Blew $200 on a coding bootcamp prep course and it did nothing my free library card couldn't do
I paid $200 for a beginner coding course online back in January. It promised to teach me Python in 6 weeks. The whole thing was 40 videos of a guy reading slides. No projects. No feedback. Nothing. I finished it and still could not write a loop without googling. Then I walked into the Austin public library on a Tuesday and found a free Python book plus a weekly study group that meets in the back room. Two months with that group did more than the $200 course ever did. I get why people push paid courses, the structure feels safe. But for me the money was the problem, it made me lazy, I thought paying meant learning. Has anyone here done a free study group that beat a paid course for them?
What did the study group actually do that the course didn't? Like was it people reviewing each other's code and pointing out why your loop broke, or was it more about having a set time each week where you had to show up and say what you got stuck on? I ask because I've tried free tutorials and just quit after a week, so I'm trying to figure out if the magic was the people or just the being somewhere at a set time.