u/michaelnovati replied · · edited
(I don't have time to write all my thoughts, but starting a comment and will edit throughout the day)
RE: ISAs. It's more complicated because of the way ISAs are financed, but I generally agree. The newest wave of ISAs have time limits after which you have to start repaying (.... only if you currently have a job) which makes the math different, so I wouldn't say to avoid them all together, but I would say to question the solvency of the company you are working with and each one is different.
RE: Quality. Not all VC backed companies need to grow like a hockey stick, but most do yeah and their investors can execute control to push for that. But not ALL, if the bootcamp has investors, ask questions about who they are and why they invested. I don't work for a bootcamp, but we do mentorship and job hunt support and we raised funding from Kapor Capital - which is a super mission driven VC that supports our mission as well.
RE: Reviews. Yeah so many games. Like the number of reviews are like hundreds on one site and zero on another and clearly students are directed to one place or another. Course Report does have sponsorships for their videos. I have also reported a few "reviews" that had names on them and the people worked at the program itself part time without disclosing it and they decided to keep them up.
RE: FAANG engineers. Our mentorship program actually has dozens of FAANG-level senior mentors and they don't teach - exactly for the reasons you said - they instead either do mock interviews, or collaborative problem solve with Fellows to show how they think about problems. I think that more senior and mission driven FAANG engineers do a better job with the "attitude" than more junior ones looking to boost their resume or for side income.
RE: Bootcamps = Scam. Agree.
RE: Outcomes. Agree that people claiming fraud are likely incorrect and the issues are more manipulative and subtle within the standards themselves.