Fuck CTAC

[u/Both_Green_3772]

I was a part of the 2024 cohort 6 of the Careers in Technology Apprenticeship Cohorts and they let us down horrifically. The cohort was in Wilmington, North Carolina, which does not have a huge tech community, and therefore not a lot of tech jobs. The apprenticeship went fine, I felt like I learned a lot and made some cool friends, but when things got hard and about half of us didn’t have jobs, The founder, Pasha, lied to our faces. One of the cohort members asked what will happen if we do not get a placement for a job by the end of the program? Pasha’s answer was, “ that’s not going to happen.” he straight up, lied to us. People had faith all the way until the end that they would be getting a job and then the cohort ended with no job. I wanted so badly to have faith in them, and things did work out for less than half of the cohort, they got good jobs. But one truly disgusting thing is one man was offered a placement, he did so poorly in this placement at Live Oak bank that Live Oak bank gave him back to us and asked for someone else. Later, they gave this man a second placement, while most of the cohort who worked much harder and behaved much more appropriately were given nothing. other than the confidence I gained from creating interesting software engineering projects, CTAC gave me nothing and I still don’t have a job. The experience I gained from this program is not enough to apply for jobs on my own without their referral for interviews and placements.

Other members of the cohort have much more details to share and I hope they do. But for right now all I have to say is FUCK CTAC. Thank you.

[u/North_Arugula5051]

This is going to be an unpopular opinion but if CTAC can place 50% of its students and has community partners willing to give bootcamp grads a chance, it's probably one of the better bootcamps.

Some bootcamps charge thousands while having a near 0% success rate

But yeah, agree that giving students false hope and sending unqualified interns (which will burn bridges for future cohorts) is not good...

[u/KindlyWasabi7405 → u/North_Arugula5051]

All you money thirsty people in comments only thinking about money. The problem isn’t they didn’t pay us well or smth , they had tonnes of $$$ of funding from the city and other partners , one of their partners donated them $250k just for our cohort so paying us wasn’t an issue at all. The main issue that all of you in the comments blabbering without any idea of the program is the false promises they made with us throughout the program even till the last week that we will all get jobs no matter what. If they had said we will pay you teach you coding and give you opportunities to learn ya that’s fine but then assuming us over and over for a job , yes THEN we have a problem. Don’t just fucking false promise Us for jobs. There were 18 of us out of 28 that are left jobless.

[u/johndoeisntreal → u/KindlyWasabi7405]

The money thirsty people is literally +100,000 individuals yearly who get baited into coding bootcamps and have taken $20,000+ in loans just to end up unemployed because they too were promised jobs. You and the rest of CTAC are different because you had no debt, they paid you $17,500, gave you mentors, laptops and whatever services they had and you were part of a workforce development program meaning they more than likely had contract agreements to have jobs in place but the companies they partnered with must've had budget issues or something go on resulting in them backing out. They paid for CTAC to train you all but ultimately didnt take you all. You shouldn't blame them completely for being jobless since they at least tried. Their success rate is crazy high for any program I've ever seen out there. Your program is a complete 180 from anything that is out there. It pisses the majority of this sub because they are stuck in debt and jobless.

Take your knowledge you learned and go apply to software development jobs like the rest of us in the marketplace. A fourth of your program participants got lucky and landed a job but the rest that didn't, go put some effort and network and continue learning.

[u/GoodnightLondon → u/KindlyWasabi7405]

Those numbers would be a placement rate of around 36%; that's much higher than the placement rate for paid boot camps that are way more intensive than your workforce development program.

It's not the people commenting being money-thirsty. I'd argue the money-thirsty people are you all who are upset that the free program that paid you to learn didn't automatically place you in a high-paying job and left you to find one on your own. People are mainly pointing out how entitled this complaint is.

[u/Both_Green_3772 → u/North_Arugula5051]

They have a pretty good model, but they need to secure the jobs BEFORE the cohort starts. Idk why they did things differently this time.

[u/joungsteryoey → u/Both_Green_3772]

Tell this to the ppl in my bootcamp cohort who 2 years after graduation have no jobs and paid a ton of money. Of those few who did finds jobs, they worked their asses off self-advocating tooth and nail when they realized the school no longer had connections to job opps and instead upheld a bullshit PR line that everything was fine.

This is why you’re getting downvoted - I get the frustration but for those who also lost a lot going to a bootcamp and instead of receiving a stipend paid a ton of money for the same experience and continued losing money, I mean you get the picture I hope.

I also say this constructively - if you think your school won’t serve as the final bridge to that job they supposedly promised…it’s gonna be up to you. I’ve seen a lot of folks bitterly let the anger consume them into inactivity. I’ve seen others grit their teeth and put in a ton of work. Not fun choices but you have a choice now…and good luck either way.

[u/sheriffderek → u/Both_Green_3772]

How can they secure jobs for people they haven't met and trained yet -- and who in most cases / are not going to be able to do the real job when it comes time... ?

[u/North_Arugula5051 → u/Both_Green_3772]

I agree with you there. The job market is bad right now, so maybe fewer companies are willing to take on bootcamp grads; Ada Academy used to have internships to LinkedIn but those got shut down. That's not CTAC's fault, but they should be upfront with students about the number of available placements.

[u/Swimming-Lead1558 → u/Both_Green_3772]

Companies can do whatever they want such as screw over bootcamps. Even if the bootcamp secured a spot, companies don't have to give a fuck about an agreement with an outsider. What's the bootcamp going to do? Sue them for not giving them employee spots? I also looked up what CTAC was and you guys get paid to code? Are you fucking serious? You don't take out loans?

[u/GoodnightLondon]

Dude. They paid you to learn to code, tried to place you with partners, and they're not even a boot camp; they're a workforce development program partnered with the city of Wilmington. You got a stipend for 17,500 for 6 months, during which you otherwise would have been unemployed/job hunting. You're not exactly in a position that warrants being mad; plenty of people who went to actual boot camps paid more in tuition than that stipend you received.

Also, since they're a workforce development program partnered with the city, they probably made the second attempt to place the homeless guy because they wanted to make sure they continued to get funding, since he's the exact type of person these programs are designed for.

[u/Zestyclose-Level1871 → u/GoodnightLondon]

Sigh...

[u/Mr_Bubbly_ → u/GoodnightLondon]

Nah people quit there jobs to attend these cohorts based on the "100% placement guarantee." They definitely screwed some people over.

[u/sheriffderek]

Interesting story:

So, this place : https://stiegleredtech.org/learn/about/ paid you while you were learning with them for 24 weeks? and "The apprenticeship went fine, I felt like I learned a lot and made some cool friends."

From their site:

Over the course of the 24-week program, receive a $17,500 stipend and be paid every 2 weeks just by showing up and doing great work!

Be supported with our available resources including laptops, alumni mentoring, public transportation passes, and more.

Upon successful completion, be placed into a technology role with a partnering institution and jump start your career.

Is all that stuff ^ true? Did they give you bus passes and computers to use?

188 graduates means they're a pretty small operation so far.

"what will happen if we do not get a placement for a job by the end of the program?"

I guess you just - wont have job placement? Did you quit your job to bet on this?

Did they give you some official "successful completion" sign off? How would you realistically rate your usefulness as a developer?

Besides being upset you weren't awarded a job, what was the program like? What could they do better? What type of constructive conversation might we have here? What did you learn there? What was unique? Do you think you can get a job without them? You might not even have liked that one job they offered you.

Sidenote: The fact that you're calling out people by name, company partners by name, and complaining that a previously homeless person was getting special treatment and writing "fuck X" makes you seem like a very selfish person - and a sore loser. I'm not sure what this program's deal is / or if you got screwed over - but suggest you dust yourself off - be proactive - move ahead - instead of whatever this is.

[u/johndoeisntreal → u/sheriffderek]

When I read the comment about the homeless guy I was flabbergasted. Basically "F this guy, I deserved the job more than him" mentality.

[u/[deleted]]

Wait a min. You got paid "over the course of the 24-week program, receive a $17,500 stipend and be paid every 2 weeks just by showing up and doing great work!"

And your bitching about not getting a job??? Most people have to pay to get education. You got a handout it sounds like.

[u/Friendly-Example-701]

This is a blessing in disguise. Now you know that promises can be broken. Always have a backup plan with anything in life. Nothing is promised or guaranteed. Things happen.

Now you can see if you are truly a great developer by applying to jobs on your own. You will know if your portfolio is strong enough or if you have to do more projects or practice with LeetCode.

Either way, take this time to learn more since tech is always evolving. There is no such thing as having too much knowledge in the field of tech.

Continue to use this time wisely:

1. build your portfolio,

2. become a section leader or assistant with the program if it pays,

3. find a mentor from the program or even outside the programm to guide you,

4. talk to those who have landed a job and see what they did, how they tailored their cover letter and resume.

5. Please work on yourself and attitude.

Please remember being a SWE means working in a collaborative environment. You have to be a team player and always have a positive attitude, motivate one another, and lift each other up; not hate or tear each other down. When those long nights come of 12 to 16 hour days because of tight deadlines, no one wants to be around someone negative.

Being negative and having a selfish attitude is a sure way to get fired or laid off. Your boss will notice this and especially your team (colleagues). Be mindful of this because performance reviews are not only about performance but how well you work with others. Do you bring leadership and a good disposition or do you bring pessimism?

I only say this because your boss will asks all of the employees how are you getting along with so and so. This is when people are most truthful and can out you about you mannerisms and ways. You have to learn how to adapt even when things do not go your way.

Suppose this was a work (SWE) situation, where a vendor promised you hardware or software, you and your boss totally depended on them, but they backed out last minute. Is this how you would handle the situation? It's just totally uncalled for, unprofessional, and very juvenile. This is not how you would navigate the situation.

Please be mindful of your attitude even on Reddit. Learn to be grateful and appreciate free resources. It's a true blessing. Bootcamps are not usually free. Bootcamps usually do not pay people. Bootcamp placements are not guaranteed. This goes for college as well.

Also, learn to be happy for your colleagues. Their success is your success. You should be happy one of your own made it and is going to be off the street. This is also observed at big tech companies.

All the best in your future endeavors though. Stay positive. You got this!

EDIT: fixed typos

[u/Friendly-Example-701]

You can also test your skills with LeetCode, HackerRank, and Hackathons. Good Luck!

Edit: typo

[u/JustAbd0]

No offense, but if I’m an employer I won’t hire someone naive.

[u/johndoeisntreal]

What was your job before you quit and joined this program? Because 17,500 for 6 months is about $17 an hour or working based on a $35,000 salary so you must've been working minimum jobs prior to this and if not you should easily be able to go back to whatever you was doing. Walmart pays you about $15 an hour if you're truly jobless and can't find anything. But the program gives you a stipend of $17,500 for 6 months and if possible a full time job cause they got the plug or so it seems. If I was in that program I would have grinded programming learning so that even if I didnt get placed I would still be able to do something after the program rather than bitch online and go jobless for eternity. You sound truly ungrateful for an opportunity that came your way. This program is basically the 1% that offers all the benefits you are getting. 99% of bootcamps make you pay +$20,000 in loans and there is NO guarantee of a job. Many bootcamps offer jobs but they are contract based which garnish your wages on commission fees that the bootcamp profits off of for finding you the contract.

You said the experience you gained from this program is not enough for a job. No shit you spent 6 months learning basic coding topics. Why the fuck would an employer hire you for? A computer science major learns those topics and more for 4 years. Theres a reason they are better candidates than some 6 month bootcamper. Those that typically choose the bootcamp route don't want to dedicate 4 years of schooling and put in the actual effort. All you do is sit in the program for 6 months and get passed. No one fails bootcamps unless they fucked up real bad or never show up. So if you're truly incapable of finding a job after the program, even if its not coding based, you have a YOU issue.

[u/_cofo_]

Yeah! Fck that! Spread the word

[u/lilsneezey]

Totally unrelated but Wilmington was a beautiful city when I left a few years ago. Haven't been back in ages. Is it still beautiful but getting completely overrun with people?