u/JustSomeRandomRamen wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Oh, don't get me started. The gig is up. Yep, coding bootcamps are done for. Yes, the market is over saturated AND yes, AI is replacing many white-collar entry level jobs - including (truly) junior devs. 1000s of applicants for 1 role at AnyCompanyHere is crazy enough. Yep, w
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited ★ FEATURED
Tell Codesmith leaders this. Every frickin day I see posts on my LinkedIn grasping at every possible straw, any possible value prop that will stick with people:
(Paraphrasing actual daily posts):
\- AI generated images for Rubber ducks/"array functions in javascript", etc...
\- Do this free course you might even get a job without paying anything!
\- People lie that you need a CS degree! Tech is for everyone!
\- We are a program for people with 10 years of experience! If you have a CS degree we're for you!
\- This is how you do a FOR...LOOP, if you want more come to Codesmith!
\- Do our free courses like "your first webpage!"
\- AI is scaring engineers, but if you are an experienced engineer who wants to learn AI with 10 years of experience, Codesmith is for you!
\- Here's an alumni video clip from 3 years ago saying something random!
\- Here's an alumni making $150K from IT support to engineering!
\- Coding is hard, you need a community!
\- It's tough out there but you could be next, the best time to start is yesterday!
I've been learning a lot about cults recently and it's insane how much - in my opinion - the strategies Codesmith uses to recruit people are almost EXACTLY like what cults and MLMs and such do in my opinion learning about this stuff.
\- Lots of free events full of nice people to hook people in
\- Being brought into the 'family' via your friend
\- Preying on people's lack of self confidence ("overcoming imposter syndrome" is mentioned constantly in the marketing and the program)
\- Normalizing private behaviors (the "Power Clap", the "OSP is so intense it's the same as 4 months of experience")
\- Internally people are the nicest people to each other but externally they defend the community viciously against 'attackers'.
Cults are religious, so this isn't a religious cult, but in my opinion, a lot of the characteristics overlap with the things other people call cults.
These things also apply to a lot of things. People call a lot of FAANG company's cultures 'cult-like' too. So this isn't a negative/mean/scary thing, it's just about acknowledging how it works.
I don't think Codesmith leaders even realize this. All these amazing things and the way Codesmith leaders talk about Codesmith are also the positive things about things people call cults.