They propose to engage the participants all day long for a number of consecutive days. They promise to cover a whole semester's material in a week. Such managers may check off staff upgrade on their list of annual objectives after enrolling their programmers in a Java or Visual Basic bootcamp course. Rarely if ever, however, do their people then become productive and creative practitioners of the new technology. This approach works well when we need to drill a student to the point where he or she responds automatically.
Computer programming is altogether different.
To become a good programmer a student has to master concepts . He or she needs time to reflect upon and absorb principles, and to practice applying them to solving problems. If we set aside 45 minutes to solve a workshop problem, a few students will get finished in 20 minutes while a few others will still be working in frustration when time is called. Even without any differences in aptitude, some students will fall behind, due to unplanned interruptions such as illness or a crisis in their regular job. No matter how firmly management pledges to isolate the participants, exceptions get made not only for bona fide emergencies but also for meetings.