Long time hobby programmer. I wasn't able to get into college programs for comp sci because I had transferred under a different major. I decided to do a bootcamp just to get connections

It ended up working pretty much exactly as planned. Made some lifelong friends, one of whom seems to people in every city in the country. She got me an interview and I'm now making more than many people I know who went through a full 4-year CS degree at my very expensive university