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Comment by canterburry | Hacker News Reader

I too am a bit confused to why coding bootcamps are needed. I am sure they nicely compress lots of information into a short timeframe but even back in 1997 I was able to teach myself to code simply by sitting at Barnes and Noble reading book after book after book and then trying things out on my own. Today, this should be even easier since it's all online anyway.

If it's too much work looking it up yourself, maybe you don't want to code as much as you think you do.

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I disagree. It's harder today now that everything is online. Most people in wealthier countries, especially younger people, struggle greatly to focus deeply for long periods of time and several of their most addictive distractions are available in the same web browser they use to visit docs, source control, technical chatrooms and Q&A sites.

Back when you did it, it was just you, the books and your dev environment.

Ehm...again, maybe they don't want to learn how to code as badly as they think they do.

Or maybe they're adults with responsibilities that don't have the time to learn how to code effectively and are stifled by the enormous amount of choice (interpreted vs compiled? front-end vs back-end? framework vs raw code? self-learning or bootcamp?).

Most successful developers neglect to mention the plethora of free time they had to study code in grade school and university.

Once you get out and have to support yourself with a job, your free learning time shrinks to a 1/4 of what it was. Yeah, you can sacrifice some things and learn to code eventually, but it's much harder after school.

It really is that simple.

Fair point.

No, it is not a fair point. Either you want to do something, or not. If you have no time because your existing job - quit the job. It might sound scary, but only then you'll be able to truly answer the question. Do you REALLY want to code? If so, learn and find a new job. Not having a job would work as a huge motivation. And when you finally do find one, I guarantee you'll feel great.

the book at Barnes and Noble won't give you 10 best tools to get the job done and help you configure them. It also won't answer any of your questions when you get stuck. It will also not give you insight form other people asking questions you didn't think to ask. Of course today you can get most of that with a $30/month subscription to pluralsight or frontendmasters. so yah, 15k seems a bit nuts. I remember back in the day they had these bootcamps for html/css also priced in thousands

When I got stuck with Linux or C during my Barnes and Noble learning days, I just went on IRC

Sure, books won't, but then there is StackOverflow or a million other resources..still, no bootcamp needed.

The bootcamp I went to gave us a one-month internship and some job-seeking help/training. That plus giving us more networking opportunities and people to learn with was a huge help for me. We also spent most of the time pair programming. There is a lot you can get out of a bootcamp that is hard to do on your own. That being said, if you are motivated enough, learning on you own is still the most cost-effective method.

You don't think you could have done that more efficiently with 8 hours of expert instruction per day?

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