I enrolled in Lambda school which is a 7–9 month software development school, and I am 1 month in and 40% more in debt because that’s what I will owe at this point if I were to decide to leave Lambda school. The goal is stay until I’ve finished all the units, but I’m just stating the facts.
So why did I choose Lambda school? Well these are the reasons laid out in digit fashion.
- It has an ISA available for anyone
Unlike other bootcamps, you can qualify with Lambda’s ISA pretty easily. I’m not even sure they reject anyone as long as you get into the school and pass the entrance test. Depending on how you look at it that might be a bad thing, but it appealed to me. Other bootcamps I applied to either had ISA limitations or they didn’t offer them at all or they only offered them if you didn’t qualify for student loans. Having student loans already I didn’t feel comfortable taking out more loans. I wanted (sort of) a guarantee that I would be getting what I pay for. I wanted to be part of program that has an incentive to help me. - It’s online
This one works for me and my personality. I spoke with a few different respectable people in the software business (one you might have heard of) and their opinion was to go to an in-person bootcamp. Lots of people I met on development Slack channels also said that in-person would be better. The one thing that they didn’t take into account is that I have social anxiety, and I live pretty far from a bootcamp that I actually would want to go to.
A note about my social anxiety. I’ve spent many years managing this, and it has tried to hold me back, and I haven’t let it. I’ve continued to do things I love despite it. There are times where I know it does keep me from things like joining conversations, introducing myself and standing up in front of a group. But for the most part I’ve continued to do the things I love. This being said I will continue.
Going to an in-person bootcamp was an option, but I couldn’t see the benefits over an online one. I saw the in-person one as limiting in some ways because I would have to drive over 45 minutes to it everyday, and I thought to myself that I could be spending that time doing the one thing that will truly determine whether or not I succeed and that’s coding. I could be spending the hour in the morning preparing to leave for the day (in Colorado winters) and the 45 minutes (sometimes an hour) driving there and back driving…coding instead. I also know myself, and I know driving in Denver traffic for 2 hours a day would leave me exhausted and overwhelmed with little energy at the end of the day for anything.
So I decided an online one would be best. But which one?
One thing to note about online ones is that there are many options and many flavors. They will look pretty different from one another so it’s important to figure out how it will be structured. I almost chose a different one, but what sold me on Lambda school was the structure and Slack channel activity. Some people on Quora have mentioned how bad this Slack channel is, but I see it as a positive thing. There are over 100 people on the cohort Slack channel so there’s bound to be someone to help. While I don’t feel that people always respond when I want them to, I haven’t ran into a problem yet that I can’t solve for which I haven’t been able to find help. Full disclosure my partner is an engineer so he’s been able to assist me with some problems that have come up, but I can’t rely on him all the time; and, for me, I am able to get what I need from the Slack channel so far. I also have to attend live class and “stand up” every day so there’s lots of accountability. There’s also projects every day due every evening, and I know, personally, I have done more coding in the past month than I did in 9 months.
But everyone is different so it’s important to know what you need to succeed and what will hurt you. For me, I need deadlines and accountability. Someone else may not thrive or need these ingredients. So really it comes down to who you are.
Let’s get back to that digit list…
3. Accountability
The reason I am staying and haven’t dropped out is because of the accountability I’ve been receiving. Like I just mentioned I get it every day. Another school I was considering didn’t have this. I was supposed to check in once a week but the rest of the time was mine to do with what I wanted. There would be projects, but I determined when I started them. A different person would be fine with this, but I know I can go down rabbit holes pretty quickly, and I need someone to push me forward even if I don’t have everything figured out in one area. Lambda school is pushing me along.
4. Free for 1 month
Other online bootcamps I looked into and got into sign you up with financial obligations from the get go. At Lambda you have 1 full month to decide before you have to financially commit, and you get the full student experience during this time.
5. Projects
So far there have been several projects to complete. I love this aspect because it will be a huge deciding factor in whether or not I get hired.
6. It’s 7 months
Other bootcamps are a lot shorter, and I wanted to attend something longer because I’m not a computer science or engineering graduate. In fact, I’ve only been coding since February 2019. For someone else a 4 month program will work ok, but, for someone who doesn’t have this background, I think the typical person can’t become a software developer in only 3–4 months.
7. They have a dedicated career team
When you’re finished with the program they help you find a job. They’ll even reach out to companies for you to help make an introduction. Sweet.
8. There’s a program after the program.
Once you’re finished with the main program, if you haven’t found a job, you can join something called Lambda X which is basically an extension of the main program that you can stay in as long as you need to. In this program you get to continue to build things. There’s not as much accountability, but you still get career services and you still get a little accountability to keep your skills sharp. To me that’s all I might need to keep going…just a few people still rooting me on.
So …these are my reasons. But what have I done and what have I learned so far in this program? Well stay tuned for Part II of this series.
