As a recent graduate of a Bootcamp I can attest to the fact that if you work your ass off, and put in more effort than is asked of you by the already demanding curriculum of your everyday Bootcamp, you can indeed land your dream tech job. I did that, and I got myself a job that I am truly happy with and proud of. However, one thing that makes me detest being an alumnus of a Bootcamp is the sleazy marketing that some of these schools tend to employ. One particular Bootcamp that grinds my gears, and also makes for a wonderful case study in shady Bootcamp advertising, is the very Bootcamp that I am an alumnus of. To keep it professional, I will not mention the name of the Bootcamp, but please do not let that deter you from reading the rest of this r̶a̶n̶t̶ essay.
For the longest time, I have had the displeasure of witnessing how my former school conducted their business, most notably with how they market their product, and recently they gave me an extremely irresistible excuse to voice my opinion. Yesterday a friend of mine sent me a link to one of my former schools landing pages, it was specifically target at people who want to take their Web Development program. I found a few issues with this mostly related to their bogus statistics and false advertising.
First of all, the page states that there are 2033 open developer jobs in Vancouver, BC. Stating that there are currently 2033 open developer jobs in Vancouver is about as meaningful as saying that that there are X amount of jobs in general open in BC, because a Bootcamp graduate is qualified for only a significantly small portion of those jobs. Basically, when you graduate from a Bootcamp and do not already possess a Computer Science degree, your only option is a Junior Developer position, of which there is certainly not an abundance of.
Second, the page suggests that their hire rate is 90%. That 90% hire rate might as well be a random number from 1 to 100 that they drew out from down under (and then re-drew repeatedly until they drew a number that seemed high enough) because from personal experience, I have absolutely no idea how they derive that statistic. I know for a fact that my cohort, which was a particularly strong one (if not the strongest, based on what I’ve witnessed), only had about an 80% hire rate, with one individual getting a job that the program was not targeted at landing, so technically it’s 60%. The only thing that I could think of, is that they’re blending together the hiring rate statistics of all the programs (UX, UI, Digital Marketing included) and using those numbers, which if you’re going to use on a Web Development Program landing page, is just plain false advertising and a fudging of numbers.
Third, and probably my favorite of their questionable statistics, is the “$80,000, the average salary of a full stack developer.” Let me make it abundantly clear: no one coming out of the “Full Stack” program at my former school is qualified for an $80,000 a year Full Stack Developer job. Zero, zilch, nada. So why would this be a relevant number to use?
Last, and certainly not least, the page copy writes: “Due to our strong portfolio-focused curriculum in JavaScript (the most popular framework).” I don’t think that I need to point out what exactly is wrong with that statement. I think the framework they’re trying to refer to is React, which is actually a library, but hey who’s keeping track of facts on this page anyways.
This may feel like a rant, but I assure you that it is not. It’s more so me being annoyed and upset on behalf of my friends who worked very hard, were pretty good developers, and spent their hard-earned money, only to fall into that 10% who did not land a job. Which from my experience felt a lot more like 30% or more, but based on the undeniable facts that were listed on the landing page in question, I must be wrong, and they must be right. It is note-worthy to mention that I am by no means left bitter by any of their false promises. I got the job that I wanted and I am a successful alumnus of the school. I am simply disturbed by some of the shady marketing practices that are being used by these Bootcamps. I would be curious to hear how others feel about practices such as these, and what should or could be done to fix them.