Yeah lawyers are involved and my stance is incredibly strong.
Do you know about Codesmith's investor lawsuit in 2024-2025? There are claims of millions of dollars of unauthorized transfers there (which are allegations and not proven). Maybe that has some kind of impact on them.
If you think I'm one sided on here you would be better off chatting with me to try to understand more.
The biggest impact I had was encouraging people one on one to go to Codesmith, Rithm, Launch School and others when the time was right.
That's like saying when cars came out they didn't have the torque to drive off road and you always need horses for that kind of terrain. Sure for some period of time for some cases.
Exactly, you are using it wrong if that's the case.
People don't just ask a 3rd tier LLM to do something and sit there and wait for CSS.
They are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in LLM tokens running top shelf models in complex ways to generate quality code and it costs less than their salaries to produce significantly more output.
Things have changed in the past 3 months FAANG friends who have never wanted to use AI now don't write code anymore.
The bleeding edge in public is saying the same thing.
If you are writing code by hand you have a skill issue with AI you need to fix.
All past computer revolutions have resulted in code writing easier and more accessible. PCs, Internet, mobile, etc...
Now, engineers won't be writing code anymore at all.
We will be building stuff though, so the job will exist but with the rug pulled out from under you.... many will topple.
What did you do before this? My advice is to try to go back to your old career and apply programming and AI so you can crush it and stand out and over time steer your job towards more and more programming.
The Extinction (or Execution?) of The Junior Engineer - from your friendly neighborhood former moderator
Hi all, it saddens me the sub that I put 4 years of my time into providing honest and from the heart advice in is dying. Coding bootcamps have been dead for months now. Codesmith's GitHub repos look like a ghost town. Launch Academy never came back from their 'pause'.
So I started written very thoughtful essays about what's going on and this one is particularly relevant:
[https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/the-extinction-of-the-junior-engineer](https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/the-extinction-of-the-junior-engineer)
**SUMMARY:**
* Entry-level software roles are disappearing because the “training work” (simple, bounded tasks) is increasingly automated or absorbed by senior engineers using AI, reducing the need to hire juniors.
* Employers now prioritize “judgment” (real-world…
If that's the case then why do they show giant $110,000! 90% placement! on their homepages if you are supposed to know going in that you would have to "way more than the lessons" on your own.
I absolutely agree on accountbility, but I'm more centrist. Both people should not expect a golden ticket AND bootcamps shouldn't promise one.
Literally one of the top bootcamps was telling people end of 2025 to not listen to the negative noise and that you can be next... like wtf.
Many bootcamp grads don't know how to interview and go off what their instructors say who haven't worked in the industry themselves and who are confidently telling them what the company tells them to say.
I've seen some brainwashed-like graduates who would defend their bootcamp to the bitter end because they trusted them so much.... until they worked for a few years and realized how full of shit the advice was.
I remember back when you were looking for bootcamps a few years ago, I think we had some convos but I don't remember.
Sad to see it didn't work out regardless of which program it was.
I do think Triple Ten likely has a very low completion rate considering that its peers that are self paced and self taught that have public data show very low completion rates.
If instead of sending that message you did, the bootcamp is delusional and makes you feel like they did prepare you though then it's the bootcamps fault for not adequately preparing you for the market.
If the statement is "we get the ball rolling for $22,500, but you actually have to spend another year working your ass off to actually be ready for interviews" I don't think anyone would sign up. And I think people are starting to get the message and even bootcamps like the "#1 bootcamp according to Forbes Advisor" have been delaying cohorts and having almost no signs of life anymore (e.g. GitHub projects showing almost no students there)
I'm curious why you went to the bootcamp to begin with? Like what aspects made you join.
I've been saying this for literally years on here but no matter what a bootcamp says about preparing you for interviews I just haven't seen one that actually does at the level needed. Some try really hard and they delusionally think they do, but they just don't.
I work with people to prepare them for interviews and it takes months of dedicated practice just to prepare for the interviews alone. A couple of weeks and some mock interviews from recent graduates is laughably incomplete. Just a note that we don't work with people with less than 2 years of work experience post bootcamp now so I'm making a point and not selling anything.
Codesmith also had an investor lawsuit to deal with in 2024-2025 that I have kept quiet about and cannot comment on the consequences of but just that people should look into it and decide if they think it impacted things.
This conversation led me to wrapping up my essay on this topic at a bit of a higher altitude but anyways... [https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/ai-is-about-to-reveal-that-most-of](https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/ai-is-about-to-reveal-that-most-of)
Studies don't mean anything when newer models that change the game come out every two months.
I'm pretty in the middle on this, I agree on the expansion, I disagree on the skills that will be needed.
I think that AI has changed the nature of programming so much that it will not be the same going forward, and the "expansion" will be a titanic shift of ALL WALKS OF LIFE towards more technical skills to 'develop', 'configure', 'manage' these AI tools, where the engineering work is for the building building the underlying frameworks.
I don't think this is a bad thing for learning to program, programming skills (or at least the thinking skills behind the code) might become table stakes for a lot of jobs that currently aren't considering 'engineering' roles.
Engineering might eat the world, not software.
I can give me personal opinion on this comment only that is unrelated and not an statement regarding Codesmith and or its leadership.
I hate others say "this time is different" but I feel like that's the case...
If an engineer produces 10X the raw output (and potentially more) for the same salary, then even in a world where there is demand for the skill of programming, we might just not need as many.
Like if the productivity output is so much higher, I think it can be enough to both see an expansion of the need for code-writers but not a need for many more engineers.
Maybe 50% of the engineers we have now can write all the code humanity needs, and the others need to do a new job.
I can't give my opinions on him but I can share opinions in summarizing the podcast that the overall discussion doesn't propose any concrete solutions or have any concrete examples. It's mostly him talking about himself and the host talking about himself and extrapolating to high level opinions about the industry.
One of the points the founder makes against this is that new people to the industry were effectively being paid to learn and develop tacit knowledge and eventually they do and are a valuable engineer. And he is concerned that with AI there will be no reason for a company to hire someone in those early phases because the math doesn't add up anymore (AI replaces all of their value for $100 a month instead of $10K a month). I believe he mentions he thinks the government needs to step.
It is, but as someone pointed out, I'm good at managing waste, and that include the garbage that gets thrown my way from being a one-account-non-anonymous person on here
Haha I'm not that knowledgable. I just watch a lot of documentaries and this was an interesting topic that impacted a lot of municipalities across not just SF, CA, the USA but like the whole world.
I mean head over to Berkeley and they have like 5 bins so there is definitely additional sorting going on but what happens to the plastic is beyond my pay grade.
Ever since China’s "National Sword" policy effectively banned contaminated recycling, San Francisco has prioritized keeping the blue bin pristine by diverting all food-soiled paper to the green bin. Because grease and food residue ruin the chemical process of paper recycling, the city requires items like napkins, paper plates, and even pizza boxes to go into the compost instead. This ensures our recycling is "clean" enough to actually be sold on the global market rather than ending up in a landfill.
So most of the things going to compost may not be compostable in the back yard but it's better for them then putting it in the recycling.
Codesmith Founder on becoming a SWE in the world of AI: "I don't know what the route is to that level [of tacit knowledge] for people not already in the system".
Codesmith Founder on becoming a SWE in the world of AI: "I don't know what the route is to that level [of tacit knowledge] for people not already in the system".
Source Podcast (March 12th, 2026): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eggWeDjCFdA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eggWeDjCFdA)
I’m currently researching a 2024 lawsuit involving Codesmith and its investors, so I’m not sharing opinions on Codesmith right now.
Other direct quotes from the discussion:
“domain knowledge is built by experience”
“if more of the programmatic building is done by AI, how do you build the tacit knowledge?what's the route in for people”
Anthropic's research indicates AI is indeed replacing human programmers already and likely will replace far more soon: [https://www.anthropic.com/research/labor-market-impacts](https://www.anthropic.com/research/labor-market-impacts)
Codesmith's blog and Bloomtech's blog are marketing blogs and not a source of fact. Anthropic's research is academic research.
Anthropic's research indicates AI is indeed replacing human programmers already and likely will replace far more soon: [https://www.anthropic.com/research/labor-market-impacts](https://www.anthropic.com/research/labor-market-impacts)
Well you aren't alone and while it could also be a you thing its definitely every bootcamp grad thing.
Can you share a bit more your background before the bootcamp? Why you signed up/what your plan was?
My general advice is to try to find any job at a tech company, and ideally a tech company in the same space as your past retail experience or in retail.
I'm seeing more people who got jobs calling them scams too though.
Once those people are in the industry for a few years their perspective changes and they realize that their instructor that confidently told them everything about getting jobs, really had minimal experience themselves and while good intentioned just didn't have the expertise you thought they did at the time.
Crossposting this viral post about bootcamps. While the post is negative there's more discussion about bootcamps in the comments than this sub has had in all of 2026 IMO.
I think the last statement about bootcamps and CS grads needs more explanation and curious about your views on junior vs senior.
I'm seeing people left right and center that are not using AI getting eaten by AI, or people without any taste and judgment from experience just not getting hired to begin with.
This to me is going to upend the entire career path for engineers.
As you stated, processes become similar, do far more with far less. We could produce 100X the amount of software with 1/10th the engineers.
I have to disclose bias because my company works with engineers later in their careers to help prepare for interviews and about 1/4 of people were bootcamp grads in the past.
But I'm very curious how you even came up with the idea of going to App Academy because they sold their brand to Coding Temple and it's their course now as of about a year ago, so anything you heard about App Academy before then is completely irrelevant.
If you are asking if you should go to a bootcamp in general, there are a very small number of people who have industry experience that go to bootcamps and my opinion is that placement depends more on you than the bootcamp. Meaning the people that get placed didn't need the bootcamp, they needed a self confidence boost that the bootcamp gave them... like doing a 3 week project and framing it as 2 years of work to help get interviews and feeling confident in framing…
I have preliminary findings but I don't want to share anything unless it's a final draft for publication or peer review.
This is a current high level summary of initial research:
1. **Pandemic Boom and ZIRP Expansion (2020–2021)**
2. **Efficiency Correction and Hiring Contraction (2022–2024)**
3. **Junior–Senior Labor Market Bifurcation**
4. **Supply Expansion vs. Demand Retrenchment**
5. **Collapse of Outcomes Transparency (CIRR Decline)**
6. **Financial Distress and Corporate Restructuring**
7. **Regulatory Crackdown on ISAs**
8. **Generative AI Disruption and Skills Realignment**
9. **ROI Compression and Extended Job Searches**
10. **Future Outlook: Consolidation, B2B Pivot, and Specialization**
In my opinion, Codesmith’s leadership appears to have overestimated the impact of my Reddit comments and attributed broader market and business challenges to them.
Based on publicly visible engagement metrics, many of my comments receive relatively limited visibility, often dozens to low hundreds of views, and many are buried deep within long threads. By contrast, several negative posts about Codesmith written by individuals I do not know received tens of thousands of views. I had no involvement in those posts.
I cannot discuss all of the underlying information I have reviewed, but based on my assessment of publicly available data, industry trends, and the overall decline affecting many coding bootcamps, I believe the challenges facing Codesmith are primarily market-driven rather than caused by my commentary.
It is also my understanding that Reddit was discussed internally at Codesmit…
1. Both are good languages to learn the common programming concepts without too much language specific unique things that could distract. AI is making languages less relevant over time.
2. Either. JavaScript is used in all parts of the stack so I would choose it as my first language.If I was more on the data side/analytics and wanted to superpower my job I would do Python.
3. It always depends on you and your situation and I don't blank recommend a bootcamp for everyone. Heck even after all the crap I've been through with Codesmith, there are specific people for whom it could be a good fit still, and I would recommend it to people if it's the right choice for them. My main advice in 2026 is not read too much into past reviews and performance because most bootcamps have changed unrecognizably... whether notable staff changes or changing programs (where reviews apply to older programs),…
I'm working on a very comprehensive research paper about the bootcamp industry and the broader market from 2020 to present but it will take quite a while if I finish since it's not a priority.
But yeah there are a number of market factors, I generally agree with this but there are really like 4 factors that on their own could each kill the bootcamp industry that happened and it's why the sum of them has been the end of the industry. There are very few bootcamps that offer a SWE program now (that hasn't morphed into some kind of AI-related SWE thing)
For those following this discussion, I believe this exchange highlights the core disagreement.
You’ve stated publicly that you managed Codesmith’s finances and described the company during that period as a “clown show.” In the blog post, however, the only causes cited for Codesmith’s decline were Reddit activity and broader market conditions, with no reference to internal operational issues that we both were aware of at the time. That discrepancy is notable.
My Reddit activity has been undertaken in a personal capacity, reflecting my own views and opinions, as I have consistently stated for 4 years.
Given that, it is not possible to infer someone’s internal intent without direct evidence. Characterizing my conduct as a coordinated, bad-faith attack directed by executives or driven by improper motives is inaccurate and harmful to my reputation.
If there are specific factual statements…