The value is pretty easy to understand. If one sees more value in participating in a structured and relatively grueling X week course, networking with a lot of

The value is pretty easy to understand. If one sees more value in participating in a structured and relatively grueling X week course, networking with a lot of apparently well-connected people in the industry, potential employment opportunities upon completion vs. spending however long doing free-learning, figuring out something to build, continue to build a portfolio, having to market yourself/prove your worth for employment, etc. This is all not even getting into the quality of the programs. For those who want everything laid out for them, there's definite more value vs. doing it the old-fashioned way. With all that said, I have my own also not positive opinions about the proliferation of these schools and how they affect the industry as a whole. I just think that there is a fair-ish tradeoff (granted one picks the right "school").