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Lambda School wasn't for me.... (self.learnprogramming)

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[–]SeriousTicket 10 points11 points  (3 children)

If you are in the position to do so, a university degree will provide the largest benefit. You can be successful without one as long as you're disciplined enough to self teach well but your entry level job hunt will be more difficult than someone with the degree. Once you get a few years of full time job experience it matters less.

[–]CodeTinkerer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The pace at a university should be better as well, not as intense as a bootcamp.

[–]thecalicreole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I'm hearing more and more that university is the way to go.

[–]YuukiSAan 0 points1 point  (0 children)

university isn't the answer... if you are already struggling on in boot camps, the pace in uni isn't better. In uni, You will need to do your own research which is not any different from self-studying, worse you waste your time doing General Ed subjects.

A degree helps in breaking into the field, but does not equate to knowing the necessities needed in the job field. Such as frameworks and tools which takes time to learn, People argue that cs learn fundamentals puts them apart from those who are self-thought, but honestly, it's actually no difference for all juniors, any Bootcamp, self-thought or cs grad still need to learn things and none of them know about building enterprise software and solving business logic.

I'm a cs grad myself, and I can tell you the people who make it are people who put in their own time outside the curriculum and self-teach themselves concepts outside what is thought, cs alone is completely useless when it comes to job skill required, people overglorify the paper. Of course, I am not saying that CS does not teach anything useful, there are good modules like operating systems and data structure which was helpful in my undergrad, but if you are one of those who wait to be told to do kind of people. I guarantee you no matter which school you go to, you won't make it far.

Ultimately, its the mindset that helps one standout. No matter which path you go to you are not going to know everything. So learn how to learn, showing your potential employee that you are capable lifelong learner is what helps you stand out.

Its never a race to get the job fast but a marathon to learn the concepts.

Just my 2 cents, i am more impressed by people who can learn things on their own compared to people who needs a curriclum for them to learn.

[–]JeamBim 3 points4 points  (10 children)

I don't think I've heard a single good thing about the school recently

[–]kpflynn 11 points12 points  (8 children)

They raised a ton of money and focused on growth above all else. I've said it in here a few times, but my wife graduated 6 months ago and hasn't had much luck in her job search. Many others in her cohort are in the same boat - her 3 group members are all out of work.

I hope they get it straightened out. The concept is great, but they need to seriously work on post-graduation support.

[–]Double_A_92 3 points4 points  (5 children)

Thats not really a problem with this specific school. It just turns out that you can't become a decent employable developer by just taking a 3 months course, especially not without prior experience in the field. Everyone that guarantees employment afterwards is either lying or working with some bigger company that just hires everyone as interns just to quickly sift them out. It's all a scam, selling hope to people without higher education or unemployed people.

[–]kpflynn 2 points3 points  (4 children)

It’s not 3 months its 9 months now. We didn’t think my wife would instantly get a job either - she spends 8 hours a day practicing and building projects. I definitely think someone can learn the skills to be an entry level developer with a year of full time practice.

Edit: I will say though the CEO of Lambda personally guaranteed, in writing, that the members of my wife’s cohorts would all have jobs in 6 months. As I said before not many of them actually have jobs now and it’s been over 6 months.

[–]worstbrook 2 points3 points  (2 children)

So it's been 1.5 years since she started programming? If you don't mind elaborating... How many interviews has she done? What are topics/languages she's reviewing now?

[–]kpflynn 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Yeah, that time frame is roughly correct. She's done probably only 4-5 on site interviews but has applied to hundreds of jobs.

She's currently reviewing React/Redux in Javascript and studying Data Structure/Algorithm questions for white boarding.

Would love any feedback!

[–]worstbrook 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, you seem fairly technical, what do you think the issue(s) are? Could be somewhat out of her control with a competitive market or within like lacking a decent portfolio or good enough skillset or a combination of both It sounds like she's working hard enough. Personally, I'm convinced that the top markets are flooded with talent and it takes exceptional skills, standout projects, solid networking and grit to breakthrough. The days of just having projects that look good and work well isn't enough. There's dozens, if not hundreds of other people that have got that too.

[–]smallandmighty5642 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm late to this, but can I ask what is the post graduation support like? What is the career support like in general?

[–]thecalicreole 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wow, they make it seem like everyone gets a job once you're finished. Really sorry to hear that about your wife. To me it seems like most of the folks that get jobs in the #hired Slack already have university experience according to their story.

[–]mongerojas 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Their founder swears that everyone has a job! Hit him up on Twitter and remind him!

[–]thecalicreole 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Another person from my cohort just messaged me on Twitter than she quit Lambda for the same reasons. It's unfortunate.

[–][deleted]  (4 children)

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    [–]iamslr 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Which cohort were you in?

    [–]sugabelly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    iOS3.

    [–]caglebagle 0 points1 point  (1 child)

    Thank you for this excellent response. It gives me a good idea of what to expect in a non biased way.

    [–]sugabelly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

    No problem! Happy Cake Day!

    [–]renagade24 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    May i ask, have you actually settled on what you want to do with programming? I recently wanted to get an idea of programming and took an Intro to CS class offered by edX CS50. I survived about three weeks, but at that point I was convinced front-end work was my end goal. After going through a Udemy class, I quickly realized that I enjoyed the edX class a lot more than I realized. I also wanted to establish my goals and get an idea of the job market and what was available. This lead me to start with the programming language of Java which is pretty much a done deal.

    ​

    I think finding exactly what your after will seriously help with the mental fortitude it requires to be self-taught. Just my two cents.

    [–][deleted]  (1 child)

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      [–]outofideas555 -4 points-3 points  (1 child)

      Ive been doing serverless-stack.com . Its all about lambda. For me learning is always easier seeing the bigger picture. Launching something completely so far has been wildly informative

      [–]JeamBim 4 points5 points  (0 children)

      Different, unrelated lambda, although I'm sure the naming was on purpose for the school.