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Four Code Bootcamps Are Now Eligible For Government Financial Aid (hackeducation.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader theodp notes a pilot program for improving computer science education which includes financial aid for students at four code bootcamps:
In this week's Hack Education Weekly News, Audrey Watters writes, "The US Department of Education has selected eight higher ed institutions and eight 'non-traditional providers' that will work as partners to pilot the DoE's new EQUIP experiment, meaning that students will be able to receive federal financial aid for coding bootcamps, MOOCs, and the like...
"Good thing there haven't been any problems with for-profit higher ed and exploitation of financial aid, otherwise this would all seem like a terrible idea."
The original submission has more details on the participants (including the four code bootcamps). Ultimately the program involves pairing "non-traditional" providers with higher education institutions -- and then monitoring their results with a third-party "quality assurance entity" -- to improve the ways we measure a school's performance, but also testing new ways to fund training for computer careers. (I'm curious how Slashdot's readers feel about government loans for attendees at code bootcamps...)
"Good thing there haven't been any problems with for-profit higher ed and exploitation of financial aid, otherwise this would all seem like a terrible idea."
The original submission has more details on the participants (including the four code bootcamps). Ultimately the program involves pairing "non-traditional" providers with higher education institutions -- and then monitoring their results with a third-party "quality assurance entity" -- to improve the ways we measure a school's performance, but also testing new ways to fund training for computer careers. (I'm curious how Slashdot's readers feel about government loans for attendees at code bootcamps...)
"Well rounded education" my ass. Name one time in your life you ever needed to know a single thing you "learned" in that required philosophy/sociology/calculus class that you paid a grand for the privilege of sleeping through. (Bonus points if it was something you couldn't have looked up in 30 seconds on wikipedia)
A college degree tells employers you (probably) have a triple-digit IQ, can function in a setting where people are telling you what to do, and are deep enough in debt that you won't get too itchy about quitting when the whole "mandatory unpaid overtime" thing comes up. Any useful knowledge or skills gained along the way is just a bonus.
What proportion of competent programmers are self-taught? I would expect the majority. On my degree, the only people who could program were the ones who had learned themselves, and the students who relied on the lectures knew practically nothing.
You can't just sit in a classroom and expect to be able to program at the end of the course. You only become a competent programmer by spending a lot of time working on real applications, which generally involves dedicating a lot of your free time.
If I were recruiting for a programming job I wouldn't even consider qualifications and wouldn't care whether the applicant had a degree or not. What I'd instead want to see is examples of the programs the applicant had produced. This would confirm that they could actually program (since many people with degrees can't) and that they have the enthusiasm and dedication to be good programmers. If all you have is a degree or some certificate from a bootcamp, and can't show any work that demonstrates your programming skills, then it's clear that you have no programming skills, nor do you have any interest in programming.
Me: You don't seem to like IT, but you are working in it. Why?
Him: The government told me that I could make a lot of money in IT.
Me: Are you happy in working in IT?
Him: No.
Tossing out code camp degrees massively to folks might seem to the government folks that they have increased the IT skill pool.
They are wrong.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Who want a girlfriend that accuse everyone of misogyny or rape for disagreeing with. Men were promised strong and independent women, feminism brought them cunts with the mental development of a infant. #FeminismIsCancer