If you have, is it worth the money?
There’s a very tiny chance that it’s kosher but to me it’s throwing up more red flags than a North Korean military parade. I don’t have too much doubt that the guy who’s baby Bov is has genuine, idealistic world changing aims, that’s the problem. You should be very, very wary of stuff like this, you need to read the signs.
I have been authoring course notes on JS web app architecting for them, based on my Open Access tutorials. I can tell you that it’s worth the money, at least the JS carrer paths that I know. They have a very comprehensive curriculum (maybe trying to teach too much) and their tutors are good people. Sure, the founder and director of Bov Academy has very ambitious idealistic goals and believes that technology can abolish poverty, and he probably tries to achieve too much at the same time, but still he listens to students’ concerns and has always been willing to adapt the academy’s program and practices. I think he is truly committed to student success. Thus, @DanCouper, Bov Academy is kosher and @vipatron: no, it’s certainly not a scam.
Oh boy. I normally do not like being negative in these forums, but you have pushed me to it.
I can tell you that it’s worth the money, at least the JS carrer paths that I know.
Can you? Their current pricing ranges from 250-600 USD/month. That’s $3,000 to $7,200 per year. That’s more than a community college’s rates. And since:
I have been authoring course notes on JS web app architecting for them
I highly doubt that you are doing that for free, OpenAccess self-plug notwithstanding.
A five star review from someone with an economic incentive to do so is meaningless. You are MAKING MONEY from the place you are reviewing, NOT GIVING IT TO BOV ACADEMY. Perhaps I’m wrong, and you are a student of theirs. That self-plug is also pretty damning. Your HTTPS site registers as not secure, probably because you have included non-secure resources. Did you learn that at Bov Academy?
1 Like
If community colleges are good for you, that’s your decision, but please allow others to choose higher standards and make the decision to pay more for getting more.
Of course, I should receive some money for my work, like most people do, if they work. My author relationship to the academy doesn’t disqualify me to tell my experience with them. This is what I did. And since I’m not employed by them (but by another organization) and my work for them was rather occasional, I do not depend on them in any way. So, I’m in a position to talk freely about them.
So, please don’t be so negative!
And thanks for the hint about the non-secure resources issue on my publishing site, which has been reset to HTTPS only recently. Since I’m using FF, which doesn’t report this, I was not getting aware of it .
And please don’t be so negative about community colleges…
Some of us don’t have a choice, sometimes CC is the only option.
2 Likes
So, please don’t be so negative!
Not bloody likely. You had your chance to apologize and take down your reply. Now you’re just asking for it. Everything you say damns you more:
If community colleges are good for you, that’s your decision, but please allow others to choose higher standards and make the decision to pay more for getting more.
I paid plenty for my undergrad, where I dabbled in Comp Sci. However, in terms of web development, I am learning for free using FCC, W3Schools, MDN, Codecademy, OSTraining, and the omni-teacher, Google/Stackoverflow. One can learn the basics of comp sci for free from Harvard teachers at EdX. So, your snobbery (given that you write OpenAccess coursework) is misplaced. You have not established that Bov Academy is $3-7.2 thousand a year better than these Free sources. If anything:
FF, which doesn’t report this, I was not getting aware of it .
Yes it does. I was using Firefox when I looked at it. So, once again, Bov Academy is being made to look inept by your actions and words.
Of course, I should receive some money for my work, like most people do, if they work. My author relationship to the academy doesn’t disqualify me to tell my experience with them. This is what I did. And since I’m not employed by them (but by another organization) and my work for them was rather occasional, I do not depend on them in any way. So, I’m in a position to talk freely about them.
YOU ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO TALK ABOUT THEM FREELY EXCEPT IN THE CAPACITY THAT YOU ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THEM. YOU CANNOT WRITE REVIEWS FOR BUSINESSES YOU RECEIVE MONETARY OR OTHER COMPENSATION FROM (closed-access resources, goods, services). IT IS THE LAW ACCORDING TO THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.
2 Likes
Take down your review voluntarily or I will report you to the mods. Your flippant attitude, as if your actions have no consequences, tells a lot about you.
I always found Richard Bovell’s stuff under JavaScript is Sexy a useful resource. And I get that him and the people who tutor on the course may have the best intentions. But:
Of reviews, almost all appear on one site and all are essay-length. Some seem to be written by students who became employees. Several are written strangely: they are very similar and very careful to cage the review in language that apologises for the ‘first cohort’ issues. If you dig around, the first course (a self-directed bootcamp called Modern.Developer) had serious failings, so it was rebranded. In the reviews that’s now called ‘the first cohort’.
Strangely there’s also an essay length response to a question [requesting reviews of Bov] on Quora, by Rich Bovell himself, in very carefully caged language that apologises for issues with the…yadda yadda.
So there’s that. Then there’s the abolish poverty/etc stuff. There is the distinct lack of specific information, coupled with big promises (change the world!). There is the bad copy. For a professional enterprise, the copy is wierdly bad, like someone in school wrote it bad, amateur bad. Then there’s this:
https://blog.bovacademy.com/evolution-ui-an-entire-innovative-ui-framework/
This is clearly a collection of very basic student projects. I understand this may well be a test blog post, written by students to test their design. But if this a serious venture, why would that be there?
And I can just keep going. I get the founder may be completely genuine. That the aims are pure, but that he just isn’t very good at it. That he’s an amateur trying to do it all himself. But even if it is just that, that’s a really big issue.
@gwagner57 you are not unbiased here, and afaics @vipatron is correct. As long as you provide the caveat that you have done paid work for them, and I’d appreciate the 5* review not being included.
I would like to know why, in the few places reviews appear, a significant percentage are either by people who work in some capacity for Bov, or read as suspiciously similar.
This doesn’t mean anything, it doesn’t say anything.
1 Like
I don’t see this thread going anywhere productive, so closing it down.
@gwagner57, I would ask that you not give a rating to companies you work for. I left your post, but I have removed your 5 star review.
@vipatron, if you see something that may be a problem in the future, please report it right away instead of threatening a user.