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By 2030, tech roles are anticipated to grow nearly 25% and the talent pool is already too small to keep up with demand.
Luckily, attitudes are changing around the validity and the necessity of traditional education. Alternative education methods and learning communities are taking the place of traditional college degrees — and it all started over a decade ago when coding bootcamps burst onto the scene.
That’s not to say coding bootcamps were the first version of practical, technical training, but they made it the norm. They also made this type of learning more desirable to hiring managers at tech companies around the world.
Online coding bootcamps specifically have changed the way that tech education and training will happen forever more — and here’s why.
Where traditional education systems fall short
The current traditional education system has become more transactional than transformative. As Inside Higher Ed notes:
“Normal teaching is transactional: it is about content transmission, skills building and interpretation. Nothing wrong with that. But truly consequential teaching involves something more than the transmission of content and skills. Its goal is transformation: to produce self-directed, self-motivated learners who are:
- Capable of critiquing and directing their own work
- Open to criticism and alternate viewpoints
- And have highly developed higher-order thinking skills”
K-12 and higher education focus on teaching theory rather than encouraging students to apply that theory into practice and complete hands-on training.
This is something alternative learning communities like online coding bootcamps get right. They aren’t bound to grading systems or school boards who dictate tightly wound curriculum — they get to pave their own paths and determine what success looks like based on what’s really happening in the industry and in the real world.
Online learning offers some especially key benefits that make it more impactful and transformative than traditional education.
The benefits of online learning
A virtual learning environment means anyone, anywhere can join programs that will teach them practical skills. Online learning makes education more accessible, especially if that education isn’t regularly available or within financial reach to most students. This gives people the freedom to learn how they want and, in the case of asynchronous learning, when they want, regardless of time zone.
Joining an international online learning community like a coding bootcamp also helps students cross cultural boundaries. Learning alongside people who share different beliefs and values only makes learning all the more impactful.
How online coding bootcamps are changing tech training forever
Many roles in tech are technical by nature. People need to have the technical acumen to make things, build things, and keep things regularly maintained. These job functions don’t require the theory taught in most computer science degree programs and can be taught in a more functional, hands-on way.
Online coding bootcamps cut the fluff of traditional tech education and get to the heart of training by teaching programming languages and other principles that are true to these roles.
More importantly, coding bootcamps can be made more accessible and, oftentimes, more affordable than college because they offer different payment options. Coding bootcamps like App Academy coined the income share agreement over a decade ago, and since then we’ve continued to help students kickstart a new, lucrative career without having to pay for their education until they’ve landed a job and met their goals.
In order to fill open technical positions and deepen the shallow talent pool, we have to make tech training and education affordable, accessible, and applicable to all. That’s where online coding bootcamps come in, and it’s why App Academy continues to pave the way for education even after ten years.
Learn more about App Academy’s online coding bootcamps
At App Academy, we take accessibility a step further by offering both full-time and part-time online coding bootcamps. Find the bootcamp that best fits your lifestyle and career goals by learning more about our Online Full-Time Bootcamp and our Online Part-Time Bootcamp.
