[lobati]

You seem to be operating on the assumption that the hiring companies are just "trusting" that we put out good students, when in fact they each have their own rigorous interview processes designed to weed out people who have just read the books from those who actually have the ability to think and solve ambiguous or complicated problems, as well as who have the curiosity and passion to continue their education. At my previous jobs I interviewed quite a few potential hires and didn't find a great deal of correlation between having a degree in CS and their fitness for the position. In fact, those who taught themselves tended to need a lot less ramp-up and hand holding than hires straight out of undergrad--the knowledge sticks a lot better when applied to real world projects.

At DBC we're not just a bunch of opportunists trying to make a quick buck. We're people with advanced degrees in CS and educators who believe that education can be done better, at least when it comes to engineering, and we aim to prove it. We choose students who are eager to make a career switch and who have the right attitude for growth. Zed's right--these people would be successful on their own, but we're giving them a leg up by helping them to make it happen in a few weeks instead of a few years. We're not just training a bunch of script monkeys. We're ramping passionate people up on the tools commonly used in a modern web-based company, as well as giving them the mental resources to solve messy problems and to continue their education once they leave. Not to mention a strong sense of the community they are joining and where they can contribute. They won't be experts, by any means, but they'll be ready to carry their weight as entry-level engineers.