Coding Bootcamps. Worth it? Your opinions welcomed...

InigoMontoya
Tue, 19 Apr 2016 23:56:11 +0000

@sibma9 - I am not the one giving advice about algorithm performance. I hire many people without degrees. My advice is to go through a couple of month certification program at a state U to get the education required to get a job with a smaller company willing to take a chance on folks without degrees. I work for a web development company (see my post #55) and my latest front end hires include a former nurse who went through a 6-month program at NC State and someone else with an associate’s from a community college. I do have some experience in what I am talking about.

And your second paragraph pretty much reiterates what I stated - that CS people tend to go back end, and front end developers often come from art or graphics backgrounds.

Not really sure why you called me out here.

@csuniv - I do agree with one thing @simba9 says, and that is you need to start from one direction or the other. Very few people are truly successful at both. Maybe try taking some online courses and see which appeals to you - one will likely feel more natural than the other. Folks who can do both are very marketable, but that’s because few people have strengths in both these areas. Oddly enough, the developer I know that is the best I’ve seen in both has not yet finished his biology degree, but we hired him as a Java developer and he just turned out to have a knack for front end as well.

Also - be prepared for it to take some time to find a job as a full-time employee. You may need to work as an intern, or on a 90 day contract to hire, or even as a contractor or doing staff augmentation through a placement company, to have a chance to prove to an employer that you have potential. Those kind of arrangements are pretty common in small companies when hiring junior level employees. “Try before you buy” is what it’s called.