Since they first appeared a little under a decade ago, coding bootcamps have taken the world of education by storm, injecting some much-needed innovation into the space. They now represent one of the most tried and tested ways of rapidly transitioning into a technology career.
Today we’re going to look at Hack Reactor and Lambda School.
Curriculum and Course Offerings
Hack Reactor covers a range of today’s most in-demand skill sets, including software engineering, data science, and UX/UI Design. Each of these programs can be done on-campus or remotely. The on-campus program takes 12 weeks. The remote version of the program can be completed in 12 weeks if you work full-time or nine months if you do it part-time.
Lambda School also has full stack engineering, data science, and UX/UI design, but features tracks dedicated to development for Android and iOS. Compared to other bootcamps, these programs are on the long side at 40 weeks. Some of that is devoted to career services and job hunting, but be aware of this when making your plans.
Program Cost and Tuition Model
Hack Reactor’s program costs $17,980 dollars. There are a number of financing and loan options available to help you manage this debt, mostly through institutions that have a special relationship with Hack Reactor to provide loans to students.
As of this writing Hack Reactor doesn’t offer an Income Share Agreement (ISA).
Lambda School gives you a few options. You can elect to pay $20,000 upfront or you can use an ISA. If you choose to go the ISA route this means that an agreed-upon fraction of your future income will be paid to Lambda School for two years. You pay no tuition upfront and you don’t pay anything back until you start making at least $50,000 a year. From then on you’ll make monthly payments which cap out at $30,000.
For more information, check out Lambda School’s ISA page.
Outcomes and Reviews
By all accounts you can do quite well through either program. Hack Reactor boasts a 97% placement rate for graduates of their on-campus program and a median salary of $74,000. Graduates of the online program had figures of 94% and $67,000, respectively. It’s not clear from the website what timeframe these measurements occur in.
Six months after graduation 85% of Lambda School graduates had jobs and the median starting salary was $60,000.
Hack Reactor looks better on these numbers, but we don’t have enough information to know that’s really the case as yet.
Either way, both programs are stellar means by which to boost job prospects and get into a new field.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
