Let’s return to what I was discussing previously from “Why Computer Science?”
In 2019, I was met with some difficulty in my Finance job, Since I was taking classes at my local community college at the time, I had to decide: Do I want to get out as soon as possible or can I take my time?
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…..
I was in a terrible state that I will not elaborate here but I had to save money – fast. I also had to decide on what to do in the event if I was let go early or that I could not withstand continuing my career. So, I had to seek consulting advice.
Bootcamps
I had to look fast – Bootcamps at a cost of a few months of savings. Okay, that seemed reasonable. All I had to do is save money aggressively and tone down my lifestyle spending for this could work. This seemed reasonable but I needed firsthand anecdotes because, you know, reviews online may not be trusted such as if there are all perfect reviews of an Amazon product – you become suspicious of the review’s authenticity. So, I had to probe around to get the information that I need.
Rejoice!
Little did I know, apparently, one of my high school peers had just went through and completed a bootcamp! One thing that was interesting was that I messaged my friend out of whim and I literally got a whole onslaught of response back!
Heck
Yes, it was heckish because the bootcamp experience was simply a tough grind in a super short amount of time to get candidates ready to the job market. There is also a caveat – the obvious answer is job placement is not guaranteed on top of how, if you know how memory works, you can easily forget some of the stuff if you do not keep practicing.
The advice
Prep for the bootcamp and get ready to dive into one heck of a time!
My thoughts?
No job placement guaranteed, high cost, full time, and heckish yet learning experience. Also, you would still have to learn algorithms on your own time for interviews because that is not possible to teach during the bootcamp’s sessions. Okay – online research also tells me that because of the iffy-ness, a degree would be far more worthwhile in the long run because I would not be centered to whatever languages the bootcamp would teach me (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Databases – CS 290/340 material). In fact, a classic computer science degree would give me far more intuitive knowledge.
PASS
And hence, after finding out this postbacc program after my conversion, here I am!
Consensus today?
Wow, the pandemic changed a lot of things. Bootcamps is now not recommended for most people to do a career change and a Computer Science degree is due to the amount of command of different languages and situations that would require a better buildup of technical knowledge. Also, apparently, Human Resources rather choose a candidate with a Computer Science background with a similar knowledge of a Bootcamp graduate because the CS candidate would have a better grasp of the material, or so I have heard.
I am not against bootcamps.
Bootcamps do work, but for someone like me, I rather not spend additional time later struggling to learn material when I already have a basic framework just forced upon me through school such as Analysis of Algorithms and Operating Systems classes – these classes teach essential knowledge that I would need to both find and keep for a programming career (Algorithms for interviews) anyways.
Unsolicited Advice
Go back to school!
