Dropped $4,200 on a coding bootcamp in Austin and I want to warn folks before they sign anything

Thea Jackson · 2026-10-08T13:05:04.716694+00:00

I signed up for a 12 week full stack bootcamp in Austin back in 2023 because the recruiter kept saying their grads got hired at $85k starting. What they didn't tell me was that only 40 percent of my cohort actually finished, and of the 20 of us who did, maybe 3 have real dev jobs a year later, and two of those already had CS degrees. I paid $4,200 upfront because they offered a tiny discount, which was dumb since I could have done community college classes for a fraction of that. The career services part was basically a guy named Derek who sent us a spreadsheet of companies and told us to "network harder." I spent 30 hours a week on it while working nights at a warehouse, and the projects we built were todo apps and weather dashboards, nothing close to what job postings actually ask for. The worst part is the job placement stats on their site were from 2019, and they still had them up front and center when I enrolled. If you're thinking about a bootcamp, ask them for the names of grads from the past 6 months and actually call those people. Has anyone here had a good experience with one, or is this just how they all work?

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Dropped $4,200 on a coding bootcamp in Austin and I want to warn folks before they sign anything | Career Advice - The Community Guide