Ask HN: Do you believe in a coding school without teachers?

[guidum80]

I had a couple of friends recently asking me about alternatives to colleges without teachers to learn software engineering (Holberton [0] and 42 [1]). I first wasn't a big fan of the idea, but yesterday I stumbled upon an article [2] and it actually seems to give great results.

What do you think about these new two schools? Any students there on HN? Is there any other school like this in the US, not in the Bay Area?

[0] https://www.holbertonschool.com/ [1] https://www.42.us.org/ [2] http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/12/technology/holberton-school-tech-education/index.html

[jayjay823]

Hey, I'm currently a student at Holberton :) I came to Holberton after recently graduating with a STEM degree, and I can't even begin to describe how much more I prefer the learning process that happens at Holberton as opposed to a traditional college. Also, to say there are no teachers isn't 100% true: we have amazing mentors to help answer any and all of our questions, and one of the founders, Julien, will always give lectures to help us understand the more difficult concepts. You'll have to do a lot of readings and practice, but there will always be mentors and classmates around that are more than willing to help you out :D

[bipbip42]

"Learning software development without a teacher" is not totally accurate. There is no regular teachers, like a lecturer feeding students knowledge (at least for Holberton School). Students have to dig in and make their own knowledge, and confront it with their peers. Mentoring is very important, by staff or people from the industry. I know there is a lot of mentor at Holberton, I guess 42 must have something like it.

What's really important is to experiment and do real work in "normal condition". That's how you become operational and ready to bring value to a company. Go for it.

[kwame42]

Hello, no we don't have any mentors at 42... I m totally agree with you. Coding in "normal world" condition is very important.

[bleupi]

I'm a 42 Paris student. Before I did a master degree in a classic french university. It's really different. After 5 years at uni I still needed to learn a job and was not valuable on the work market. After 2 years in 42, I know that I'm valuable on the work market because where I worked as an intern they wanted to hire me. A lot of students quit 42 before the end of their study because they found an interesting job or build their own business. Because I learn a lot by myself, I'm not scare to learn different programming languages. And I enjoy a lot to have the time to dig into some aspect of a concept when I went to, instead of rushing it because a teacher has still a lot to make me write down. If you have motivation, schools without teacher are a good way to learn software engineering.

[chokelette]

I'm actually a current student at Holberton. If you truly want to learn how to code, this method will work for you as how you do in the school depends on how much effort and time you put into it. At Holberton, there aren't any teachers but it was never a problem even if all the students were stuck on the same problem set. There is a large network of mentors (engineers in the field) that we have access to and can ask questions to at any time. Holberton also focuses a lot on peer learning. We have days dedicated to peer learning (have top performing students teach other students, pair programming, peer mentoring).

[nappybrainiac]

Any students on HN? Yes! We're here.

Holberton School is project based and community supported, which means that we get the best of two worlds. 1. We get to discover answers ourselveswhile were solving problems in order to complete a project. 2. We have had the privilege of interacting with seasoned and highly skilled professionals who have made themselves available to us and are dedicated to our success.

I believe it is a great alternative to education in the software engineering field.

[bennettbuchanan]

I'm a student of the first batch at Holberton School and I loved learning with that approach. I thought it was effective at offering students a strong understanding of computer languages, and more closely resembles the type of learning one has do in a work setting. Also, I think it helps develop the skills relevant to being a life-long learner! :-)

[fbucher]

No need to trust. We all know that it works ! Ask all Epitech, Holberton, 42 or others schools like this one on HN :-)

[kwame42]

Hello I m one of the 42 co-founders, and I can tell this working very well. This type of education should be the "only one" but for certain type of mindset this is really efficient. By the way I helped a lot in 1998 when Nicolas founded EPITECH :-D

[Oguwan]

Student from 42Paris here! Greatest way of learning from me. I never had so much fun learning what I literally live for.

[gautie_a]

I'm personally from Epitech, and I think this is just the perfect way to learn in Computer Sciences: by yourself :)

[nicolqs]

I totally agree!

[Derpinator]

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[maximesourdin]

Student from 42 Paris also, it's been an amazing journey so far, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it.

[mhammerc]

42 Paris. Tested and approved. Really. Come to see by yourself how it is amazing. You'll be surprised.

[vico35]

I'm a french student from EPITECH, and I can confirm that this kind of learning methode is way better.

[julien421]

You don't have teachers at all too at Epitech? I went thought Epitech 10 years ago, we had a couple :)

[maxerickson]

Just so y'all know, "Go support my HN post" goes pretty strongly against the norms here.

[Oguwan]

Student from 42Paris here! Greatest way of learning for me. I never had so much fun learning!

[bbfayz]

I am doing university and 42 in the same time, and I prefer the 42's way of learning