Uhhhhh.... BloomTech launched "Gauntlet AI" - free 12 week bootcamp, paid to live in Austin, TX, 100 hours a week, guaranteed $200K job if you finish??? Popcorn ready.
Uhhhhh.... BloomTech launched "Gauntlet AI" - free 12 week bootcamp, paid to live in Austin, TX, 100 hours a week, guaranteed $200K job if you finish??? Popcorn ready.
SOURCE: [https://www.gauntletai.com/](https://www.gauntletai.com/)
>Gauntlet AI is an extremely intensive 12-week AI training to turn engineers into the most sought-after builders and entrepreneurs on the planet.
4 weeks remote, 8 weeks all-expenses-paid in Austin, Texas. 80-100 hours/week.
Participation is 100% free.
**Anyone who completes The Gauntlet receives an automatic $200k/yr job as an AI Engineer in Austin, TX**.
The next cohort starts January 6, 2025
What do people think?
Sounds like they might not have learned their lessons from Lambda School's marketing as these are some BOLD claims.
u/dowcet wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
And then you're indentured to continue working 80-100 hours/week for how many years? No details about the curriculum either?
u/michaelnovatireplied·
I feel like they intentionally made it look like a scam to get attention? I'm so confused haha
u/Fickle-Activity5166 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Just got accepted. Should I do it????
u/michaelnovatireplied·
If you don't have another job currently I would do it. It's only 12 weeks and there's nothing to lose. If you currently have a job that you would have to quit to do it, I would ask far more questions about how it works to know the likelyhood of getting a $200K job AND keeping it for 1+ years.
u/swekage wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I'm currently in the program. I'm not a new engineer. I have almost a decade of experience as a SWE and worked at Fortune 500 companies, startups, and my last job was at a FAANG as a frontend lead.
I was skeptical too. But from what I can see so far, this is not a scam. They rea
u/michaelnovatireplied·
That sounds reasonable, I've been following along and the program itself seems real yeah.
The thing I'm skeptical of is
1. Austen isn't qualified to evaluate code and I'm pretty skeptical of his tweets, but that doesn't have anything to do with the program itself day to day.
2. I'm SUPER skeptical a company will hire all grads that survive The Guantlet, no questions asked. Like some companies have contractual obligations to run background checks, and I know if I was working at a company and the company hired 50 people without doing behavioral interviews for working style alignment, I would be REALLY concerned internally.
But I think the program seems very effective to identify for, select, and weed out an interesting group of people.
Do you have a sense of how many people are left as it comes ot an end??
u/swekage wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
1. haha, so I would say Austen is actually more technical than his tweets make him seem. He might not be coding all the time but he understands everything at a high level at least, like I remember him talking to someone about the security of firebase's cloud functions when we wer
u/michaelnovatireplied·
He has never written production code at a top tier company so I don't consider him qualified. But I think he's smart enough to know a little bit about everything and pick up concepts for sure.
He's certainly sharp... in their lawsuit with Lambda Labs, Lambda School bought this company in Florida called Red Lambda that had a Lambda trademark prior to Lambda Labs to defend themselves, and I really think Austen has some kind of grit and hustle that is unmatched (and I mean this in an objective way, not saying if that's good or bad).
The biggest mistake people make is not believing people can change or grow, so I don't hold anything in Austen's past against him at all and I can do that while also feeling bad for and wanting to support anyone who feels like they were mislead by Lambda School... it can be both haha.
Anyways, I'm really curious. Like the shift from promoting diversity to 'let's extra a super smart interesting group of high IQ people' - which judging purely from photos, seem to be a very male dominant bunch - is certainly super fascinating to me and again without judging good or bad, it's just a unique experiment to learn from!
u/Infatuation79 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Same. That’s how I ended up here lol
u/michaelnovatireplied·
You got their email without applying at all? That is sus but their founder is known for being a sketchy marketer type person. I actually think Gauntlet can work well if you have a high enough IQ to pass the test and then work 120 hours a week It's like a golden ticket if you are one of those people and currently make under $200K. The founder though has historically been super sketchy (Lambda School). I don't hold grudges because people change and have to be open minded.
u/Infatuation79 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I did apply a few months ago. It’s for the second cohort.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
That makes sense then. It's legit if you pass the IQ test and what to work 120 hours a week. I stand by that and it's a shortcut if that's you
u/LividAirline3774 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Did you ever learn more about this program? Curious if the last cohort ended up getting burned or not.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
The fine print secret sauce is that you have to be high IQ to pass the first test and then you have to work 120 hour weeks for 12 weeks to show you have drive.
If you do that, it's indeed free with no strings attached and you get a good job - that parts not a scam.
The reason it works is of the selection filter. It's not magic and it's not a scam.
u/iesous-kurios wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Do you receive any hourly pay for putting in the 80+ hrs per week, any sort of income for the remote and/or in person besides the room and board? If it doesn't pay any sort of salary I can't see how they can have people give up nearly 3 months of all income for this.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
This is the Achilles heal of the program.
They want experienced engineers this time around but if you work that hard you probably already have a job paying more than you'll get paid after Gauntlet.
I watched their entire live 1 hour vibe code competition and lets just say they attract a certain person.
It was the "bro"iest tech thing I've seen in years.
u/Dry-Garden-2198 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I’ve actually worked with 2 of the coders that graduated from the first round of gauntlet coders and it’s actually insane how fast they do stuff at such high quality. They are also helping our team get more ai literate even for daily task
u/michaelnovatireplied·
I think 75% of that is showing the power of AI, the other 25% is Gauntlet's deserved credit for sourcing high IQ people and training them
They are charging like $50K per hire though and I don't think that will last - it's because supply and demand problem. As others come onto the scene and fulfill the demand I don't know where Gauntlet will end up, but they have a first mover advantage.
Like my company has tons of FAANG level expertise in the engineering space and we're going to charge like $1500 to start with to help a current engineer use AI more productively at work.
So hiring 1 new engineer for $50K or sending 30 current engineers to this program so they can all be that productive.
If Guantlet grads really are that much better than your current engineers is it the high IQ test they have to get in? or is it the training itself? or both? - probably both - again just the cost is an issue.
Anwyays - it's not debatable how AI is increasing productivity and we need a lot of companies to help figure out how to uplevel and upskill people of all backgrounds, shapes, and sizes.
u/MathmoKiwi wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
> They are charging like $50K per hire though and I don't think that will last - it's because supply and demand problem. As others come onto the scene and fulfill the demand I don't know where Gauntlet will end up, but they have a first mover advantage.
This is insane that it wo
u/michaelnovatireplied·
My personal opinion - it works because you have to have a 90th percentile (or something) or higher IQ AND you have to work 100 hours a week to show you have grit. Really they are finding those people.
If it wasn't the entry bar then why wouldn't companies pay Gauntlet far less to up skill their current engineers and instead are buying new ones.
u/solidnomad wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Just saw this on the local news here in Austin. "We only take the top 2 percentile as consideration for hire".
Thinking these people are just working the long con, or using these competitors to monitor, record, and/or steal the efforts of the competitors. He then followed by nam
u/michaelnovatireplied·
They are exploiting a short term market inefficiency and I don't think it's a scam.
But I'm concerned that it will be Lambda School all over again. It works super well at a small scale so grow as fast as possible and degrade everything.
For example, if their product works for top 2% IQ people, that's one thing. But they are charging $30,000 for a six week course paid by your employer that is NOT for top 2% IQ people.
If the secret sauce is choosing top 2% IQ people and the program itself is normal, it's not worth $30,000 and that might downward spiral everything.
So we'll see. I'm in the "Gauntlet isn't a scam" bucket, but I have my concerns like any reasonable person should.
u/Ecstatic-Executor wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
The sentiment in here is incredibly negative so I'll throw in my two cents
I completed cohort 1 and now have a $200k job.
It was completely free.
All flights, hotels and food were covered. It was incredibly intense.
The format:
12 weeks
Each week you have
u/michaelnovatireplied·· edited
Yeah I've been following it since then and it's definitely not a scam. The "gotcha" is you need to have a top 2% IQ to get in.
And then something like 2/3 of the people finished, so some people quit their jobs and it didn't work out.
But yeah it's not at all a scam and I would consider it if you have a high enough IQ and will put in the 100 hours a week work.
I would argue that if that's you, you're going to make A LOT MORE MONEY in your career, and if Gauntlet is the launching pad then fantastic.
Gauntlet get's paid like $30 to $50K for your placement, so if other companies catch on and try to poach you bypassing them then there's nothing stopping that from happening and someone has to pay that fee.
So it's not entirely free in that sense. If Meta got a list of students during the cohort and offered you $500K can you take it and not owe Gauntlet anything?
P.S. If you read Austen's marketing posts it really does sound like a scam to all the people I've shared it with even though he's actually telling the truth way better than he did with Lambda School this time.
u/ClickingButtonz wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
It seems like the smarter model if you are a company is to take one of your own engineers, embed them into the program (i know they only take the top 2%), have them complete the program, bring them back to your own company, pay them 200k+ (or 50K on top of what they currently mak
u/michaelnovatireplied·★ FEATURED
They have a B2B program for $30K that has no IQ requirement.
I'm watching closely to see if that works.
I have to give them credit for testing and broadcasting the quality of the program so publicly.
If the $30K B2B doesn't result in great outcomes and ROI because the engineers are not in the top 2% and the program doesn't really do enough to justify the cost but relies on people with top 2% IQs as the main reason the people end up with good outcomes.
Their previous program was $5K and didn't work too well so I'm watching really closely.
\---
If I zoom out, $30K for six weeks is just too expensive long term. If it works amazingly, competitors will figure out how to undercut them to see if they are offering anything innovative at all, or if they are just doing things anyone can teach.
Technology and IP are value and if you have those you can build brand value too.
Brand value without the technology will fail. Codesmith is the best example of that where they built a $10M a year business on brand with practically zero underlying technology and IP and when the market shifts - goes to zero and nothing you can do about it.
u/ParsnipNo3034 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Was Lambda School or Bloomtech a good school? I wonder if it's true they had lawsuits.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
They had lawsuits yes.
u/tpfld wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
from youtube:
Here's my conversation with @Austen Allred, founder of GauntletAI, Bloomtech, and formerly Lambda School.
(0:00) Why Build Schools? The Origin of Training 1% Engineers
(3:42) Why Edtech? Why Fix Education?
(7:18) College Dropout to Education Builder
(12:35) Imp
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Nice! Sounds good. Will listen.
u/tpfld wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
from youtube:
Here's my conversation with @Austen Allred, founder of GauntletAI, Bloomtech, and formerly Lambda School.
(0:00) Why Build Schools? The Origin of Training 1% Engineers
(3:42) Why Edtech? Why Fix Education?
(7:18) College Dropout to Education Builder
(12:35) Imp
u/michaelnovatireplied·
/u/t[tpfld](https://www.reddit.com/user/tpfld/) I watched it and this is my personal summary:
1. Austen demonstrates he's learned a lot from the industry and past attempts he's made about what works and doesn't work and was transparent about it
2. Transparent about the business model for Gauntlet, how it works and why it works right now.
3. Was missing discussion about choosing the top 2% IQ people to join, I think that's a relevant part of how it works that could be discussed more. If you tell a random 100 IQ person "check out Gauntlet it's legit", that wouldn't really be good advice so I think this part is important to talk about.
4. Transparent about the Guantlet being a recruiting and filtering process for companies.
5. One small detail was that he said if someone is not hired by a partner that Gauntlet will hire them and I'm assuming that's how the 200K gauranteed job is maintained (and is more credibility to it not being a scam).
6. He thinks that thousands of engineers (or perhaps AI employees) could do Gauntlet and it might not scale beyond that. This is both a good self-aware thing to avoid over scaling, but it also relies on the current job market inefficiency... and if that market inefficiency corrects itself the entire business model won't work anymore. I got the vibe that he was aware of this more than when Lambda School grew to 2000 people overnight but we'll see.
Overall I think this is a pretty good podcast that I would recommend people listen to.
u/1anre wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Codesmith just fell off the map the moment bootcamps went sour?
What IP and underlying technology did Lamba School build though?
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Codesmith also had an investor lawsuit to deal with in 2024-2025 that I have kept quiet about and cannot comment on the consequences of but just that people should look into it and decide if they think it impacted things.
u/1anre wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Good summarization on key points. Did you need to use AI to help with this?
And unlike many, you recognizing and giving people the grace to change, and not just mentally punish them for past oversights/greed, is the maturity the tech industry needs today, and all that cancel-
u/michaelnovatireplied·
I wrote that myself, but I often use AI to sumarizing
u/michaelnovati wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
SOURCE: https://www.gauntletai.com/
What do people think?
Sounds like they might not have learned their lessons from Lambda School's marketing as these are some BOLD claims.
Gauntlet AI is an extremely intensive 12-week AI training to turn engineers into the most sought-after
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Can anyone update me if Gauntlet is guaranteeing $200K placements if you "finish the gauntlet"?
I have on original evidence that they used to but they seem to have dropped that marketing in newer cohorts.
Are all of the graduates getting placed?
u/I_am_fast_as_fudge wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
GauntletAI works, but the candidates are not real professionals. They don't even need to take an actual coding test to get into the program.
It is a rip-off of the hiring companies.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Yeah I've seen some livestreams and a lot of the people seem like not even coders, just people with high IQs that pass the test.
I mean the ultimate signal is if the people do well on the job right.
I was/am still optimistic that really smart hardworking people can do well on the job and Gauntlet can help connect the dots.
If in reality there's more to success on the job than a high IQ and insane work ethic then it probably won't work out.
It sounds though like it's more of a bootcamp in disguise that takes non-programmings and makes them programmers but completely rebranded approach from Lambda School.
And since people aren't paying anything to do it, getting free housing and food, even if it's full of lies, there aren't really damages.
So it probably only has to work for a small number of people to break even.
Interesting model.
u/I_am_fast_as_fudge wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
CCAT is not an IQ test. People are easily passed with a basic calculator and a beginner's dictionary.
If the students are high IQ, they wouldn't need a bootcamp to find a job.
Not a lie to the student but a lie to the hiring company.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Well that was my initial concern too - like the top 2% engineers are making $1M+ and don't want this program at all.
So it's really people who have 'high potential' lets say.
That is interesting, do you have examples or evidence the hiring companies are upset or stopped hiring?
Like I think that would be a good signal right, Austen said they are massively oversubscribed, but I heard of graduates that can't get placed.
So I absolutely have questions! Do you know any answers?
u/I_am_fast_as_fudge wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Yes, they found out the students cheated on the middle school test and passed the programming.
If they are high potential, they don't need boot camps and cheats. Especially, all you need to do is pass a middle school test.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
Do you know if any hiring companies dropped out or stopped hiring? Or if it's still going strong and they are sold out still?
u/UnknownnnnNn11 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I don’t think many companies drop out they purchase a credit pre hand if they don’t use it they lose it. From cohort 2 on forth 30 to 40 percent didn’t get jobs. Usually alpha school has to bail out and save the day.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
So 30 to 40 percent don't get hired by the other companies and are left over and then Alpha School comes in and hires up all the remaining people?
u/UnknownnnnNn11 wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
I don’t think many companies drop out they purchase a credit pre hand if they don’t use it they lose it. From cohort 2 on forth 30 to 40 percent didn’t get jobs. Usually alpha school has to bail out and save the day.
u/michaelnovatireplied·
And are people who don't get jobs, what is the reason why? Because no company selects them OR because there aren't enough company slots for all the people?