pbj

I've been reading a lot about dev boot camps like http://devbootcamp.com/ and http://www.appacademy.io/ that are designed to rapidly turn you into an entry level developer. There are lots of similar ones that I've found but they all claim that it's possible to teach you enough to interview with after 3 months of intense work.

Has anyone done one of these programs and have any thoughts one way or the other? I'm considering one but it's a serious financial investment for me and I'm skeptical about the risk/reward.

Anyone have any suggestions on good small cities in the US? I currently live in a medium sized city in the southeast but would love a change of venue. I'm looking for a town with low crime, progressive politics, reasonably affordable cost of living, and decent nightlife and tech scenes. Some of the places I've been considering are Madison, Boulder, etc, but I'd love to hear of some more suggestions.

I've decided that I want to start freelancing doing web design for local businesses/organizations. It seems that established freelancers or people with extremely good portfolios don't have much problems finding work due to the amount of referrals they get. But for someone starting from scratch, is there a secret sauce to getting your first few customers? Currently I'm just introducing myself and handing out cards to office managers of businesses.