Ask HN: Starter School - $33,000. Worth it?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5977833

by rfnslyr • 13 years ago

10 7 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm taking the next year of my life off to better my development skills of my own accord. I just got an email from Starter School asking to interview me. Is it worth it? I feel for just a fraction of $33k, I can get some pretty nice resources online myself instead of moving somewhere remote and paying that much..

Has anyone any experience with Starter School?

http://www.starterschool.com/program

shire• 13 years ago

33K seriously? with 33k let me show you what it can buy you as far as web development training. http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/ou_product_... Java training at oracle is around 2k take a few courses there and become a Java pro, Make amazing web sites or Android phones. Sign up for a subscription at teamtreehouse which covers PHP, Ruby on Rails and all things web development I have one myself, It's awesome. Another one is Codeschool which is also awesome. Udacity and Coursera are both free

So you're looking at a total of maybe $8k to become a Java pro, Python, PHP, and Ruby on Rails. Satisfied?

You can take another bootcamp training which is maybe $8k or $12k which teaches Javascript, or Ruby on Rails or even Python.

shop wisely.

rfnslyr• 13 years ago

Hence why I came here. Thanks. I'm just doing courses via Coursera and reading books.

Gamblor• 13 years ago

Im with shire...there are tons of great resources out there at a fraction of the cost or FREE. If you already have a college degree I would recommend getting an MBA if education is what you are going for. Other wise if you have $33k burning a hole in your pocket my other two recommendations would be 1) Buy a house or 2) Start a business.

zachlatta• 13 years ago

Not worth it in my opinion. I'd use the money you have to pay for rent and food and completely dedicate yourself to development. Set a few goals and accomplish them. If you're determined, you won't need Starter School to push you along.

anthonycerra• 13 years ago

The advice given in other responses here is spot on - there are many avenues to learn development. But that's only part of the education that this program is offering. This looks like a CS + MBA program at a fraction of the cost. And the teachers aren't just spouting off theory - they've built businesses.

So should you do it? If you have 100k in the bank and you want to start a business, then go for it. You can afford to pay your living expenses, learn at an accelerated rate from a highly qualified group of teachers, and build a business with awesome mentors. Your teachers will be people like Jason Fried (37Signals) and Troy Henikoff (TechStars Chicago). This is not for someone looking to become just a developer. They have cheaper programs for design and development.

Don't have extra money lying around? Buy a list of business phone numbers from a reputable company (Dunn and Bradstreet come to mind) in an industry you're interested in and start making cold calls. The list will cost a couple hundred bucks. Pay for a LinkedIn premium account and prospect there as well. If you can't reach out to potential customers, you're going to have a hard time starting a business.

Read about sales and marketing and subscribe to every info marketer out there to learn what they do. How do they write copy, how do they market, what's their funnel like? You don't have to buy from any of them - just observe what they do. Add them to a label in gmail called "marketing", autoarchive every message that comes in, and review the emails once a week. Here's a list to get you started: Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome, Derek Halpern from Social Triggers, Joanna from CopyHackers, Ramit Sethi from IWTYTBR, Dane Maxwell at the Foundation, Trent from BrightIdeas. Of course, don't forget Pat McKenzie and Rob Walling. Sign up to Mixergy for incredible master classes and interviews.

If you have the money and want guidance from an amazing group of talented individuals, that program is excellent. If not, there are other ways to do it.

matt_• 13 years ago

I feel for just a fraction of $33k, I can get some pretty nice resources online myself instead of moving somewhere remote and paying that much

That seems pretty spot on to me. $33,000 sounds like an insane amount of money to spend on anything without getting a degree out of it.

If this sort of thing interests you, and you're looking for something at a reasonable (MUCH CHEAPER) price, check out: http://www.gotealeaf.com/

I am finishing up their 3rd course and I'm very happy with it. I've learned more in the 4 months in this program than the rest of my life half-assedly teaching myself and taking some classes combined.

if you want to chat - gmail breeden.matt

Casseres• 13 years ago

I'm not familiar with Starter School, but they e-mailed you and they're asking you to pay them money? The fact that they're reaching out to you means that they trying to find customers and likely the interview will most likely be a formality, or a way for them to figure out what they can sell you.

Ask HN: Starter School - $33,000. Worth it?

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