Former 2U/edX employee here, and our (university branded) bootcamps are an absolute joke. Here’s an inside look at how things operate on our end & how screwed up things are.
I recently quit after working for 2U for over 2 years as an “admissions advisor”. What this job entails is morally wrong and I simply couldn’t take it anymore. These bootcamps are a borderline scam, and things are sour at every level.
First of all, my position was a straight up sales position. Nothing more. I didn’t know this before I was hired. I know nothing about Coding or Data Analytics, and thought I was getting into more of an academic advising type position. We were not legally allowed to make commission with this being education, but all of our metrics revolved around how many students we “enrolled” (how much money we made the company). You are put on a performance plan if you do not meet your monthly goals, as sales positions work.
These bootcamps have absolutely nothing to do with the universities they are advertised for. Many of you may have seen ads online for different tech bootcamps at Columbia, UC Berkeley, and plenty of other universities. The university slaps their name on the bootcamp, and it is created and taught by (highly under-qualified) instructors hired by 2U (often times recent bootcamp grads). The for-profit agreement between 2U/edX and these partner universities is extremely predatory and misleading in nature.
An average day at work for me consisted of 6-7 phone interviews with students. You start by making them feel like they are special and a good fit for the bootcamp. You then rush them through the admissions process before they can think over anything. Any training us advisors actually received were sales tactics. Virtually any student (that can pass a bogus 20 question problem-solving assessment) is qualified for the bootcamp. If it wasn’t already clear, money is absolutely the priority here and no one in the org cares at all about helping students in any way. 2U would enroll a rock with googly-eyes glued to it if it could cough up $11-15k or sign for a horrendous loan to cover it.
Like I said, I know nothing at all about Coding or Data Analytics, but from what I understand, the bootcamps do not prepare you to make a career change or get a job in tech whatsoever. I’ve heard that many students don’t even put the bootcamp on their resume because they know employers won’t take them seriously. Once every 2 weeks, we would receive an email with a hilariously short list of students who got a job in their field after completing one of our bootcamps. In over 2 years of enrolling about 10 students per month, I had 0 students of mine ever show up on that list.
The most successful managers/advisors at the company are just seasoned older sales people. They know nothing about the field you are interested in, and it’s their job to pretend they do. Please please please steer clear. 2U stock is in the absolute toilet, they haven’t made a profit in forever, so hopefully they go under soon. I could go on and on about this company but I think you all get the point.