Software Engineering Daily: Coding bootcamps question the need for computer science degrees

As most of you already know I am a computer science major and I was taking courses at the University of California, Davis. I felt so overwhelmed on campus because I did not have a background in programming and it was basically my first time coming in contact with development and controlling a computer. Outside of web browsing and video content I was oblivious to the possibilities. I knew that with software engineering and programming you could build things but I didn’t really know how. Through my own personal research I found out about development bootcamps. The idea that you can go from 0 - hero, in about 12 weeks with an immersive experience where you code all day every day. I thought that this seemed like a great idea but I did not have the cash to spend 12k+ so I almost counted myself out. Then I found out about yes.

OUR STORY & MISSION Many have been searching for ways to uplift today’s urban youth and help them achieve a more promising future. We believe that one solution lies in connecting tech and social justice leaders to spearhead revolutionary tech programs whose benefits extend to the most disadvantaged of society.The #YesWeCode initiative targets low-opportunity youth and provides them with the necessary resources and tools to become world-class computer programmers. By learning this highly valuable and relevant 21st century skill, these young people are shifting the trajectory of their futures and transforming their relationships with their communities and their country.

The #YesWeCode initiative targets low-opportunity youth and provides them with the necessary resources and tools to become world-class computer programmers. By learning this highly valuable and relevant 21st century skill, these young people are shifting the trajectory of their futures and transforming their relationships with their communities and their country.

I felt so empowered and inspired to have the opportunity to apply for such a wonderful program. I felt on top of the world once I was accepted into the program and I felt ready for the world to throw complex problems my way because I could totally tackle them.

I felt this way until I started the work. Phase 0 consists of 9 weeks of online prep-work to get students an introduction to development and the general Ruby syntax. There are a lot of links to code academy tracks and Vimeo videos from dev instructors covering topics like pseudocode and basic algorithms. I personally found that the khan academy internet 101 course was priceless when trying to connect all the dots. I think one of my favorite parts of phase 0 was the fact that I got to create my own website and blog.

Today 2.7.16 is our first way of week two in phase 1, the on-campus portion of dev. It has been extremely challenging. Each day we have about 8 core challenges and 6 additional stretch challenges all which are optional. We attempt the core challenges each day via 2 person pairs after 1 hour of lecture. This style of learning is definitely trial and error, you get a general idea of the methods with which to solve problems but you just dive right in order to come up with the questions that you have after attempting the challenge.

Luckily the students from phases two and three work in close proximity to us and are more than willing to help us break down a problem into it’s core components. I think that one thing that have really taken away from this experience so far is the availability of information on the internet. This sounds so obvious but, it is really something to think about. After speaking with two entrepreneurs working in our building, one a dev graduate and the other a CS graduate from UCLA, they explained that a lot of the information you need as a developer you get from reading the textbooks but you do not have to be in a CS program to do that. Going through a bootcamp can help you understand how to collaborate and solve real world problems.

I guess I am at a point this week where I feel as though I am just trying to take in as much as I can and take note of the things that I don’t understand so that I can find a textbook that can help explain this to me later on down the line.

If you would like to hear more about my experience as a developer in residence or what I am building or learning check out my

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I think that due to YES this may be the most diverse class that dev bootcamp has ever had. OH YEAH -^_^-