Developer Bootcamps: Time to Enlist

This post is written by Peri Kadaster

While not all startups are started from lines of code, from photography filtering apps to ecommerce websites for shoes to taxis that find you wherever you are, software engineering is a critical aspect of entrepreneurship. For even the most basic B2C products and services, consumers are using technology to engage, and that requires building a strong platform.

But coding can't be done in a vacuum - it requires real life deployment to find bugs, learn usage behavior, and build a feedback loop between user and developer. A major initiative has been the advent of "developer bootcamps," bridging focused training time with real life applications.

One of the first was Dev Bootcamp, founded in the US in 2012 as an intensive, 9-week web development course - a self-described "apprenticeship program on steroids." Dozens quickly followed, including App Academy, Code Fellows, and more.

More recently, bootcamps have been popping up in other parts of the world, especially in areas where computer software degree programs are nascent and the student / young professional demographic is tech savvy and has disposable income for gadgets.

Locally, Monitise (formerly Pozitron) is launching Turkey's first developer bootcamp, a full week crash course called CodeCamp Istanbul kicking off in September. More information is available at codecampistanbul.com

There are similarities in the pedagogy across all of these bootcamps - lecture-based and practical courses on development by the experts, paired with mutlidisciplinary training on design, usability, quality assurance, and more.

The advent of developer bootcamps is a welcome addition to the startup ecosystem, providing valuable skills to developers as well as a talent pool for startups (and investors).