I did this and 1 other person did this in my cohort.
The flaw with your assumption is that you're new to programming by the time you start a/A. By the time you start a/A you can already solve sophomore-level algorithms problems.
Graduated: App Academy December 2014 (almost 3 years)
What are you doing now? I'm a front-end developer at an NYC unicorn. I used to work full-stack but I think backend work is boring to me. I also run a consultancy where I build random projects for clients. So far, I've built an iOS app and a couple one-off web apps. I am on my third job. I left the first because I didn't like AdTech, then I worked in media, and now I work in a nerdy infrastructure monitoring company. I finally feel like I found a fit.
Do you feel that the bootcamp prepared you for the jobs you got? It was necessary and the best RoI I have ever gotten on anything in my life.
Do you think most of your cohort are still working as developers? Yes. Most of them are on their first or second job. My cohort had about 14~ people and they went to Google, Tumblr, couple into regular startups(Finance, Health, AdTech), and a few at unicorns. I don't know anyone who graduated who didn't find a job. A couple people got kicked out for doing badly in the bootcamp, like 1 or 2. I haven't followed up with the people kicked out.
I mainly learned Ruby/Rails at my Bootcamp but I'm pretty much only writing functional JavaScript (ES2017/Sagas/Redux) now with a hint of Python (2.7). I straight up love my job. I've flirted with a bunch of stacks throughout my jobs: Angular, Rails, PHP, Scala...and found I like working with Python/JS the best...
My only regret is going to a bootcamp so focused on Ruby, but at the time the financial model was the only viable decision...and I don't think any bootcamps existed yet that were focused on JavaScript.
The only real critique I have of the bootcamp is I also wish I would have more career guidance. My career has progressed financially but I am not sure that I am doing the right thing, whereas if I had an extensive network from university I could compare/contrast, talk to fellow alumni, brainstorm career ideas, etc.
I'm kind of on my own career-wise. I already got my 10x+ RoI, which is more than my uni education gave me, and a better lifestyle.
I've also helped 3 friends go to a bootcamp and they've ended up at Hack Reactor or App Academy. All of them have jobs. I think going to a bootcamp is fine as long as you pick an extremely selective one like a/A or Hack Reactor.
The flaw with your assumption is that you're new to programming by the time you start a/A. By the time you start a/A you can already solve sophomore-level algorithms problems.