Ask HN: Coding bootcamp before going to college?

5 points by martin_e 9 years ago | 7 comments

Looking at ideas for my college-bound kid who's going for a CS degree.

The idea is for him to invest the summer on something that will give him access to a higher earning potential for part time or freelance work.

The extent of his experience is having done the MIT "Computational Problem Solving with Python" course on EDx. He applied some of it to minor problems, including doing some Euler Project and his FRC robotics team. No real web dev experience. Some playing around with HTML, etc., nothing serious. No Linux experience.

Yes, I know, not the best starting point. Not the worst either.

What to do over the summer?

One thought was to send him to a good coding bootcamp and have him invest three months at high intensity learning full stack development.

The other option is to have him dive into a bunch of Udemy and EDx courses under my guidance and supervision.

I don't have the option of tutoring him full time. My plate is full with business responsibilities. What I can do is provide support, guidance and be available for questions, etc.

I don't mind spending the money on a bootcamp if it fulfills the stated goal of allowing him to have access to higher paying part-time or freelance gigs. The theory being that he will be able to earn more in less time and, therefore, focus on his CS studies. Without this kind of a push forward I can't see him earning anything more than minimum wage at essentially entry level clerical or service jobs.

I also considered the idea of him not going to university immediately. Go to a bootcamp, get a job in web development, live at home, put away a bunch of money, learn a ton and go to school in a year. In this regard, I wonder how schools like Stanford or MIT would view such a decision and the experience accumulated during that year.

I'd appreciate any input on this. Thanks.

brogrammernot 9 years ago |

What does your son want to do? In all honesty, I would let him make the decision if he wants to go to university or not.

There is tremendous value in an undergraduate degree outside of just the education. It's the formative years for a young adult to experience life outside the realm of his protective "cocoon" if you will. The least valuable thing I got from college was the actual degree, the most valuable thing I got was learning what happens when you don't budget correctly, whether it be time or money.

I wouldn't advise the boot camps at all, I would advise edX and just have him start messing around with different frameworks/languages. Build some stuff with the MEAN stack. Build tools with Python, you could build some nifty DevOps type stuff with Python. Have him explore data analytics with Python.

Also, MIT or Stanford isn't the end all. Great schools, but it's more about the individual's grit and desire to succeed in life than the school on his diploma.

Just my two cents.

martin_e 9 years ago | |

Agreed on all points. Just looking for a variety of opinions to help think things through.

I think the value of places like MIT and Stanford is in the network. Like you said, not the end-all.

rashkov 9 years ago |

I would be wary of setting his agenda too much. You clearly want the best for him but is he truly on board with these plans? Pushing him too much could blow up and he may drop computer science altogether. Be proud that he's going into this field, and support his current interests, but anything more than that is likely to be a quick recipe for rebellion. Ideally we all do this work because we love it, and not because we were placed on this track. Try to connect with that and instill it, and you'll do great.

Of course, if he really wants to do a boot camp then it could be a great experience for him. It is intense but rewarding. It's an environment for the truly motivated but if he isn't then he may burn out.

martin_e 9 years ago | |

Sorry if I gave the impression of trying to force him into this. That's not the case.

I want to do all the thinking and place a set of options in front of him for the summer. I'm perfectly OK if he wants to spend the summer mostly going to beach with friends. That's OK to. I want him to start down the path of making the kinds of decisions an adult has to make.

At this point I see it as a choice to invest some time over the summer to have access to higher paying part time jobs and gigs in CS rather than minimum wage clerical or other stuff.

rashkov 9 years ago | | |

Great, just wanted to make sure!

I think young adults are really into their mobile devices so, mobile development could be another fun way to go.

I personally got a good leg up on becoming a web developer through codeschool.com. Their videos are top-notch and their sandbox exercises are pretty helpful. There's a bit of a leap to actually setting up your computer to actually develop but they've added some videos to help with that as well.

If he can be a self-motivated learner then I'd recommend doing something like that, along with edx, udacity, and coursera on the more academic side, or udemy and pluralsight on the more technical/professional side.

abhir 9 years ago |

I thought I'd chime in here, as I actually run a coding bootcamp for current high school and college students (www.joinhorizons.com if you are interested). We've gotten hundreds of applications from talented high school students around the country.

I've noticed a large standard deviation in terms of the types of high school seniors who look into programs like ours. On the one hand, we see smart kids who want to be in technology long-term and have already been teaching themselves code. On the other hand, we see students who apply because their parents pressured them to do so.

So the first point I'll make is that the former paradigm is a much better one - if your kid already shows organic interest in programming and CS, then intensive programs are a fantastic way to continue to fuel the flames. I'm biased, but a big fan of immersive bootcamp programs. The earlier that kids get these skills and perspective, the more impactful they are on the career paths - the high school web dev whizzes are the ones who go on to win hackathons in college, get the best internships, and go start their entrepreneurial ventures in college (at least anecdotally). Good bootcamps also provide a lot of structure around the learning process. In 3-4 months, a motivated students can make it much further than someone on a self-paced curriculum. I'm also a strong believer that the atmosphere and ecosystem plays as important of a role as the actual curriculum. Being surrounded by other smart people who grind for 10 hours a day is positively infectious.

Regarding pushing off college - my thoughts are simple. The "tech" industry has changed significantly from a few years ago. Today it's about the skills you have more so than the pedigree you have. Smart kids who know how to build and ship real code beat out 4-year CS degree students all the time. Not to say that MIT or Stanford are not worth it. It just depends on the type of student and the goals.

Hope this helps give some clarity - let me know if you have any questions or want to chat further.