I am looking for a career change and researching the option of signing up for one of the 12-16 weeks programming boot camps that assist with a job placement after graduation. Here is the list of schools: http://www.bootcamps.in/programming/job-placement-assistance/ Does anyone have any experience with such boot camps? Some schools claim that 93% of their grads found $70K+ job.
They range from excellent to "after the course, you have to unlearn everything before you can take a decent course and actually learn programming". And if you're artistic, not analytical, don't even bother - you'll never be even a half-decent programmer. Look for one that teaches programming first - in English, not in a programming language. Learning a programming language before you learn programming is one of those things you have to unlearn. (If you want to make believe that you know how to write web pages - also known as ripping people off, or doing it as a hobby - any of them will be good. If you want to have a career as a programmer, learn programming. That's like plumbing - you don't learn "wrench" to become a plumber, you learn plumbing. A school that promises you a career as a plumber by teaching you wrench is useless.) "Some schools claim that 93% of their grads found $70K+ job." And if you read it on the internet it must be true, right? Because you can't lie on the internet. And you know that because ... you read it on the internet. Barnum was a piker - there are thousands of suckers born every second, and most of them believe what they read on the internet. For starters - as someone who has hired many programmers, I wouldn't pay an entry-level programmer (that's what you'd be) $70k these days. $30k, maybe even $40k if he's really good. $70k? That's when the minimum wage is $20/hour. And after 12-16 weeks of "school"? New graduates with 4 year CS degrees aren't making that much. I'd scratch any "school" making that claim right off my list, unless they're willing to supply you with an outside-audited list of their graduates who made that much upon graduation - and the total number of graduates from that class. (That's to eliminate the one guy who got a job at his father's company for $100k, or the one graduate who got a job in a class of 250 who didn't get jobs.) Since none of them will do that ... if you're analytical enough to be a programmer, you don't need to be told any more. Download Algorithms + Data Structures.pdf It's free and it's the best programming course ever written. (Not by me - by Niklaus Wirth, the man who invented languages like Modula2, Ada and Pascal.) If you learn what's in there, you'll be able to open and run a "programming boot camp". (The site is extremely slow, so just let it sit until it downloads. Or look for the book on Amazon - they usually have used copies for about $5.)
Rukbat is some valid points, One of my friend is attending Hackreactor, Feedback I have received is very positive but wont necessarily translate into 80K job. On other hand getting into these schools is very difficult, My other friend really wanted to get into Dev bootcamp but was rejected twice. He had applied to Dev Bootcamp, Hackreactor , AIT Learning and gschool but was rejected from all of them. Not sure what these schools are looking for in a candidate.
There is another really good training center to learn everything in UI. Its called Go-Live Labs, They actually turned out to be an amazing deal for me. They offered me Free – Yes FREE!!!! 12 weeks programs – The most complete program I could ever dream of. The catch? You have to work with them in a consulting role for one year. Or you pay $8000 in 4 installments if you leave and join a full time position. Compare that to others now! I recently interviewed with them and got in. Check out their website. Not only do they give one on one attention to all of us in class (small class of 6) but also have a career department that actively circulates our resumes and gets us interviews. The previous batch got some awesome job offers since they knew all the latest JavaScript Frameworks like Angular JS, Backbone JS & Core OO JS. There is an interview but it’s mostly to assess how seriously you are pursuing a career in UI/UX and if you know basic programming. They demand minimum 40 hours in their classroom and Lab per week. They do 3 classes of 4 hours each per week. They are still growing so you may not have heard of it. I am learning so much!They are in Sunnyvale downtown on Murphy Street with a nice Training and Lab space. Check them out here http://GoLiveLabs.io
A 12 week course is not going to make you a professional. It won't even put you on par with a novice or elementary programmer. In fact most successful programmers are highly experienced programmers before they even step foot in an educational program. No school/institute/bootcamp/seminar can guarantee you a job. I'm sure if you complete the course you will be smarter and have more knowledge but I wouldn't expect that alone to make you a more attractive candidate for a job without former experience or/and education. I don't know many employers who will (or can) drop $1,400+ a week on someone who won't be able to perform at the level they need them to. I went to college, attended additional seminars and training classes, and lived/breathed GEEK for many years to receive a job offer of $40k as an entry level back in the day. I laughed and walked out. I got a job in sales and made more than twice that much and never looked back. Since then I've worked for myself, crossed in to Marketing, and made the right contacts to be able to do something I really enjoy now. I suggest you skip the class and go do something else if you aren't going to put in the time to get the "worthless" documentation. (And you will realize how much BS a BA actually is...)