Disqus - Latest Comments for redsquirrel

Re: Passing the ChicagoRuby Baton

redsquirrel — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 14:55:18 -0000

Thank you for your incredible leadership Ray!

Re: SXSW PanelPicker®

redsquirrel — Sun, 03 Sep 2017 08:33:10 -0000

As a career-switcher, I found the apprenticeship learning model to be a great fit. It's exciting to see modern apprenticeships being adopted by increasingly notable companies!

Re: Mortal Hazard: the dapp ecosystem, other people’s money, and the prospects for a long-term regulation-free environment

redsquirrel — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 16:51:48 -0000

"...nothing should be allowed to grow too big to fail in the meantime. I don’t know how to enforce that simple piece of common sense..." My gut reaction to this is that growing a culture of white hat (educational) attacks would be a very good thing for Ethereum. Can we build a culture where the most knowledgable and experienced among us are willing to take some time away from building/innovating to spend time attacking/educating? And each successive generation of Ethereum developers pay it forward?

Re: Thinking About Smart Contract Security

redsquirrel — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 01:48:46 -0000

For anyone interested in implementing Vitalik's suggestions in the browser-solidity project (https://ethereum.github.io/... ), I've created an issue based on some suggestions from this post: https://github.com/ethereum....

And there's already a PR submitted for detecting/providing warnings about possible code vulnerabilities: https://github.com/ethereum... <== We need lots of eyes/brains on this one.

Re: The Lightning Network in the Old West

redsquirrel — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 16:24:30 -0000

@wesdacar The official homepage is https://lightning.network/

Re: The Top Ten Angel Mistakes; And Top Ten Best Practices

redsquirrel — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 09:06:28 -0000

Can you define what "home run 'Gazelle' type company" means?

Re: Responding to Jeff Casimir

redsquirrel — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:27:57 -0000

Thanks for the reply, Devin. I've been digesting it since you posted it.

You remember correctly that I said that I was still repairing relationships that I damaged during my all-out learning phase. I went too far (not sleeping enough) for too long (years) and my relationship with my family suffered for it. I wish that I had done a better job at balancing it. It sounds like that's a strength of yours.

I'm actually in the process of updating DBC's 3 Agreements right now. I'm considering changing "Right Effort" to "Whole Self". There's nothing that could ever make DBC a non-intense program, so I don't think we need to glorify the intensity. Instead, I'd prefer that we emphasize how we encourage people to bring their "Whole Self" to DBC. We want people to reach the point where they can feel comfortable in their own skin and unleash their learning abilities in our space.

I'll also say that I do think the culture of "it's not working if you're not exhausted" has diminished. If you came to a DBC Day 1 in 2015, you'd hear a ton more advice to "get enough sleep" than we did in 2013.

Re: New Initiative Aims to Teach People to Code — Then Find Them Jobs

redsquirrel — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 11:38:43 -0000

While the most common age of our students is ~27, we've graduated at least a hundred students over the age of 35, and they tend to do well in their job searches since they have previous professional experience. So, don't let your age and educational background stand in your way.

I have to be honest with you, though. Based on your other comment about "the hot secretary, and the token black guy who doesn't do anything". I can assure you that you would either be rejected from our admissions process, or you'd feel extremely uncomfortable in our program. We work extremely hard to ensure that our students are entering the workforce with an attitude that reduces sexism and racism, rather than perpetuating the status quo.

Re: New Initiative Aims to Teach People to Code — Then Find Them Jobs

redsquirrel — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 10:59:06 -0000

In marketing and the press, we talk about "coders". With our students, we say this: "Learning to code is easy, developing software is hard. Coding is just one of many of the skills it takes to become a great software developer."

This is why Dev Bootcamp spends time on empathy training, algorithmic problem solving, debugging, and weekly group projects.

Re: New Initiative Aims to Teach People to Code — Then Find Them Jobs

redsquirrel — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 10:56:19 -0000

We spend more time on Git, SQL, Ruby programming, and JavaScript programming than any other topics at Dev Bootcamp. We spend around 2 days on teaching Rails.

I completely agree with you that over-focusing on high-level "magical" web frameworks is A Bad Idea for beginners.

Re: New Initiative Aims to Teach People to Code — Then Find Them Jobs

redsquirrel — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 10:27:40 -0000

You couldn't be more wrong, at least about Dev Bootcamp grads. See my reply to "Old BBS geek" below.

Re: New Initiative Aims to Teach People to Code — Then Find Them Jobs

redsquirrel — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 10:03:24 -0000

85% of our students find well-paying employment as software developers within 4 months of graduating. At the one year mark, it's 99%. And we've graduated over 1000 students in the last 3 years.

Well-paying is relative to the market. So, in Chicago, they average around $65k. In SF, they're around $90k, with NYC at around $80k.

Re: New Initiative Aims to Teach People to Code — Then Find Them Jobs

redsquirrel — Fri, 07 Nov 2014 09:49:48 -0000

"The fact is that U.S. universities and community colleges are already pumping out tons of programmers each year who can't find work."

This is the exact problem that programs like Dev Bootcamp are trying to solve. Our nation's Computer Science education is broken, and we are meeting the demand by training Americans how to develop software for a fraction of the time and money, with far better student outcomes.

Re: Missing Links: How Coding Bootcamps Are Doing What Higher Ed and Recruiting Can’t

redsquirrel — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 22:53:09 -0000

That final sentiment from Anthony is music to my ears. Part of my role at Dev Bootcamp is to coach employers about how to start apprenticeship programs. We in the software development industry are most definitely drifting back toward an apprenticeship model where bootcamps provide the necessary fundamentals and employers take more responsibility for ramping apprentices up into their specific development environment. It's an awesome situation for new programmers, who basically get paid to learn within months of starting at a bootcamp.

Re: A prospective student asked me

redsquirrel — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 07:58:08 -0000

Excellent. 😉

Re: A prospective student asked me

redsquirrel — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 16:53:42 -0000

Did you click the link? "Be the Worst" was the advice that seeded my book. The advice comes from a musician: http://rayhightower.com/blo...

Re: def im_confused = (Kaplan + Dev Bootcamp)

redsquirrel — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 18:58:57 -0000

Hi Leslie, I'm sorry the announcement to incoming students was delayed. We did have a statement prepared and sent it to in-house students and alumni early this morning. I would have been anxious and annoyed if I were in your shoes.

I assure you there is no "new way of doing things" because of this acquisition. Like Manhattan Prep (a company acquired by Kaplan in 2010), Dev Bootcamp will operate as an independent company and brand from our parent company. There are no plans from Kaplan to change anything about the Dev Bootcamp experience, and they couldn't if they tried. Our staff love our students and our program, and we wouldn't put up with any meddling.

Drop me a line if you have any questions: dave@devbootcamp.com. I'd love to talk.

I hope Phase 0 is going well! :)

Re: A prospective student asked me

redsquirrel — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 17:08:13 -0000

The "start off' was implied. But thanks for clarifying. :)

Re: Founder Spotlight: Dave Hoover, Dev Bootcamp

redsquirrel — Mon, 19 May 2014 13:05:15 -0000

Thanks for the interview, Liz! If readers have any questions about Dev Bootcamp, please email me! dave@devbootcamp.com

Re: Dispelling Mythical Holacracy

redsquirrel — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 15:02:14 -0000

My pleasure, Platte Daddy! :)

Re: Dispelling Mythical Holacracy

redsquirrel — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 10:34:55 -0000

Yes, Dev Bootcamp is continuing to use Holacracy and has no plans to revoke it.

My favorite part of it is the autocracy. I love that it lets you move forward using your best judgment without having to build consensus.

The part that's challenging is budgeting and compensation. In my experience, Holacracy doesn't have any out-of-the-box way to integrate with these important pieces to any business.

Re: Sexism and Oppression: From Oblivion to Action

redsquirrel — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:09:03 -0000

Bruce, we don't have anything ready for public sharing. I'll work on that.

Re: An Old-School Solution for Today’s Skills Gap: Apprenticeships

redsquirrel — Thu, 13 Feb 2014 09:30:31 -0000

Hi Aggrey,

I run a web developer bootcamp in Chicago called Dev Bootcamp. You can certainly apply to that at http://devbootcamp.com. We often have students from other countries attend, and they've always found jobs back in their homeland.

That said, this article is trying to convince progressive US-based businesses to create their own apprenticeship programs for US natives. The US has been slow on this front when compared to countries like Germany who have integrated apprenticeships into their educational systems.

In my experience, apprenticeship programs aren't conducive for non-residents. The immigrations costs are too high, and there is already plenty of local talent to draw from.

Re: An Old-School Solution for Today’s Skills Gap: Apprenticeships

redsquirrel — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 08:44:01 -0000

Hi Roger,

Apprenticeships don't necessarily mean trade unions. At least not in the tech sector where I work. Apprenticeships do need to abide by state employment laws, but I've found those to be a good thing in protecting these junior employees.

Re: Carrot Creative

redsquirrel — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 12:28:02 -0000

Henry, enjoy the opportunity to Be the Worst for a while! http://chimera.labs.oreilly...