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by jmchuster 2151 days ago
If cost isn't as much of a motivator, and you just want the fastest way to get into the industry, I would recommend a brand name coding bootcamp instead. The time span is much shorter, many companies already have a sense of your expected skillset, your salary hit on your first job is often not that much (maybe nothing) and should be gone by your second job.

Getting a brand name CS degree definitely has its advantages, allowing you easier access to even higher-paying engineering jobs, and can really help build the foundation for you to become a much better engineer. But it's really just a better starting point (assuming financial aid), and your path from there is much more dependent on how you invest in your own career.
2 comments
908B64B197 2150 days ago
I really can't recommend bootcamp; They almost always teach "tricks" rather than systematic thinking and consider CS fundamentals to be in the way of practical "applied" learning.

It's pretty depressing once you get a few resumes that all have the same portfolio, because the whole bootcamp was about building their portfolio website.

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jmchuster 2150 days ago
New grads also all have the exact same resume as well. I'd go through OCR and interview 16 carbon-copy resumes every day.

I'm not convinced that bootcamp grads are particularly worse at CS fundamentals than many college grads. If you care, you'll put in the time to learn using the infinite amount of free classes and resources out there. If you don't, being forced to take the minimum number of core classes and get passing grades in them doesn't change much about how you think and approach problems.

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908B64B197 2150 days ago
> If you care, you'll put in the time to learn using the infinite amount of free classes and resources out there

Exactly. But a lot of bootcamps out there are advertised more as a get-rich-quick scheme than learning a career. That seems to attract the wrong types of candidates.

But I agree, passing grades from mediocre schools is absolutely not a good filter.

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swyx 2151 days ago
what exactly is a "brand name coding bootcamp"? i dont have a particularly high opinion of General Assembly and its one of th ebiggest.
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jmchuster 2150 days ago
Hack Reactor, App Academy.
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