Bootcamps exist to part fools from their money and pretty much for no other reason. This post is a follow-on to my #cancelQuora post. Featured image courtesy of brokeassstuart.com.
When Quora started having paid promotional content and paying for questions we must have gotten 32,767 “Which bootcamp is the best for insert-something-here.” Usually they had the word “job” wedged in there somewhere as well.
If you never went to school to learn the fundamentals of IT, a bootcamp is not going to get you a good job nor is it going to teach you enough to hang out a shingle.
Period.
The Fundamentals of IT
When you go to a good school to get a B.S. in Computer Information Systems or Computer Science you get taught:
- Programming logic sans a programming language
- Data processing math
- Care and feeding of multiple indexed file systems
- Care and feeding of multiple databases
- Systems Analysis
- Fundamentals of UI design
That last one tends to get taught in the Systems Analysis class(es) because before the field was called Systems Analysis the people were called Efficiency Experts. We didn’t have a cool name for it until we had lots of computers around. Green screen entry days you measured the “efficiency” of UI design by how many times the data entry person had to move their hands from home row.
Numeric fields all got grouped together so the data entry person could move to the numeric keypad to enter them all. It’s also why there is an Enter key over there.
Logic
It’s no secret, I wrote a book on programming logic.
It’s a thin thing. Most people could easily read it in an afternoon. Reading the book won’t teach you logic. You have to work through all of the problems using nothing but flow chart symbols and then go back through with pseudocode. Logic can really only be learned in a classroom setting where the instructor tosses out a problem and you all try to come up with one solution on the board. You really need the creative energy of others around you to kick start this ability.
It’s important that no programming language be taught in this class.
Too many schools started teaching Pascal in this class. They churned out students that “knew Pascal” but didn’t know how to solve problems. This is the lass that gives you the tools for problem solving at the micro level.
Care and Feeding
Today’s world still uses indexed files and relational databases despite all of the hype. These are the go-to data storage solutions. Indexed files have limitations on all platforms that are a bit more significant that those for relational databases, yet they are still in wide use. You will be maintaining systems that use indexed files until the human race is extinct.
Indexed files and Relational databases each serve specific needs. Many small systems or systems that started out small will use indexed files. As systems grow in size and complexity many more indexed files get added until you realize you should have started with a relational database. During the 1970s relational databases weren’t widely available so the cheaper indexed file solution ruled.
The care and feeding classes teach you how to create, control, secure, and maintain these data storage methods.
Systems Analysis
This is the class where you learn how to put it all together. Some places have it as two classes with one of them being a “team project.” It can be three classes if they are also teaching you how to create Waterfall SDLC documentation.
Logic taught you the tools to use inside each class/function/method.
Care and Feeding taught you how to create and maintain your data stores.
Systems Analysis teaches you how to look at the whole problem from a 10,000 foot level and tunnel down to the gears and wires you have to create. How to choose which data store when. Fundamentals of UI and reporting design. (Yes, we still create reports. What do you think your credit card statement is?)
In short, this is the class where you learn what Business/Enterprise Class Computing is. No, it is not a room full of x86 computers.
Bootcamps Summary
So, if you have been through all of the above, you can get a lot out of a bootcamp. You already know how to solve problems, just need to learn a new language syntax and the tools. An N-day or Y-week bootcamp can fill that need nicely.
If you have never went to school to learn all of the dull boring stuff listed above, you cannot learn enough in bootcamps to get a good job. You may get a slavery job that probably pays less than Target will pay you to stock shelves, but you cannot expect a good job or long career.
This is the truth about bootcamps. If they are pitching you the uneducated about the great job you will be qualified for they are simply trying to scam you out of your money. Humans simply cannot learn everything they need to know in that span of time.
