#Austen Allred

[younes-ben-amara]

الأبيات التي يتلُوها كل نرجسيٍّ كي ينام مرتاحَ البال

ما هذه المجموعة من المختارات تسألني؟ إنّها عددٌ من أعداد نشرة “صيد الشابكة” اِعرف أكثر عن النشرة هنا: ما هي نشرة “صيد الشابكة” ما مصادرها، وما غرضها؛ وما معنى الشابكة أصلًا؟! 🎣🌐 🎣🌐 صيد الشابكة العدد #89 أهلًا والسلام عليكم؛ وبسم الله. عرفت اليوم بوجود شعر يُدعى “صلاة النرجسي” أو “ابتهال النرجسي” من مقال منتقى أدناه (الذي يحكي عن لم��ا سكول) يحكي المقال عن محتال (طليق السراح) يبيع الأوهام في…

[dynamobooks]

Alan Moore et al: Miracleman Omnibus (1982-1989/2022)

[queenlua]

ok, this Kevin Woo guy is the most fantastic chad i've heard of in a while:

The journalist who exposed Lambda School wasn't a journalist by trade. Vincent Woo was a successful entrepreneur best known for CoderPad, a collaborative coding website used extensively in programming job interviews. After he sold CoderPad for millions of dollars, he focused on the public interest, such as housing activism.

Woo's work on CoderPad gave him expert insight into the programming job market, and in 2019, Austen's outrageous hiring numbers set off red flags. Whenever pressed for more details on his outrageous claims, Austen said a full report was coming soon, but six months would pass without any updates.

Woo obtained an investment memo Lambda School sent out to Y Combinator titled, "Human Capital: The Last Unoptimized Asset Class." In it, they disclose, “We’re at roughly 50% placement for cohorts that are 6 months graduated,” contradicting the very front page of their website.

Where did the 86% on their homepage come from? In 2018, Lambda School submitted a single report about 72 graduates to CIRR. CIRR is an organization formed by the boot camp industry following the boot camp crackdown of the 2010s, to cleanup their image. Bootcamps are supposed to submit their hiring stats every six months, in one standard format, to prevent underhanded boot camps from fudging the numbers. In two years, Lambda School had produced nothing beyond that single, small report.

Woo reached out to Sabrina Baez, Lambda School's former Director of Career Readiness. Baez oversaw job placement in those early days, and Austen had reprimanded her for low hiring rates. She told Woo that probably only 50% to 60% of graduates found jobs.

Finally, Woo obtained private communications with investors revealing the quiet deals with hedge funds. This flew in the face of their marketing's, "We don’t get paid until you do," and Austen's now-deleted tweet, “We never, ever get paid upfront for ISAs.”

With all the damning evidence, the story was ready. Most reporters would now email their subjects for comment, but Woo elevated the story to performance art. He asked Austen for a recorded interview, without revealing its nature. Austen, lulled into a false sense of security by tech press puff pieces, agreed. What followed was the most riveting hour of tech journalism I've ever heard.

Austen: "Our goal right now, is that if a student is endorsed, call it graduation, that we place 80% within 120 days."

Woo: "Why did you tell investors 50?"

Austen: "What… I don't know… what communication you're referring to."

The interview went downhill from there, as Austen scrambled to invent excuses.

#rekt

bonus: check out this dude's hilariously understated linkedin:

(also, the whole article's worth a read. i'd been following the Lambda School saga for a while but there's a bunch of new fuckery here that even i didn't know about. smh)

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

[Image ID: Post from Lincoln Michel (@/ theLincoln.bsky.social) reading: Best argument for psychedelics I've seen

Picture of tweet from verified user Ashlee Vance (@/ ashleeVance) reading: VC the other day told me, "We've lost several really good founders to ayahuasca. They came back and just didn't care about much anymore." x.com/AustimCapital/...

Quote tweet from verified user Austen Allred (@/ Austen) reading: Of the Silicon Valley founders I know who went on some of the psychedelic self-discovery trips, almost 100% quit their jobs as CEO within a year.

Could be random anecdotes, but be careful with that stuff. /End ID]

[revotalk]

The CFPB is permanently banning BloomTech from consumer lending activities and its CEO, Austen Allred, from student lending for a period of 10 years. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

[hackernewsrobot]

CFPB Takes Action Against Coding Boot Camp BloomTech and CEO Austen Allred

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-takes-action-against-coding-boot-camp-bloomtech-and-ceo-austen-allred-for-deceiving-students-and-hiding-loan-costs/

[graphicpolicy]

The Miracleman Omnibus, the Definitive Collection returns with a new printing

The Miracleman Omnibus, the Definitive Collection returns with a new printing #comics #comicbooks

Last month, Marvel honored the 40th anniversary of Miracleman’s transformative reinvention with the brand-new Miracleman Omnibus! This long-awaited omnibus collected the influential work on the character from all of its legendary creators such as Alan Davis, Garry Leach, John Totleben, and more. A hit with fans, this extraordinary omnibus will return with a second printing this March. This new…

[onepunchman]

edit 1: suggestions for other better bootcamps are also acceptable. App Academy has been suggested, if anyone knows anything about their admissions or on-campus program, lmk (I am ineligible for their online options, being a resident of NY state)

so in light of the shape rotator debates, what’s the scuttlebut on Bloomtech (formerly Lambdaschool) these days?

I’m already familiar with articles like “Austen Allred is Consistently Deceptive” and I’m pretty used to educational institutions just lying about their outcomes, but those outcomes still seem way better than like, me going back to regular college, and frankly he is still way above any college administrator I’ve ever encountered in terms of integrity.

reviews by former students are, like everything, split illegibly between successes that may have done fine anyway and failures that may have failed anyway and not much to tell me which I’m more like.

reasons I’m considering this:

- I took one of their free sample courses a while back when they were still offered, and felt like I got a lot out of it (flubbed the interview to get in at the time)

- community college courses are about what’s available to me locally, they are not cheap, in money but especially in time, I have found them painfully sluggish, every thing that was one day in that lambda sample course is an entire week in these CC classes. It makes it hard to focus, and looking at a timeline of multiple years to marketable skills is pretty demoralizing! (and I am terrible at balancing work/school. I have built enough runway for ~1 year if I dedicate myself to just this, but if the timeline is longer, I’ll have to combine it with work, and my chance of failure skyrockets)

- I have found trying to teach myself with online resources incredibly frustrating, and while I have made progress, I frequently stall out when I finish one online class thing and have to decide what’s next, in a “if I knew what I should be looking up I wouldn’t need to look it up” way. decision paralysis etc. my progress has been very stop-and-start, and while I may still get there eventually I see it taking a long time. a very explicit path forward, time commitment, and clear peer group may be by themselves worth the price of admission given the specific things I’m struggling with.

- even the bottom bar of what BT considers “success” (a goddamn regular day job with a 401k n shit paying $50,000) would improve my life immeasurably. I don’t really care much about how my outcomes compare to other software people, (which is the main concern I see from people in software who got there by traditional schooling). i care about how they might compare to my situation now, which is absolute shit. econony bad here.

[brucesmithphoto]

Top 100 fashion / photography books mine is 36

https://bookauthority.org/books/best-fashion-photography-books

[consistantly-changing]

[Image description: a tweet by @Austen "Austen Allred" which says "We DO NOT throw away perfectly good food in this house.

We put the leftovers in Tupperware, put the Tupperware in the fridge, let it go bad, THEN throw it out."]

[books-on-a-wire]

OWLs - Week 1 Reviews

1. A Man Called Ove (Fredrik Backman)...still my favorite of the month so far, this book was emotionally exhausting. One chapter I was laughing and the next sobbing, but I loved this story about an older man grieving the loss of his wife, planning his death, and all of life’s little interruptions. I listened to this on Scribd, but purchased the paperback copy. (5 stars)

2. Dress Codes for Small Towns (Courtney Stevens)...I loved this one and wished that it had been around when I was in high school. Billie is part of a love square when she falls for her best friend, Woods, and her other best friend, Janie Lee. This captured small town living perfectly, had a refreshing protagonist, and fantastic group of friends I would have happily claimed as my own. I borrowed from the library, but also purchased a copy (5 stars)

3. The Song for Achilles (Madeline Miller)...after a quick refresher course on Greek mythology, I quickly fell under the trance of this one. There were some absolutely beautiful passages written and the love story of Achilles and Patroculus was incredibly done. I kind of want to buy this in paperback now so I can go back through and annotate it. (4.5 stars)

4. My Plain Jane (Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows)...after My Lady Jane, I was so hopeful for this one. I absolutely loved the first book! Tackling a beloved classic is difficult and this just did NOT work for me. I enjoyed Charlotte Bronte being incorporated into the story and the ghost hunting caper, but never really got into her romance. However, Jane’s storyline left me flat and then they tried to wrap it all up in a tidy bow at the end that I did NOT buy! The original is one of my favorite classics, so I should have just stayed away. I will definitely watch the reviews before purchasing My Calamity Jane and if they go after Austen, I’ll probably run the opposite direction. (2 stars)

5. The Sweet Gum Tree (Katherine Allred)...It started off so well!!!! This is the story of Alix French, 8 years old, who lives in a grand house with her mother, aunts, and beloved grandfather. She befriends 10-year-old Nick, a boy from the wrong side of town. It follows their 26-year-old romance and all of its pitfalls along the way. First, DO NOT read the synopsis - it gives entirely too much of the book away. Second, if I could read this again I would have stopped around age 18. Everything after that was just a mess. I should have put it down! It just pissed me off lol. (2 stars)

6. Crooked Kingdom (Leigh Bardugo)...still in progress with 100 pages left, not as good for me as Six of Crows. Great banter between Nina and Matthias, plus some touching scenes for Inej and Kaz. I love the backstory for Wylan (so sad) and Jesper, who didn’t get much page time in the former book. Right now I’m kind of bored despite a guest appearance by my absolute favorite character! I know its a character-driven story, but a little bit too much filler between the big action scenes. Fingers crossed (and I’ve got the tissues handy since I know what’s coming). UPDATE: After that brief lull, the third act was outstanding and made me bawl. I can't go into it without spoilers but wow!! (5 stars)

This week is #romanceopolyathon! Tentatively scheduled - Clockwork Angel, 99% Mine, The Score, Sunstone Vol. 2, and Listen to Me. 

[iampjr]

RT @Austen: My family reached the point where they don’t really feel safe in San Francisco. Within a two week span our kids were playing in a park to find it covered in smeared human feces, then walking on the street a mentally ill man tried putting a used lollipop into my daughter’s mouth.

RT @Austen: My family reached the point where they don’t really feel safe in San Francisco. Within a two week span our kids were playing in a park to find it covered in smeared human feces, then walking on the street a mentally ill man tried putting a used lollipop into my daughter’s mouth.

My family reached the point where they don’t really feel safe in San Francisco.

Within a two week span our kids were playing in a park to find it covered in smeared human feces, then walking on the street a mentally ill man tried putting a used lollipop into my daughter’s mouth.

— Austen Allred (@Austen) August 17, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js from Twitter https://twitter.com/pat…

[kenyatta]

At a CEO Summit many years ago, my all-time hero, Bill Gates, was on stage. Someone asked him how he dealt with failing to capture so much value? Microsoft was huge, sure, but tiny compared to the total impact it has had on the world and on humanity. Bill’s answer: sure, but that’s true with all companies, right? They create some value and succeed in capturing a very small percentage of it. Similarly, I am now more focused more on creating value than capturing it. I still want to have as large an impact as possible, but I don’t need to create it directly, or capture it in the form of our revenue or our valuation. For example, Austen Allred, who’s raised $48M for his startup Lambda School, got his start selling a book on Gumroad. Startups have been founded by former Gumroad employees, and dozens more companies have been massively improved by recruiting our alumni. On top of that, our product ideas, like our credit card form and inline-checkout experience, have proliferated the web, making it a better place for everyone–including those that have never used Gumroad. While Gumroad, Inc may be small, our impact is large. There is, of course, the $178,000,000 we have sent to creators. But then there’s the impact of the impact, the opportunities that those creators have taken to create new opportunities for others.

Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company