I did Hacker School, which is free to attend, because it's funded by recruiting. It was life-changing, and provided me with a great network that I still talk to on a day-to-day basis with a very, very wide range of experience and interests, and it also landed me a great job, and I'm confident that in the future I can reach out to the Hacker School community again when I'm looking for a new opportunity.

If you're considering any of these "bootcamps" send Hacker School an application. It's not a traditional school, or even a traditional bootcamp, but you'll learn buckets and at the end there's a job fair with many respected companies represented, and a support network to help you find a job that will be a good fit and will pay you fairly.

I was also able to squeeze by on a budget of about $5k for living expenses in NY when I did it, so this would be more expensive (but much better) than online courses, but much cheaper than pay-to-play bootcamps.