Dev Bootcamp is going, but won't be forgotten

The original coding school, Dev Bootcamp, will be closing all of its six locations at the end of this year, after their current cohorts graduate. The reason they gave for the shutdown was that they “simply cannot reach a sustainable business model.” Learn more on my take about what this shutdown means and what the bootcamp industry and broader tech industry should do:

LinkedIn reached out to staff at other coding schools to get their take on Dev Bootcamp closing its doors after five years. Here are some of their insights:

A shutdown isn’t a sign that the bootcamp industry is in peril, says Holberton school co-founder Sylvain Kalache. He argues that project/competency-based approaches to training are necessary for the industry to be successful. LearningFuze Director of Operations Bill Cunningham agrees: “Those programs [that] focus on the quality of coding education and the needs of their students will continue to be the most successful.”

How can you make a sustainable bootcamp? Actualize founder Jay Wengrow suggests the answer may be figuring out how to acquire students inexpensively and how to convince students that making the jump is actually the right idea. He goes on to caution us that bootcamps may never be “unicorns” in the Valley sense… and tells us how that’s OK. We Can Code IT founder Mel McGee takes a different tack, suggesting that DBC was just too inefficient in how they spent money, and that the industry has to find a better way to deliver education with fewer staff.

DBC served as a springboard to help many people enter the tech industry. Tom Goldenberg, a DBC alumnus, writes about his experience at the school and how it inspired him to start his own company, praising the school’s nurturing environment. Tech Academy co-founder Erik Gross explains how seeing Dev Bootcamp inspired him to start a competing program and mentions just how audacious the idea of Dev Bootcamp was.

In fact, Dev Bootcamp’s shutdown may be a catalyst for other programs and training models, according to developer Bobby Davis, Jr. Despite the program being shut down, its legacy will live on in many different ways. Former DBC employee and current Product VP Abi Noda also mentions that DBC leaving the business doesn’t necessarily mean that it was a failure.  

One way that the program’s ideals could live on is through increased accountability in the bootcamp industry as a whole. Fullstack Academy co-founder David Yang writes: “Schools dedicated to outcome-driven education continue to offer an amazing return on investment.” V School CEO Michael Zaro concurs, writing that the program’s failure to join the Council on Integrity in Results Reporting may have contributed to its demise.

Ultimately, however, the bootcamp industry is probably stronger than this program’s shutdown would suggest, argues Skill Distillery co-founder Cole Frock. He writes that bootcamps are the “type of alternative education that will change the job market as a whole moving forward.”

What do you think? Did you attend a bootcamp, or have you hired a bootcamp graduate? What are your thoughts on the sustainability of the model as a whole? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.