The tech world isn’t slowing down by any means. While the beginning of the 2020s was clearly disruptive in terms of how work and office life operated, the tech world exploded with the ability to showcase what could be done digitally. Those lessons weren’t forgotten. While companies have been making headlines in regard to return-to-work policies and populating offices again, the productivity increases and opportunities gained with heavier use of digital tools were definitely noticed. So, it is no surprise that staff are being expected to do more with tools, and developers are being expected to produce more with new ideas and concepts. That creates the pressure for scaling up considerably and fast.
Bootcamps Combine Learning Speed & Skills
Unlike the slow, traditional learning process of academia, coding bootcamps are about speed, intense training, and skill-upscaling quickly. As a result, these courses or course packages jam an incredible amount of content, training, testing, and performance into a short window.
This works very well for corporate training expectations as well as deadlines for production, but it also requires students to have serious discipline to stick with the program. It’s not for everyone. The intensity, workload, and pressure can be discouraging, especially for those who like to go at a slower pace when learning a new skill. It’s oriented around team product delivery, fast deadlines, and challenging tasks to push students to learn new skills fast.
Many programmers like the approach, especially in regard to having a window of time to focus just on a new programming language, tool, platform, or similar without distractions. Companies like the tool because the results are seen quickly with staff who, in a few weeks, can now produce a product with an additional aspect, the language of the feature.
Bootcamps for Starting Out
For those trying to enter the work world and land a first job in development or career jump, bootcamps can be daunting. On the one hand, they are attractive with a clear expectation and training delivery.
People sign up to learn a specific skill and, on completion, they have a new ability without losing time on prerequisites, taking courses that have nothing to do with the desired skill, and they didn’t spend years trying to achieve a new skill status. On the other hand, without fundamentals, bootcamp topics can seem foreign, confusing, and too advanced. A key factor in choosing the right bootcamp involves understanding what it takes to be ready for the bootcamp as well.
For new entrants, bootcamps also provide a concentration of industry leads, working contacts, networking opportunities, and even recruitment support. They can be the perfect channel for connecting with people directly in big companies as well as having access to those who regularly hire. Given the fact that many tech jobs today are obtained through networking versus cold application submittals, it only makes sense to take advantage of bootcamp hiring resources that were offered.
For example, if one wants to consider a bootcamp for advanced Python or Ruby applications with web design, then it’s a good idea for the same student to already be comfortable with HTML, CSS, and at least JavaScript. Someone participating in a bootcamp on Python programs for the web is going to be quickly left behind without knowing how a web page works in the first place, much less how to call different libraries or program sections in to work additional features.
It’s a far better approach if learning fast is needed to attend one bootcamp on the basics of web design and then a second on advanced features. This might be a bit longer, but it’s going to pay off, and the success rates increase considerably.
Coding Bootcamps Set the Benchmark
Intense training defines the bar for how intense a coding bootcamp can be. These courses move fast, cover a significant amount of material, and expect a large amount of homework practice from students daily. That includes working in teams to produce results as well as individual practice as well.
Many students note that coding bootcamps are probably the most challenging training approach they’ve taken, ergo, the name being associated with the famous military entrance process for new soldiers. It’s not intended to be pretty, comfortable, or easygoing. Students going into a coding bootcamp program should definitely expect to be challenged most of the time they are involved.
However, the above said, many students who complete a coding bootcamp program feel they come out of it with a solid understanding of the given topic and, more importantly, they are able to confidently apply the new skill in real-world settings. This key difference ends up producing more functional results in graduates than in traditional academia.
Employers Like the Idea of Fast Results
For employers, paying for a staff person to go through with an academic training path becomes unattractive when that training involves months or years of commitment. Losing a paid employee for that long becomes a significant loss on the bottom line.
So, it’s oftentimes discouraged or not even offered. Alternatively, employers tend to redirect staff to training reimbursement paths; the student pays for everything up front, does the work on their own private time, and the employer reimburses part of the cost of tuition upon proof of completion of a pre-approved course or path.
With a bootcamp, however, the downtime for any employee tends to be much shorter. Additionally, the employee comes out of the program immediately, being able to work with the new skill. That’s a double-win for an employer; the bootcamp duration takes far less time, and the skills gained are immediately applicable to the employer’s bottom line.
Value for Completion
Fundamentally, bootcamps are for fast upscaling of skillsets, especially in coding and advanced programming. They are not 1-to-1 replacements for college degrees in computer science or similar. However, bootcamps are definitely usable for those who want to add an additional ability to their skill portfolio. They are also beneficial for students who have basic foundations in a programming area but want to become really proficient in it quickly versus with a long, drawn-out training approach.
Students don’t go blind into bootcamps either. Good programs are provided with extensive documentation, heavy static guidance, on-hand direction and support, and tutor assistance as well. Students have to work hard to keep up, but there is a significant amount of behind-the-scenes help to make sure candidates are successful and not left behind. The key factor that a student has to bring to the table is their own personal discipline to stay on top of the training and do their share to participate. To learn more about how to get started with LearningFuze, click here.