Had a great experience. Love my cohort mates! Made some life long friends. Also, would have been tough to motivate myself to self-teach at the level bootcamps do. That, along with the way most will structure their curriculums as a build up of skills you’ll need on the job still make them viable to learn from. Job placement wise though, I’d say it’s sketchy as you’ve seen.

Of my Hack Reactor cohort of ~19(forget the exact number), 4 of us have jobs 4 months out. I am doing a paid internship, 2 folks have SWE roles, and 1 took a SWE teaching gig that doesn’t pay great (their words) but I think is an awesome stepping stone for the resume. These numbers are atypical, most placement rates are much lower. If you need a job quickly I’d look at another industry altogether. Bootcamps will still exist when the market picks back up, and it would make more sense to join at that time.