “(…) a situation where something good might happen”. This last meaning is the perception that triggers most successful entrepreneurs. They see value and potential where others see problems and dangers.
For me, and more than 30% of the surveyed Bootcampers, everything started with a social media ad that speaks to this very concept.
I am not very often on Facebook, but one day while I was passing by, trying to chat with some friends and collect some information, I saw the MIT Technology & Innovation Bootcamp — in Tokyo, Japan March 2019. I had never heard about such a program before, but the first thing that caught my attention was the content. It discussed topics such as AI, IoT, and Robotics (topics I am passionate about; it is my goal to help developing countries transition to development through smart cities), the entrepreneurship journey according to MIT (At that time, I was part of an entrepreneurship program called MEST, sometimes called “the YC of Africa”, I wanted to get as much knowledge as I could and also get ready for a pre-seed funding pitch we would have faced a few months later) — and dude, this is MIT!
I quickly went on a journey to gain a better understanding of the Bootcamp program, here is the overview description on the website -One semester condensed into a week. This will be the most intense educational experience of your life. You will form a team, work with MIT-trained coaches, and develop a venture you can communicate with influence.- Then, I explored previous stories of participants, the content and what I could get out of the program. I also reached out to two alumni of the Bootcamp (Emmanuel Adegboye, , who replied to me and were very supportive of my preparation. I wanted to understand how it was and which advice they could give me. All of this to confirm the value for me. I got satisfied with the value when I read the impact report and opportunities previous Bootcampers got; to mention few: get access to incubators or accelerators, find investors for fund raising, realize a dream of becoming a Tedx speaker with the help of the community, getting accepted at MIT.
I wanted to join MIT since I was in high school — this could be a great opportunity to have a glimpse of MIT and eventually be admitted. In addition, I am now a tech entrepreneur, joining an incubator or raising funding might be interesting. Therefore, this promised to be an awesome opportunity to “kill two birds with the same stone” as I like to say with my co-founders at Niqao, the startup we have built when I ended my entrepreneurship program at MEST and got an investment.
Everything concerning the program sounded great until I got to what it takes to participate, after the personal skills you need, I read this line: “Tuition: $ 8000. Please, note that you will still be responsible for the costs of travel and accommodation.” My whole universe was falling apart… So many questions: How would I get this amount of money? Is it worth it?
I was earning only a stipend at that time, and I did not have any other income stream. I also knew it would have been challenging for my parents to take on such a burden alone.
At this point, I was about to give up, when I read another sentence from the website: “Please don’t worry about the cost to attend; just apply.”
I think this was the best advice I could have received because entrepreneurship is all about taking risks and finding opportunities. But before you take a risk you need to understand the potential value. Then you take a leap of faith, you learn, and you figure out how to solve the issues as you move on.
It turns out that more than 65% of the Bootcampers interviewed applied for the following reasons :
- A future personal or entrepreneurship project,
- Knowledge about the topic discussed
Which means they all went through the same research to understand the value for them. After all, a non-assessed risk is dangerous. I asked myself several times : is the value enough for me to give it a try?
I said a prayer and applied.
The prayer was: “Dear God, if you allow me to be among the 10% of applicants accepted, then you will also provide for the resources to attend the program.”
When I received the acceptance letter, I was shocked, scared, and excited at the same time. Then, I set out trying to find ways to raise money. In my research, I asked the MIT Bootcamp team for advice and they told me this: “Many students in the past have been able to raise funds through crowdfunding campaigns, reaching out to their universities, employers, or finding grants through foundations or government bodies.”hey referred me to this webinar made by two MIT alumni about how they crowdsourced to finance this MIT Bootcamp trip.
It is after the Bootcamp that I realized a shift in my mindset. Based on the teaching from a mentor, Dr. Alain Capochichi, combined with lessons I learned during my time at entrepreneurial training program MEST, I was able to learn that entrepreneurship was about taking risks, and I did take some risks. However, the MIT Bootcamp was a hands-on settling for me to take a significant risk: the craziest I’ve ever made.
Indeed, what if the value wasn’t real? What if there was a better thing to do, and I realize I had spent all my money on this? Questions and fears would never end. I still have questions today, but my perspective is now inverted; something good might happen.
Reason 2: An opportunity to access the “biggest” asset of an entrepreneur — The “….”
What is, according to you, the biggest asset of an entrepreneur?
Most people would directly think about money when this question is asked; however, this is not the most important asset. In his book, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, Robert Kiyosaki says, “assets put money into your pocket”. He was referring to the concept of assets in accounting. I want to start from the simplicity of this definition and build up to a broader interpretation. An asset is something that generates opportunities or money for you.
Thus, you can go from $0 to billions, only if you recognize and exploit the right assets. Perceiving money as the most important one is, unfortunately, the reason why many entrepreneurs fail.
Entrepreneurship is a journey and requires a set of assets, each one with its purpose and its scope.
The journey starts when you figure out a few things (Disciplined entrepreneurship, User innovation):
- Find an opportunity
- Select the right problem
- Search for the best solution
- Find the right customers
- Sell the value
Managing all these actions is the entrepreneur’s responsibility and it relies on some internal assets (skills, passion), not just external interaction. It is during the realization phase that the most important of the assets come into play.
The ability to generate revenue and opportunities comes from yourself (your own wealth), and other stakeholders who might believe in your idea. But in spite of the origin of the resources, some stakeholders are needed to make it sustainable; this is your most important asset.
These can be your first customers (following the disciplined entrepreneurship approach), some investors, some relatives, or other contacts. All of them fall into what I will consider your network.
When I was selected for the MIT bootcamp, I knew it would have been quite challenging for my parents to handle the full cost alone, so here is what I did.
I wrote an email giving information about the program, the fact that only 10% of the applicants are selected, the value of the experience (the best professors and experts in the discussed fields), the powerful network of the MIT Bootcamp (the best 10% of each one of the applicants to their programs, and also to the MIT Network). Then, I sent it out to my parents, my mentor, and some managers who could potentially help with the project. Waiting for their approval and feedback about this good but costly news. I wanted the campaign to be offline, just to my parents and personal contacts. I did that for the first part of the campaign; make a deposit of $ 2,000 USD to secure my seat in two weeks from the reception of the acceptance letter.
I still had $ 9,000 to go…
At this time, I spoke to my co-founders, and some friends (all Entrepreneurs in Training at MEST — EiT) about my selection and the challenge to gather $11,000, andI was hesitant about telling everyone that I am crowdsourcing, then Ahmed Elmi, now CEO of Nadia, had been very supportive and pushed me out of my comfort zone. We edited together the message for the campaign and I launched it, in the MEST community first, then out there on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook with the crowdsourcing platform Payputt. The response was incredible, I am so happy I did that because otherwise I wouldn’t have realized that MEST is more than a training program but a family. The EiTs took the information out there, spreading the word, encouraging me and contributing.
In the end, I had collected more than 43% of the total amount ($11,000) from my network (not family members). How did it happen? I did my part (finding the opportunity, applying and getting in, understanding the value for me, building the right communications). Then I shared this value with my network.
At this point, I would like to reiterate my gratitude to my alma mater, CERCO institute, the youth numerical foundation (Ivorian Ministry of the Digital Economy and of Post), MIT Bootcamp alumnus (Arthur Chen, Emmanuel Adegboye) and, the MEST community who gave me great support and encouragement, as well as the people who contributed on the crowdfunding platform (whom I will mention them at the end of this article).
After collecting the full amount for the fees and for the trip, then I realized that “The challenge was never about money!” It is about you figuring out your part and finding the right way to communicate the value to the right network. This right network (your biggest asset) will resonate with your story and give you the needed support.
According to the survey, more than 80% of the Bootcampers think that the community is “the greatest value” the MIT Bootcamp has offered them. Leveraging on this asset you can have access to amazing opportunities.
To conclude on the reason 2, I want to leave you with some quotes from Bootcampers (anonymous and mentioned) :
“I think it was not the only way to get to learn about the things I learned there, but I wouldn’t have gotten to that platform if it was not for the bootcamp.” Anonymous
“It has been amazing. I found investors from the bootcamp, I found an advisor for our AI startup from one of the professors, I continue getting support and feedback on my business from Alumni and I am talking to Alumni to be clients.” Anonymous
Subeed, a Bootcamper and part of the team which won the top honors for the most innovative venture idea, also had a personal transformation. He said :
“Dear Bootcampers, One amazing thing about the MIT Bootcamp is that it connects you to amazing and talented people. One such person is Jitendra Chouksey. He has founded a fitness company, Fitrr.
I was struggling in the dark on reducing weight, and he introduced me to his wonderful start-up.
I followed the advice and the knowledge I gathered in the last few months, and it has helped me reduce 14 kgs in 5 months!
Period: June to Nov 2019
- Weight: 86 to 72kgs
- Waist: 39 to 35 inches
- Body Fat — 32 to 25.6%
Current Status: Maintaining 71.5 to 72 kgs range from the past month”
One of the Bootcamper also said this about the Bootcamp “You realize your full potential”.
This leads me to the reason 3.
Reason 3: An opportunity to push your limits and grow — creative destruction
Albert Einstein said, “Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.”
During the edition of the MIT Bootcamp I attended, there were more than 95 Bootcampers coming from 30 countries, including 3 from Africa (Egypt, Kenya, and Cote d’Ivoire; that’s me :) ). The participants were coming from different backgrounds: entrepreneurs, engineers, managers, students, artists, creatives, and so on.
The program is described on the website as “a semester taught in a week”. This is true. We were split into groups of five and were working almost 20h/24h (5 hours of class, 15 hours of practical activities) during 6 days. We had 19 keynotes and two times more activities that were practical.
In fact, during this short period, the Bootcamp is designed to give you an experience of what the life of a real entrepreneur is. This is a good time to confirm your willingness to become an entrepreneur or take a step back. And according to the interviewed Bootcampers, the intensity of the program comes second as the biggest value of the training.
Creative destruction is a concept by Schumpeter that was presented by Pr. Sanjay Sarma during the Bootcamp.
To put it simply, this concept says that for an evolution to happen, the previous one needs to reach its top level, be destroyed and then fade away. That is what I experienced during the program.
Before joining the MIT Bootcamp week, we had just finished the “Capstone 2 project” at MEST (the program I mentioned earlier). Capstone 2 at MEST is a 4 weeks project where we create a business and pitch it to investors. People who experienced it know how intensive and stressful it can be. I continued without a real break, working almost overnight for many days to finish the pre-course for the MIT Bootcamp alongside Capstone. When I reached the MIT Bootcamp, I was already almost exhausted. Then, I decided to push and see where I would have been able to go.
It was then that I reached my limits. After the full week of work as described above, my team and I worked overnight on the last day to finish our investor presentation pitch . We were just supposed to go home, take a shower, change and come back directly to make it in time to the pitch.
I went back home, took a shower, sat on my bed for my daily meditation, and before I realized it, I had just woken up, and it was 11 am. I missed my team’s final pitch, which was supposed to take place at 9 am.
When it had happened, I was destroyed for missing the event that was supposed to be the crown of all the work we did. However, I realized that this pain was the result of my focus on the appreciation or external recognition of the experience from other people (the judges, friends, family).
Nevertheless, since this first perception was destroyed, my mind started shifting from this single event to capture the full experience. I was no longer looking for external recognition, but for an internal appreciation (about what my team and I were able to accomplish), and what I’ve been able to learn. I reached the top level of one wave in my life (psychological satisfaction, coming from either a diploma or certificate as academic achievement and people) and had launched into another one (the perception of things as life achievement and looking for ways to apply them).
Missing the last pitch helped me experience what is called creative destruction and understand that the MIT Bootcamp never ends with the final pitch; it is just the beginning of the journey.
Reason 4: An opportunity to learn what you need to know before you need it — proactivity
John Wooden, a Hall of Fame basketball coach, once said, “When opportunity comes it’s too late to prepare.”
More than 77% of the Bootcampers joined the program with a project-related purpose (future entrepreneurial project, knowledge about the topic discussed for an immediate personal project, to find partners or to find Co-founders), while about 50% of them want to start entrepreneurship or use the skills learned during the Bootcamp in 1 to 4 or years’ time. This is simply showing the planning perspective of most of the Bootcampers; you need to prepare before harnessing an opportunity.
Don’t we say that knowledge is power? Learning more about a subject gives you enough insight and more paths to explore. That’s exactly what the bootcamp offered. This bootcamp was focused on (Innovation, AI, IoT, Smart Cities and Robotics). And we were taught by the best in the world in these fields.
Just to mention a few, we had Prof. Rodney Brooks (Robocist and pioneer in robotics in the world), Prof Sanjay Sarma, Vice President for Open Learning, Josh Siegel, PhD. MIT IoT, ML, Cybersecurity, AI; Prof. Joi Ito, Ex Director MIT Media Lab ; Dr. Long N Phan, CEO & President, Prof. Brian Subirana Directeur, MIT Auto-ID Laboratory; Prof. Masaru Kitsuregawa, National Information Institute Director Japan, Pr. Tokyo University; Erdin Beshimov, MITx Teaching fellow, Director of MIT Bootcamp,; Sandra Richter, Founder & CEO Soofa.
More specifically we touched topics on Investment, IoT, Entrepreneurial creativity, Machine Learning, Japan Innovation (Medicine, AI), Extended intelligence, Society 5.0, Original innovation, the work of the future the future of work, Cybersecurity, Radical innovation, The vision, the customer, and pivots; two generations in robotic. I will be writing about them in an MIT Bootcamp series in times to come.
It was only when I came back from the Bootcamp and tried to write an article, that I realized the depth and the density of the content; it was indeed a semester in a week. I took the remainder of the year trying to get more understanding about some of the concepts.
For example, “Calisthenics of Innovation” was one of the topics discussed. These are simple activities to improve your creativity, but let me tell you the truth, it comes with a lot of work. To understand it, I performed research on Calisthenics, and I started doing gym exercises for it. That’s when I learned that there is prior intensive body training needed before you can perform Calisthenics properly. Bringing this back to the idea of entrepreneurship, I realized you only can do the same for innovation if you train intensively beforehand. That is what I started doing (reading, meditating, learning about creativity).
Above all, I came to understand that knowledge itself cannot change a man. “Knowledge alone doesn’t alter our behavior. The only thing that changes our behavior is making the right decisions, and the only way to ensure we do that consistently is to build up the strength of our characters” Rabbi Daniel Lapin Business secrets from the Bible.
Also, Joi Ito, Ex-Director, MIT Media lab said at the end of his presentation, “No matter what you want to impact, you have to change the first layer for it to be sustainable” .
That is why the MIT Bootcamp is not only giving knowledge but is also giving you a map and a compass to navigate the entrepreneurial journey.
Reason 5: A roadmap to adopt the right behavior — do not burn out; burn up
The information about any field is just a click away today, you can find a lot of content about literally anything, the best bootcamps are not only giving content, but also the right coaching, helping you to make sense of all this information, have guidance and growth from it .
True coaching relies on the quality (experience and skills) of the coach or facilitator, and the right context.
During the MIT Bootcamp, you’ll have the opportunity to work on different aspect of the journey and get insight on what you need in each part.
You will be working under high pressure to walk through the entrepreneur steps; it gives you the opportunity to understand how difficult entrepreneurship is, and how to manage your stress with the help of exceptional coaches. Your leadership skills would be challenged as you will be the team lead for one day; you will realize how humble you have to be, it is easy to spot issues when others are leading, but much more complex to solve them when you are at the top, just to mention few things.
The full experience, from creating a new idea to pitching to investors, is designed for you to get the right context and a glimpse of what entrepreneurship really is, and based on that, you have the roadmap and the compass to navigate the journey. To change yourself first and adjust to the entrepreneurship journey or decide to move on because this doesn’t fit you.
We had an activity called Pause and Reflect: Personal Reflection each day. Here is an extract:
“As adults, we don’t learn by doing but by reflecting on what we did. Take a few minutes to reflect on what you learned yesterday and how you can bring it into your life.
- What? (What happened?)
- So what? (What does this mean for you?)
- Now what? (How are you going to apply this into your life?)”
We also had content about Speculative Design with Prof. Marissa Ozaki, Self-Management and high performance with Coaches Hanna Adeyema & Vanessa Gurie, Organization as a Learning System Vitor Olivier. All this content for you to get ready and make the right decision if you really want to change things.
Entrepreneurship is a very tough journey; all the entrepreneurs would tell you the same thing, but unfortunately it is sometimes pictured as a smooth journey. In this regard, I like Chidi Nwaogu’s initiative (An amazing entrepreneur, my roommate I met during MEST). This is a Podcast called Dear Entrepreneur to share the reality of entrepreneurship and what to really expect from it to people who want to embark on the journey.
Closing words — this is just the beginning
Although it does not end here, these are the main elements I have been able to extract and that I’ve tried to summarize from my experience.
I will be starting a series of articles in the following months about the learnings from the Bootcamp on innovation & entrepreneurship. It would be great to have feedback and comments that would help me improve to ensure you have the best content in every single piece.
Don’t hesitate to leave a comment, and write if you also have any questions. I’ll be more than happy to reply.
My learnings and results might be biased by the only Bootcamp I attended. Also, my survey reached only 23 Bootcampers and might not represent the big picture. However, I will be more than glad to review the points and update the figures if any other Bootcampers are willing to fill this form.
Who am I ?
My name is Jacques Boanerges Yannick Amatcha; I am a young Ivorian, at the moment Co-founder at Niqao technologies in Ghana. I am also a MEST Alumni; MIT Bootcamp alumni; Huawei Seeds for the Future laureate and alumni; Member of the Nasa Space App challenge Laureate team in Ghana. I am a lifelong learner, passionate about technologies and solving problems around me, especially here in Africa. For instance: using IoT, Smart Cities, how to bring a country from the Third world to first?
Before all these, I am a worshipper (singing in a choir), a passionate Christian and disciple of Jesus.
My accounts
Thanks
At the end of my article, once again, infinite thanks to the people and organizations who generously sponsored my trip to this Bootcamp and those who helped me out reviewing this article, it would have never reached this quality without all of them.
Thanks to my mother and my father who never hesitated to help and did a lot sacrifices since my childhood
Ministry of Digital Economy and Post of Cote d’Ivoire: “Fondation Jeunesse Numérique (FJN)”
My alma mater in Côte d’Ivoire: #InstitutCERCO through PhD. Alain Capo chichi
Thanks to the the Community and the leadership team of MEST AFRICA
The Community of Huawei Seeds for the Future particularly (Sylla Masseni, Andy Gehlan)
Thanks to all my donors on payputt.com
Thanks again to the MIT Bootcamp alumni who helped me out when I was applying (Emmanuel and Arthur)
Thanks to all of the Bootcamper who contributed filling the form
Thanks to Thea Sokolowski and Karen Sujo for the reviews,
And finally, a huge thank you to all my friends, elders and family.
