Avoid Springboard Bootcamps - Insights from a Mentor

I'm seeing similar cuts at Codesmith (in my opinion in judging their staff disappearing and cost cutting measures implemented) and am equally concerned of an implosion. I'm not sure why these bootcamps don't just wrap up on good terms and call it a day and resort to cutting back so much to survive. Like is it a game for their replacement execs to show that they can turn around a falling business to boost their resumes? App Academy didn't make it after trying the new CEO approach. Bootcamps are expensive and impact people's lives... it's not a $100 Udemy course and it's not a $50 Kickstarter... like these are huge time commitments that mess up people's lives. Anyways thanks for sharing some perspective.

Yeah nothing negative invalidates individual experience - good and bad. But far too many people are looking for confirmation bias and latch onto an individual success story as justification to do a bootcamp they want to go to. Bootcamps prey on this, because as you said, you referred someone because it worked for you, and this is a strong strategy. It's why every bootcamp asks for referrals for friends. But you have to zoom out and look at the market right now: 1. Market disappeared for bootcamp grads 2. Failing bootcamps are cutting back and providing worse services (be in Springboard or even a top three like Codesmith and Rithm (shut down). 3. Almost everything about the programs are equal or worse ( when the students need BETTER support. 4. They don't have the cash to invest in making things better so anything marketed to you as a major change is smoke and mirrors - the "change" was something relatively cheap it's distracting you from realizing that everything else was cut back. Examples of cutbacks at Codesmith: 1. Overall staff reduction of about 90% and cohort cutbacks from about 50 a year to 10 a year (and 35 students per cohort down to 10 to 20) 2. Outdated materials that get updated by people who just graduated themselves 3. Almost all staff instructions graduated boot camp recently. Most senior instructors all left and no more veteran instructors to pass down best practices. 4. All leaders and managers left except for 1 director and 1 founding advisor and one new leader that joined end of last year. 5. CEO stepped down and was replaced by someone who started full time less than a year ago. 6. Alumni mocks interviews promised free for life have been fully booked for months according to alumni and there was a shift to weekly "office hours" instead. 7. Allegedly hired someone to cut back expenses with a fine tooth comb and it's why so many layoffs. And in all of this: the are increasing their marketing. Their CSX platform is a piece of garbage software (I don't say this phrase lightly but it literally is a piece of garbage software full of junior level poor decisions that hasn't been touched in years - like not supporting https on their coding pads) and anyone who is convinced otherwise is being tricked and fooled in my opinion. They sign letters of reference for months of engineering experience at their charity for your time at Codesmith as a student to help you with background checks. One person told me they got a letter for a year of experience when they didn't do anything and no one at Codesmith verified their experience. Ask yourself - why the heck is a 3rd party charity letterhead necessary and no mention of the word Codesmith in the letter of reference. Why not write a letter on Codesmith letterhead? They try to justify this as industry biasbut just ask a regular person how this looks and most I have think this is offensive behavior. Industry recruiters that know about this have banned Codesmith grads and people think it is despicable for the most part in the poll I ran. But Codesmith defends defends defends and normalizes it to students until brainwashed grads think it's totally fine. The most common person who reaches out to me is a successful grad who a few years later feels like Codesmith is a giant scam for what they do in their opinion. Your Codesmith experience is not 4 months of experience at OSLabs. You are not actually "accepted into OSLabs simultaneously with Codesmith" because OSLabs is a fake charity with no revenue and a fake leader who doesn't do anything, is "on leave" still, and redirects questions to Codesmith staff. Codesmith staff manage the letters of reference. Icing on the cake - coordinated Reddit AMAs full of questions from fake accounts and staff members hyping each other up and what appears to be coordinated down voting offline of negative comments. It's $22,500 too. Anyways I'm going on a rant because this behavior infuriates me that people fall for this crap and the bootcamp tries to gaslight people in my opinion. #CancelCodesmith is my opinion!

It's statistically less likely now than it was 2+ years ago. It's not impossible but I can elaborate on what that means yeah. "The Market Disappeared": 1. Almost all hiring paused in 2023 layoff period, people with 2+ YOE hiring came back (a little for 2-5 and a lot for 5+), junior hiring never came back. Almost all junior hiring at big tech is via internships -> full time and the internships go to top tier CS students in 4 years degrees. 2. The DEI slowdowns resulted in programs closing and shrinking for pathways like apprenticeship and 'pathways programs' at many big companies and these were a solid avenue for bootcamp/self taught. 3. AI is empowering ALL employees to do more and companies are nervous about the future, so workload per employee is increasing as companies wait to see if AI will enable them to smooth out the workdload OR if they need to hire more people as well - and what jobs they hire might depend on the AI future we end up in... so less hiring junior roles now. Finally a note: don't buy any bootcamp bullshit that says they make you a mid level or senior engineer off the bat - this is marketing that in my opinion tricks people who know about the market - see seniors being hired - and want to go to a bootcamp that prepares them for jobs that are actually hiring. If you don't have 2+ years of paid SWE work experience you are not a mid level or senior engineer even if you WILL be faster than the typical person. These bootcamps are the worst of the worst in my opinion (and they charge $22,500!) because in my opinion they are preying on people's emotional state instead of being real with them. Some of the grads will get jobs, but if you dig into their numbers you find all kinds of giant red flags and the trend direction is not good. \--------- Out of curiosity, why did you sign up for Springboard (even though you dropped out) and what made you choose it all things considered?

I would try to get another sales job that's less stressful and more adjacent to "solutions engineering" and transition to that role over time. Perhaps the company will pay for you to do classes or things on the side or even have internal courses. Choosing a company that has a transition path historically perhaps.