I've been reading and calling eight hours per day for two weeks straight in an effort to choose the correct camp. I sincerely looked at MiT xPro, and have ruled it out of my choices. Previous attendees of MiT xPro have detailed their experiences in the program on Reddit and report to be unhappy with their experience. It appears many universities "sell" their name to boot camp providers and operate as an extension program. The accounts and reviews have not been great, even when operating as an extension of the most respected colleges. I'm not going to join any program involving a university, because the handful of companies that actually run these programs do not provide the education and service attendees expected. After all my searching, I feel there is a lot of shadiness in the boot camp world. This isn't to say there aren't fantastic camps that alumni are more than happy with. CIRR.ORG is really great resource, although reporting seems to have stopped since 2020. Reading their data will indirectly tip you off to some of the dishonesty in the industry. One example of dishonesty by schools is the practice of hiring last cohort grads to teach the next cohort in order to inflate the post-graduation job placement numbers. This is my first Reddit post after lurking for years. I hope to contribute meaningfully to the coding community at large. More on reddit.com

MIT jumped the bandwagon of making $$ off of the bootcamp trend (CalTech does that with Simplilearn). More on reddit.com

I’m currently enrolled in week 2 and really struggling does it get easier or should I consider dropping it and trying to learn it on my own

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I am a mostly self taught dev, my current position title is senior software engineer. So my advice might be biased to the path I took... I'd skip the certificate especially at that price tag, as others pointed out it's MIT in name only. how valuable a certificate is It might get you past an HR screen, but that is really about it, most of the job hunt benefit from a bootcamp comes from connections the bootcamp has, or their job placement programs etc. I've been involved in the hiring of a number of devs over my career, speaking from that experience I can tell you when I get a resume for a jr dev, first thing I look for is a github link, and if not then a personal website portfolio link. After I've looked at there code I go back and see what they list as proficiency, degrees, and programs. For more mid level jobs, it's all about that portfolio and code sample/challenges. So basically build up a good portfolio, include all the silly and basic examples you do as you lean, it helps really show how you learn and grow. A repo with one project that is super polished but only one commit is far less interesting to me in terms of hiring, than a repo with dozens or more commits and a kinda polished project. similarly directed and thorough programs You can take most of the MIT CS program online for free via MIT OpenCourseWare there is also this great guide . In terms of where to start, Python is a great first language, and it's what the MIT program uses IIRC.as you go along and need to learn a specific skill, Udemy can be useful but the courses tend to be very hit or miss. If you need the defined course structure to learn they can be a great tool but if you can learn on your own there are plenty of free quality resources out there. TL:DR Start learning now, don't pay someone for a certificate. Build a portfolio of all your work in github, iterate over the same project as you learn new things. I hope that helps! More on reddit.com