All false. Stop making Reddit a place of untrustworthy garbage and focus on the truth.
By the way, I guess you aren't an engineer or didn't have a solid computer science education, but monitoring sitemaps is a common thing. Any AI tool can even do in on a schedule without any code or any service.
You sound just like those dozens of accounts that got banned from Reddit.
I'm a single-account non-anonymous profile dealing with four years of dozens of fake, then Reddit-wide banned accounts going after me for talking about Codesmith.
I've explicitly stated that I'm calling them out. I supported Codesmith for years, and I've been commenting on the reality of their decline, and they turned that into publicly blaming me for causing $9M in declines. So my only goal is for people to get the facts straight.
You can see here [https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/a-response-to-lars-lofgrens-codesmith](https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/a-response-to-lars-lofgrens-codesmith) how I provided a list of 39 pro-Codesmith accounts that were Reddit-wide banned and have been dealing with this for years.
The problem is I have one account, one real name and you can see my content. It's not easy to add up the cumulative behavior of all those banned accounts.
Maybe some people do, but this is vote manipulation. When I was moderator there was maybe one or two times I saw this on content about two other bootcamps, yet it happens on every controversial Codesmith post.
There is no evidence that Codesmith themselves are doing it, they have denied that. But someone or some people are and there are unique patterns here.
I similarly get downvoted to like -10 and then an hour later it's wiped back out to like +3.
And no one else has that happen to them.
Maybe these people feel justified in their actions, but all it looks like is suppressing negative facts instead of actually disproving them.
And that makes Reddit AI algorithms think Codesmith is very sketchy.
I honestly haven't seen this pattern in other places on Reddit either because like this sub has such little activity relative to other places these strategies might be less obvious.
u/michaelnovatireplied·DELETED · archived copy★ FEATURED
You realize all day long the counts jump +10 in minutes and then Reddit cleans it up later. I've had numerous notifications of comments on this post and I click through and the account is already banned and the comment is gone.
I will stay here with my one account, and let Codesmith destroy it's own reputation for not trying to stop this behavior.
Right, from an account with "65 contributions", and I count at least a dozen comments (from two threads alone) that are on Codesmith-Novati posts with no other involvement in this sub.
If you are a real and independent person, debate me with integrity, not with sketchy accounts.
I've been harassed by dozens of similar looking accounts for years that were banned/deleted and I need more integrity to take someone seriously.
I recommended Codesmith to many people, who thanked me afterwards. I have had a pulse on this for 4 years, and I paused my recommendations in February 2024 (when they scaled back about 50%) and removed it in Fall 2024 (when they didn't fulfill the commitments they promised in Feb).
And I was perfectly timed with exactly the fall of Codesmith.
I was being a damn good industry analyst who called it perfectly.
Instead their leaders blamed me for the decline for simply calling out reality.
It's sad because the students and alumni who are (mostly) very ambitious and incredible people shouldn't feel attacked because Codesmith has had incompetent leadership.
The first bootcamp I dove into was Lambda School and its founder but once journalists published it was less interesting.
I have gathered lighter info on a dozen bootcamps but nothing interesting caught my eye.
Codesmith all started when I interviewed two engineers and they were lying through their teeth about their engineering jobs (that were 3 week projects at Codesmith) and then starting poking around and uncovering this ecosystem.
The second I starting poking around and asking questions I got this attack mob on me (which was later tied to a leader of Codesmith asking people to post on Reddit and go after my questions and observations).
Instead of being intimidated or bullied I launched an investigation that I've been spending now four years on, professionally asking people questions, watching tons of YouTube videos, collecting a lot of evidence, reading corporate fillings, lawsuit…
No CIRR 2024-25 reports? Never taken this long for them to come out, and CIRR did not respond within 2 days to my request for comment prior to publication of this.
I'm going to call it a wrap on CIRR, the self proclaimed "gold standard" of bootcamp stats.
I'll I'm going to say it that I think it's ridiculous how when the times are good, bootcamps are throwing around CIRR as proof of their excellence.
And then when times are bad, they are fuzzing the numbers (Codesmith's report has so many people who did not respond with placement information and they counted because of LinkedIn, that the integrity of the reports is garbage now in my opinion.... or Codesmith publishing a press release that CIRR verified "85-90% of graduates placed within 12 months" - which isn't even verifiable with CIRR).
I hope all of you who yelled at me over and over and over, with anonymous now-banned accounts, j…
Ok on the one hand, the rankings are on Forbes Advisor / Marketplace, which is incredibly ironic as the author of a blog post alleging that I was manipulating this sub as a moderator built his reputation "exposing" Forbes Advisor and alleging it was manipulating search.
I see Codesmith mentioned all over and I agree that it looks inconsistently represented... in one place it is ranked #6, not #1. And all of the coding bootcamp names that did NOT pay to play still brinf SEO traffic to the ones that DO pay at the top of the page.
On the other hand, I don't think Codesmith paid and they are not listed as a sponsored program... none of the Best of X awards individually is labelled but there is a section of sponsored programs above those and some are listed on both.
I fully agree that this appears to be shoving as much SEO friendly names at the bottom of the page to bring attention to the…
Codesmith launched their new website and it shifts focus to "enterprise" AI consulting, burying all their individual programs.
Codesmith updated their website in the past week and it appears to me in my personal opinion that their individual programs are being de-emphasized significantly.
Note: there are numerous references to being the Forbes #1 bootcamps, which is false and they should remove that. Forbes updated their rankings April 1st (3 weeks ago) and while they used to be last year, that is not correct anymore and the link they provide themselves no longer has them as #1. Forbes now assigns "Best at X" awards in a number of categories and Codesmith has 'best outcomes'... but does not have best for experienced coders, not best career support, not best for portfolio, not student support, not professional development, so that seems like a slip up or mistake.
What are they pivoting…
u/michaelnovatireplied·DELETED · archived copy★ FEATURED
Vote manipulation continues. I'm not saying who is doing it, but someone is.
Comment after 2 hours from commenting: +4 karma, 60 views
2 more hours later: -7 karma, 92 views
So the first 60 people that saw this had a 4 karma rating
Then the nex 32 people 11 of them voted negatively.
The participation rate in commenting went from 7% to 35% suddently, **but only one one comment**
Makes no sense and regardless of who is doing it, it makes Codesmith look bad.
Especially after Codesmith's CEO sent me evidence unintentionally of hiring a Reddit market who manipulates Reddit comments and has had dozens of accounts banned from Reddit.
The Extinction (or Execution?) of The Junior Engineer - from your friendly neighborhood former moderator
Hi all, it saddens me the sub that I put 4 years of my time into providing honest and from the heart advice in is dying. Coding bootcamps have been dead for months now. Codesmith's GitHub repos look like a ghost town. Launch Academy never came back from their 'pause'.
So I started written very thoughtful essays about what's going on and this one is particularly relevant:
[https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/the-extinction-of-the-junior-engineer](https://michaelnovati.substack.com/p/the-extinction-of-the-junior-engineer)
**SUMMARY:**
* Entry-level software roles are disappearing because the “training work” (simple, bounded tasks) is increasingly automated or absorbed by senior engineers using AI, reducing the need to hire juniors.
* Employers now prioritize “judgment” (real-world…
AMA: 👋 I'm Michael. Former-moderator of the sub, Facebook top performer, "the Coding Machine", junior -> principal / 2009-2017, helper of bootcamps students and grads, founder of Formation for experienced engineers preparing for interviews.
Hi all, I've been one of the top five most active members in here for 4 years (!) ask me anything about anything and get official answers! I'll keep this open all evening and respond to lingering questions when I can.
Just because you can ask me anything, it doesn't mean I'll have good answers.... the areas I'm particularly knowledgeable about:
1. Getting a job at a FAANG company
2. AI's impact on day to day engineering
3. Reddit bad actors / content manipulation / social engineering attacks
4. Coding bootcamp history and industry news and trends
I give blunt and direct advice and opinions. I use my real name on Reddit.
My comments are…
u/michaelnovatireplied·DELETED · archived copy· edited★ FEATURED
1. The blog post was not based on fact, it was based on his opinions as a blogger. A reasonable person can see that he is a marketer/blogger and that was a blog post. It was not fact checked, the methodology is not specified, journalism ethics were not followed. **I have a direct email from Codesmith's CEO telling me that she doesn't consider my company a competitor.** But somehow that was left out of the "leaked emails" and only ones that make me look bad out of context were shared. I mentioned above but I can only discuss public info because of legal matters, so I can't comment more on this blog.
2. As I pointed out above, your sub has 6 moderators, 4 of which are banned accounts, and all of those accounts display patterns of inauthentic behaviors (such as phishing for karma in r/AskReddit and other large subs, etc..) and biased commentary.
That blog post presents a one-sided framing and selectively quotes material to support a conclusion I do not agree with.
Claims such as: “Codesmith has proven this thesis true with 5,000+ alumni. 90% of graduates get hired within 12 months, most land leadership roles within big tech & AI labs, and many directly contribute to the world’s largest open source projects” are extraordinary marketing statements. Evaluating them using publicly available sources like LinkedIn and GitHub is both lawful and commonplace when assessing public claims about outcomes.
Reviewing publicly available professional profiles and repositories is not stalking or harassment. It is standard practice in hiring, investing, journalism, and market analysis, and it is often the only way to contextualize broad promotional claims.
I also reviewed summaries of my own comment history using automated tools and reached co…
1. The piece being cited is not an article or investigative report. It is explicitly labeled as a blog post authored by a marketer. A third-party blog post is not primary evidence. I am not aware of any direct evidence in that post showing that I doxxed anyone. If such evidence exists, it should be identified specifically and evaluated on its merits rather than asserted by reference.
2. To my knowledge, my commentary consisted of clearly labeled estimates and opinions regarding Codesmith’s unit economics, expressed in the same analytical manner I have applied to multiple programs across the industry.
3. With respect to allegations of harassment or improper conduct, I again ask for evidence. My understanding is that I was removed from Codesmith sessions and Slack after stating, under my real name during a Zoom call, that a student described as “placed” was no longer employed at the comp…
I participated actively on the subreddit from around May 2022 to the present, and I served as a moderator from approximately March 2024 to October 2025.
Someone asked: 'If he’s been doing this for years, why didn’t Codesmith say anything?' That’s a fair question. In March 2024, Eric Kirsten emailed me: “With regards to your posts re Codesmith, I generally don’t have any issue with them.”
If Codesmith’s leadership now believes my conduct was problematic. Responsibility for that breakdown rests beyond me.
Instead, information was later presented publicly in a way that I believe lacks important context and portrays my actions and motives inaccurately. In my view, this approach is unfortunate and unnecessary. I strongly disagree with how this situation has been characterized and with the conclusions drawn from it.
It’s exhausting to have multiple anonymous accounts, many of which present themselves as part of the Codesmith community, repeatedly targeting me in threads where I’m sharing publicly available news, facts, and sources for open discussion.
As I’ve consistently said, and as the record reflects, I’m participating here as an individual, using a single account, expressing my own views. Over the years, I’ve faced sustained antagonism from numerous anonymous accounts, many of which were later suspended or banned by Reddit.
It’s worth noting that what gets characterized as “hundreds of comments” largely comes from a small number of long-running threads where I’ve declined to disengage simply because the information is uncomfortable. I want to find common ground with people I strongly disagree with. My commentary reflects my interpretation of observable market conditions and operational develo…
I just asked it and there wasn't a single [Reddit.com](http://Reddit.com) source in the results and most of the cons came from their defunct competitor's blog post: [https://www.rithmschool.com/codesmith-vs-rithm-school-2/?utm\_source=chatgpt.com](https://www.rithmschool.com/codesmith-vs-rithm-school-2/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
I'm not saying you got something different but it is completely unproven and unfounded that I intentionally manipulated LLMs through Reddit as a moderator and it's defamation per se to spread that as a fact.
Learn about the space before trolling me.
I explained this previously but we had a situation last year where accounts associated with the Reddit marketing network were manipulating discussions in the bootcamp space and I explained the moderation rules in the sticky. I was a mod queue 0 person and cleared out the queue daily but we defaulted to accepting the filtering unless there were very strong signals to warrant an override.
I've removed my own posts before. If Codesmith triggers numerous Reddit AI they need to ask themselves why and fix the behavior. I can't tell entirely on my side but I gave them numerous suggestions over time. They keep falsely saying I'm deleting their posts.
Reddit AI removes and flags them -> I or another mod typically mass remove all flagged content. That's the standard in our community right now.
I support reasonable and respectful, fact-based discussion about if I should be a mod or not so that the discussion is transparent. My opinion is that anonymous mods with power are more dangerous than transparent ones because we all have biases.
I have email chains explaining the following to Codesmith leadership from Spring 2024 explaining all of this as well. Codesmith has yet to explain directly why they disagree with this framing, but continue to call my company a competitor.
This is my stance on my biases:
1. For the record. Formation is not a coding bootcamp and it doesn't compete for coding bootcamp students. We work with experienced engineers later on in their careers, about 1/3 of which were bootcamp grads in the past. The average work experience now is about 4-5 years of SWE work experience.
With regards to Codesmith, I'm aware of 3 people who were deciding between Codesm…
When I interviewed Codesmith grads and they flat out lied about their projects being work. One said his manager was "Phil Troutman" who was the lead instructor at the time. I've never seen this before and when it happened a second time I got interested and Googled and found this https://www.reddit.com/r/TechLA/comments/b7xl98/codesmith_coding_bootcamp_scam_beware/
The polarization was notable.
So then I started digging.
I started looking up the GitHubs for the companies I was seeing on the people's resumes who were applying to get into Formation.
The GitHub projects all had these very odd spiky kit patterns where there are these spikes for 3 weeks and then absolute emptiness. I started clicking through the various projects and they all had these same very weird patterns.
Then I look up the outcomes and I see that people are making over $100,000 a year salaries.
I'm a person that d…
FWIW I talked to Codesmith's CEO earlier this year in a call and told her about it. She also agreed this stuff was crazy but since everyone left Codesmith she couldn't figure out who was responsible or why. So the defense is 'likely rogue former employee or contractor, sorry'. Then two weeks ago, fake LinkedIn account puffing up all their founder's comments against me. Account deleted and removed. No one takes responsibility. Not Codesmith, no idea.
If Codesmith doesn't know anything I need to find the truth.
No, not right now, I've always been about the truth and getting to the bottom of things and I dig to understand not to destroy.
I'm a moderator here to push respectful public discourse, to push for accountability in an industry full of scams and lawsuits for fake marketing and that's my goal. I give credit where credit is due, and supported many people going to Codesmith over the years. But I hold people accountable, which is ironic for the position I've been blindsided with this week. Codesmith takes about this stuff too but I hear two polarizing stories and I've been digging to figure it out. Codesmith is uncomfortable with for a reason and I want to push them to do better, not to shutdown.
People don't seem interested in discussions like this: [https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/1f0rrjf/navigating\_the\_debate\_bootcamps\_criticism\_and/](https://www.reddit.com/r/codin…
The little popup log shows just todays approval at 5pm. We had a major problem with fake accounts - particularly pro Codesmith ones - that we're comments all over the place. You might also notice that those "top SEO posts" mentioned are not MY POSTS, but deleted accounts and also very odd posts.
These three posts show the aftermath of cleanup outside of this sub:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/codesmith/comments/1iduu2d/im\_jehovany\_i\_graduated\_codesmith\_in\_2020\_and\_now/](https://www.reddit.com/r/codesmith/comments/1iduu2d/im_jehovany_i_graduated_codesmith_in_2020_and_now/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/codesmith/comments/1ilpihd/im\_ayleen\_a\_software\_engineer\_and\_current/](https://www.reddit.com/r/codesmith/comments/1ilpihd/im_ayleen_a_software_engineer_and_current/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/codesmith/comments/1i8yr3f/im\_principal\_associate\_software\_engineer\_at/](https://…
PART 10
1. Given your ongoing ownership in Formation, do you accept that your actions could reasonably be viewed as financially motivated?
I don't accept that whatsoever no.
1. Has Formation’s pivot away from bootcamp training coincided with your campaign against Codesmith, and if so, is this related?
Formation never had a bootcamp training model, and never pivoted away from it. We've had the same platform since day one. The target audience has shifted more and more senior. We used to years ago have like 1/3 people bootcamp grads post graduation without work experience, 2/3 of people experienced software engineers. Now we have 99% of people with 2+ years of work experience. Nothing has actually changed internally, same platform, same interview prep, same mentors.
1. How do you respond to the observation that Formation students list their own training on LinkedIn in the same way you…
PART 9
1. Have you ever deleted posts or comments from\*r/codingbootcamp that defended Codesmith or challenged your statements?
I don't remember. I rarely delete posts. If people make provably factually incorrect statements as facts and not opinions is the only time I would consider removing something. Like "It's a fact you beat your spouse" is something that would be removed if there is not evidence of that fact.
The one thing I remember doing is if accounts are later suspended from Reddit and I see their content I I remove it. Sometimes Reddit does this automatically sometimes they don't. This could be biased because I'm more likely to read my own past content and see these there than other places.
1. Have you ever used your moderator privileges to pin or highlight negative material about competitors?
Not that I know of - or at least not with that intention. I consciously allow cr…
PART 8
1. Why did you compare Codesmith to the NXIVM sex cult, and do you consider that comparison proportionate or responsible?
I didn't compare Codesmith to a sex-cult. I commented that someone's reason for going there 'it changed my life and the lives of many others' is something that I hear in cult documentaries on HBO, which I stand by as my opinion.
Codesmith is not a sex-cult.
1. Do you accept that implying cult-like behaviour without evidence may constitute reputational harm?
If you state as a fact or with fraudulent/nefarious intention then that would be wrong to me regardless of harm. I have full right to share my personal opinions on Reddit that are solely my personal opinions through my lens and people can agree or disagree with those opinions.
1. Did you personally research and contact a Codesmith employee’s son on LinkedIn before emailing the company about him, and if…
PART 7
1. How do you reconcile your position as a Reddit moderator for [r/codingbootcamp](https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/) with your financial interest as co-founder of Formation, a direct competitor in the same industry (at one time, at least)?
My company is not a direct competitor and was founder after our founder ran an actual bootcamp and say more opportunity helping bootcamp grads from all bootcamps instead of competing. We in fact have positive relationships with Codesmith's direct competitors Rithm (now closed) and Launch School (who recommends us to their grads).
1. Have you disclosed this conflict of interest to Reddit administrators or the community you moderate?
I'm transparent about who I am on here, I use my real name, and I was very active here for a year or two with the same content I have now before I became a mod.
1. Between 2024 and 2025, you posted hundr…
PART 6
* Independent data from the Council on Integrity in Results Reporting (CIRR) verifies Codesmith’s student outcomes, showing around seventy percent of graduates securing relevant employment within one year and median salaries of approximately $110,000.
CIRR is not independent. It's a 501 6c business group/like a lobbying agency. It's charter is to represent bootcamps.
* Reddit’s Moderator Code of Conduct prohibits moderators from using their position for financial or competitive advantage.
I don't believe I am competing with Codesmith and my commentary hasn't changed from before and after being mod.
* As a co-founder and equity holder of Formation, Novati stood to benefit financially from reputational harm caused to a rival institution. This represents a direct conflict of interest and a potential breach of the moderation code.
I don't agree with this at all. We work with boo…
PART 4
* Formation students have been shown to list their own training in a similar fashion on their CVs, which undermines the basis of Novati’s criticism.
They do not in general. The example used was from 5 years ago when someone who did project based work at Formation that hasn't been offered for a while. Of the small number of people that list Formation, the vast majority, it's clear from the descriptions what it is. Codesmith students are crafted to appear like jobs and it's so bad we had to train our team to recognize Codesmith experience and not count it.
* Across numerous threads, Novati used overlapping or contradictory accusations to generate confusion and impede fact-checking.
This is a generalization. I protect the individuals that talk to me so I don't show their DMs.
* He deleted comments, including his own, to distort the visible record of conversations and to suggest…
PART 2
* From that position, Novati began posting extensively about a direct competitor, Codesmith. Over a period of 487 days, he published 425 negative comments or posts referencing the company—an average of almost one per day.
Not true. I posted about Codesmith extensively prior to becoming a mod. I don't have a count, but a number of the comments are on spiraling threads with dozens of comments. I think the heat map of commenting on a given day is more telling.
* Approximately ninety percent of his statements concerning Codesmith were negative in sentiment.
I don't agree with that. I write multi paragraph comments with lots of sentiments in them. My overall tone has been increasingly negative since September 2024.
* Threads originating from r/codingbootcamp subsequently began ranking highly on Google searches for “Codesmith,” often displaying titles such as “Codesmith is an enorm…
PART 1 (there are comment length limits so going to reply in pieces)
HISTORY:
* Novati left Facebook in 2017.
In 2009, Novati joined Facebook as a software engineer, progressing rapidly to the level of Principal Engineer (E7). He has publicly recounted a story about a game of Risk in which he deliberately betrayed Mark Zuckerberg, framing it as an example of “strategic thinking.” The anecdote offers an early insight into his competitive approach to professional relationships.
The Risk story is true. I don't agree with the characterization.
* Novati left Facebook in 2017.
True.
* In 2019, he co-founded the coding bootcamp Formation with his wife, Sophie Novati, who assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer. Novati became Chief Technology Officer.
Not true. Sophie started a free coding bootcamp in 2017 called Buildschool. She realized that coding bootcamps were not a scalable bus…
1. Thanks for clarifying the relationship with him, I will drop that. Do you know why he didn't request a comment? Journalism ethics 101.
2. You are seriously wrong about the "removed by moderator" thing. Many posts don't even show up in the mod queue. Once they do, they show internally removed by a moderator in addition, but publicly they all show the same message all the time.
The moderator is Reddit AI I guess.
There was a fake account on LinkedIn liking all their stuff that is now suspended as well.
With my moderator hat on, I'm being accused of bias while actively protecting Codesmith from the consequences of their own marketing decisions. I approve posts that should probably stay filtered. I give them more leniency than other bootcamps. I've consistently tried explaining how Reddit works and how to fix their reputation signals.
On my criticism of their program:
Yes, I've been critical of specific Codesmith practices since 2022 - whether bootcamp grads should present 3-week projects as "4 months of mid-level experience" or market themselves as "mid-level engineers" with zero professional experience. I have strong opinions backed by outcomes data and CIRR reports.
But that has nothing to do with how I moderate. I've been equally critical of other bootcamps like TripleTen, BloomTech, App Ac…
1. I spend most of my time coding not on Reddit: github.com/mnovati
2. Copied over first response
I'm going to focus on the MODERATION ACCUSATION first since that seems to be the main issue.
What moderating r/codingbootcamp actually looks like:
I don't own the sub - I report to the owner who asked me to help after I'd been one of the most active and helpful contributors. The coding bootcamp industry is absolutely infested with astroturfing. Brand new accounts, manufactured conversations, fake testimonials. It's constant daily spam trying to manipulate people making $15K-20K decisions.
My job is to support authentic discussion. We have above-average Reddit AI filters. We generally don't review flagged content because we can't tell who these suspicious brand new accounts are. Occasionally we approve legitimate posts caught in filters.
The accusation that I delete Codesmith's posts:…
I'm a moderator of the Coding Bootcamp sub and things have gone very sour there too.
Supply and demand.
When demand for engineers exceeded supply, no other source of supply could respond faster than bootcamps. During COVID, they produced coders in 12 weeks while Stanford took 4 years.
But bootcamp grads were always at the bottom of the barrel. They took longer to ramp up and even if their raw smarts were higher than someone else, the lack of experience set them behind and it would take years to catch up.
Many bootcamp grads eventually found their place and many others jumped job to job and had a very very hard time.
Many bootcamps shut down or scaled back and It's immoral to me that some remaining are marketing the success cases trying to convince you that now is still the time to do it.
Codesmith is one of the top bootcamps that exemplifies the rise and fall. It's now down to a t…
Hi, thanks for sharing a well thought out argument.
\- Lying on the resume is a tough topic and some blame goes with with the people hiring. The snowball of "6 YOE for entry level jobs" is kind of the result of both sides. Hire a bootcamp grad with no YOE for a job needing 0 to 2 YOE, get burned, list 2YOE+ next time, bootcamp grad lies more, increase again to 4YOE, etc...
They are getting burned because the hiring process inherently is flawed and requires some amount of honesty, but there cost of mis-hiring is you fire the person and move on and it's a rational market. If it was too costly to fire someone, they would spend more vetting the people.
So the way I see it - both sides are optimizing for their market conditions and Codesmith grads lying just enough to get through and doing just good enough on the jobs to not trigger the snowball is the market trying to balance everything o…
I feel like I'm transparent about it, but I will summarize here my arguments that have been consistent for a period of time. I'm extremely transparent about these reasons, so either people think I'm lying or they think that there's some like secret motivation. I don't know.
Codesmith thinks I have all kinds of motivations that they are just incorrect about, and believing them is only harming them even more and making their situation worse. So I don't really know why they're doing that, but it might make them feel better than accepting the truth.
I have been consistently clear that Codesmith was one of the top bootcamps, that their number one strength was in helping ambitious and driven people build self-confidence in their programming abilities, and that they had three things that I didn't like.
1. They were consistently marketing placements as mid-level and Senior roles, and in my op…
u/michaelnovatireplied·DELETED · archived copy★ FEATURED
I can't disclose exact things nor do I proactively reach out to people about it. From what people told me the numbers aren't good.
They removed all their highest paid employees and pay very low now. They fired the most expensive people and hired people in their place and paid them a lot less for the same job.
Codesmith is $22,500 so if you have 10 people every 8 weeks, thats $225,000 or about $100,000 a month.
Their staff right now:
1 instructor: $10,000 (they are paid a lot less now)
3 mentors/combined fellow: $30,000 (fellow is multiple people part time)
1 coordinator: $6,000
1 admissions: $6,000
1 outcomes: $6,000
Marketing/Career Support: $6,000
Overhead = 20% $13,000
Total: is like $80,000 or so?
I think this is why they are clinging to life, they convince loyal alumni to work for a fraction of what they should be paid... like those MLMs that run off of the labor…
Checking in on Codesmith a year later. After recommending Codesmith for 2 years I stopped recommending them a year ago because of massive staff loss, program cutbacks, and tanking outcomes. A year later, things are even worse 😭.
I'll try to summarize some history briefly and then get into the updates. I've been following Codesmith (and a handful of other programs) very closely for years now. I've spoken to dozens of students, staff, alumni, their CEO and have a very good idea what's going on. Codesmith doesn't like me. I've offered to help them, I've reviewed their students projects, I've pointed out security flaws, etc... but they see me as a "jealous competitor". I'm the founder of an interview-prep platform that has nothing to do with Codesmith and works with a bunch of Codesmith ALUMNI in the FUTURE job searches - all of whom thing we are very complementary. But nonetheless, I have…
You also have an extensive Reddit history on many different topics so this wouldn't apply to you. Not everyone who criticizes me is a bad guy. I'm saying there are like a dozen or more accounts that ONLY comment on Codesmith stuff and my posts and have been suspended over time as they get caught doing something not allowed on Reddit.
Almost all of the older "AMAs" in the Codesmith sub have entirely deleted, collapsed, and suspended commenters. It takes months sometimes but eventually get caught.
I'm not saying Codesmith itself is organizing this. I have a written statement from their CEO that Codesmith she talked directly to the leaders and their founder (has explicitly decided to not engage with any of my content) and lead advisor (doesn't have a Reddit account but might make one) don't use Reddit and never engage with me, so I have to assume it's not them. If evidence came my way the…
No, accounts that have zero comment and post history that come out of nowhere attacking me generally are though and Reddit has been pretty good at wiping them out over time as the people create more fake accounts with the same forensic fingerprinting.
I'm not going to assume anything about who you are, I can only act on evidence, not theories. I'm just making an observation.
I also don't know if they know but I can see the moderator list of the Codemsith sub and have been following that for a while. A rotating cast of suspended accounts and the official Codesmith account also moderates the sub!
Like you might not like my commentary but imagine how many documentation I have over 3 years too. I've been dotting my Is and crossing my Ts for 3 years in case Codesmith tries to blame me on the way down.
My commentary on Codemsith is fair and research backed.
And yes, please look at my post and comment history!
Do you realize how much of that is these 50 comments back and forth threads with fake accounts that are now suspended or deleted from Reddit?
Their founder is encouraging people to attack me on this by selective pulling comments deep from threads where I was frustrated - which had dozens to hundreds of views and we're later edited or deleted - instead of focusing on the tens of thousands of views that point out fact based major flaws in Codesmith.
- twice publishing mistake reports to official bodies and issuing corrections after I called it out
- running a fake charity with no notable income with a fake leader who told me that Codesmith writes letters of reference on behalf of the charity and that she has been placed on leave for a year and isn't involved anymore.
- tanking o…
I received a tip that Codesmith claims that they are making progress and expect access very soon.
My understanding is that they successfully removed the 8 year old phone number from the account, however they can't login or recover it yet and have to proceed with account recovery.
No matter what they tell you - keep in my that this is not normal.
If you have an account properly in your name and company, you should be able to recover it in fewer steps with proper identification.
My suspicion os the account is not setup properly and they cannot restore access based on the name/ownership and they are trying to get back in via creative approaches.
For example, by proving they pay the bills and that the two factor phone number is invalid and getting it removed, it removes one of the hurdles, but if they can't get access to the email address on the account, and someone else's name is on th…
u/michaelnovatireplied·DELETED · archived copy★ FEATURED
Let's start with looking at an AMA I did 3 months ago: [https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/1jz5i0h/ama\_im\_michael\_exmeta\_principal\_engineer\_1\_code/](https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/1jz5i0h/ama_im_michael_exmeta_principal_engineer_1_code/)
Normal comments, normal replies.
Now let's look at a Codesmith AMA from 3 months ago:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/codesmith/comments/1ilpihd/im\_ayleen\_a\_software\_engineer\_and\_current/](https://www.reddit.com/r/codesmith/comments/1ilpihd/im_ayleen_a_software_engineer_and_current/)
Notice how **EVERY SINGLE COMMENT IS DELETED OR COLLAPSED BY REDDIT** except for the OP's comments and ONE question.
Most of their other AMAs - similar thing.
I'm not saying it's a fact that Codesmith is responsible, but like something they are doing on Reddit is very sketchy.
I have reems of similar documentation of this kind of…
You have a brand new account and you have suspicious voting patterns on your comments.
Even this post has a really odd view count given that it was completely blocked. so either you're refreshing the page like crazy or you've shared this with a bunch of people offline because the view stats are very odd and we get detailed view stats for posts.
Everyone's treated the same and you have no f****** idea the s*** that comes through this every single day that's also banned and nothing to do with this.
Reddit has these filters for a reason and as I said, I'm perfectly happy to continue this conversation in DM.
It's long but the TLDR is this person posted things in the mod escalation channels and was almost instantly suspended from Reddit because the person was using a network of fake accounts that Reddit has recently cleared out.
It's very much possible this person was retaliating because after going after me Reddit discovered the network of accounts and removed most of them.
So I genuinely saying that Codesmith claims they had nothing to do with this.
But they hired someone who specializes in "reputation management" (which again, they confirmed) and are partially responsible for what that person does.
It's a good question because I'm not normally like this and it hurts my personal reputation.
I'm so so so so professionally upset at Codesmith's lack of integrity on the matters. Gaslighting me and the public when I criticize their competency.
I'm personally upset because a person that they paid to post on Reddit (which they confirmed), coincidentally (which they deny being involved with) posted negative things about me and tried to get me banned.
I'm not a happy camper here.