Lambda School Threatens Ex-Employee For Coming Forward About Conditions At the Coding Bootcamp (theverge.com) 36
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: Lambda School, the controversial coding bootcamp, is threatening a former employee for speaking out about problems at the school. In an article published on February 11th, Sabrina Baez, Lambda's former head of career services, told The Verge that she was called a "feisty Latina" and a "bulldog" when she pushed for a diversity initiative at the school. Baez had signed a severance agreement when she left Lambda after the incidents; the school sent her a letter claiming she violated that agreement by speaking to reporters and is demanding the return of her severance money (roughly $36,000). The Verge has seen that letter, which also says Lambda is prepared to file a lawsuit to collect.
Baez claims that Lambda tried to fire her in 2018 for not living up to a performance plan. When she told her manager she hadn't received any documentation about this plan, she claims he walked back his comments and said she could stay. Baez says she decided to leave anyway because she no longer felt supported in her role. She was five months pregnant at the time and signed a nondisclosure agreement to get severance. Because of this agreement, The Verge agreed not to use Baez's name in the article. She has decided to come forward publicly in this piece since the school is threatening legal action. [...] The Verge's reporting went beyond Baez's experience, detailing ongoing issues Lambda faces with unhappy students and regulatory hurdles. In January, students from the school's User Experience Design program wrote a letter to the school calling the program "a very bad experience" and "not worth the money." They asked to get out of their income sharing agreements (ISAs), which are the bedrock of Lambda's program. The school is also operating without state approval in California, meaning the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education cannot step in to help students if there is a dispute with the school. In the case of the User Experience program, the agency didn't have to: Lambda let the students out of their ISAs.
Baez claims that Lambda tried to fire her in 2018 for not living up to a performance plan. When she told her manager she hadn't received any documentation about this plan, she claims he walked back his comments and said she could stay. Baez says she decided to leave anyway because she no longer felt supported in her role. She was five months pregnant at the time and signed a nondisclosure agreement to get severance. Because of this agreement, The Verge agreed not to use Baez's name in the article. She has decided to come forward publicly in this piece since the school is threatening legal action. [...] The Verge's reporting went beyond Baez's experience, detailing ongoing issues Lambda faces with unhappy students and regulatory hurdles. In January, students from the school's User Experience Design program wrote a letter to the school calling the program "a very bad experience" and "not worth the money." They asked to get out of their income sharing agreements (ISAs), which are the bedrock of Lambda's program. The school is also operating without state approval in California, meaning the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education cannot step in to help students if there is a dispute with the school. In the case of the User Experience program, the agency didn't have to: Lambda let the students out of their ISAs.
Why not cool their jets? (Score:2)
Unless a company enjoys the Streisand Effect, it's usually better to come to a reasonable legal settlement than fight over already-made public statements.
I suspect a high-level manager grew some personal vendetta of some sort such that "winning" against the plaintiff trumps running a smooth business in his/her mind.
Re:Why not cool their jets? (Score:5, Insightful)
"She decided to leave anyway" after not getting fired anymore and somehow got $36,000 in severance???
I don't know what, but something doesn't add up here. Either she was getting laid off and not fired (but had been selected for layoffs based on her performance), or she had some kind of settlement going on already, or this company just has so much extra money that they hand out $36K to people who quit.
Re: (Score:2)
It sounds like the company was trying for constructive dismissal with the fake improvement plan. The fact that she was pregnant is probably related, often companies try to get rid of pregnant workers.
So having discovered what they were doing and indicating that she was willing to fight it she took a settlement from them and left, rather than trying to continue working there and fitting it around her pregnancy and having a young child.
In other words the severance was part compensation and part hush money.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
As a SJW she added so much negative value to the company that even just handing her $36K is a net gain for the company in short and long term. It's basically like containing a virus which can spread to infect other parts of the company, if not acted upon fast and decisive.
Re: (Score:1)
There is also the side effects that these BULLIES cause. I've had to deal with "forever victims" before, and just being around them makes me nervous, and makes me much less productive. Stress goes up to increasing the chances of medical complications.
If I were an employer, I would NOT hire them, period. I don't care about the screeching (m)asses who would make me out to be worse than Hitler, or whatever. I will not have somebody with ultra fragile feelings who is ready to scream "SUE! SUE! SUE!" wh
Was already going, was already going to pump (Score:3)
Was already going, was already going to pump money. she was already paid to stfu and leave.
it's just that she didn't understand that 36k in severance was just that and it's a hell of a lot of money for severance.
now the question on everyones lips is this: could she code?
It's textbook (Score:2, Informative)
A progressive activist underperformed, then violated a contract she signed and now tries to play the victim card.
As a company you're screwed if you hire someone like that. Either she stays, underperforms and does whatever she wants to, or you fire her and get bad press because bloggers like from the Verge just eat up these stories. Google had quite a few of those in recent times.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
A progressive activist underperformed, then violated a contract she signed and now tries to play the victim card.
It looks that way, but I would reserve judgement until and unless I got the full story.
Personally I get the feeling I am looking at a sketchy enterprise when I look at their web site and the promises they make imply. It doesn't look like another Trump U but I have doubts about anyone whose business model is based on how anyone can become a computer science professional after just 14 weeks and no tuition up front.
Re: (Score:2)
As opposed to bootcamps that charge for it? Take into account that only 1/5 or so of those people have chance to land some basic janitorial code monkey work, and maybe 1 in 10 eventually become any good at it. Retraining paid in salary commission in such cases is fairly common as it ensures the incentives line up, though here we just call it appr
Why not both? (Score:3)
One of my main life lessons, is that usually, every side is the bad guys/gals. :)
In this case, a plausibe scenario could be: Sleazy companies tend to hire sleazy employees. So they treated the employee in a sleazy way, and the employee did treat them in a sleazy way.
(Substitute any word you like for "sleazy".)
But yeah. These stories are trigger fests, and intentonally cause people grief to generate clicks and profit. That should be a crime, to be frank. Mental assault with a trap or something. ;)
And we shou
Re:It's textbook (Score:4, Interesting)
>> A progressive activist underperformed, then violated a contract she signed and now tries to play the victim card.
> It looks that way, but I would reserve judgement until and unless I got the full story.
Indeed. There are 3 sides to every story:
* His side :-)
* Her side
* The truth somewhere in between
If the Verge is reporting it then that also calls into question the quality of "Journalism" since they are a shit news site.
> doubts about anyone whose business model is based on how anyone can become a computer science professional after just 14 weeks and no tuition up front.
What? You mean it takes more then 14 weeks to become a _good_ computer scientist? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you! Next you will be telling me it takes years of learning and applying theory of various topics such as those in mentioned in The Art of Computer Programming [wikipedia.org]! /s
The reason they can "get away" with no tuition up front is that students have an Income Sharing Agreement -- basically the school takes a cut of your _future_ income!
Maybe there is some truth to the the maxim "You get what you pay for" when it comes to education?
Re: (Score:1)
There are 3 sides to every story:
No there aren't always: sometimes that's a tactic to try to drag the truth towards something absurd.
Re: (Score:2)
You're perspective about an event is only ONE perspective. BY DEFINITION is it not a complete one. Even if you have perfect perception AND memory there are always AT LEAST 2 sides to every story. Yours, and The Truth.
The problem is that the brain is CONSTANTLY being over-loaded with sensory information and thus it prioritizes and subconsciously stores events it doesn't consider "important."
I see you have never been in an (vehicle) accident and talked to the police about "how reliable" people's memories o
Re: (Score:3)
It looks that way, but I would reserve judgement until and unless I got the full story.
The thing is, that's already only HER side of the story. She admitted to pushing progressive activism and violating her contract.
This is the story she and the Verge are pushing. A fuller story would only add things unfavorable to her.
but this school sounds like the other ones costs (Score:2)
but this school sounds like the other ones that have high costs and take in lots of loan cash. At least this one did not take funds up front
Re: (Score:1)
Unfortunately, we get a lot of this in this day and age, but I want to see how this whole case plays out before I pass any judgement. Lambda may be overran by a toxic "brogrammer" culture as far as we know.
I *hate* being "diversity"! (Score:2, Troll)
I found out recently, that a group I was part of, integrated me only because of "diversity". Apparently I was their token "diversity" teammate.
They didn't even think to ask if I liked being that!
So they did not take me because I was good, or nice, or anything, or what? Thanks a fuckin lot! Now I can never trust them again.
I think this is discimination against whoever didn't make the team because of me. All "diversity for diversity's sake" is. It is equal to racism, sexism, whateverism. Just in the reversed
Re: (Score:2)
Normal is the norm for statistical reasons. Logical fallacy, appeal to popularity
Re: I *hate* being "diversity"! (Score:2)
You got a point there.
It's not what I meant though. You were missing my point: That which we call normal, is the normal, because it is usually the best option.
I kinda expected you to get that, but pondered lookig for a more direct way to express what I wanted to say.
Re: I *hate* being "diversity"! (Score:2)
I'm sitting here wondering who you mean with who you laugh at, and how it relates to my comment.
Care to explain your internal context, for curiosity's sake?
NDA = Run Far Away (Score:3)
Hearing both sides of this drama would be interesting, but if I signed an NDA and got severance from a crappy fly by night coder bootcamp, I'd never come near them again unless they were violating their end.
I'm not defending this person or Lambda School, but as someone who cares about industry education, these coder bootcamps are absolutely the worst for putting out well-trained individuals. At best you're going to get someone with no fundamental knowledge, basic knowledge of one or two JavaScript frameworks and no context with which to pick up more knowledge once they run against their limitations. It's like ITTTech without the veneer of professionalism.They all seem to be run by scam artists trying to make a quick buck out of people in FOMO mode. There were coder and IT bootcamps at the height of the first dotcom bubble as well, although this one seems like a different spin...I guess they're a body shop for startups that takes your tuition after you leace as a percent of whatever you make slaving away in some front end dev job.
In all the startup bubble hype, people forget that not everyone is a good coder or good troubleshooter who belongs in development or IT. They're good-paying jobs for a reason and expecting to have a computer science education in 14 weeks is just insane. Now that a recession seems likely, it will be interesting to see what happens sith these coder bootcamps...I'm sure they'll just fade into the background but this business model isn't going to work if they don't have startups that need new grads to abuse.
Re: (Score:1)
These things tend to be either one of two things, or both:
1. Scam claiming to make you employable as a developer after just 14 weeks.
2. Scam offering companies "fully trained" but low cost employees in some kind of "partnership".
SJW (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Since SJW add negative net value to companies, Lambda even threw money at her to rid themselves of her. Another cautionary tale to not ignore warning signs, there sure were plenty before.
Re: (Score:1)
SJW's are the worst enemy of their own cause.
Protip: Don't try to sway people to your side by calling them evil, meat eating savages, benefiting off of slavery your ancestors practice, etc, etc, etc..... It just does not work and it makes you look like an unbalanced loon.
Re: (Score:2)
"diversity plan" = White man bad
Pretty much sums up what a 'diversity plan' is.
Re: (Score:3)
Agreed to take $36k, took the money, and then "walked back" on that agreement to make public accusations. This person is a sell-out and/or a liar. Now they're raising the fascist twitter mob to make us all takes sides.
There does seem to be a unifying thread between these folk. A complete disregard for the rule of law, and a certain hypocrisy that allows them to justify taking the advantages, like taking the 36K in the NDA, then violating it.
In the final analysis, this outlook is what allows these folks to claim to be inclusive, while merrily excluding people, anti-racism while calling out people specifically because of their race. Against sexism while calling out half of humanity based soley on their genitals, and ot
Re: (Score:1)
"In the final analysis, this outlook is what allows these folks to claim to be inclusive, while merrily excluding people, anti-racism while calling out people specifically because of their race. Against sexism while calling out half of humanity based soley on their genitals, and other cute acts that just show that they are not progressive, they are just the other side of the coin of what they claim to be against." {---THIS!!!
I admit when I was young and stupid, I drank the Kool-Aid, but I had to sna
Is indentured servitude even legal? (Score:2)
Education isn't a business (Score:2)
Which do you think an employer should trust more, a candidate with qualifications they earned or with ones they bought? Education isn't a transaction between a vendor & a customer. As soon as you put money in the way, all kinds of perverse incentives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] take over, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org].
Education should be meritocratic, i.e. qualifications awarded according to relevant knowledge, skills, & attitudes, & publicly funded, i.e. no fees to any students,
threatened ? so what? (Score:2)
but we should feel bad because someone did something that got them threatened to be fired?