CodeAcademy is totally awesome. I'm the instructor for Hungry Academy and an advisor for Code Academy (http://codeacademy.org/staff).

CA is an awesome program where you can get a great start and be independent. HA is a larger scale (20 weeks), you're paid during the program, then expected to join the engineering team full time. You're not guaranteed a job, but if you aren't ready for the team then I haven't done my job.

I think the programs serve a slightly different audience and the community is better off having BOTH.

Is Hungry Academy effectively an internship program that offers a guarantee of some dedicated training time instead of the intern being thrown to the wolves?

I wouldn't say internship, because to me that means "some learning, some stapling / paper folding."

Our dream is that this program is "better than college." There are people out there that want to do what we do, we want them, so we need to help them build the skills to do it.

I like this a lot because it respects software engineering as a craft, best taught by craftsmen in a real world environment.

I hope non-engineers that you accept will eventually gain a solid foundation of algorithms, maths, notations, etc. But I've always believed that a setting like the one you seem to have created here is the right alchemy for building successful engineers.

I've been thinking a lot about internships versus apprenticeship:

http://robots.thoughtbot.com/post/14216183124/internship-or-...

I'd say Hungry Academy is definitely an apprenticeship.

In addition to Code Academy, there's Dev Bootcamp in SV, whose first session is starting this spring. While it's not directly associated with a particular company, the organizers do promise recruiting opportunities upon completion.

Count me among those who are trying to break into the industry without the proper educational background. It's been a fun, yet often frustrating experience (full time job, lack of time, etc.).

I was actually just speaking to a family member and bemoaning the lack of such programs in the DC area. Very glad to see this opportunity arise, and I certainly have my fingers crossed.

I would strongly urge everyone to look at Dev Bootcamp very carefully. Someone from there posted on SF Ruby Meetup mailing list, asking for someone to help out with the training (for free) while the program charges pretty large amount of cash to students. The worse was how the person wrote the message - about how it would be giving back to community, etc. while they themselves would be making handsome money and/or profit.

Just be careful before you sign up.

I will have to disagree with you here. The program charges the same rate as the Code Academy school and what's more, you don't have to pay up front (unlike CA), but can choose to pay in installments over two or five years. Furthermore, if you let them find you a job upon graduation, they will use their recruitment fee to refund you the cost of your tuition. This suggests to me that they are certainly not just out to make a quick buck.

It remains to be seen whether the program will create employable graduates, and a level of skepticism is healthy in any situation, but I think your characterization of the program may be a bit pessimistic.

Interesting. That certainly is cause for caution. Their tuition, afaik, is the same as Code Academy (~$6,000) - so not exactly a trivial expense.

Any link on Dev Bootcamp in SV?

Certainly. I 'think' the deadline for their first session application has passed, but doesn't hurt to check it out. The founder is quite active here on HN :

http://devbootcamp.com/

I just interviewed with them and they stressed very heavily that they do not guarantee any sort of job.

re: deciding not to stay, I would imagine it would be structured like employer funded MBA programs where you can leave at any time, but then have to pay back a pro-rated portion of your tuition and expenses.