Coding Bootcamps at #ToCodeAndBeyond

Today, I'm moderating a panel at Cornell Tech's To Code and Beyond: Access for All Students Conference on Coding Bootcamps.  I'm sharing my write up of the panel and the questions I'll ask the panelists below.  If you have a question for them, please let me know and I'll try to include it!

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Introduction to Panel:

Coding boot camps are intensive, full-time, 3-5 month educational programs that are designed to train students for jobs as entry level software developers.  The proliferation of these bootcamps has attracted the attention of career changers, philanthropists, and government as a means of economic empowerment for future developers and raise many questions around the future of technology education.  In this panel, we’ll discuss some big questions around coding bootcamps.

Panelists:

• Lyel Resner (Flatiron School)
• Angie Kamath (Per Scholas)
• Bethany Marzewski (Stack Overflow)

Panel Questions:

1. For the most part, coding bootcamps are not accredited.  What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? Why is it difficult to accredit these programs?
2. How do you measure quality or effectiveness of your programs?  What are your metrics of success?
3. How do you measure your teachers' qualifications? Must your teachers have any form of educational or teaching background?
4. For low income students, are coding bootcamps a good alternative to college? Why or why not?
5. How should a person decide whether a boot camp is right for them or not? How do you chose between programs?
6. What are the pros and cons of online bootcamps vs. in-person bootcamps?
7. If you could recommend any bootcamp besides your own, which one would it be?
8. Have you gotten any feedback from employers regarding students from coding bootcamps vs. students from traditional computer science programs?
9. What do you lose / what do you leave out by boiling down a coding program to 3-5 months (vs. a 4 year CS degree?)