I liked this article a lot because it provided many perspectives. So here's mine, as a Lambda grad. Mileage may vary.
For smart poor folks, Lambda School is a pure good.
I come from a blue collar background, I have no college or university degree, and enough debt to make liberal arts student blush. Before Lambda I was able to slowly chip away at that debt by working outside from the literal dawn to dusk, Monday through Saturday, rain, shine, snow. This was horrible both for my body and my family. We decided to try Lambda and it worked. I'm gainfully employed as a developer for a large company, we have health insurance, and I have double digit hours to spend with my family. Sounds like a fairy tale straight outta Austen's book I know. But I tell you this as background, not as the reason why Lambda's good.
The reason I was willing to take the risk at all is because of the ISA. There is no way under my previous circumstances I would have done anything like taking 9 months of work to study without a walk away free card. Before attending Lambda I read every bad review I could find, parsed the complaints, cross-referenced the news articles and comments, and decided "good enough". Worst case scenario I'd waste a few months learning enough to play around with and go back to back breaking labor. Debt-free. But what about being owing them money for a dev career that they didn't deliver?
If I had a dev career, Lambda earned my money, because I sure didn't have one before. Your case may be very different, if you're a great auto-didact, forget Lambda, you can do anything you set your mind to all alone and with full freedom. But I'm not. I know I procrastinate, I can get demotivated, I can get sidetracked, I overplan, I underplan. So I chose Lambda, let them handle the schedule, the planning, and the social proof. More importantly, there was only upside. Of course if someone is already highly compentent dev, Lambda makes no sense, at least not as currently structured. But even a competent dev could benefit from the career services, I certainly did.
Lambda has plenty of room to improve, but as a safeish ladder out of lower income drudgery and into skilled modern work it's good enough.
For smart poor folks, Lambda School is a pure good.
I come from a blue collar background, I have no college or university degree, and enough debt to make liberal arts student blush. Before Lambda I was able to slowly chip away at that debt by working outside from the literal dawn to dusk, Monday through Saturday, rain, shine, snow. This was horrible both for my body and my family. We decided to try Lambda and it worked. I'm gainfully employed as a developer for a large company, we have health insurance, and I have double digit hours to spend with my family. Sounds like a fairy tale straight outta Austen's book I know. But I tell you this as background, not as the reason why Lambda's good.
The reason I was willing to take the risk at all is because of the ISA. There is no way under my previous circumstances I would have done anything like taking 9 months of work to study without a walk away free card. Before attending Lambda I read every bad review I could find, parsed the complaints, cross-referenced the news articles and comments, and decided "good enough". Worst case scenario I'd waste a few months learning enough to play around with and go back to back breaking labor. Debt-free. But what about being owing them money for a dev career that they didn't deliver?
If I had a dev career, Lambda earned my money, because I sure didn't have one before. Your case may be very different, if you're a great auto-didact, forget Lambda, you can do anything you set your mind to all alone and with full freedom. But I'm not. I know I procrastinate, I can get demotivated, I can get sidetracked, I overplan, I underplan. So I chose Lambda, let them handle the schedule, the planning, and the social proof. More importantly, there was only upside. Of course if someone is already highly compentent dev, Lambda makes no sense, at least not as currently structured. But even a competent dev could benefit from the career services, I certainly did.
Lambda has plenty of room to improve, but as a safeish ladder out of lower income drudgery and into skilled modern work it's good enough.