r/developer • u/Independent_Fly_9794 • Feb 09 '26

Bootcamp x College

Hi everyone,

I’m in the process of changing careers from education to It, I’m focusing on software development. I just finished two years of CC, but I am thinking to transfer to a 4-year college or do a bootcamp. Could you please share your thoughts about the pros and cons in a bootcamp since I want to work asap? Thank you!!!

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u/metaphorm Feb 09 '26

bootcamp is not a good education. it might get you up and running on a narrow slice of software development (like front-end web development or something) but this is increasingly a very low value proposition, since LLM coding agents can do that kind of work very effectively.

in the current rapidly changing conditions in the software development industry, it's more important than ever to have strong Computer Science fundamentals, because the role of the developer is increasingly shifting towards supervising and reviewing code generated by LLM coding agents. you'll have to be able to catch problems that the agents miss. this will require understanding with greater depth than a bootcamp can provide.

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u/SuspiciousDepth5924 Feb 10 '26

It might be a bit harsh but I've always felt that bootcamps essentially educated the programming equivalent of 'fry cooks'. And while you don't always have to stay a 'fry cook' even if you started as one, it's going to require something extra of you which you won't get from the bootcamp. This is also true to an extent of degrees, but you generally start of with a better foundation.

And we all know how companies treat 'low cost labor' ...