Genuinely curious why you'd look at Lambda School instead of a local university which if you're in Switzerland (going by your user name) would cost you almost nothing. I always saw Lambda School and equivalents as a necessary alternative to the broken US university system, not as something that was needed in Europe.
Switzerland has some of the world's best universities, sure.
But I don't want to do another degree (the only comparable option would be a 3 year, full time BSc in Computer Science).
Sure, the tuition costs would be lower, but the opportunity costs (plus 3 years of not really working while I study) are easily 10x higher than doing Lambda School.
Plus, a local university won't teach me the skills I need to become a better 'practical' web/mobile developer. It's a lot of (admittedly very interesting) theory, not the kind of vocational training I need.
With Lambda School I could strengthen my weak areas in 3-6months and don't need to travel to do so. A bargain for the price!
I don't know about Switzerland (nor that much about Lambda School), but even the most flexible schools in Europe tends to be quite rigid. Apply months in advance, study for years, deal with grades, admissions and administration etc. What most people need isn't "academia" but "training". That said I think most MOOCs are doing it wrong as well.
In the UK quite a lot of Universities offer MSc "conversion courses" which are basically 1 year training as a programmer. Cost is usually reasonable. I know people who've done this and gone on to successful careers, including research. Here's an example: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/taught/com...
Not that I think conversion courses are without issues, but the selling point of Lambda School seems fairly weak to me in the light of these.
I’d guess they don’t believe a one-year conversion course from a university is a superior education to Lambda School (I don’t know about the quality of those in the UK other than that a few universities have already reached out asking us to replace theirs), with a hint of opportunity cost of the extra time. The fact that it can be done from home May also play a role, or maybe they don’t have a degree in the first place.
