How to vet a school, boot camp, class, or teacher
Tags: design, programming, online, courses
Published: 2020-06-25 20:00:34

Most of the people on dev.to have probably already started their programming careers / or they wouldn't be here - or have a github to login - but many other people are trying to figure out what learning path to take.

> It's difficult to be critical of something before you know enough about it - to be critical! Right?

{% youtube ugLRwpoxJ0Q %}

If you have no writing experience, how would you pick the best school for creative writing? If you don't know a single thing about design or programming then how do you pick the best school or boot camp?

To make things even more weird... everyone is stuck inside during COVID era - and so, your only choices are 'online' and even more mysterious to vet.

## The following suggestions were brought up by a few Quora questions:

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-online-coding-bootcamps

https://www.quora.com/Im-interested-in-attending-a-Programming-Bootcamp-How-do-I-decide-between-Dev-Bootcamp-and-Hack-Reactor

### GOALS:

All 'designs' need a goal and in this case will differ per person.

**in theory they are:**

* Deeply learn design and development 
* so you can enter the field and 
  * get a job
  * or start your own business

**But often they are**

* Learn enough to get a job
* For the least ‘cost’ as possible
* As fast as possible

Either way… *to figure out* which schools can give you _those things_, you’re going to have to do some research and uncover the right questions to ask. This is hard - *if you don’t know the subject already*!!! So, here’s a starter list. (the video is really long and chalk full of great information - but here’s the general list + a few more)

### THE SCHOOL SHOULD:

#### Know how to build websites
* You can look a their site:
  * Is it wonderful? Or just *ok*?
  * Is it clunky or smooth?
  * Can you find the information quickly?
  * Does it do it's job well?
* You can look at their code
  *  click and see the HTML if you know a little about that
  * Run a lighthouse metric test on their site to see their score

#### Have teachers with real experience

* What are their names? What history do they have?
* Why are they teaching here?
* Can you talk to them first?
* Where is their stack-overflow, linkedin, github, personal website etc.? (but keep mind that things like [the github activity graph can be meaningless](https://dev.to/kendalmintcode/github-activity-graphs-are-meaningless-p0))

#### Have a clear curriculum (vision)

* What makes them unique? What will you take away?

#### Teach design thinking
  * Just knowing ‘how to code’ isn’t enough
  * How do you *learn how to learn* - and figure out ‘what’ and ‘why’

#### Share example lessons
* Will they share example lessons from a few different parts of the course so that you can experience the teaching style?

#### Be able to prove the value to the student
* Reviews are one thing… but are the students successful?
* Can you see their portfolios? Writing? Projects?
* WRITING is very very important. If you can explain what you know - and you have a lot of public writing and thoughts on these subjects, you will be first choice in a stack of applicants. They should be encouraging you to write from day *one*.

#### Help you zero in on a role that’s right for you
* Not everyone is going to be a ‘full-stack’ developer
* Are they honest about that? Are they helping you to figure out where you fit - and helping you dial in your unique value?

#### Stand behind a promise
* What do you get? What is their goal?

#### Have an effective technique
* Why is “their way” such a good way?
* Do they use video? A custom code sandbox? Are there written lessons? Are the tests automated? Do you need to know git before you learn what the heck you’re doing? Do you have group critique? Do they have challenges and study projects? What makes them unique? - and *why* is that effective? Is it effective for *you*?

#### Work to help you get hired
* “hiring connections” often just means they line you up and take a cut of your salary (behind the scenes) - and you might end up at some mediocre company…
* So, instead of just ‘connecting you’ - do they work *with you* to build your portfolio and find **the best job** *for you*?

#### Be able to explain how their curriculum was built
* Who built it?
* What books and resources did they draw from?
* Why did they build it that way?
* How are they improving it?

#### not hound you / write 10 emails a week begging you to “take a chance”
* If some email marketer is trying to talk you into it - then they are probably not the right company for you

#### not co-opt a famous college name
* Watch out for the “UCLA coding bootcamp” - (they are in every city with every college name - and they aren’t actually associated with the college in any way… they just rent a room - and the use of the name) ( they're usually just [Trinity Education Services](https://www.trilogyed.com/) )

When you pick a school, boot camp, class, mentor, book, video - (or whatever it ends up being) - keep these questions in mind. Ask a friend or even a stranger on Discord or here at Dev.to to help you vet a program that is right for you.

Also - a "good" school is good! You don't have to try and find "the best" school. Aim for a *great* learning path - and hope to land at a "good" one - and you'll be good. You really have to put in the time and work hard no matter what. Don't overthink it so much that it stops you from getting down to business!

; )

"Cost" is an entirely different concept - and you really have to factor in the value of your time - and the opportunity cost. Some courses are free - but could cost you 30k - and other courses are 30k and could pay for themselves! It's wild, but that's a story for another time.

If you ingest information better in video form: here's a long form process: 

{% youtube ugLRwpoxJ0Q %}

What do you think are the key points for vetting education options?