Ask HN: Are tech bootcamps the only way to get people out of poverty?

2 points by sadok 7 years ago | 4 comments

Trying to decide on the best way to teach people "how to fish".

There are a significant number of for-profit and non-profit companies, including some YC companies, that just give people "fish".

Don't get me wrong, this is great: some of those things are entire houses for people that don't have anywhere to live. However, this is not scalable to the millions of people living in poverty. In Mexico, for example, only 27 out of every 100 poor people will leave poverty behind.

I know coding/design/tech bootcamps have helped people break out of poverty, but are they the only option?

duxup 7 years ago |

I did a coding camp as part of a career change and I'm doing well.

Having said that I have a couple issues with the camp I attended and others that follow the same pattern:

1. The camps are poor at identifing good candidates, or just don't. They want to get as many people as possible through the program as that is where the money is.

2. Camps don't filter out existing students who just aren't working out. They call them "boot camps" but generally people don't get booted... even students clearly struggling with the concept of a cli remain in the class and slow things down tremendously... even weeks into the class.

3. I put in a ton of out of the classroom time to be what I thought was an "ok" boot camper. Most poor have very little time as being working poor uses a lot of time and energy.

I think the system maybe can work, but I'm not sure anyone is doing it right.

gshdg 7 years ago |

No, and for most people, breaking out of poverty requires a lot more than just high-demand skills.

Mindsets, networks, seed funds (to buy interview clothes and travel to interviews), safety nets, self-confidence, time, cultural assumptions, knowledge of (or someone to ask about) white-collar professional etiquette, and a whole host of other things that people from upper middle class backgrounds take for granted can make it difficult for people in poverty to find or keep jobs with those new skills.

And if you have no rainy day fund, an unexpected expense like a car breakdown (because you couldn’t afford a reliable car in the first place) can derail you and force you to start all over again.

clintonb 7 years ago |

No. There are plenty more jobs outside of tech. Other skills are in demand and pay well. The US currently has a plumber shortage. A cursory Google search shows median salaries around $60K.

PaulHoule 7 years ago |

No.