dcalhoun

I've worked with the two fellows starting this program. I'll publicly vouch for their seriousness and competence in seeing this project through. Whatever your thoughts on these "bootcamp" style training programs that have been popping up around the country (see: Dev Bootcamp, Code Academy, Hungry Academy, Hacker School), they have a real potential to bridge the unfortunate chasm between the educated underemployed and the desperate and ever-growing need for software developers and perhaps eventually replace the broken system of CS education in this country.

If anybody can do it, David and Christian can. Best of luck guys!

Sad to see San Francisco's own Dev Bootcamp not mentioned here: devbootcamp.com (and my own writing about my experiences with the program douglascalhoun.tumblr.com). By the way, our hiring day is Friday, it's not too late to tell your founder/ recruiter friends: devbootcamp-spring2012.eventbrite.com

I will have to disagree with you here. The program charges the same rate as the Code Academy school and what's more, you don't have to pay up front (unlike CA), but can choose to pay in installments over two or five years. Furthermore, if you let them find you a job upon graduation, they will use their recruitment fee to refund you the cost of your tuition. This suggests to me that they are certainly not just out to make a quick buck.

It remains to be seen whether the program will create employable graduates, and a level of skepticism is healthy in any situation, but I think your characterization of the program may be a bit pessimistic.