The Negativity around Lambda School
I know this is a little late, but I originally started writing this blog last week. However, I had other things that got in the way that I halted on continuing this post. Still, there haven’t been any changes from its original intent, so I’ll pick it up from where I left off. Last year, I wrote this blog post about bootcamps and imposter syndrome. This was during the time when I was in my early active days at Career Karma in hopes that I would finally be able to enroll in a reputable bootcamp and CK only had three choices: Flatiron School, Lambda School, and Thinkful. At that time, I shared my experiences with the application process with Flatiron School and Lambda School in that post. You can read more about what I wrote about them there and the some of the reasons why I’m still stuck without being enrolled in a bootcamp and still continuing with my self-education journey through Progate, Treehouse, AppAcademyOpen, FCC, a number of Udemy courses, and a new addition to the list: Framework Television. Throughout all the incidents and events I’ve gone through, starting from the car accident that cost me my interview appointment with Thinkful to coping through my father’s death, a gut feeling was reminding me that I wasn’t at all ready for a bootcamp program. 1
I admit that I haven’t been keeping an eye out on my social media as often as I used to, namely Twitter, because I was too busy trying to get my focus back on my self-taught coding education, especially with the new one, Framework TV, where I can earn some specialist certifications to add to my LinkedIn. However, I did come across a bunch of tweets from all the tech figures I follow regarding Lambda School. There are a few:
There is also this blog post right here.
To be honest, I am not a financial/money-minded person, let alone math person. I have the support of my (late) father and my younger sister 2 to do all that finance math for me. It’s already bad enough that I’ve got bills to pay and an ongoing student loan that I’m still paying until now from my college education last decade, still stuck at a part-time job that doesn’t help me much with my goals, and then I read about this. I don’t have the smarts to write out my personal opinion on Lambda’s ISA/tuition practices, 3 however, the more I’ve read people’s tweets and replies regarding this matter, part of me is saying that I’m glad that Lambda School rejected me during that pre-enrollment interview, but at the same time, part of me is saying that I don’t know the whole story from both sides for me to come up with my own overall opinion.
ISAs would definitely be the best way for low-income would-be coders and devs to get into for a rigorous education and training into the field, but then I realized that once I get a job with a salary of >$40K/yr, for example, it would be the same thing as a college grad paying back their loans while working on their jobs, not knowing the chances of them going through job transitions 4 just a few years right after.
I thought about getting active at CK to join some channels and peer groups and redo the #21DayCKChallenge again, but I think I’ve made up my mind about AppAcademy Open. I’m able to study at my own pace and I also have the option of paying some $30/mo for a one-on-one mentor until I’m done with the program and able to cancel the monthly fees. Of course, the downside of it is that I can’t predict how long it’ll take me to finish the program and I may end up paying more than I thought, so that would mean that I would still have to be completely dedicated to the program.
The upside of ISAs though is that you have a 6-month grace period (usually) when you find a job. There are two things that can happen here:
- If you’re able to find a job that is <$40K/yr.
- If you’re unable to find a job at all.
If you land at in any one of the two, you won’t have to pay the ISA tuition and that your bootcamp education is free. However, you will also lose your alumni services from your chosen bootcamp as well. Not having to pay the ISA also meant that the bootcamp failed in helping you reach your goal. If you think about it, it’s also not worth going to this role, because that also meant you also wasted your time and also wasted theirs.
At this point right now, I’ll stay with where I am right now. I still would love to connect with fellow like-minded coders, but because of my personal circumstances, I’ll stick with the sources I’m using right now.
Some Extra Notes...
- Maybe that’s why Lambda School rejected me during my first pre-enrollment interview with them.
- Accountants, by the way…
- Deferred Tuition and ISAs – Course Report
- such as in-between jobs, getting laid off, etc.