Have Coding Boot Camps Lost Their Appeal?
Kathryn Palmer
January 9, 2025
2U’s decision to shut down its coding boot camps is the latest sign that changes are afoot in the alternative credentials sector.
In the 2010s, people who wanted a faster, cheaper on-ramp into a well-paying career increasingly turned to coding boot camps instead of traditional college degrees.
For anywhere between $5,000 and $20,000, students—many of whom already had four-year degrees but were looking for a career change—could enroll in a boot camp and learn to code in a matter of months. After graduation, they could expect to land an in-demand job as an entry-level coder at a tech company.
Despite allegations that some of the for-profit companies running boot camps misled students about curricula and job-placement rates, thousands of students flocked to the programs, and more than 100 boot-camp providers started up during the 2010s.
