A computer language consists of a set of instructions that computers can understand. But the days when programming was only meant for computers are over. An increasing number of devices in our daily life communicate via the Internet (Internet of Things). For example, in 2017 we know ?? smart ?? lamps and thermostats that can turn our home into a smart ?? surroundings. Those products are also coded. Technological developments are moving at lightning speed, but the number of trained programmers needed to manage all this is lagging behind. According to the European Commission, the shortage of programmers would already be roughly 1 million people by the year 2020. So-called ‘Coding Boot Camps’ respond to the great demand for programmers. They shoot like mushrooms from the ground. The promises of those boot camps sound tempting, but what’s behind it? And will they be able to replace the regular ICT courses in the long term?
Content
- What is Coding?
- Why coding is so important
- The boot camp phenomenon
- Traditional programs for programmers at Hogeschool and University take too much time
- How realistic are the promises of these coding boot camps?
- A useful alternative to HBO education in computer science?
- The importance of additional training in the IT industry
What is Coding?
Coding, the English name for coding or programming, is in its simplest sense “telling a computer what to do”. This means that you write step-by-step commands (instructions) that the computer must follow. After all, computers are not smart devices, but they are very obedient. They will do exactly what you want them to do as long as you tell them how to do it. There are many different coding languages, each designed for specific applications. Examples of this are:
- ‘C’, a ‘low level’ but fast programming language, which is ideal for anything graphically dominated, such as games;
- Or Javascript, specially designed for dealing with web content;
- and Perl, a multi-functional programming language often referred to as the “Swiss Army Knife” of programming.
Why coding is so important
Computer code is the driving force behind our digital society. If you take a careful look around you will realize how much we are surrounded by computer code, not only at work, but also in everyday life:
- the coffee machine is programmed, and so is the elevator;
- in the supermarket, the barcode is scanned at the checkout;
- almost all of us own a mini-computer that we always have with us: the smartphone;
- Thanks to digitization, new business models are also devised almost daily. Airbnb, Uber, Facebook or WhatsApp are almost indispensable. They are all made possible with computer code.
Any website, any smartphone app, any calculator, yes even any microwave, relies on computer code to operate. That makes programmers the architects of our digital society. Also, jobs not directly related to computer science (think banking, medicine, and journalism) are served by those with a good knowledge of programming and coding.
Programmer’s job underrated for a long time
However, most people have no idea how computer programs work. They cannot read, let alone write, computer code. And let’s be honest: ICT was by no means presented as an attractive field of activity. Often times, computer scientists are still portrayed in the media as lonely geeks who sit in front of their screens all day and don’t show much social skills.
The boot camp phenomenon
A boot camp was originally a military training camp for recruits who received their basic training there. The name ‘boot’ is related to the heavy boots that often had to be worn in such camps. Later, the term boot camp was also used for training camps that were engaged in the re-education of criminals or young people who went off the rails. Boot camps like this were characterized by discipline, humiliation, deprivation and exhaustion. People were drilled to return to society as decent citizens as soon as possible.
Training or education concept
Later still, the term boot camp became commonplace for training or education of the most diverse nature, training that did not necessarily have a physical character. In fact, boot camps in a broad sense can best be referred to as training concepts that must impart certain basic skills in record time. Similarly coding boot camps: they are practice-oriented intensive digital training courses. Crash courses, so to speak, with the characteristic element that the required knowledge is imparted in a few weeks. The participants are ‘prepared’, ‘drilled’ if you like in no time. So much for the similarity with the boot camps for soldiers. An encampment in the open air or significant physical exertion is not involved.
Traditional programs for programmers at Hogeschool and University take too much time
Figures supplied by the job site Indeed at the end of 2017 showed that roughly ⅓ part of all IT vacancies in our country cannot be filled. The demand for programmers is particularly high. In addition, traditional training at colleges and universities is experienced as too unwieldy and too long. Or as an old-style programmer put it: “When I became a programmer at the end of the last century, I first had to struggle through 4 years of mathematics, supplemented with physics”. Partly as a result of such superfluous ballast, people are simply unable to keep up with demand.
Steam courses as an alternative
Providers of steam training courses (in the Netherlands, including Code Institute, The App Academy and Development Boot Camp) claim to prepare students to become a programmer without any prior knowledge. Their boot camps almost all have the same approach:
- a 12 week program;
- minimum 70 lessons per week;
- course fees ranging between $ 10,000 and $ 20,000;
- the choice between classroom training or part-time remote training with the assignment of a personal supervisor.
How realistic are the promises of these coding boot camps?
“We teach you programming in 12 weeks and help you successfully enter the programming profession.” Most coding boot camps advertise with such attractive promises. Many providers go so far as to offer a money-back guarantee. if one has not found a job as a programmer shortly after the training. But the price of many of those offers is not disgusting: prices of tens of thousands of euros are no exception. But are those promises realistic, or is a lot of money being made here on people’s hopes for a fast job, without benefiting them for a longer period of time? In other words, can a 12-week program offer candidates, in addition to up-to-date expertise, skills that will enable them to keep up with dynamic technological developments in about 10 years?
Positive experiences with successful students
A cautious “yes” may be in order. Inquiries among students of coding boot camps by ‘Course Report’ (perhaps not entirely without self-interest) emphasizes the success of the crash courses. 665 Graduates from 44 different training institutions provided information about their career after completing the boot camp:
- four months after completing the program, 89 percent of graduates were in employment;
- their salary improved by an average of $ 18,000. With that, they had already recouped the average registration fee of $ 11,852 for the boot camp.
A useful alternative to HBO education in computer science?
Should existing IT programs fear coding boot camps? A closer analysis of those who obtained their certificate can provide interesting insights in this respect:
- the average participant in a coding boot camp is 31 years old;
- he has 7.5 years of professional experience;
- in almost 80% of the cases, one is already in possession of a HBO diploma;
- and less than three percent of those surveyed had no school experience at all.
Bootcamp rather to be seen as a targeted further education
Based on these data, a boot camp does not offer a full-fledged training, but it should be regarded as a targeted “further training”. Perhaps the secret to their success lies in this combination of:
- an academic or higher vocational education;
- several years of professional experience;
- and concentrated, hands-on coding training.
The importance of additional training in the IT industry
More and more employees in the IT industry, aged 45 and over, are losing their jobs and nowhere to end up. They can no longer cope with the rapid technological changes. Knowledge that was part of the basic equipment of the computer scientist 20 years ago is no longer in demand. Additional education and training is needed to retain older workers in the IT industry.