Publish or perish.

OK — let’s jump in to this most insider-y of insider topics. In this essay Jim critiques the first published standard for coding school student outcomes, CIRR, where Thinkful is a founding member. Jim argues that we should dump our work because a different, and as yet unfinished, standard, QATF, will eventually be better. He’s wrong, here’s why.

First, CIRR and QATF aren’t mutually exclusive. To correct Jim’s factual error: Skills Fund, which shepherded CIRR, doesn’t need to be invited to join QATF: It’s already a founding member. Check it out. Similarly, Hack Reactor is also in both efforts.

Second, CIRR has one key advantage over QATF: it exists. As a group we published actual standards. As a group we now have a definitive, proven and followable guide to publishing actual, verifiable statistics on student outcomes. All schools have shared the actual stats with each other and will be releasing them in a couple weeks. The 15 schools in CIRR together represent more than half the market. We went through months of calls and internal politics to actually get sign off on this version 1.0. CIRR isn’t perfect (as I’ve written) but it’ll get better, and, oh yeah: it exists. Since being announced dozens of schools have asked to join CIRR, proof yet again that done is better than perfect.

Third, QATF will eventually have some advantages over CIRR, and we should learn from them. QATF aims to be applicable beyond just coding bootcamps. Paul Freedman is also trying to tackle the inevitable funding needs for QATF upfront whereas CIRR relies so far on schools’ (and Skills Fund) volunteering their time.

Fourth, the longer schools don’t publish under any standard the longer they’ll stunt our industry’s growth. Eventually, and I know this is painful to hear, regulators will insert themselves in our still-nascent industry. When that happens they’ll look to learn from thoughtful efforts that codify the ROI our education promises. This is a good thing. The sooner we coalesce around some standards the better the system will be when this happens.

Finally, we’re not competing on this one. Transparency engenders trust, and I could give a damn what the acronyms are that get us there. So, Jim, I say this with love: Publish or perish.