Here are my thoughts on "bootcamps".
Unlike, say, surgery, not all computer work is doctorate-level. Of course, plenty is.
One needn't have a bachelor's to start. I certainly didn't when I was a kid futzing with an Amiga 500. It was me, the computer, and a book.
1/X
Unlike, say, surgery, not all computer work is doctorate-level. Of course, plenty is.
One needn't have a bachelor's to start. I certainly didn't when I was a kid futzing with an Amiga 500. It was me, the computer, and a book.
1/X
Look at any legitimate software project team. It's always varied abilities. Senior engineers and "architects" guide the work of the more junior "individual contributors". This is what I do at work all day -- half coding, half guiding.
2/X
2/X
A "10x" engineer is a horribly individualist, Randian concept, but there are engineers that produce great value through mentorship and team management. It's a valuable, hard-to-teach skill.
3/X
3/X
But squint, and this ends up looking like an apprenticeship model. And you know what? Doctors don't come out of med school doing brain surgery.
The do a "residency" -- highly supervised practice. a.k.a. an apprenticeship.
The do a "residency" -- highly supervised practice. a.k.a. an apprenticeship.
I of course worry about predatory for-profit bootcamps that offer low-quality instruction, waving a carrot of a tech salary to draw tuition money, and I resent the idea that learning to write code doesn't require serious hard work.
5/X
5/X
But there are legit programs, increasingly offered by legit institutions (my local UC Berkeley for example) that can't teach you enough to get going and land a position. And once you're in the door, you don't stop learning. You literally can't.
6/X
6/X
And so if we're going to embrace creative destruction and a dynamic, adaptive economy, the availability of training for people who are not 18-y/o HS graduates is essential.
7/X
7/X
I know plenty of folks in tech, many in high places, whose degrees have little to do with computer science. What their educational background taught them was *how* to learn, which is frankly as or more valuable.
8/8
8/8
(and I know a few folks with no degrees. I have nothing but respect for their autodidactic achievements)
Thanks for reading. We'll be back to our regular dumb puns shortly.
The aforementioned book that got me into this mess 
