Over the last few weeks, you may have seen in industry news that two of the biggest names in developer bootcamps are closing down. The Iron Yard and Dev Bootcamp, both of which have campuses across the globe, released statements confirming that they will be ending their programs at the end of 2017. For those who aren’t familiar with coding bootcamps, they’re accelerated fully immersive learning programs focused on teaching people to learn to code and prepare them for developer carers. We share the same mission at Treehouse, so to see fellow tech educators closing their doors is something that saddens us greatly. We take our hats off to the incredible communities at Dev Bootcamp and the Iron Yard, they both pioneered the bootcamp industry and have changed the lives of thousands of people helping them achieve careers in tech.
So why are we seeing these closures?
We at Treehouse know first-hand how competitive the tech education landscape is today, but the bootcamp industry is facing an even more challenging environment. In May 2017, there were 96 active bootcamps in the US alone, a significant expansion from the 67 reported in 2015.
There are also three main ways bootcamps differ from learning with online resources that impact a student’s choice:
- They’re (mostly) in person: To benefit from the immersive experience, students often need to learn on campus for bootcamps, and locations are restricted to where bootcamps are situated.
- They’re often full-time: As bootcamps are accelerated, they tend to be 12+ weeks long, which means students need to be learning full-time. It can be hard to find the time to meet the demands of learning immersively as it often means taking a break from work and life, an impossible challenge for some.
- They’re expensive: Full-time learning costs time and money. According to Course Report, on average a bootcamp in the US costs $11,450 with tuition for some costing up to $20,000.
The good news is, if you have the bandwidth and the resources, there are still coding bootcamps keeping their doors wide open, like the awesome folks over at General Assembly, who teach thousands of students in campuses located across the globe, or trying Googling a local bootcamp in your area. But, if you’re interested in becoming a developer and can’t meet the demands of an accelerated learning program, consider learning to code online.
Learning to code online with a resource like Treehouse offers alternatives to the three challenges above.
- Learning remotely means that you can pick up your learning anywhere (all you need is your computer and access to the internet).
- Choosing to learn online is self-paced, take our Techdegree program for example. When you start the program, we’ll help you find the balance between how much time you can allocate each week to learning and how to fit it into your schedule. How long it takes for you to complete is dependent on your pace, but on average we’re seeing graduates land entry-level jobs in tech in 6 months.
- Learning to code online is affordable. If you choose a structured program like the Techdegree, for $199 per month. Or alternatively, you can choose a basic monthly subscription for $25 and select what courses you take.
Whether an online coding program, an immersive bootcamp or a combination of coding tools are the right fit for you, know that all of us in the tech education community are here to support you on your coding journey and new career path. The demand for developers is still constant, so there’s no better time than now to learn the skills you need to facilitate a career shift to tech.
Start learning to code today with your free trial on Treehouse.
https://blog.teamtreehouse.com/tips-wish-known-learning-to-code