I find a lot of polarization from graduates I chat with. Some good advice for anyone you talk to about any bootcamp is to dig into the HOW and not just the superficial.
There was a Codesmith grad last week that wrote a comment 'I graduated and it changed my life'... that was it, and it got 40 upvoted in a day on a 2 month old dead post that 3 upvotes.
That's fantastic, and it has changed hundreds of people's live, over a thousand! But HOW did it change them is key because what worked for them might not work for you too and you have to get into the details.
1. What kind of background did they have before?
2. Can you see their resume that finally worked?
3. How long have they kept their job for and how did Codesmith prepare them for the job and what do they wish Codesmith had prepared them for? (Codesmith says every single info session I've seen that 100% of grads get promotions within 5 years and it's a completely flawed stat and their CEO didn't understand how it's calculated when someone in the audience asked him about it). It's based on "This report surveyed 108 Codesmith Alumni who completed the Software Engineering Immersive between 2016 - 2020. Responses were collected between December 27, 2021 and February 28, 2022" [link](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SOX7RMGlb_ynUaWfNCTKGQ7QOd5u4e_e9-VwmMvVBjg/edit#heading=h.qmquwfv8r4go). So out of 3500 alumni the 108 that chose to reply to a survey who had anywhere from 1 to 4 years of experience said they got a raise.
4. How much programming experience did they have before Codesmith?
u/No-Isopod5028 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Went through Codesmith as well and can confidently say, people are NOT mid/senior level once they're done. Many not even junior level material.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Can you elaborate on why in your opinion? I have super strong opinions but I just want to hear in your words, because Codesmith is very aggressive about producing "mid level and senior" engineers.
u/smells_serious wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Not much to say about it really. They seemed legit and a good fit to me based on the research I did. Couldn't find a bad word about them, so I went thinking it was a good fit. Turned out it was a terrible fit and the org pumps you full of confidence without much accountability. F
u/michaelnovatireplied·★ FEATURED
\+1 to "It is 100% not "imposter syndrome" when you don't know what you're doing."
Hit the nail on the head there. Sometimes people just don't know things and it's not imposter syndrome haha and with engineering it's often a little of both: you don't realize what you do understand and you have no clue what you don't understand, and you need to figure out how to get by.
u/smells_serious wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I just went to an alumni standup meeting. One alumni has an offer on the table for a first job ($70kish). He even admitted to "stretching" his experience and making up stories during interviews. He's debating whether to take it, and is actively being told to hold out for somethin
u/michaelnovatireplied·
What did people from Codesmith say with regard to lying about the past experience and making up stories?