Bootcamp shaming

I have a general engineering degree and was mostly self taught in terms of web development. I did do dozens of computer science fundamental "academic" courses though, and I did internships in schools. I don't represent all CS grads, nor do I represent bootcamp grads, but just by 2 cents opinion... When you spend 4 years doing a few dozens computer science courses, internships, compete tooth and nail for top tier tech jobs out of college, etc... it feels unbelievable that someone with no programming experience can get the same job, or as Codesmith claims "mid level and senior" jobs, after 12 to 16 weeks of bootcamp. And it's not unfounded. It's just impossible to cover the same breadth a top tier CS degree does and if you have some internships under your belt that's even more of a gap. My peers find it super offensive a bootcamp grad with zero experience wants them to refer them as a "senior engineer" at a FAANG company and it makes them think the bootcamps have no idea what they are talking about. My friends review resumes of people with no experience who represent their bootcamps as 1+ years of work experience, it makes them feel like the whole bootcamp industry is broken. I'm way more familiar with the bootcamp industry then my friends and I see all sides of this and don't entirely agree with that, but I do understand where they are coming from. I see incredible bootcamp grads get incredible jobs and do very well, and I see many struggle and feel like they wasted their money. I don't like putting CS vs bootcamps because there are infinite types of CS degrees and infinite types of bootcamps.

In Canada, community colleges are one of the best ways to get great jobs. Disney Animation has a partnership with Sheridan College that has resulted in dozens of placements. It's faster, practical, and people get jobs via apprenticeships and internships. At the same time, the top academic people go to universities and are steered more towards academia than industry. Most end up in industry anyways, but I was pushed super hard to do my PhD and going to industry was considered a second best outcome. Different things for different people and just like bootcamps, you want to go on the right path for the right reasons.

Without coming across one side or the other, this is a terrible attitude that makes the problem worse. You absolutely don't need these courses to get a job, but if you mock these courses as useless experiences then you have a major blind spot about computer science that will hold you back. Getting a $150K job out of Codesmith doesn't make you better than all those CS grads who struggle to get $65K jobs. Circumstances matter. While you all polarize the debate, I'm going to be working on the understanding the nuances and hopefully moving the industry forward.

I think there is another option, which is start faster and expect to learn over your lifetime. I co-founded a platform that helps people in their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, job transitions so I want to disclose bias and I'm not mentioning this to advertise. If people can get a foot in the door job quickly, say about 1 year of prep/bootcamp/community college, then there is a viable path to keep leveling up over your career not through just learning on the job, but through paid, focused mentorship and training that you you return too throughout your career. We work with a number of bootcamp grads in their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, job transitions, and they absolutely have fundamental gaps in general, but we very consistently help people fill in some of those gaps in 3 to 8 months so that they can level up their jobs. We have competitors but not many, and it's early days for where this type of thinking might go, but I do think it's another model to throw in the ring.