>Art.sy’s Daniel Doubrovkine and Pivotal Labs’s Dimitri Roche are teaching a six-week class on Ruby on Rails at General Assembly for $2,800. When Mr. Doubrovkine took to the NYC-rb mailing list to advertise, he was surprised by the pushback. “I don’t want to put you down or sound like a jerk but any programmer should be able to learn Rails without paying $2,800,” wrote Rubyist Kfir Shay. “Documentation is excellent, free online resources are plenty, community is strong etc.”
I bet that a better investment with that cash, would be to get a decent Ruby library.
Different people learn in different ways. Some people do very well by reading material and applying it. Some really cannot and need it in a visual manner or in a typical lecture / exercise environment.
I have friends who went to Big Nerd Ranch who were book learners, but the teaching staff, presentation methods, and setup made it very worthwhile to them. I would imagine something like this would fit for a lot people.
The sort of people who are motivated enough to buy a book or download a tutorial, read it, and build something aren't the audience for this class. These simply are two different groups of people.
You see this in the gym: there are two groups of people that see trainers. The first are highly motivated people who go occasionally because they want a technique touch up or training tips or to discuss their routine with someone more knowledgeable. The second are people who go three times a week because they need motivation and affirmation. These classes are the same.
Hell, you could probably hire zed shaw or someone similar for $200 per half hour to give you hands on tutoring for any sticky spots and come out way ahead.
I bet that a better investment with that cash, would be to get a decent Ruby library.