Dive Brief:
- A survey of over 1,000 HR managers and technical recruiters by job search platform Indeed found that some 80% of companies have hired graduates of coding bootcamps, Campus Technology reports.
- According to Indeed's data, the number of coding bootcamp graduates using its services has doubled annually since 2010, and 72% of employers see job-seekers with these credentials as "just as prepared and likely to be high performers" as those with traditional degrees in computer science.
- While the outlook for coding bootcamps' reputations is on the up, Campus Technology reports that more oversight would be favored by 98% of employers — a figure certainly worth keeping in mind with graduate numbers expected to hit 18,000 by the end of 2017.
Dive Insight:
As the popularity of bootcamps and other alternative credentials has risen due to the lower investment of time and money involved, critics have voiced concern that their graduates wouldn't be as well-prepared or successful as those with traditional degrees. The credential has even reportedly been looked down upon by industry giants like Google. But amid a skills gap, it could become harder for holdouts to continue doing so when it comes to hiring coding bootcamp grads — especially when they factor in adult learner graduates who might prefer these programs for their greater degree of flexibility amid existing employment and family commitments.
Indeed, some traditional higher education institutions have seen the writing on the wall and forged partnerships with bootcamps, and the struggling for-profit sector of the postsecondary ed market has also looked to them as a more stable model for their own futures. Just as traditional colleges and universities mimicked some of the for-profit sector's approaches when developing their own distance learning programs, they may need to adopt the coding bootcamp model for the sake of remaining competitive in the continuing education market — especially if numbers like those from Indeed hold up.
