It's funny you mention that it sounds like an ad, I was reading it and felt that it was quite similar to my own situation. I just got my first technical job (w

It's funny you mention that it sounds like an ad, I was reading it and felt that it was quite similar to my own situation. I just got my first technical job (website integration for an online marketing network) in the last month, previously being in general office administration for 10 years. I've always been technically minded but had never pursued it as anything other than a hobby (running home servers, being family tech support etc...). While I've found Codecademy incredibly frustrating at times (lack of response to feedback and glitchy lessons mainly), it was definitely worth using. I also bought some domains and built a couple of Wordpress sites to try and showcase my skills and interests. I'd spent all of 2012 firing off CV's to try and get into an entry-level IT support role (which I know I could do) and didn't get a single interview. This year I managed to get in touch with a recruiter via a friend in the ad display industry and pretty soon afterwards I was put forward for an interview. That I could demonstrate my websites and willingness to learn outside of work using online courses on my CV was a definite factor. An HTML test was a requirement in the interview, and having no idea how complex it might be, I ran through Codecademy's lessons and covered as much as I could to refresh my knowledge. This was a huge help and I did fine on the test. I was offered the job the same day and one month in I'm loving it. I'm in a fantastic place with a great environment and working with other technically-minded people. I think there's real value in many of these online courses and education sites (I have also played around with RubyMonk and Learn python the hard way), especially for someone like me who went straight into work rather than Uni.