Let’s be honest here, what do coding bootcamps really sell? I’ll tell you the dirty secret. Behind all the marketing, all the glitz, and the wonderful team running the show. Bootcamps inherently sell two underlying things.
- Discipline
- Structure
That’s it. These are the two key things that a prospective customer is looking for.
Look, going through a bootcamp is intense. It is normally a full-time experience, typically over 3 months. One of the biggest appeals is the consistent daily structure that a student follows. This sets a repeatable mental expectation every day and from this structure is where the discipline comes from. Through discipline is how a student will learn the trade.
Let’s be honest, why else are you shelling out $$$ for full-time bootcamps? All the material is online, with free learning paths to follow, courses on youtube to binge, and cheaper MOOCs to go through. However, it is inherently human to follow through with something once we spent a considerable sum of money on it. One of the few examples where the sunk cost fallacy may benefit us, on education.
Of course, other factors are selling pieces for a bootcamp or a cohort-based-course, such as a solid community, career services, and successful alumni. In my opinion, these are second to the first two selling factors.
Maybe I’m wrong, but at least for me, when I enrolled in an expensive bootcamp to learn data science, these were the things I was looking for. I didn’t have the discipline to figure out my own structure/learning path at that time.
I’m not here to bash bootcamps, I think bootcamps are great and can be life-changing. The space has done wonderful things to bring folks in tech. I teach at one, and I love it. However, I think if you’re a prospective student, you should be aware of what we’re really selling and ask yourself if it’s worth it, before enrolling.