Why Data & CIRR Matter
TL;DR
If you do not measure your performance how can you improve it? Measuring students’ success is a prerequisite to measuring a bootcamp's success. If a bootcamp is not taking this measure they are just selling you snake oil, it’s that simple. How can they possibly know how effective their training is if they do not measure, or track their outcomes? Everyone can generate anecdotal data, but it takes effort to collect actual data.
It takes integrity to report accurate data.
There are only two logical explanations as to why any bootcamp would not report on outcomes:
- They don’t have it so attending their training would be like going to church on Sunday
- They do have it but don’t want to share it so going there would be like going to Vegas where the house always wins and you, not so much
Don’t bet your future on a prayer.
Take control of your success.
Are you safe if the bootcamp reports data?
No.
The almighty asterisk and marketing speak still need to be overcome.
This is why we have CIRR.
Transparent Standards, Accounting for 100% of Students, Enabling Apples-to-Apples Outcomes Comparisons
That is the first thing that you see when you go to the CIRR site and that is the only thing you need to read to know what we are about. If you are prospective student looking for an education partner you want:
- A measure of the success that past graduates have had with this school as this will be the best indicator of your success.
- What was the outcome of every student so that you can determine how likely any success might be.
- A consistent reporting format free of asterisks so that you do not have to interpret strange language and so that you do not have to fear the fine print
Most would agree that reporting outcome data is a good idea. Where things get difficult is agreeing on how should that data be reported. Take for instance the following two stats promoted by a non-CIRR organization:
- $75,421 average starting salary
- 100% of successful job-seekers accepted technical roles
Here is what many would assume from reading those two bullet points:
- If I can manage to get into this school I will have 100% chance of getting a salaried job
- That job will be on average ~$75,000
An astute person would pick up on the fact they have to maintain a “job-seeker” status. What does that mean? But this is only the start of the fine print.
The average salary above is only reflective of X% of students. So the calculation of $75,421 is only reflective of X% students. It is a far cry from 100%. What happened to the other Y% of students? Well, that is much harder to figure out because that gets obscured behind a bunch of mathematical operations that yield, not an explanation, but only another average of $28/hour.
Examining the numbers presented very quickly leads you to a guessing game that at best will lead you to many possible scenarios. It leaves you with many more questions than you had to start.
The best scenario I could calculate was to calculate one average of adding 2 different averages and calculating the appropriate average salary weighed according to both number’s respective representations of the whole population.
That average salary was closer $65,000.
So we started with:
- $75,421 average starting salary
- 100% of successful job-seekers accepted technical roles
And we ended at
- ~$65,00 average starting salary
- X% chance of that being a full-time perm role at $75,421 salary
- Y% chance of getting some type of other jobs at $28/hour
They show you the inflated numbers to mislead you.
The big problem with the above calculation is that we are averaging and weighing average numbers but do not have access to actual numbers. That produces some obscurity. If you want to read more you can quickly find a great deal of formulas explaining the many issues with this approach.
Is an obscure difference of ~$10,000 or ~15% something to consider? Is this such a big deal? What does it say about an organization that would make you read the fine print to discern the facts?
What if you told the bootcamp you were going to pay them $17,000, give or take $10,000, they would not be happy.
How much clarity do you want from someone that you are paying $17,000?
The CIRR reports require that coding bootcamps report on 100% of their students and that wages are also reported in a clear and upfront manner.
Demand the coding bootcamp you are considering join CIRR or simply publish clear and validated outcome reports. Your future is too important, accept nothing less.
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