By web developer I mean people who are doing just HTML and CSS and primarily working in tools like Webflow, or doing custom Shopify websites or marketing emails.
Someone in that role is a common person to do a more advanced program to level up to. “Software Engineer” role
Codesmith is aiming at getting people legit software roles and it’s one of the reasons outcomes are high. A lot of bootcamps place people in support roles or customer analyst roles or developer roles… again why it’s so important to find the right program for you because depending on your goals, do you want to choose the right path or you don’t wanna just go to Codesmith because the numbers on paper so high
In general, the bar is set so you kind of have to figure it out on your own. Whether that means leveraging the community, self studying, googling, hours of trial and error, finding pair programming buddies, etc... Codesmith selects for people that can figure it out on their own and it's a trait that will help you succeed as an engineer.
While in Codesmith you have access to more people for support, but oftentimes it's peers and recent alumni who are TAs and many describe it as a firehose of constantly feeling behind (which is what staff say is expected and normal). So if navigating a state of constant confusion isn't for you then it might not be the best program for you... not saying it isn't, just suggesting to consider if it's the right program for you vs wanting to get in because you think it's the best program.
Some possible things to consider for help:
1. Ask in Slack - don't just…
Codesmith is a top bootcamp yeah and produces arguably the best results of any bootcamp.
But it really matters most if it's best for YOU and how it happens is more important than the raw results.
It's more like they only let in people who are more likely to succeed and hence more people succeed than other program.... rather than anyone who gets in has a golden ticket to success.
Reason why they are really good:
1. Very high entrance bar and only let people who meet the bar
2. Excellent alumni network who stay close to Codesmith
3. The founder cares a ton about teaching... I bet he would love to just teach all day and not deal with the business side haha.
4. They are extremely good at helping people leverage their ambitiousness to present themselves most strongly for jobs
1. This is often controversial because some people feel they support you in lying on your resumes to get past…
I've been keeping my eye on the NYC Codesmith one and their in person demand is much much much lower than remote despite in person being a really powerful experience there. They even held open enrollment for the next cohort until much longer than normal and were pushing applications on their channels.
Can't wait for scientists of the future to analyze how COVID changed humanity.
I think their representation on CIRR doesn't jeopardize the reliability of their data, but rather it's a conflict of interest because the specification itself is written by the people who have a vested interest in their data looking the best possible. And the issues with CIRR lie in the lack of clarity in the spec and reporting requirements that mask things (i.e. reporting percentages vs absolute numbers, lack of clarity on gathering salary data).
I think the bigger conflict of interest is with OSLabs - which is a legit-donation-accepting charity that offers letters of reference for students that make it look like they were involved with a separate entity without disclosing that the student was PAYING to do said work for CODESMITH's immersive program.
Hello friend, you asked for tough questions, so I'll throw out some of the tough ones since you are an employee, I expect you might not be able to answer them but you've repeatedly asked for tough questions so I'll try!
EDIT: just want to make sure that I disclose that I'm the co-founder of mentorship and training program (that is not a bootcamp or direct competitor to Codesmith, but we tend to work with a number of people who graduated from borocamps at some point in the past) to be transparent about biases.
Hard Questions:
1. How does Codesmith staff handle when a resident gets called out for OSPs not being real work, e.g. in the offer process or during interviews? Or phrased differently, is there a stance internally on how to handle students that have issues with their OSPs during interviews?
2. How do background checks work for OSP projects and how does Philip Troutman get away…
I don't run a bootcamp (Formation is meant for people with existing professional SWE experience) and a Codesmith leader has called me a 'dark and disturbed individual who spends all on day on Reddit with the sole purpose of taking down all the great work Codesmith has done' so I wouldn't say I'm positive about bootcamps.
I feel like I grill them pretty fairly, I'm surprised no one is asking any tough questions on here!
I agree that it does sound a bit like leadership may have directly or indirectly promoted this person to post, or discussed it with employees (which OP is currently) but I also think they disclose the bias which is a good step.
If it means anything, I've been chatting with this person for almost a whole year and they've been pretty legit the whole time.
I'm not supporting or defending Codesmith here, just adding that fact
The part time program seems to reach a fairly different demographic and have a different vibe than the full time program. It has the highest rate of people ghosting post graduation and more people delaying/deferring/leaving early, etc... and a lot of people I know are encouraged to join the full time one.
Oh yeah it's absolutely a factor in your decision making. To rephrase my point, you should not perceive the outcome you will get as proportional to the cost. i.e. I'll go for the $10K bootcamp to get a $70K job because I can't fork over $20K for a bootcamp to get a $120K job. Someone who goes to Codesmith and gets a $120K job will probably get a similar job from any legitimate bootcamp.
I don't know Coding Temple but I would make your own decision of if Codesmith is right for you and not over index on one negative post.
Codesmith leadership hates me and thinks I'm trying to take them down for some reason, but I'm a very middle of the road person and I see a lot of people over indexing on one or two anecdotes on Reddit so I want to caution people against doing that.
The post highlights numerous weaknesses of Codesmith - it's not perfect, it has many caveats and nuances. But for the right people it's the best program out there and if you've done your homework, talked to alumni, understand the day to day of how it works and what you do, then I would choose it!
The cost of Codesmith doesn't have anything to do with the success rate. It's not like you can spend 15K and have an ok outcome and $20K to get a slightly better one.
Codesmith's outcomes are because they have a very high bar, let in people likely to succeed and then nurture them. Getting in is the major factor, not paying more because it's more expensive than others.
If you leave the program early without a job because you, for example, no longer want to job hunt, or have a major unexpected life change, or you can't commit to the program anymore, or you just don't like it and want to leave early, then you pay a pro-rated amount depending on how long you were in the program.
If you get a job, or are actively interviewing early on, you get access to our full arsenal of support, including 1-1 mock interviews targeted to the types you need (if we support it: i.e. algos, live coding, system design, behavioral, hiring manager, and more) and negotiation support, and you have to pay the full price.
At the end of the day, if the vast majority of people don't get a "return on investment" from Formation than the program doesn't work, so we want to make sure you get your money back and more in value - whether that is cash value in your negotiations, a permanen…
We now have more upfront options including loan with partners, deferred loans (until you get a job, up to certain time limits), interest-free loans (if you qualify), and are working on more income-based deferred options.
Our mission is to help improve diversity in tech and we want to be accessible so we are doing the best we can to offer more pricing options so people can find one that works for them.
Hey, I'm the co-founder of Formation!
So there are a range of competitors you can look at. Honestly the session structure where dynamically create your ideal schedule every week is completely unique so if that is the most appealing thing, I haven't seen another program offer that, but if you want to have structured practice here are some other options:
Interview Kickstart: I think it's similarly priced but a few thousand dollars less. More structured program, not unlimited support
Outco.io: shorter, peer mock interviews, cheaper, has unlimited support
Pathrise: focuses almost exclusively on the job hunt side and probably isn't a good option for you, it's also generally much more expensive.
Coachable: a very small program run by a few people but focuses on DS&A, more individual practice and less community vibe. Also similarly priced or more than Formation.
Interviewing.io: pay as yo…
For the record, I strongly believe I present a balanced view of Codemsith in my comments, which is much more balanced than this comment above, and I get torn apart and attacked by people calling me a liar, a sketchy person, a "dark disturbed individual". For every comment saying Codesmith tells you not to lie I get one DM telling me almost word for word this ^^^ comment above.
I don't think it's as deceptive and fraudulent as this commenter claims and I try to present both sides of the "fake work experience" dilemma in my commenting, but I really wish people would get off my back when I try to present things in the middle of the road because most of the time, that's where things are!
This summary is fairly consistent with what I hear from most people as well, that overall Codesmith is a great program, very consistent, and the community is fantastic.
The big change is the job market since 2020 is the job market.
In the time period of 2021 and into 2022, people were getting like 150K jobs (which you can see in CIRR) at Amazon and Capital One by using exaggerated resumes (or have recruiters proactively reach out on LinkedIn without even expanding to see "Developed under OS Labs") to pass recruiter screens + practicing Leetcode on their own and with each other.
These people then were all over this subreddit in mid to late 2022 created an impression that Codesmith was a magical place with a magical formula and getting in will be the ticket to a $150K job. No one was explaining HOW it happened, just "Codesmith is the best", "Codesmith changes your life", and a bunch of…
Yeah this is the comment, but I agree with you that a direct explanation is the only source of truth here
[https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/12r57se/comment/jh6ugsn/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/12r57se/comment/jh6ugsn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
A number of farmers are millionaires and run complex businesses.
From the USDA: "In 2021, the average U.S. farm household had $2,100,879 in wealth. Households operating commercial farms had $3.0 million in total wealth at the median, substantially more than the households of residence or intermediate farms."
https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-household-well-being/income-and-wealth-in-context/
Sources please, I don't appreciate defamation by coming out of hibernation, selectively commenting on all my comments and no one elses and attacking me with baseless claims. I'm well known I'm this sub because I'm open about my background and use my real identity, but I also don't respond to people trolling me.
Source: The research is a collaboration between the Core Infrastructure Initiative at the Linux Foundation – now part of The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) formed in August – and the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard University. via [https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/08/foss\_developer\_survey\_mostly\_male/](https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/08/foss_developer_survey_mostly_male/)
"A new survey of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) contributors, conducted by the Linux Foundation and academic researchers, reported that 91 per cent of respondents are ma…
>but it's also something I heard from people at NXVISM and in a lot of cult documentaries
To be very clear I'm not implying directly or indirectly that anything illegal is happening at Codesmith, and I feel like it was pretty clear I wasn't saying that in any way.
I was simply stating that it's dangerous to vulnerable people to say 'do X, it changed my life and it can change your life too' and as an example of why it's dangerous, looking at cults and MLMs that have similar messaging where people join for the wrong reasons and feel social pressure to not leave.
Excellent point! For me, the most important thing is for you to understand the range of options, set a goal, and then work towards that goal - adjusting if needed, and for many people that's not FAANG.
So pre-layoffs, FAANG usually meant literally the 5 companies, or adjacent companies.
These are some of my criteria for what adjacent means:
1. Similar compensation, including stock based compensation as a meaningful portion of an offer
2. Engineering/product driven culture. Meaning that engineers and product managers, designers, etc... have an equal seat at the table as business people.
3. A popular, widely used product. No specific numbers here but a product or service that has significant SCALE and BREADTH where you will learn how to scale something infinitely, and how to build for a variety of people.
4. Reputation for high talent bar. This is fuzzy but generally you'll see "high…
There are a number of people who follow me and downvote almost everything I say with the word Codesmith in it. I've done some tests where I comment on something that has ZERO engagement, check a few days later, still ZERO engagement other than my comment, except me with -2 lol
But thanks for the kind words!
Thanks for sharing a balanced view. +1 that the heart is in the right place, and that's important to note.
I comment this often but people don't read everything and adding for consistency, but in the industry, many "open source" projects are PAID. Almost all of the large open source projects are maintained by people who work at top companies as their day job and the company is paying them to support the project.
So saying something is "open source" does not mean it was unpaid work and saying you were a "Software Engineer at X (Open Source)" doesn't properly represent that it was a 4 week project with code reviewed from previous students.
This is my opinion, I understand and respect people who feel differently but just adding because I think it's an important perspective that people don't often hear (except from me lol)
Another note but "Codesmith has literally changed the lives" is s…
So the letters don't say they "worked" there. They are carefully written to not say that but also broad enough for a generic background check company to probably check off a box that this "experience* had a validated reference.
I don't want to make judgements on the legalities because I'm not a lawyer. Something doesn't have to be a registered company to exist as an entity and what OSLabs was doing before this is ambiguous. Some things that I would ask a lawyer about are if Philip Troutman is signing letters as a board member when he is not and doing so knowingly and to perpetuate a fraud, could that be a problem for him as an individual. If he is a board member who just isn't listed in their public paperwork it could be a conflict of interest if he is using the charity to help Codesmith, which from the IRS website (again, not legal advice) might be a tax issue for the charity (i.e. it'…
+1 to both you and the parent comment.
I don't think Codesmith wants to be compared to other bootcamps and wants to be somewhat of an elite program to take experienced engineers to mid level.
But they admit a long tail of people who have no experience and expect the same outcomes. I've stated over and over that they should publish outcomes by initial experience level so people have a better idea of what their path might be like.
I have commented on this extensively but the level and title of your first job are irrelevant compared to the company, team, and product. Your career trajectory will be far faster and better being a $100K apprentice at Airbnb over a $130K "mid level" engineer at a 30 person agency where you are the only front end engineer assigned to a project.
I don't know why there is such an emphasis on them, if they have truly gone all in on this since the beginning. I don't think their leadership has a lot of top tier experience and maybe they are trying to appeal to the masses and people looking for an average job over a top tier job, but the marketing and tone of their outcomes commentary says otherwise.
I think Codesmith is "a good one". I talk about them disproportionately on Reddit and have been accused by a leader of being a dark depraved individual whose sole purpose is to take them down. All I'm doing is talking fairly about the pros and cons and talking reasonably about a program... and I talk about them so much because this subreddit talks about them so much.... people see $130K salaries and assume they are the best and see people on here say "Codesmith, mic drop" when discussing the best bootcamps.
To me, Codesmith is a very good program that is focused on consistency and outcomes over profit and people shouldn't over react.
Having a healthy discussion about what can improve doesn't mean they can't be good too.
I'm in the CIRR is super flawed, why doesn't Codesmith improve it or replace it, but that is' not a fraud camp.
I'm concerned about the OSLabs stuff though. They made an official charity out of OSLabs in the middle of last year that pays mentors to mentor students. If they are collecting money from the charity to pay mentors to mentor Codesmith students only, that may be criminal, or may be a tax law violation. There's no way they aren't smart enough to figure out a way to make this work legally, but it's playing with fire.
Like if I, representing Formation, approached OSLabs about a collaboration to provide mentors and to work on projects or something, would they act in the best interest of OSLabs or would we get rejected because Codesmith leadership hates me? Eric Kirsten was advertising a job posting at OSLabs for the Executive Director saying to ping him if interesting.... I worked…
Hi 👋!
What feels like years ago but was about a year ago I spent two hours on a Sunday cmd+clicking and collecting info on the LinkedIn vs GitHub OSP representation that really peaked my interest in Codesmith outcomes. I did similar math to you and was also confused in who was included in the "graduates included" number, versus the percentages underneath. More recently I looked at the formulas in the CIRR worksheets (because they weren't spelled out in the spec like they should be) and it added some clarity but I still have questions about how they extend how fellows are included (they admit to not following CIRR and delaying those people's clocks by the length of their contract) but I don't know if that impacts "number of graduates" or graduation rates, or what not. And would love the absolute numbers. But I was a kid who memorized cereal box nutritional labels and the exact details…
CIRR outcomes should be relied on as as legit yeah. The ways that games can be played are very sneaky. I've written a lot about this and have to timebox my time on Reddit so I'll try to quickly summarize and you can ask me more:
1. The spec was written by bootcamp outcomes managers and not lawyers. So it has some flaws. For example, there's no explanation of how salaries are recorded and what evidence is needed. They allow reporting a person who ghosts to be reported as employed if their LinkedIn says they have a job (no matter what the job is) and they exclude them from the salaries only.
2. The only absolute number on a CIRR report is the number of graduates included in the report. The rest are all percentages off of percentages off of percentages. The salaries are only for people who got jobs AND reported income. 90% being placed in 180 days means 90% OF GRADUATES were placed, but on…
Relatively speaking yeah :( lol. I have a traditional engineering background and there were good classes and bad classes in college. There were good TAs and bad TAs. Overall though I would say my college program was really good. But that doesn't mean it was flawless.
Codesmith is a good bootcamp. They control their growth, they care about having good outcomes, they keep the bar high, I genuinely think Will and others love teaching.
I'm not here to judge if it's worth $20K, of if it's good for you, me, your friend, etc.... and I have been relentlessly attacked for critizing Codesmith on:
1. All in support of CIRR without trying to improve the standard and make it better
2. Over-representing OSPs and doing fake background checks/references for people
3. Not being inclusive because only very driven people with $21K, and 11 hours a day + 7 hours on Sunday can attend.
4. Making people thi…
Thanks for sharing your views and examples. I said this in my '2023 bootcamp predictions' post that we're going to see a lot of people complaining this year, while a lot of bootcamps remain largely the same as they did in <= 2021 and I stand by that. Codesmith was over-credited in the past in a good market for on-paper outcomes and will be overly criticized now, as will many good programs. We're seeing similar sentiment about Hack Reactor and Tech Elevator recently.
I also completely agree on OSP's being misrepresented and I think Codesmith is going in the wrong direction by doubling down on them.
Can you elaborate on sending lawyers after people in private? That seems concerning. I know that protecting intellectual property is super important and I could see that for leaking important content, or confidential business information. But no one should threaten you for stating your opinio…
Yeah I have many comments about the OSPs but that is exactly why they aren't anything close to mid-level and senior projects. If you work for 4 weeks with a senior eng who specializes in React, you would get a lot better fast... and this is why an entry level apprenticeship at AirBnb paying $100K is better long term than a Senior Capital One job as your first job out of CS, imo.... for the average grad. For some people it's not but pushing people to mid and senior roles is missing a fantastic opportunity for grads.
I think they are going to have trouble with OSLabs as a boost to get mod and senior roles. If it's wildly successful, students will get to learn from real senior engineers and be perfectly setup to get referred to entry levels roles from them, but not mid and senior. There isn't an industry engineer I've asked who approved of CS grads marketing themselves for top tier mid se…
Yeah this is one of the accounts on my special list that I monitor that is affiliated. Some people have shared internal quotes of certain execs/leaders/advisors and you notice the exact same language and phrases used on Reddit, you start to piece together who is who, or who was influenced by who.
This account surfaced out of hibernation from 9 months ago the second Codesmith was discussed negatively.
I'm here every day commenting and being helpful and you can easily tell from people's comment history sometimes why they are here.
From what I've heard it's solely DEFENSIVE not offensive. Which is why you see a ton of random people come out of the woodwork with almost no history on Codesmith-specific posts. I carefully check the comment history when I get attacked and numerous accounts only post and comment about Codesmith and then attack me about Formation. Kind of odd for an account with almost no history to know me so well to make detailed attacks and simultaneously only comment and post about Codesmith.
The other problem is so many people are hired back as fellows, career support, instructors, that a lot of people who talk about being an "alumni" don't disclose that they were/are also an EMPLOYEE! Codesmith has 80 to 100 (depending on when you count, changes frequently) former students currently on staff in some capacity on their Website.
I can give my 2 cents on this, which is as usually fairly middle of the road.
1. I'm well aware of the coordinated Reddit interference initiated by leadership, specifically on me and my comments. I never talk about this because it's childish and I want to focus on what's important.
2. Running a program is hard. Not everyone will have the best experience, scheduling is a nightmare (we have so much software to do scheduling and there are always last minute surprises because humans are human). So while it's easy to pile on and criticize how it's run, I do think it's overall run well relative to other programs. Codesmith should obviously minimize session issues and I would be concerned if scheduling problems happen the majority of the time.
3. I believe their CIRR numbers are legit. There are a lot of things people can do to maximize their outcomes and spoke at length and I think Codesmith…
Thanks for sharing a reasonable opinion about your personal experience without overly generalizing like so many do. Can you elaborate more on the career services and resume stuff (specifically with the treatment of OSPs on resumes)? That's an area I see a lot of "do this because it works" and I'm curious if you agree or if you have seen different.
I have worked with/work with/have talked to a bunch of Codesmith alum at all stages, from struggling to crushing it, and have seen what you said reflected in a number of people who are "crushing it" almost word for word. But for a lot of people in the program that learn really fast but aren't as on top of things as the top 10%, the curriculum and firehose-style pace is really effective.
Sorry, yeah I think wires got crossed there, but that makes a lot more sense. I think you personally are an amazing engineer btw and appreciate all you do! I apologize for the empathy comment, that was also meant more broadly to posts that come across as "I made $200K you can too if you try" and I apologize for messing up how I phrased it.
\[EDIT: commenter explained the original comment was not about bootcamp grads but master's grads, and I re-worded/removed things that are also now out of context, and sorry for misunderstanding the context!\]
Most people from bootcamps aren't making $200K in their first year. I've seen a Harvard Math grad have a path like this for example, or a UT Austin Civil Eng grad, but these people have some kind of natural abilities and work ethic that made it happen.
A very small number of people will, and those people will probably be making $1M a year in 5 to 10 years, like maybe yourself /u/Evening_Message5556 (which I would say based on my interactions with you :) )
That said at Bloomberg and Amazon, you can make $200K TC (e.g. $160K base + $40K+ bonus) by crushing mostly DS&A interviews and passing behavioral interviews. One of the key pieces is the behavioral interview and you coming acr…
My hunch is the outcomes are stronger than reported because people who go missing don't tell cohort mates anything, but might report to Codesmith and they can only be higher than anecdotal reports. But how much higher? I still think 50% is reasonable and hopefully around 60%.
I'm going to make a call now and you can tell me if I was right in 6 months. I think we're going to see a fairly high placement rate on the next CIRR report, like 60% maybe even 70%, but we're going to see an increase in "% of people not looking for employment" and in "% of people not reporting salaries". One of the CIRR loopholes is that employment can be verified via LinkedIn if a person goes missing, but their salary will be excluded. So if someone gets a job in a completely unrelated field, but is "employed" on their LinkedIn, then they count a placement in the percentage placed. I think they will work a lot h…
Codesmith's outcomes are absolutely legit and it's one of the best programs out there.
There are some caveats but their outcomes are very strong on paper, 100%. Notes about outcomes "under the hood":
1. The distribution of outcomes is more spiky than most programs, meaning there is a spike at < $120K and > $140K. People who make more, TEND to have experience already or success in another professional field prior. People who make under $120K TEND to be people who have zero experience and almost no technical experience. Now making $90K for someone in this demographic is an amazing outcome, but you shouldn't come in expecting $150K if you did community college as an x-ray technician, did that for a year, then did CSX for 3 months and think you'll make $130K after Codesmith..... you might, but it's less likely.
2. The outcomes are the median salaries of people who graduate, get a job in 18…
Harder is generally better outcomes. It's no coincidence that the hardest programs to get into (bar-wise) happen to have the best outcomes. It doesn't mean that getting in is your ticket to a six figure job, and you want to get in at all costs, but rather that people who get in tend to have the traits of people who get six figured jobs.
A number of Codesmith people I know had successful other careers in professional jobs (e.g. mechanical engineer, lawyer, doctor, accountant) for example.
If you got into all of the top schools, I don't think your long term career trajectory will be drastically impacted by the choice of bootcamp, and it's more of a choice of personal preference for learning style, pace, topics, etc...
Launch School's capstones are the most comprehensive projects I've seen personally. They are similar in spirit to Codesmith OSPs but have a solid level up in terms of the structure of the code, presentation of the projects, etc... They are more similar to "real" open source projects, rather than a group project that was open sourced.
You are just digging a hole for yourself and proving my point. I have nothing against you, but just be nice and make Reddit a better place.
1. Here's my GitHub and clearly code is what I do all day: [https://github.com/mnovati](https://github.com/mnovati)
5,435 contributions in the last year
Today for example, while I'm allegedly spending all my time on Reddit: "37 contributions on Friday April 7th".
2. Ask anyone at Formation how responsive I am in channels. Fellows are the #1 priority in supporting.
I know a leader at Codesmith thinks I'm a "disturbed" person spending all of my day Reddit obsessing over them but don't listen to that garbage.
I work almost all the time, absurdly hard, and training and mentoring is my entire life and I'm lucky that my partner is doing it with me so we can spend all of our time doing it.
I think you are reading what you want to read from my more controversial comments. Your entire comment history on Reddit is about Codesmith on Codesmith posts.
I've been here for a year, giving daily helpful advice on all kinds of topics that aren't Codesmith. I've talked to dozens, possibly over 100 people, advising them to go to bootcamps (often Codesmith) based on their situation and goals. I've even advised people to go to competitors to Formation.
Instead, I get Codesmith leadership following my posts, circulating internally, anonymous accounts commenting on my posts, and complaining about me, when they should probably be paying me for helping a bunch of people choose Codesmith who weren't sure about PRIVATELY IN DMs.
I've said many times that we don't have that many direct-from-bootcamp alumni and we actively waitlist many or out right reject, this is not our target demographic…
For Formation, we don't typically take people directly after a bootcamp, but sometimes we do. It's a really hard market right now so we don't take people who are struggling to get a job and expect us to hand them a job. On the opposite end, if you graduate and immediately want a FAANG job, it's not an ideal time to join unless you have a very long time.
The bootcampers we would consider taking right now are people that have a lot of time, want to fill in fundamental CS gaps that no bootcamp covers, and see the cost of the program as paying for that skill boost, and are aiming for the best job they can get in whatever the market is. We also have different capacity of different experience levels and as it takes longer for these engineers to get jobs, there are fewer slots.
We don't have any behind the scenes deals or partnerships to feed you to companies. We have dozens of staff and men…
Looking into a career accelerator. I'm the co-founder of Formation.dev, and other ones you should look into are Interview Kickstart, Pathrise, Outco, Scaler, Coachable. All of these programs are very different day-to-day and focus on different things, but they help people with step 2, 3, 4, etc... of your career.
If you have a solid year of experience, you probably aren't missing any practical skills for big tech. Big tech expects to train you in their own stacks, which are so complicated even experienced engineers need training.
You are probably missing the DS&A fundamentals, interview practice, system design, and behavioral training to talk about your 1 YOE effectively, and these are the things the above work on \^\^\^\^
If you can't stomach another $5 to $15K on a new program, then consider a la carte Interviewing.io sessions. If you are super lost, try to leverage your network, D…
Fun story, but I was the sole engineer on the first version pre-Workplace workplace (i.e. Facebook Groups for Work) so I never made a Workplace account! When I left you could choose between Workplace or personal accounts and it wasn't until later they forced you to have a WP account.
I used to have a weekly newsletter that was on old Notes so it's probably extremely hard to find now that they are gone :(
If I was starting today, I probably wouldn't know that many people. I was engineer number \~220 at FB and when I left, there were about 8 to 10K engineers. I was the number 1 most internally followed non-manager and in the top 20 most followed employees over all in the internal workplace version of Facebook and I knew literally thousands of people.
I can only give second hand information from first hand students, employees, former employees, so take it with a grain of salt.
The reasoning provided, summarized across a few people with similar versions - all being told this from the same employee, was that 'entry level jobs at FAANG are full of grunt work and easy problems that you are overqualified to solve' and that 'mid level and senior jobs involve hard problems that Codesmith is training you to solve'
Even if you believe the argument (which I strongly do not), I don't know why that means that your career though is hindered by it.
I've heard from numerous people over a year or so now that: the outcomes advisor's negotiation strategy is 'just ask for $150K, only a mid level engineer would ask for that so it help legitimize your position' and from the head of instruction: 'the OSP projects are mid level work equivalent to severa…