Wasted $200 on a bootcamp that just read documentation to me

I dropped $200 on a "Python for beginners" bootcamp last month and it was literally just the instructor reading the official Python docs out loud for 6 hours. No projects, no exercises, nothing hands-on. I could have learned more from a free YouTube series in half the time. Has anyone else gotten burned by one of these overpriced intro courses?

3 comments

3 Comments

sage_ramirez422mo ago

lol that's just paying $200 for someone to hold your hand while you read. Even the free YouTube tutorials at least pretend to teach you something.

blake6911mo ago

My buddy Mark spent $250 on a real estate investing course that was basically "read this one book and watch 4 hours of videos." He said it was the best money he ever wasted because he actually finished the book for once instead of buying it and letting it collect dust on his nightstand. He told me the group chat they added him to was more valuable than the course itself, people kept each other accountable and shared actual deals they were working on. Meanwhile I've been sitting on a dozen tabs of YouTube tutorials for 6 months and haven't started anything. So yeah the structure matters more than people think, even if it feels like paying for a babysitter.

ray3632mo ago

Youre missing the point entirely @sage_ramirez42. That $200 is paying for structure and motivation, not just the reading part. Most people who buy those courses finish the book and actually apply it. Watch ten YouTube tutorials and youll get ten different opinions that confuse you more than help. The course forces you to sit down and do the work instead of scrolling through comments for an hour. Plus theres a huge difference between someone explaining a concept in 10 minutes versus someone who designed a full roadmap around it. You get what you pay for with learning materials, simple as that.