Written By Liz Eggleston
Course Report strives to create the most trust-worthy content about coding bootcamps. Read more about Course Report’s Editorial Policy and How We Make Money.
Overview
We're excited to present the results of our 2014 survey of graduates in the bootcamp space. We surveyed graduates from 48 qualifying programming schools and received 432 responses from graduates that met the criteria.
The majority of graduates of coding bootcamps are finding full-time employment, and 75% of graduates surveyed report being employed in a full-time job requiring the skills learned at bootcamp, with an average salary increase of 44%.
Thanks to Launch Academy for creating the following infographic to further explain these findings:
Thanks so much to the schools who participated in this study and helped distribute it to their alumni networks! Read the full report as a PDF, which includes additional data and details on our methodology.
Key Findings
In our first graduate survey, and the first cross-school study of its kind in the programming bootcamp industry, we find strong evidence of salary growth, with respondents reporting a $25k average increase in their first job after attending a programming bootcamp.
| Change in Salary | Before | After | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Respondents | $52,809 | $75,965 | 44% |
| Employed Full-Time | $55,837 | $80,607 | 44% |
In addition, bootcamp attendees are more likely to work full-time after school.
| Post Camp Employment Status | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Employed full-time | 48% | 63% |
| Employed part-time | 7% | 4% |
| Employed freelance | 10% | 9% |
| Self-Employed | 8% | 6% |
| Student | 7% | 1% |
| Other | 17% | 2% |
| Unemployed | 2% | 14% |
The report also finds:
- 75% report working in a job requiring the skills learned at bootcamp, compared to 5% working as full-time programmers beforehand.
- The average student paid $10k in tuition.
- The typical attendee is 29, has 6 years of work experience, and has never worked as a programmer.
- 38% of bootcamp attendees are female.
Results
Student Demographic Profile
Respondents self-reported demographic information such as age, gender, and race. The student profile is summarized below in Table 1.
| Age | Mean | Standard Error |
|---|---|---|
| Mean Age | 29 | 0.7 |
| Gender | % | Standard Error |
| Female | 38% | 4% |
| Male | 62% | 4% |
| Ethnicity | % | Standard Error |
| American Indian | 0% | 0% |
| Asian American | 18% | 3% |
| Black | 1% | 0% |
| Other | 17% | 4% |
| White | 63% | 4% |
| Citizenship | % | Standard Error |
| Yes, born in the US | 76% | 4% |
| Yes, naturalized. | 10% | 3% |
| No | 14% | 3% |
| Education | % | Standard Error |
| High school | 0% | 0% |
| Some college | 10% | 2% |
| Associate's degree | 1% | 0% |
| Bachelor's degree | 71% | 4% |
| Master's degree | 15% | 3% |
| Professional degree | 2% | 1% |
| Doctorate degree | 1% | 0% |
Many programming bootcamps offer scholarships for women, so we compare our findings on gender enrollment to the 2013 Taulbee Survey, an annual survey of computer science programs at accredited universities. The Taulbee study estimated that 14.5% of 2013 bachelor degrees were awarded to females. Our study suggests that bootcamps compare favorably to traditional computer science departments (as well as masters programs) on gender diversity.
Pre-Bootcamp Work Experience
Most respondents were not employed as software developers prior to attending bootcamp, with an estimated 18% reporting developing software at work, and only 5% programming full-time prior to enrolling.
| Programming Background | % | Standard Error |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time at work | 5% | 2% |
| Some at work | 13% | 4% |
| Some in my free time | 41% | 4% |
| None | 37% | 4% |
| Other | 5% | 2% |
The average work experience among students is 6.3 years, although 17% report being unemployed prior to bootcamp enrollment.
| Work Experience | Mean | Standard Error |
|---|---|---|
| Years | 6.3 | 0.7 |
| Salary | Mean (USD) | Standard Error |
| All respondents | $52,809 | $3,022 |
| Those working full-time | $55,837 | $4,140 |
| Pre-Camp Employment Status | % | Standard Error |
| Employed full-time | 48% | 4% |
| Employed part-time | 7% | 1% |
| Employed freelance | 10% | 3% |
| Self-employed | 8% | 2% |
| Student | 7% | 3% |
| Unemployed | 17% | 4% |
| Other | 2% | 1% |
Applications + Tuition
Most graduates report applying to gain a job as a programmer (74%), although 8% report attending in order to start their own business as a technical cofounder. Less than 1% report attending bootcamp to get a promotion or change jobs with their current employer.
| Number of Applications | Mean | Standard Error |
|---|---|---|
| Number of schools applied | 1.6 | 0.1 |
| Number of acceptance | 1.3 | 0.1 |
| Reason for Attending a Bootcamp | % | Standard Error |
| Getting a Programming Job | 74% | 4% |
| Starting a Company | 8% | 2% |
| Getting a non-technical job | 7% | 3% |
| Other | 7% | 2% |
| Freelancing/contracting | 2% | 2% |
| Getting a promotion | 1% | 0% |
Average tuition is $10k, with most students paying for school themselves or with the help of family (79%). Some schools offer tuition reimbursement for students who receive job placement through the school, and 15% of students report receiving such reimbursements.
| Tuition | Mean | Standard Error |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $10,267 | $423 |
| Source of Funding | % | Standard Error |
| Self | 64% | 4% |
| Family | 25% | 3% |
| External Loan | 3% | 1% |
| School (Scholarship) | 3% | 2% |
| Employer | 1% | 1% |
| Tuition Refund for Job Placement | % | Standard Error |
| Yes* | 15% | 3% |
| No | 85% | 3% |
School Services, and Satisfaction
Career Services
Many schools offer services to help prepare students for the job market. Almost all students report receiving some form of assistance.
| Resume Preparation Assistance | % | Standard Error |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 87% | 3% |
| No | 13% | 3% |
| Apprenticeship/Internship Placement | % | Standard Error |
| Yes | 60% | 4% |
| No | 40% | 4% |
| On-Site Interviews | % | Standard Error |
| Yes | 42% | 3% |
| No | 58% | 3% |
| Job Placement Assistance | % | Standard Error |
| Yes | 58% | 3% |
| No | 42% | 3% |
School Satisfaction
Graduates report an average satisfaction rating of 8.1/10 and would recommend their coding bootcamp to a friend 7.9/10.
| Overall Program Satisfaction | Standard Error | |
|---|---|---|
| Satisfaction (1-10) | 8.1 | 0.2 |
| Recommended (1-10) | 7.9 | 0.2 |
Post-Bootcamp Employment
Overall, 75% of graduates report being employed full-time in a job requiring the skills learned at bootcamp. Among those, most (63%) are in salaried position, with others reporting working as an independent contractor or running their own business.
| Post Camp Employment Status | % | Standard Error |
|---|---|---|
| Employed full-time | 63% | 4% |
| Employed part-time | 4% | 2% |
| Employed freelance | 9% | 3% |
| Self-Employed | 6% | 3% |
| Student | 1% | 1% |
| Other | 2% | 1% |
| Unemployed | 14% | 3% |
| Employed in a Programming Job | % | Standard Error |
| Yes | 75% | 4% |
| No | 25% | 4% |
| Salary | (USD) | Standard Error |
| All Respondents | $75,965 | $9,892 |
| Employed Full-Time | $80,607 | $13,425 |
Participating Schools
Not disclosed in this report. Here is an updated version of the Graduate Outcomes + Demographics Study, which includes participating schools.
Methodology
We surveyed graduates from 48 qualifying programming schools, commonly referred to as bootcamps. We received 432 responses from graduates that met the criteria described below. The surveys were sent to graduates and all figures are self-reported by the respondents.
Inclusion Criteria
Programming bootcamps: to qualify for inclusion in the survey, a school must (a) offer full-time, in-person instruction of 40 or more hours of classroom time per week, (b) not be associated with an accredited college or university, (c) provide programming-specific curriculum (schools specializing in product development, design, or marketing were excluded), and (d) be based in the United States or Canada. Many schools offer courses at multiple campuses across a wide range of curriculum.
Graduates
To qualify for inclusion in the survey, individuals must have completed a course offered by a programming bootcamp (as defined above) prior to June 1, 2014.
Post-Stratification
Because bootcamps likely varied in the extent to which they distributed and advertised the survey to students, it is unlikely that our raw sample is representative of the overall population of students. To adjust for varying sampling probabilities across schools, we post-stratify the sample on school using the known (2013-2014) bootcamp sizes from a recent Course Report survey. Respondents are weighted such that the in-sample distribution of respondents across camps matches as closely as possible the known distribution of bootcamp sizes. Therefore, our estimates rely on a much weaker assumption than random sampling—we only need to assume that respondents are effectively randomly sampled within school strata.
Missing Data
Some respondents elected not to respond to certain questions (such as salary). Unless this non-response is completely random, dropping these respondents when calculating means would induce bias in the estimates. The current best practice for dealing with missing data is to impute multiple estimates of the missing values using a statistical model and the observed data. We use the multiple imputation algorithm developed in King, Honaker, Joseph and Scheve (2001) and implemented in the Amelia software package for this purpose.
ABOUT COURSE REPORT
Course Report, founded in 2013 by Adam Lovallo and Liz Eggleston, operates https://www.coursereport.com/, which helps potential students find and research coding bootcamp programs. Course Report offers a directory of schools, course schedules, thousands of reviews, and interviews with teachers, founders, students, and alumni.
