Exploring and Searching for Suitable Bootcamp

The First of All And The Conclusion

There is no best bootcamp but may be suitable bootcamps

First of all, I know there is no best bootcamp, every bootcamp has their own style and strength. There are some factors to consider such as the physical locations which can affect job networking, weekly learning hours, program duration, starting dates, the cost, the syllabus and the content of income share agreement.

Bootcamp Review Webistes

I started to search bootcamps online and browsed a few bootcamps on the top searches to find the common bootcamp structure and the competitors and review websites that those bootcamps mentioned most to identify the top bootcamps and the reliable review websites like SwitchUp, Career Karma, and Course Report. I saw some graduates posted reviews on all three sites or two of the sites. It’s still good to check all three websites. However, only Course Report had limited filter feature. It’s really hard to find the reviews I needed among hundreds of reviews.

Bootcamp Structure

• Full-time vs. Part-time
• Live vs. Flex
• Online vs. On-campus
  • Most bootcamps are remote now due to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Self-funding(various financing options) vs. Income Sharing Agreements
  • ISA structure
    • Payment cap: 1.24x-1.82x times of the tuition
    • Minimum payback threshold: 32k-60k annual income
    • Payment period: 36~60 months

Income Sharing Agreements(ISA)

I found less and less bootcamps offered ISA. At first, I was looking for a full-time, live and online program with ISA so I wouldn’t have too much financial burden. I found Galvanize as my first choice since they had a higher ISA threshold at 60K and lowest times of payments cap. I learned a lot from their free detailed prep-work materials. The wage is increasing fast now. The basic wage the market offers in my area is almost $20 per hour. Signing an ISA with a $40K threshold will only increase my financial burden. Unfortunately, Galvanize terminated their Data Science programs in July right before the cohort I planned to join. So I started to search for some self-funding bootcamps.

Admission Processes

TBC

Findings

Actually, I’m still worried about the outcomes. After researching, I found it’s more difficult to find a DS job now than a SDE job and also harder than past few years. The threshold of a data scientist becomes higher and higher. I can see the competition of the bootcamp industry is getting fiercer as well since everything goes online and many colleges and universities also offer programs now. I also found many bootcamp instructors were bootcamp students two to three years ago. I’m not sure whether this structure will work out. There are also many other options such as a Master program and self-learning. I just decided to do the bootcamp less than a month ago. It’s hard to make a big decision within this short time. The next few months will be the best time for me to do it although it’s already late to get into this field. I have to spend my time efficiently and I will embrace the challenges.