Thinkful Bootcamp?

(I realize this comment might attract all kinds of haters from all sides but please understand that I'm trying to give this person good advice for them and it's in my opinion a neutral comment, with no ulterior motives. I've been getting harassed with downvote campaigns and trolls for the past two weeks after posting about Codesmith's recent placements, so please read the content and evaluate it fairly before downvoting this or making a snarky comment) Codesmith indeed is a lot of work to get into but if you are already working in a stable job, then putting in that work will definitely be worth it if Codesmith is the right program for you. It will be a waste of time if it's not. So the question I think you should answer first is is Codesmith the right program for you, and if it is, put in the work, and if it isn't, I would encourage choosing another program. Some context that it sounds like you are familiar with... Codesmith staff have said in numerous calls that the work needed to get into Codesmith means you are likely 'employable as a junior engineer' and that Codesmith is really like a grad school to get you to a 'mid-level or senior engineer'. So that's why the pre-work is so intense. By getting accepted alone, it's a sign of progress, rather than the first step - like at many other programs. I personally don't agree with the wording, but recent data showed that people who got offers tend to enter Codesmith with \~$70K median salaries (this was leaked in a Reddit post by a current student for data shared from placements in/around July 2023) and leave with $120-$130K median salaries. So again, this might indicate that it's a program for reasonably successful people looking to move into software engineering. Codesmith claims to have people from all walks of life, so I would take this for a grain of salt, but it's just another pattern to consider. Second, this is something I talk about a lot, I posted [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/codingbootcamp/comments/18cpq98/analysis_of_52_most_recent_codesmith_offers/) with recent data from a recent two month window that about 92% of the placements analyzed listed an average of 11.7 months of "experience" on their 3 week long projects (and only a very small number had observable contributions after the initial project window) - the post explains the calculations and analysis in more detail and I reiterate it is my interpretation on the data presented to me and for illustrative purposes only. Many bootcamp grads exaggerate their experience and this data illustrates that this strategy might be very effective amongst Codesmith grads as well. So this isn't something to deter you from choosing them, but just yet another pattern to consider. At the end of the day, if you are aware of the patterns (good and bad) and feel like Codesmith is the program for you, and your intuition is pulling you there, and your only hurdle is the amount of prep work - then I would push forward and aim solely for Codesmith. If Codesmith isn't the one for you, then I would also consider on your list Rithm and Launch School - both are small programs that have maintained their quality during the uncertainty of 2023. Like Codesmith, all of these are crazy different options, which is why I recommend looking into them, but maybe one of these or the ones above will be the one for you! Finally, "none" is an option too. You can also break into tech through self studying, open source, post-BACC, master's degree, volunteering, etc... So if you don't feel great about any option, look into those other paths too.