https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/24/business/computer-coding-boot-camps.html

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Should You Still Learn to Code in an A.I. World?

Coding boot camps once looked like the golden ticket to an
economically secure future. But as that promise fades, what should
you do? Keep learning, until further notice.

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Florencio Rendon, with a goatee, stands in a red jacket and
button-down shirt in front of street trees.
After graduating from a coding boot camp, Florencio Rendon didn't
land a single interview.Credit...Jeenah Moon for The New York Times
Sarah Kessler

By Sarah Kessler

Nov. 24, 2024

When Florencio Rendon was laid off from his third construction job in
three years, he said, "it was the straw that broke the camel's back."

He was 36, a father of two, and felt time was running out to find a
career that would offer higher pay and more stability. "I've always
been doing jobs that require physical labor," he remembers thinking.
"What if I start using my brain for once?"

An Army veteran, Mr. Rendon explored training programs he could fund
using his military benefits. He landed on a coding boot camp.

At first, the intensive courses seemed intimidating. Mr. Rendon had
gotten his high school equivalency diploma before joining the Army,
and he had taken some college courses, but he didn't consider himself
book smart.

Still, he thought about his children, who are now 4 and 2, and
reasoned, "If I can make this work, then I should at least give it a
try."

His application to a course run by the company Fullstack Academy was
accepted, and he started classes in April 2023, with a grant for
military veterans that covered the $13,000 tuition. While the
material was challenging, he was pleasantly surprised to learn he
could get the hang of it, and four months later, he graduated from an
online program that he completed from his home in the Bronx.

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