[rokobobo]

I agree with you about PTUs having their place in planned and free market economies alike. I think you’re saying that if people have the option to go to a good “traditional” school and learn CS there (and meet a bunch of students and professors, etc), they shouldn’t throw away that option for something like this, is that right?

On the other hand, I feel like there are plenty of people who have either graduated with a humanities degree or simply do not have the ability to go to a good technical school: I would hope that this provides a new on-ramp for people like that, and it actually adds value to people’s lives. Even though as most people here have stipulated, this seems commercially motivated by Google’s interests.

[gostsamo]

My issue with those courses is that they teach you the "hows" of a problem, but not the "Whys". Completing them, you know how to perform a certain task, maybe even according to best practices, but you don't know why those practices are good, when they are bad choice, what are the alternatives. Ones the assumptions of the course break, it becomes useless. Without the deeper understanding of the field, moving to a newer technology, framework, or even gui interface might turn out to be a struggle.

Yes, such courses might be useful to fill in gaps in one's education, but it can't substitute said education. Low-quality tech graduates might profit, but humanities graduates won't become decent developers, at least not without continuous training for years which might take as long as a second degree.