The most common question we get from people interested in attending Coder Foundry is:

“Do I have the background, the skill, the personality, the talent to graduate from the school and land a great job as a developer?”

We shared in a blog post why it’s impossible to self-diagnose your own coding ability. Even worse, the most capable students at Coder Foundry are the ones who started with the most self-doubt.

There is a way to predict how well you’ll perform in our coding bootcamp, and as a professional programmer. We’ll share that method with you at the bottom of this post.

But first you should understand what educators have learned from studying programming students decades ago. Then we’ll look at what the very latest research tells us about learning to code.

MANY RESEARCHERS HAVE STUDIED WHAT IT TAKES TO LEARN PROGRAMMING.

One breakthrough research paper examined hundreds of programming students, and repeated the process six times in two countries to ensure their findings were accurate.

The researchers uncovered two surprises (PDF):

Surprise #1: Lack of prior programming experience isn't a deal breaker.

“Despite the tendency of institutions to rely on students’ prior programming background as a positive predictor factor for success, programming background has only a weak and insignificant effect on novices’ success at best,” the researchers wrote.

In other words, if you want to come to Coder Foundry, but you don’t have any programming experience, you are in the same boat as the person who has some experience coding before they attend our classes.

So what does matter? That brings us to...

Surprise #2: Focus helps you learn programming more than natural smarts

More from the study: “The test was administered before the first week of an introductory programming course... About half used a rational model which they applied consistently to answer most or all of the questions...

The consistent subgroup had an 85% pass rate in the course examination, and the rest a 36% pass rate.”

In plain language, programming students who could organize information in their heads, and consistently apply that to solve problems had the highest rate of success.

The ones who failed the class also had the intelligence to think logically, but they applied their “mental models” inconsistently.

This means IQ doesn’t guarantee a great programming career. Instead, your ability to focus and persevere as you solve problems with code is the strongest predictor of your programming success.

Can you stick with a problem for hours, days, and weeks at a time? If yes, then you’ll have a long and fruitful career as a programmer.

THERE’S A WORD FOR THIS SECRET SUPERPOWER THAT THE BEST PROGRAMMERS HAVE. IT’S CALLED “GRIT.”

Angela Duckworth, a pioneering psychologist and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania defines grit as “passion and perseverance for long term goals.”

In her groundbreaking paper on the subject of learning and success, Duckworth found that “the achievement of difficult goals entails not only talent but also the sustained and focused application of talent over time.”

We agree with the new research on grit.

The highest achieving students at Coder Foundry are the ones who are willing to put in long hours building software applications using techniques and tools they just learned hours before.

The best students are not always the most intelligent, and their coding background doesn’t matter as much as most people think. If they have true grit they can master any coding language, ace the hardest technical interview, perform like a champion at any programming job.

Duckworth continues:

“Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress.

The gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina.

Whereas disappointment or boredom signals to others that it is time to change trajectory and cut losses, the gritty individual stays the course.”

DO YOU HAVE GRIT? TAKE THIS TEST AND FIND OUT.

This online quiz is based on the method Duckworth used to measure grit in students. Take the quiz and tweet us your score.

If you’re unhappy with your grit score, I have some good news. Passion and determination are not stagnant character traits. You can grow grit. You can cultivate what it takes to be a professional programmer. Learn more on the Coder Foundry blog.

When Coder Foundry first launched we used coding exercises to test who was ready for our fast-paced, immersive course. But the tests failed to accurately predict who would do well in the class. We learned the hard way that there’s a hidden barrier that hinders you when you want to change careers and learning how to code. Who can scale that barrier can’t be determined by measuring an IQ or previous experience with programming.

And we’re not the first to discover this fact. In 2009 a trio of university researchers studied an “Intro to Programming” class to learn the commonalities and differences between students who succeeded and failed.

Before the course began they gave student a set of coding tests. Then they followed the students’ progress to the end of the semester. Here’s what they found:

“Despite the tendency of institutions to rely on students’ prior programming background as a positive predictor factor for success, programming background has only a weak and insignificant effect on novices’ success at best.”

In other words, if you’re brand new to programming you have the same shot at success as someone who already has experience.

Course Report’s own study of student outcomes suggests the same thing. Coding Bootcamp graduates who had no prior experience had an average salary of only $3,888 less than graduates who already had some experience with code.

So if experience doesn’t determine success in a coding bootcamp, then what does? We studied our own students, compared it to the latest education science and discovered three irrational mistakes that many bootcampers make.

Irrational Mistake #1: Imposter Syndrome

Imposter Syndrome is unfounded self-doubt in your own abilities. It’s especially pervasive in the tech industry, and students are particularly vulnerable to it.

Read Coder Foundry’s full take on Imposter Syndrome and how to overcome it.

Irrational Mistake #2: The Talent Myth

Our society used to believe that you either had the talent to be a developer, or you didn’t.

We now understand, thanks to scientific research into the effects of learning and practice, that programming languages and tools can be taught to almost anyone.

If you’re willing to focus and work hard, if you have what cognitive scientists call “grit” you can acquire the skills of professional developer.

Read Coder Foundry’s full take on “grit” and programming. You’ll also get a quiz that measures the amount of personal grit you have.

Irrational Mistake #3: The Fixed Mindset

The cousin of the Talent Myth is the Fixed Mindset. This is when you believe that you’re either good or bad at programming, and nothing can change that.

Recent advances in brain scanning have revealed that your living brain actually changes when you put effort into mastering a new skill. This new physical evidence closed the door on the philosophical debate or “nature vs nurture”.

That miracle of humanity is that we are built to be adaptable. If ancient tribes in North America learned how to migrate south and grow entirely new kinds of foods, then yes, you can switch careers and become a developer after just a few weeks in a coding bootcamp.

Read Coder Foundry’s full take on The Growth Mindset, which is the antidote to the Fixed Mindset.

How We Made Coder Foundry More Rational

Once we learned the irrational barriers to becoming a successful programmer we stopped using coding exercises as screeners. Instead we rely on 1-to-1 consultative interviews with each prospective student. This is the best way to determine if Imposter Syndrome, The Talent Myth, or a Fixed Mindset will hold back your progress.

The result? We are now much better equipped to help students determine if a coding bootcamp like Coder Foundry is the right option for them.

Lawrence, can you run us through a typical day running your coding bootcamp?

Coder Foundry has two programs: a daytime and a nighttime. The daytime program meets at 9:00 am to 6 pm. and meets Monday – Friday. It is 12 weeks and is the full time immersion class. The 12 weeks is very structured and rigorous for the student. Basically, we cover MVC and Angular during that 12 weeks and they produce several projects using those technologies. On Mondays we work on technology presentations to the business unit, it is a time when students review their projects with the business unit much like they will in their job as a developer. Fridays are lab days. In between we have a combination of lectures and material presentation sessions followed by coding sessions. There is a lot of learning by doing. The night time class runs from 6-9 pm. It covers the same curriculum, but is stretched over 24 weeks. At the midpoint mark in both classes, we engage our job placement services team. At this point the student has a portfolio of work that they can demonstrate to the prospective employer. We begin to line up job interviews based on the background of the student.

The coding bootcamp/immersive program is a recent trend, and new courses continue to pop up every day. Is there a unique feature to Coder Foundry?