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I did a bootcamp program. In-person, 13 weeks, 9-5, 5 days a week, plus HW/Weekly projects/Capstone project. If I had locked myself in my apartment could I have learned the same things in the same amount of time? Maybe. Going through an organization took the legwork out and let me focus on the learning. I didn't have to seek out my own materials (I did anyways, but that was for added depth into things that interested me along the way), I didn't have to trust my ability to be self critical in order to evaluate my progress, I didn't have to prepare exercises and projects, etc. Plus, I was going through it with 20 other students who were learning the same things at the same time as me - people to learn with, bounce ideas off of, ask different questions in class, etc. Plus I got a ton of career support. They brought in panels of industry leaders to talk to us, took us to different types of companies to meet their teams and get a good sense of the different types of organizations we could work for. They helped us with our resumes, online presence, interview technique - and hosted 'career day' events where they brought in a staggering number of companies who were looking to hire someone just like us, and helped us with applications, networking etc. Again, could I have taught myself the same amount of material in 13 weeks solo? Maybe. Would I have walked away with a new job as quickly as I did (less than 10 days after finishing the course), and with a decently sized professional network? Probably not. On top of that, the physical learning environment was great (coffee, food, etc), plus going to school every day meant it was easy to stay in learning/work mode, instead of getting distracted or procrastinating at home. |