My understanding of the current coding bootcamps is that they're becoming a finishing school. Most people have some basic programming before they come in, and t

My understanding of the current coding bootcamps is that they're becoming a finishing school. Most people have some basic programming before they come in, and they are learning the basics of current web development processes on their dime rather than the company. The company then is taking a smaller risk compared to someone with no vetting and no experience. I have a friend who realized academia wasn't for them after their Ph.D/postdoc. It would be asinine for them to go back for a Computer Science undergrad, but they're in their mid-thirties and essentially are making a career change from academia. They have all the internal skills for becoming a developer or QE, but need some social signaling that they have a chance of doing the job. I think of that person as someone for whom the bootcamp is valuable. Spend a few months learning to code, then apply to the bootcamp as a finishing school/paid recruiter. (As an aside, getting off the academia path for those in the humanities is rather difficult at this point. We have really smart people stuck in terrible jobs.)