E-Learning Space Belongs to Bootcamps
First year of this century’s 3rd decade (2020) will be remembered for a lot of reasons. Whether we as people remember it or not — in a world that constantly changes its flux from one trend to another — we certainly have the technology where every single second is captured by billions of people around the world. In this fast paced environment where information accessibility is a search away over the internet, on a connection with less than 35 ms latency (ping) irrespective of your location, it’s going to be ridiculous to think about any agency that provides information dated several years old and lacking utility.
The Elephant in the room — Schools, Colleges, Universities. Millennials have already passed through that phase of their lives, and only a few GenZ remain to complete that rite of passage in their lives. Everyone in their twenties will agree about the diminishing value education provided to them. Not to mention the rigid, uninspiring, and lack of variety in the educational journey. Education costs are certainly going down, so spending over tens of thousands of dollars or cost figures soaring above $100,000 spread over a 4 year or 6 year plan, only to find out that your employability is low for reasons that you don’t possess the skills needed on the job. Your investment has been squandered.
Everyone in their twenties will agree about the diminishing value education provided to them.
Rethinking investments —your skillset is quintessentially your primary asset. Those Amazon FBA drop shipping, side hustles, house flipping and all other side gigs you’re thinking about building multiple income streams from after an Instagram post caught your idea is secondary. When you have an in-demand skill to offer, performing the craft expertly — you get paid. Challenge in the current market is: there are millions of other people learning the same skillset or a variety of skillsets. Jobs also need people who can perform increasingly complex tasks dynamically generated with changing company strategies in a competitive market. No one’s going to hold your hand and teach you that. Jobs no longer exist in the same traditional model our parents worked in — toiling years with a single employer to secure promotions. This is where Bootcamps become relevant — offering courses that teach skillsets moderated by a free market economy.
Supporting Bootcamps is the way forward. Bootcamps unbundle knowledge — education becomes redundant; learning becomes relevant. While the nexus of schools, colleges, and universities may market themselves as education providers — when you go to school, you pay for signalling. Graduating is getting branded. You better have something (skillset/expertise) to offer under the wrapper because when it’s time to unbox you and there’s nothing valuable in it — companies are going to call out your bluff; similar to ordering something online from ebay or Alibaba only to find you’ve been ripped off.
There’s certainly a gratifying appeal for learning dead languages such as Latin or Egyptian hieroglyphics; outdated combat equipment such as archery, and horse-riding; or reverse engineering a two decade old video game console to use modern computer graphics. But if 2020 taught us anything, it’s that you have bills to pay. People who progress ahead in life have an appetite for acquiring expertise in rewarding skills.
As jobs continue to become ever demanding of the latest skill-set, requiring cross-functional expertise in multiple domains — you can’t rely on a decade old knowledge about something you learnt at the University. Unless you work for: the government, a pawn-shop, a foreign consulate, or wild-life reserve.
Bootcamps are the Farmer’s Market equivalent in E-Learning; delivering information using the Farm-to-Fork strategy. Linkedin Learning, NYC DataScience Bootcamp, and Simplilearn are among notable E-learning platforms that certify learners and make them employable by offering a democratic variety of knowledge and skills through various courses, taught by industry experts. People rate and review courses; engage in conversation with other learners from around the world, as well as the instructor, courses are frequently updated, and there is no obligation to learn something people don’t want to.
Unfortunately schools and colleges are mired by bureaucratic policies and structures, making them unlikely vendors of useful information. But if you want to have a fun time and find a future spouse or a slow paced (sometimes strenuous) environment if you’re into that sort of thing — a University might just be the place for you.
In the world we’re heading towards — adaptive, iterative, modular, and transformable geometry will perpetuate progress. Rigid, inflexible and redundant structures will be phased out for their lack of utility — unable to keep up with the pace of progress.
From the looks of it bootcamps have secured their spot in the E-learning space — closing the gap fast between learning and earning. It makes sense to build systems around David’s hamlet of bootcamps, than try to restitute Goliath’s fading Empire of education.
