Spent $1,400 on a coding bootcamp that taught me less than a free library card
I quit my job at a warehouse in Columbus last spring and put $1,400 on a credit card for a 12 week bootcamp that promised a job in tech. The lessons were mostly old YouTube clips with a new logo slapped on top, and the "career coach" sent me a PDF and never replied again. I got zero interviews from their leads, but I did land a junior job six months later after grabbing free courses through the library and bugging a guy on Reddit. If you are thinking about a bootcamp, ask them for names of people who finished last year, and actually call those people. What did you waste cash on before you switched, and did you ever get any of it back?
Burned $900 on a "full stack" course that turned out to be a guy reading docs off his screen. The videos were from 2016 and half the links were dead. Asked for a refund and got told I missed the 14 day window by like two days. Did a chargeback through my bank and got the money back three months later. Call the former students first, that part is real advice.