[pharrlax]

I'm 1.5 years out of a coding bootcamp I paid about $12,000 for.

At a 17% rate, I would have paid $11,500 already, and would be on track to pay $22,950 more if I stay at my current job for 1.5 more years with no salary increases (I expect salary increases).

There were some students in my cohort who reverted back to their previous careers after bootcamp, but most became developers. I would bet the Holberton plan is far, far, far more lucrative than an upfront fee, as long as they are discerning in who they accept.

[jerf]

"At a 17% rate, I would have paid $11,500 already, and would be on track to pay $22,950 more if I stay at my current job for 1.5 more years with no salary increases (I expect salary increases)."

If the bootcamp is going to shoulder that much risk, expect them to get paid for it. If you can afford to just pay for it up front, expect to pay less net money, but then, you're shouldering more risk that it won't be worthwhile. If you consider the distribution of both money and risk it looks more balanced. Whether it's precisely balanced or something doesn't have a unique answer because people have different valuations on the risk vs. the money. In particular, someone with no money to speak of at all is obviously going to prefer the single option that is available to them for the chance to come out wildly better off than they started, even at a 17% salary cut for 3 years.

(Also, I note you were not making wild accusations or anything, so I'm not being accusatory either, just elaborating.)

[naasking]

> I'm 1.5 years out of a coding bootcamp I paid about $12,000 for. At a 17% rate, I would have paid $11,500 already, and would be on track to pay $22,950 more if I stay at my current job for 1.5 more years

But you needed that $12,000 upfront, which means you spent time in crappy jobs to save up for it. Time that could have been spent in your new job making more money, so you're not accounting for that wage difference, ie. if it took you 6 months to save that $12,000, how much faster could you have made it at the new job had you started code camp earlier?

[MichaelApproved]

> But you needed that $12,000 upfront, which means you spent time in crappy jobs to save up for it.

That's what loans are for. The question is, do you want to take the risk or do you want to offload that risk?

Maybe the factor is more than just risk. By giving someone a vested interest in your success, they might also be there with other support after the class is done, such as job hunting.

[themoat]

I know it's not a fair comparison anymore since I realize that Holberton is 2 years and not a "bootcamp" but most bootcamps offer a certain period of time for you to repay the tuition fee.

For example, at the bootcamp I did, I think there was a 1000 fee due before 1st day of class, a couple more during the bootcamp, then 5k due 6 months after the last day of class.

[glyif]

Hey pharrlax, current holberton student here. So happy to see that a bootcamp worked for you! I have a few friends who are going through or just completed galvanize's gschool and hackreactor. About your comment, you totally right! 17% for 3 years seems like a lot! However the program is for 2 years. I view it as a college replacement rather than a bootcamp. Therefore I feel like what i will be paying is 150% worth it!

[themoat]

That was my exact thought as well. I paid $8000 for my bootcamp. I'm 18 months into an average of 65k over that time. So in that 18 months I'd already have paid in the area of $16k, and assuming I don't get a raise double that over the 3 years.

Also, I'm curious the arrangement for contract work that the developer does on his own time. If they charge a percentage of that, I'd have paid them more than a downpayment on a house over the course of 3 years.