The More You Know: 4 Common Misconceptions about Coding Bootcamp

Coding bootcamps are becoming more well-known as the demand for tech candidates remains constant and people look to move quickly into the industry. At this point, you may know a friend or two who’s attended coding bootcamp and perhaps you’re considering its viability for yourself.

While we’re thrilled that bootcamp is gaining traction in the education and tech worlds, we’re still painfully aware of the common misconceptions floating around out there about us. Here are a handful of the ones we hear most frequently at Fullstack Academy and the Grace Hopper Program, as well as the counterpoints to clear them up.

What we hear: “I want to go to bootcamp so I can be a coder.”

The truth: You will leave bootcamp as a strong developer.

This one can be confusing. After all, it’s called coding bootcamp, right? Well, we’ll see your coder and raise you a developer—a highly-trained programmer with robust problem-solving skills who will be highly sought after by companies. Doesn’t that sound way more enticing?

Really, you’ll have to be a coder already to get accepted into one of our programs. We don’t enroll students who have zero knowledge about coding, because it would be too laborious to get them where they need to be in just 17 weeks.

We recommend students start with JavaScript 101 or our Bootcamp Prep Course before even applying. After you’re accepted, there’s a Foundations phase everyone goes through before meeting on site to make sure you’ve got the fundamentals down pat.

What we hear: “I don’t have any work experience, so it doesn’t matter if I finish bootcamp or not. No one will hire me.”

The truth: You will gain experience through projects that will help you get hired, and our Career Success team will help put you in the best position to do so.

Bootcamps were designed so that you exit here as a highly employable candidate. Most of our students come to us with no prior programming experience, so we focus on projects as a way to give you tangible evidence of what you can do. Working on projects allows you to amass the practical skills you need to get hired, and our Career Success team shows you how to highlight them on your resume and LinkedIn.

At Fullstack, you’ll also have the opportunity to present your capstone project to a group of potential employers on Launch Day—how’s that for networking? As you approach graduation, the Career Success team will step in again to guide you through the job search process and prepare you for what to expect from tech interviews.

What we hear: “How can the program give me anything if it can’t give me a degree?”

The truth: Bootcamp is a proven way to gain practical skills you can use immediately and land a good-paying job.

All we can do here is point to our results. Our grads get enviable jobs at top employers like Google, Amazon, Squarespace, and more. That wouldn’t be possible if the Fullstack name and reputation didn’t carry real weight in the industry. Employers have come to trust that our grads are hard workers, play well with others, and bring a fresh lens to viewing problems in the tech world.

The bottom line is that you’ll finish bootcamp: 1) knowing the latest technologies, 2) with solid proof of your work product to show employers, and 3) connected to an expansive network of peers, instructors, and industry contacts.

What we hear: “I just don’t trust the for-profit education model.”

The truth: Bootcamps are regulated and, in some cases, meet more standards than degree-granting universities.

“For-profit” has basically become a four-letter word in the education sphere, as nefarious entities have a history of taking advantage of trusting students. We understand your trepidation here. To reassure you, we point to the fact we’re founding members of the nonprofit Council on Integrity in Results Reporting (CIRR).

CIRR sets industry standards for reporting on job outcomes and independently verifies those results. And we’re not just a member of CIRR—we’re top-ranked, which should tell you something. We’re also regulated at the state level and required to meet state compliance standards—which degree-granting for-profit institutions are not.

We hope we’ve been able to dispel some of the erroneous thinking that all too often surrounds bootcamp. We want you to be confident and excited about your interest in us—because that’s how we feel about you. If you’d like a bit more reassurance, check out some of our student success stories to discover how people came to us with no experience and are now loving their jobs in the programming industry.