I'm quitting my job to focus on code

Thanks Richard Rakin, nice to know someone made that decision also and it's working out for them :)

I planned to do that if I wasn't allowed to stay in New Zealand. I was looking at Thailand and the cost for living was around $500 a month. I'm sure you could freelance or something to cover the costs while you learnt what you needed.

I'm looking at doing one of these intense Ruby/Rails BootCamps, meaning saving some £8k - £10k! I'd love to be making that much from freelancing :P Thailand could be an interesting move!

Ouch! That's pretty expensive! Is that for the course or living expenses while doing it etc?

For everything involved if i've calculated it all right! visas, flights, 3 months of living costs & course! hefty bill but could be worth it!

Could be worth it or self taught in Thailand for around 2 years with that money ;)

The bootcamps I've seen vary in cost, from$3K-$20K, not including flights, accommodation, subsistence etc, although most will help you out with finding accommodation. There is a bootcamp in London - Makers Academy - and their current fee for applicants is £5K, changing at the end of June to £8K. General Assembly are also in the process of setting up an intensive course in London, for around £7.5K.

If your application is successful, the investment in the fees seems worthwhile. Although they haven't been running very long, around 90%+ get placed in jobs after finishing the courses. Some of the bootcamps operate models where they only take your fee once you get a job, whilst some are flexible with 'working something out'.

To be honest, the difficult part doesn't appear to be financial, but actually getting in - admission rates are around 10-15%. From what I can see, your chances of success are enhanced by i) demonstrating an enormous amount of energy and commitment to doing it, ii) demonstrating that you can plan and execute your ideas (probably helped along by existing projects) and iii) perhaps showing initiative as a self-starter with complex concepts (in this respect, I'm roughly following the Flat Iron School prep material schedule, which includes various book recommendations, Treehouse courses and Code School courses).

There are some good discussions about the bootcamps on Quora, if you're interested.

Thanks a bunch James! I'll take this on board and have a good look around Quora tonight :)

Thanks a bunch James! I'll take this on board and have a good look around Quora tonight :)

Spen, You should consider Lima Peru. You said you wanted a place that's cheap and has great surfing. Check and check. I currently work part time at a travel agency here in Lima and I make $500 a month. I just fine, not extravagant but not bad either. I could spend less than I do. Other advantages:

Beautiful city, beautiful country I presume you're from the U.S.--voip chatting family is easy; you're in the same time zone. Cheaper flights--if you pay attention and have the flexibility to fly out of DC or San Francisco you can pay as little as $500 for a flight (I paid $300 once) Easier language: Don't know if you've studied Spanish in high school or something but there's no way you'll have a harder time with Spanish than you would with Thai.

For the cost of one of the bootcamps you could move to Lima and have a great time, keep surfing if you're enjoying that, and live comfortable...and still have like 6-12k leftover...

Think about it, and let me know if you come, we can study together haha.

Awesome Phil Rice, so jealous ;)

Hopefully I'll be saying the same as you in a few years :)

I know it won't be easy but anything worth doing isn't easy. That's why I think taking the risk will be worth it, I know if I try to learn code 5 hours a week I won't get anywhere fast. The motivation will be how much I want my dream :)

Thanks,

I'll be raising owls ;)

Cheers bud, keep working on the code, you'll get there, we all will if we work for it :)

I hope you will keep us updated with your progress?

Thanks Michael Watson

Thanks Michael Watson

Thanks Dan Ridley

Thanks Jason

Thanks. No doubt I'll be using this forum more and more ;)