How the fuck do I actually get my first job after a bootcamp? [probably doing codesmith] · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
This is a good one, it's an open source list: https://apprenticeships.me/
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Any Codesmith 2023 grads willing to have a virtual coffee chat? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
Yeah, I'm playing devil's advocate and I agree it's not THAT hard.
Practically speaking, people advertise their projects loud and clear, with their GitHubs and LinkedIns and you can grab all the contributors from os-labs repos and you can spend a few hours identifying all Codesmith alumni.
I did this like a year or two ago now - after noticing patterns in people applying for Formation - and audited 200-ish people and the vast majority had no signs of Codesmith on their profiles, had 6+ months of SWE experience at their "projects", and contributed 2-3 commits over 2-3 weeks to their projects. I dumped all the data somewhere but I have a ton of real work to do but someone who really wants to see how people do could reproduce this easily.
Honesty about CodeSmith / AMA · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
I totally respect where you are coming from here, I probably jumped too quickly on the "boogeymen of CodeSmith are, because they don't exist" as a common thing I hear from students who didn't work in the Codesmith inner circle of employees and I want to make sure that people here the truth here.
But I very much respect you sharing your personal points of view on Codesmith and thanks for doing the AMA.
Honesty about CodeSmith / AMA · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Rule one of an AMA is to prove your identity with a photo so people can know who they are talking to and interpret their answers in context. Source: I worked with Reddit to do a Reddit wide AMA and received their official materials about AMAs
Honesty about CodeSmith / AMA · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited ★ FEATURED
I comment on many of those threads and get notified for every post in this sub, and it sounds like you are super bias already at the start. I don't see many people selling other bootcamps on Codesmith posts or steering people away from it. I see a few one off comments, but it's not the core content on most posts.
In fact a very large number of alumni from Codesmith who do videos for them, are active here, and write reviews online with their names on them, actually WORK/WORKED AT CODESMITH AND ARE/WERE ON THE WEBSITE AS EMPLOYEES. Reddit is anonymous by default but it's not that anonymous when people give out a lot of information that identify who they are.
I have a following of hundreds of people now - many of whom respect my extremely thorough and balanced view of Codesmith - and many of whom end up going there because of my recommendation after talking to them - and I criticize certa…
Any Codesmith 2023 grads willing to have a virtual coffee chat? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Doesn't it feel a bit strange that someone who just wants to get in the industry, work hard, and go to the best bootcamp... has to figure out weird patterns used to obfuscate their experience just to find people who went to the bootcamp. It sounds like the start of a true crime documentary...
Any Codesmith 2023 grads willing to have a virtual coffee chat? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
It's very hard to find Codesmith alumni on LinkedIn. Check out the people listed here and see if you can tell in any way they went to Codesmith: [https://www.linkedin.com/company/kafka-nimbus/people/](https://www.linkedin.com/company/kafka-nimbus/people/)
Hack Reactor has close to zero integrity · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Thanks for sharing, that sounds really sad :(
I wish people realized that cheating isn't going to get you a job and is only going to slow you down.
Quality of Codesmith/ in general bootcamp job help? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited ★ FEATURED
I have some insight on this as an outsider that has worked with a few dozen Codesmith alumni later on in their careers or immediately after Codesmith.
This is going to be a polarizing comment thread for sure.
PROS:
- many alumni that get jobs credit Codesmith's job hunt support for helping them. they typically site: mock interviews, weekly office hours, their cohort mates emotional support making it feel less lonely, and Eric Kirsten's negotiation help giving them confidence to ask for $150K offers when they otherwise wouldn't
- compared to many other bootcamps - which hardly do anything post graduation, I think Codesmith does a lot more than most
- they give you "lifetime support", which means you can always go back and ask questions in the future, get resume reviews or even do peer mock interviews anytime in the future and some people have found that useful
- one of the most powerfu…
Lying about position on job title. · r/csMajors
u/michaelnovati replied ·
It depends on the company, but the background check company will typically produce a report. The report is checking that what you submitted to them matches what they can confirm with sources. Sometimes the source (i.e. your school or old company) won't reply and it will come back "unconfirmed". That doesn't mean you fail the check, but it will get flagged. Then someone in HR will review the report.
For most companies they are looking for red flags and major inaccuracies or falsehoods or a criminal record w/felonies.
If it was flagged then you would have to just explain, and if you aren't lying, but rather just using a different label for the job, then you'll likely be fine. If you were misleading them then they might rescind the offer.
So as with most things in life, "it depends"
Hack Reactor has close to zero integrity · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
I'm the co-founder of coaching platform and while it's not a bootcamp and everyone has a unique experience, we still collect feedback on every single thing people do, weekly feedback, everyone has a team of 3 staff members to give feedback to, and we even have fully anonymous/untraceable feedback mechanisms. And then even then, once in a blue moon, someone leaves and says they had a bad experience - when all their feedback on paper was positive (and there had been no anonymous feedback related to their complaint)
Sometimes it can be really hard to figure out what problems are if people don't communicate them clearly through the provided channels. You might assume they know because a lot of people are having a bad time, but maybe it's fewer people than it seems - and the people are not surfacing their complaints. Maybe it's not! I'm not making assumptions but it's important to know!
Hack Reactor has close to zero integrity · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Its 100% Hack Reactor's problem and that's why I think you should give Hack Reactor a chance to fix it.
Hack Reactor has close to zero integrity · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Have you raised these concerns and feedback to administration and what was their response? What you describe sounds really frustrating but it's also fair to let the administration try to explain what's going on.
Someone said in another thread that Hack Reactor has been going through "internal restructuring".
Lying about position on job title. · r/csMajors
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Every background check asks for it, but you have to supply it for the background check specifically and it's not pulled from your resume directly. So when you provide it for the background check - use the official/on-paper job title
SHARING A POST FROM CSCAREERQUESTIONS: What happened to the bootcamps? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited ★ FEATURED
Yeah, no one I talk to has ever heard of Codesmith - and it's why the OSLabs portrayal as work experience actually works at tricking people from companies that don't know any better. And when people I know see examples of resumes and LinkedIn, I haven't seen a single industry person that thinks the portrayal is okay.
But, as you said, no one cares - my friends have crazy impactful jobs to do, the recruiters are hiring super senior people and don't care that much about people tricking their way in on entry level that much.
I truly understand both sides of this and the only reason I talk about it so much is that the view that reflects how the industry feels about this is not represented well in this subreddit and instead people continuously tout their salary outcomes in a way that leads people who don't know any better down what might be the right or wrong path, but for the wrong reasons…
What happened to the bootcamps? · r/cscareerquestions
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
In no particular order these are generally good, but each is different and depends on you: Codesmith, Rithm School, Launch School Capstone, Hack Reactor, App Academy.
I wouldn't judge too hard from CIRR reports - they are useful to identify if a school is legit or not - in order to investigate further, but CIRR is a business league established by bootcamps and it's not a super well written specification - with little details that steer in favor of bootcamps.
Talking to recent alumni and figuring out which program day-to-day is a good fit for you is most important, and using data to identify which programs to investigate is step 1.
Lying about position on job title. · r/csMajors
u/michaelnovati replied ·
This is a good question and it depends on the job. The fact that you say 'lying' implies that it wasn't remotely a SWE job, BUUUUUT, dev ops roles can vary. Some companies have dev ops under engineering, some have it under IT, some have it as it's own department.
If you were a "dev ops engineer" on a team under the "Engineering" organization and your work involved a lot of software in the same codebases as a "typical SWE", then you can probably get away with putting "Software Engineer" on your resume.
If you were fairly isolated, never wrote code and just configured AWS/Google Cloud/Azure all day, then I probably wouldn't say "Software Engineer" on your resume because it misrepresents what you actually did.
It's generally ok if background checks have different job titles. When you fill out the info for the background check, you should use the official title, so their verification pro…
Has anyone used the bootcamps by edX through universities? How were they? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
They used to be called Trilogy but after this [WSJ article](https://www.wsj.com/articles/that-fancy-university-course-it-might-actually-come-from-an-education-company-11657126489) (if you aren't a subscriber you should find a way to read this because it's a well researched article about how the university bootcamps work) they rebranded them all as edX and the name Trilogy was like wiped from existence on their website (2U is the parent company).
There have been a lot of complaints to say the least about Trilogy, but you should do your research and read everything critically and decide for yourself if it's good for you or not.
What happened to the bootcamps? · r/cscareerquestions
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
Codesmith is pretty controversial in the industry outside of the bootcamp-bubble - not that it's bad, just that it's polarizing in both directions. [Reference for controversy (it's an old post but still an ongoing controversy)](https://www.reddit.com/r/TechLA/comments/b7xl98/codesmith_coding_bootcamp_scam_beware/)
I know their program extremely well and I usually recommend it for ambitious people who can commit 9am to 8pm weekdays + saturdays and who are typically successful already in another professional career.
But it's not a place for everyone who just wants to make $100K and thinks getting into Codesmith is the golden ticket. The people who don't get jobs often feel like they shouldn't have gone in the first place because it wasn't the right program for them.
SHARING A POST FROM CSCAREERQUESTIONS: What happened to the bootcamps? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati posted ·
SHARING A POST FROM CSCAREERQUESTIONS: What happened to the bootcamps?
What happened to the bootcamps? · r/cscareerquestions
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Commenting for distribution + 1 to this \^\^\^
bootcamps in 2023? · r/csMajors
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Bootcamps are struggling right now in 2023 because of the job market. Both because fewer people are enrolling, and because fewer people are getting jobs quickly versus 2022.
That said, if you've done three years of CS your are in better shape to get a good outcome with a bootcamp than people with no experience at all.
My advice would highly depend on which school you are going to and if you did any internships or volunteering.
If you can get a paid internship this summer to pay for your school - that would be my first recommendation either way.
Please help, will pay for legitimate advice on a call? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
Yeah the whole industry has this problem, and it's not Codesmith causing the entire thing. A very common pattern is people who have "3 years of self employed contracting" when they were just on Upwork and never even had a single contract. Or they did volunteer work that they call "contracting work".
I've seen everything under the sun and talk to my friends a lot about it.
The way most Codesmith alumni portray their experience though is by the one that triggers most people and makes then have a negative view of Codesmith. "scam", "liars", "no integrity" are words used.
The weakness in the approach is that all the code is public and anyone can read it - very few do - and those that do see how embarrassing it can be to portray those projects as months/1+ years of "experience".
You're right that it is what it is is, and the industry and the market will adjust.
It's why DS&A is preva…
Please help, will pay for legitimate advice on a call? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
I know a lot of people that make the choice to exaggerate their resumes, but they also understand that they are hurting all of their peers who are being honest. This is the reason why YOE requirements keep increasing and entry level jobs say "4 years of experience required". They are getting candidates from bootcamps who exaggerate their experience, e.g. "worked for 1 year at OSLabs" - with letters of reference - who largely don't pass interviews. The engineering hiring managers get upset at the recruiters for letting these people through who aren't qualified and the recruiters raise the YOE requirement on the job postings. Seen this with many companies, exact same pattern, and some of them just don't interview bootcamp grads anymore as a result.
It's a cycle that screws everyone else over but it's happening because plenty of people have "loosey goosey morals".
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Thanks for sharing. That’s definitely interesting, Bootcamp enrollment is indeed way down
Bloom institute coding bootcamp. · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
To add to what others said, 4 of the 9 executives on their website have departed in the past 5ish months and I think they are in a period of turnover.
They have been moving from a classic school model to a self service, self paced platform with much less human interaction and much less expectations (i.e. a huge drop-off rate) so I'm curious to see how this plays out.
Hello, Reddit, Excited to Introduce KlusterView · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited ★ FEATURED
This is a great example of how Codesmith's 4 week long OSP turns into what looks like a large project/company, fit with the website, logo, and it's posted all over the place.
I looked at the code and this is about 1 day of focused work for a really good senior engineer (the core project, not the marketing and write ups) and it is not mid-level or senior engineering work from 4 people for 4 weeks. Obviously the ideation, planning, and marketing take a lot longer when you don't have experience yet, as expected, so this is not a criticism of the people working on it, but a criticism that the project is at the equivalent of months of work at the mid to senior level, as their chief academic officer has stated (presented to me as notes from lecture from a student that though this was concerning)
This is one of the key ways that Codesmith grads, who choose to do so - not all, present themselv…
Where to go from here ? Coursera? Bootcamp ? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
It's one of the reasons bootcamps are counter-inclusivity the more intense they are. You have to be in good life circumstances and well supported to do this and if you have children, whole other story. It's why the most intense bootcamps have a lot of successful non-diverse male professionals.
The Javascript .forEach method - blog · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Passing in a function is subtly different "scope" then when a for loop is in the same scope as the parent context
In most cases you won't see much impact, but you can rig up some examples where it matters.
There is also for x of n that you can compare to too.
There are subtle performance implications of all of these that is a few levels more deep as well
Where to go from here ? Coursera? Bootcamp ? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
I don't have one answer for everybody.
1. I would consider a bootcamp if you have the time and finances to go all in, e.g. 12 hour days for 3-4 months (or part time where you have no free time outside of work and bootcamp). However, in this climate it's far from a sure bet that it will lead to a job quickly.
2. Consider lower-end apprenticeships/work to hire type programs
3. Do volunteering for non-profits like Hack4LA
This is an extensive set of resources from Vanessa Vun, who learned self-taught but by diligently participating in many different organizations: [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vanessas-tech-resources-faq-vanessa-vun](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vanessas-tech-resources-faq-vanessa-vun) (disclosure: while this resource has dozens of things, it does mention the program I co-founded Formation so I want to disclose to avoid it appearing self-promotion)
The Javascript .forEach method - blog · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Some followup ideas:
1. For loop vs a foreach and what the similarities differences are in super detail (i.e. the differences between passing a callback function and having an inline function
2. Async/await and order of operations inside a forEach
Where to go from here ? Coursera? Bootcamp ? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Don't do a bootcamp until you are committed to 100% changing careers. They are not the most effective way to learn and rather ways for people who already have self studied a lot to hyper focus on getting a job.
Would recommend more self paced platforms like Odin Project, Freedcodecamp and Launch School
Tech elevator · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Awesome, Niantic is a really cool company, congrats!
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Good point and I did know about that but forgot I'll edit to add that
So boot camps are dead? · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
OC is right for most people. It doesn't mean there aren't exceptions. I saw someone with zero experience, entirely self taught, no bootcamp, get an entry level full blown SWE job at FAANG-level company in fall 2022. That doesn't disprove every single person who says FAANG was frozen, FAANG had no entry level, FAANG doesn't hire people that proudly talk about having absolutely zero experience, and I almost never talk about this person because it's atypical.
Also why every post on here asking for people's personal outcome or salary and which bootcamp they went to are useless... if I talked about this person all over those would be misleading to others who are self taught, just like it's misleading to others to represent one outcome as the norm.
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited ★ FEATURED
Plus 1 to market improving. Something subtle you said is also something I'm seeing myself which is that newer members are getting jobs sometimes faster than people who started in H2 2022.
My theory is people who applied for jobs then basically had their resumes go into a black hole and ignored. And the people are so demoralized they aren't in a great place for chugging along. Whereas people applying fresh now have a better chance to get seen.
For CIRR companies (i.e. Codesmith) I'm seeing some people get placed post 6 months so they will be excluded from CIRR even though they got jobs, which is another thing that can make CIRR not align with perception.
BTW if you know why Codesmith's CIRR was restated, I'm dying to know, I thought they would publish an explanation because they are extremely proactive about defending Codesmith's stance on CIRR in their blogs.
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Good point, I just haven't worked with people who went there but they have lots of outcomes that I could use as data to add to my understanding of the market.
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
"Mentorship communities" might sounds more supportive, but I was thinking things like Interviewing.io, Taro, Plato
I work with a lot of bootcamp grads later on and many are "mentors" at their old bootcamps too, So I wasn't just talking about FAANG engineers but just bootcamp grads that want to give back are doing so - paid - as mentors in their old bootcamps or other bootcamps.
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Yeah there are all kinds of bootcamps out there! One thing to keep in mind is that the 12 week intense style bootcamps don't actually teach you much practically. It's more about the mera training of forcing you to learn how to debug and problem solve under pressure and these skills apply to everything.
But if your bootcamp is bad at teaching general skills then it won't be good for any job :(
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
Hi, so I can speak to changes we've made at Formation, which is not a bootcamp and was engineered to be dynamic and flexible, these are the things I remember in the past 6 months off the top of my head in the 3 mins I timeboxed to writing this:
1. Redid job hunt reference materials twice
2. Redid async resume review process so people can get reviews faster in general
3. Created 5 new group and mentor led session types around job hunting, networking, job hunt office hours, storytelling, and specially check-ins
4. Created dedicate peer referrals channel, which isn't working too well because of the market
5. Added dozens of industry recruiters for mock interviews and responses in chat
6. Created a book a recruiter call on demand flow self service on our platform for people in interviews
7. Added on platform referral request flows for people who are a good match for companies to request re…
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Should be mid to end of September for CIRR
How could you make it to the top of the top 1% · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
If you defining 1% by money - and you are talking about tech - you have to start a company or be early at a company, where your $100K of stock turns into $10M of stock. People who make top 0.1% money in tech reliably are people who are already in that bucket.
People who start companies mostly fail though because they aren't qualified and have a random idea and cross their fingers for luck. So most successful companies (in number, not cash outcome) are people who have been in tech already and were maybe not top 0.1% but were say top 10% for a while.
So that brings you to the "join company early and get lucky" bucket. If you want to do that, look for Series A through Series C companies that are worth under $1B that have product market fit, revenue, and a strong leadership team, and a feeling like they can be an Uber, AirBnB, sized company.
It's easier said then done because these ofte…
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
Sorry I don't :(. I work/have worked with hundreds of bootcamp grads later on in their careers and most come from Codesmith, Hack Reactor, Rithm, Fullstack Academy, General Assembly, Hackbright, and some other ones that are escaping my memory, but not Coding Temple. There are a surprisingly large number of Codesmith STAFF, students and alumni on here who have over time contacted me as a well which gives me a lot of insight into their program more than any other.
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati posted · · edited ★ FEATURED
UPDATE: 2023 Predictions check-in and updates!
Hi all, it's halfway through 2023 and I wanted to quickly revisit my predictions from this post to give some updates based on how the industry is doing: [https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/1226i27/bootcamp\_predictions\_for\_the\_rest\_of\_2023/](https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/1226i27/bootcamp_predictions_for_the_rest_of_2023/)
# New: What's left for 2023?
The main thing I want to add is that outcomes for H2 2022 are going to go off a cliff. At first when we saw H1 2022 CIRR results come out they were better than expected, however Codesmith restated their numbers after audit and they were notably lower than originally posted for placement rates and high end salaries ([https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/14341x7/codesmiths\_newly\_posted\_audited\_version\_of\_their/](https://www.reddit.com/r/co…
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited ★ FEATURED
It doesn't sound like you are making the most of your experience and using the resources available and it's our fault if you aren't making the best use of them or aware of all of your options so I really want to make sure you have all the support you are looking for. The premise of Formation is that there are tens of thousands of hours worth of free content out there and you are paying us because we consistently help people get to a top tier skill level efficiently and without having to think what to do all the time. We don't think you should pay a lot of money for content alone. So again, you should talk to someone internally about how sessions can be better. We can make all kinds of adjustments. You are paying for the engineers who built a highly adaptable system and to have a team of three full time support people in your dedicated channel and for check-ins and if you aren't communica…
Build a Dev, April 2023 Cohort - Review so far! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
/u/newGuyCoding do you have any updates on how it went? My understanding is the program shutdown again :(
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
If you're already in Formation, ping me internally! I can give you more qualitative estimates based on other people with similar backgrounds right now. Like since the end of 2022, people with no experience are taking a lot longer to place at top companies, but are getting jobs are less strong companies. People with a few years experience have started getting FAANG-level offers in the past monthish, and even earlier to today, but overall are taking longer because of the lull in late 2022/early 2023. So it's really a personal conversation I'm happy to have based on your specific goals and background.
If the real timeframes don't align you have a team of people who are around to help you figure out what kinds of changes you can make to accelerate based on new company goals, or to help you get motivated, or to help figure out what's not working. The more you give the more you get at Formati…
u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
Thanks for sharing thoughts!
Placement times range from 3 weeks to 18 months and counting.
One of the main reasons we don't publish time to placement data right now is because people don't understand what Formation "is" yet and we don't want people to look at numbers that would compare us to a bootcamp or even our competitors, like Interview Kickstart, Outco, Pathrise, Coachable, Scaler (all of which don't publish much data).
Your program is truly unique to you, the person who is still here after 18 months has done hundreds of sessions, almost a thousand tasks, a few dozen mock interviews, and keeps chugging along. Some people even do contracts and part time jobs and ramp down Formation and then ramp back up again when the contract ends (I can't comment on specific people, but it might contribute to the people who have been here longer).
I completely agree that someone looking at Fo…
Build A Dev upcoming cohort - $1 for verification · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied ·
Yeah thanks for sharing the details! Was the instructor one of the founders Wei or Hussam or was it someone else?
Do you have any evidence there were other cohorts? If one of the founders was running your cohort, who was running the other ones at the exact same time?
That sounds like a lot of drama for 5 people yeah and it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't let you join another cohort if they had them - if it's a year long program this early into the program.....
Build a Dev, April 2023 Cohort - Review so far! · r/codingbootcamp
u/michaelnovati replied · DELETED · archived copy
Anyone reading this for posterity. Build A Dev cancelled the cohort after two months and the instructor was not showing up for sessions and many people dropped out.
I'm posting this because Reddit is Reddit and people can say whatever they want with whatever tone they want and no matter how confident someone is it doesn't mean they are right.
Check your sources and think critically about everything you read, including my posts.
P.S. If something is free and you are going to change your life and make plans around it, please be careful and figure out what the catch is.