[argonaut]

Speaking as someone who used to work at a company that several bootcamps had pitched for recruitment purposes, and having met several grads from bootcamps, I would say that these bootcamps are most certainly not for you. They are almost all universally geared towards beginners. In that sense these bootcamps do add a lot of value. It is really hard to teach yourself to code if you lack any foundation in coding, let alone teaching yourself X or Y technologies.

There is really nothing these bootcamps can offer you except for a boost in your motivation (such a boost is not worth $12-17k+). To give you a sense of what I mean, Dev Bootcmap, for example, spends half of its time on teaching their students Ruby and programming fundamentals, which makes sense if you've never/barely coded before, but does not make sense for someone with experience who can teach him/herself Ruby and most of its advanced concepts over a (focused) weekend. Even Hack Reactor, which bills itself as being more intensive and faster-paced, spends a lot of time on basic language/CS fundamentals.

These programs don't really improve your job prospects beyond the improvements that are due to a beginner learning new concepts, nor do they really provide any sort of networking opportunities beyond the kind of networking you can achieve by hanging out at engineering meetups once a week - the average wage at these programs is almost universally in the $85k area, which sounds like a lot but is essentially entry level for the SF area.

The same applies to most online course material out there, which is geared towards beginners.

[jayrobin]

You sound like you have a fair amount of knowledge on the subject so I'd be massively appreciative if you could give me any advice...

I'm planning to move from the UK to the States next year (American wife, so hopefully shouldn't be too much hassle) and combine it with a career change from project manager (please don't hate me!) to developer. I have a CS degree and similar Masters, but coding has been primarily a hobby since I graduated (i.e. I can make pretty much what I can think of given enough time, but I'm shaky on the core concepts: big-oh, data structures, design patterns and algorithms).

My plan was basically to (re)learn as much as I can between now and early-mid next year (focusing on RoR) and build up my GH portfolio, then jump into Dev Bootcamp to fill in the gaps and get some introductions hopefully leading into a job. However, after reading your comment it makes me wonder if it'd be $12k wasted?

Any advice or input would be worth at least a pint!

[argonaut]

Without knowing the extent of your coding experience and the extent to which your CS degree taught you the fundamentals, it's difficult to tell.

Some thoughts:

1. Dev Bootcamp in specific seems to be geared to beginners. Which is great for a beginner but not so great for someone with even some experience.

2. I've sat in on some of these programs, and even in programs that bill themselves as faster-paced the majority of students will be beginners. Which means that to a certain extent many things will have to be geared towards the lowest common denominator and a lot of time will be spent going over things that you already grasp well, while comparatively less time will be spent going over more complex topics.

3. The programs do help with introductions and they do a lot of heavy legwork in reaching out to employers. However, at the same time, the process of getting a job is, as I imagine (I have no personal experience with getting a job through this process), very much like a career fair type affair. I doubt the introductions will be the kind of quality/personal introductions that provide an advantage in applying. The introductions alone are nearly certainly not worth $12k+.

4. I think that as long as you have a marketable core skill (iOS, Android, Rails, Django, frontend JS, backend JS, etc), you should be able to attain the same job connections by attending engineering meetups and events in SF.

[jayrobin]

Many thanks for the input, mate - I very much appreciate it. It's extremely helpful getting a more objective viewpoint on bootcamps, since the majority of information out there is from alumni and will always be positive.

My degree was faiyly comprehensive, it's just that since I graduated I have become pretty rusty on the fundamentals, but I guess that's something that should come back to me with a bit of revision.

I guess my main worry was the difficulty of finding a job in a new country with no prior connections and no real professional experience, but I guess I've got around a year to make myself marketable and attempt to build up a few connections from across the pond (maybe I can find a few Rails OS projects willing to take on an eager learner).

Thanks again!

[argonaut]

Yes. And maybe even consider saving some money and then coming over to Silicon Valley for a period of time in order to network and get job introductions by attending meetups and such. SF is the place to be for networking (at least for small-medium-large sized startups), but it is VERY expensive. The networking opportunities in Palo Alto/Mountain View are comparatively fewer. If you do make the decision to move over to SV, be sure to post an Ask HN about recommendations as to where the best and most affordable places to live in SV are.