[JSDave]

I went to App Academy with no degree about 3 years ago. It costed 15k after landing an offer (3k up front).

For my first year out, I made ~80k in the bay area. The next year, my salary went up to ~120k.

I can save up 140k in the 4 years it would take me to get a comp sci degree. Enough for the down payment on a (small) home. I also have 4 years of programming experience on the fresh grad.

From my experience, about 10-15% of my cohort didn't get tech jobs. This is better than the 30-40% drop out rate of college. Also, people who are "just in it for the money" can pursue comp sci degrees as well.

I use none of the technologies I learned there. I could conceivably have done it all on my own. But App Academy put me on the right track.

I did put in a lot of time initially, ~50-60 hours/week coding for my first couple years. But I imagine comp sci majors go through the same thing.