From: Peter Hickman Date: 2012-12-15T18:45:11+09:00 Subject: Re: Wondering About Flatiron School --e89a8ff1c638fc786d04d0e10086 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Just to put in a spanner in the works here. I'm the guy who decides who gets employed at the company I work at and any CV that has nothing more to show than some paper qualification that was bought would go straight in the bin without a second glance. Just saying On 15 December 2012 04:01, Chad Perrin wrote: > On Sat, Dec 15, 2012 at 11:51:08AM +0900, Kevin Y. wrote: > > Hi everyone!, > > Do any of you have some information on FlatironSchool? > > http://flatironschool.com/ > > > > I hear many good things about the program. They guarantee molding > > students with no to little previous programming experience to become a > > competent Web/Ruby Developer in 12 Weeks! > > > > I am considering going there- But four things about the school make me > > hesitate to apply. > > 1.Tuition = $10k > > 2.It is very new and is untested. > > 3. Can't you achieve the same effect alone or studying through > > Skillshare/MeetUps? > > 4.Job Placement > > > > Their syllabus look great and many outsiders in programming communities > > praise students' work. I was just hoping that perhaps some of you have > > more information on this school and whether you think it is worth the > > investment. > > It all comes down to how best you learn, your priorities, and your > resources. $10K is a hell of a lot of money for something that *can* > conceivably be learned on your own. On the other hand, a structured > class setting offers a form of mentorship and some help with rapid skill > uptake, including the time pressures from externally imposed deadlines. > > Ultimately, I do not think that these programs are worth anywhere near > that much money in and of themselves. Two things that might make them > worth more are both tangential to the skill acquisition: > > 1. possible job placement help > 2. employers valuing documented instruction over autodidactic learning > > The first is mostly valuable only because of the second, which means that > the biggest benefit from such a program in the general case is bypassing > employment gatekeepers who feel the need to justify hiring > recommendations through key resume bullet points rather than relying > solely on actual suitability to the job. > > There are specific cases where the benefits of the hands-on instructional > model might be more valuable to a given student than the increased > ability to slide into the job market. This relates specifically to > people whose best prospects for learning come from that instructional > model, though -- and not to people whose learning is best served by other > approaches to acquiring skills. > > So . . . the upshot is that, unless the Flatiron School is just garbage, > the answer is "It depends." > > -- > Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ] > > --e89a8ff1c638fc786d04d0e10086 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Just to put in a spanner in the works here. I'm the guy who decides who= gets employed at the company I work at and any CV that has nothing more to= show than some paper qualification that was bought would go straight in th= e bin without a second glance.

Just saying

<= br>
On 15 December 2012 04:01, Chad Perrin <= code@apotheon.net> wrote:
On S= at, Dec 15, 2012 at 11:51:08AM +0900, Kevin Y. wrote:
> Hi everyone!,
> Do any of you have some information on FlatironSchool?
> http://flatir= onschool.com/
>
> I hear many good things about the program. =A0They guarantee molding > students with no to little previous programming experience to become a=
> competent Web/Ruby Developer in 12 Weeks!
>
> I am considering going there- But four things about the school make me=
> hesitate to apply.
> 1.Tuition =3D $10k
> 2.It is very new and is untested.
> 3. Can't you achieve the same effect alone or studying through
> Skillshare/MeetUps?
> 4.Job Placement
>
> Their syllabus look great and many outsiders in programming communitie= s
> praise students' work. I was just hoping that perhaps some of you = have
> more information on this school and whether you think it is worth the<= br> > investment.

It all comes down to how best you learn, your priorities, and y= our
resources. =A0$10K is a hell of a lot of money for something that *can*
conceivably be learned on your own. =A0On the other hand, a structured
class setting offers a form of mentorship and some help with rapid skill uptake, including the time pressures from externally imposed deadlines.

Ultimately, I do not think that these programs are worth anywhere near
that much money in and of themselves. =A0Two things that might make them worth more are both tangential to the skill acquisition:

1. possible job placement help
2. employers valuing documented instruction over autodidactic learning

The first is mostly valuable only because of the second, which means that the biggest benefit from such a program in the general case is bypassing employment gatekeepers who feel the need to justify hiring
recommendations through key resume bullet points rather than relying
solely on actual suitability to the job.

There are specific cases where the benefits of the hands-on instructional model might be more valuable to a given student than the increased
ability to slide into the job market. =A0This relates specifically to
people whose best prospects for learning come from that instructional
model, though -- and not to people whose learning is best served by other approaches to acquiring skills.

So . . . the upshot is that, unless the Flatiron School is just garbage, the answer is "It depends."

--
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]


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