I think what he was getting at is that they are "not as effective" in teaching people how to build web applications. There are people who can learn this way, but for beginners, it is really difficult.
In terms of data, we have tried them all. Not just Treehouse and Codecademy, but the web apps already out on the market (in-browser tutorials, ebooks, screencasts, physical books, etc.). And a lot of the students we have in Code Academy have tried them as well. They told us they wanted something more than just doing these online tutorials by themselves. They wanted a learning environment where they could learn with other people who are passionate about learning web development, get instruction from a professional software developer, and have mentors who can help them with the learning.
Great comment! You are right in the fact that it doesn't cost you anything (or much) to learn to code, but what we would argue is what is the most effective way to learn? We started out down this path 18 months ago. We exhausted all the books, tutorials, screencasts, and workshops you could find, and while we learned a lot, we still weren't where we wanted to be.
If we decided to keep fighting through I am sure we would have gotten to a proficient level, but we just stopped and wondered, "why isn't there a better way to do this?" So that is why we created Code Academy. There are many ways to learn how to code, but we strongly believe that offer the best learning environment for people who want to learn how to build web applications.
My name is Mike McGee and I am one of the co-founders of Code Academy here in Chicago.
"I've never taken a single programming class and am not techy-- my background is in math and economics."
No problem at all. We are a "beginner-focused" program, because that's where we were last year when we started to learn how to program. We have one of the best Ruby on Rails instructors in the world (http://codeacademy.org/staff), and his passion is to teach beginners how to build applications in RoR.
"I'm an undergrad and interested in startups as a way of life"
Our program has an entrepreneurial bent, so if you want to learn about startups, this is one of the best places to be. In our current program we have CEOs of startups and people who want to work for startups. We also have people who want jobs in companies and people who want to become professional software developers. We have connections with most of the major entrepreneurs and VCs in the Chicago community (http://codeacademy.org/community). The diversity is amazing and something that you can only learn from.
"Ultimately I don't hope to do the bulk of the technical work for this idea but I definitely need to know what's going on with the coders I will work with, so I need some technical background if I'm to pursue this idea"
We have students with this same exact goal at Code Academy. They know becoming a software developer is not in their future, but they want to understand the software development process and be able to communicate in as much technical detail as possible to work with their developers. If you would like to talk with some of our students let me know.
Also, you can only take one program at a time. I graduated from Northwestern, so I understand the urge to want to pile on and see if I can take both classes, but this class is pretty intense, especially for people who are new to programming. One program will be more than enough for you to handle for 12 weeks.
If you have anymore questions, please contact me at mike at codeacademy dot org
I am Mike McGee, the other co-founder of Code Academy (http://codeacademy.org), and this description is pretty much exactly what our students are learning now.
Our program is project-based and centered around pair programming with Ruby on Rails as our web framework. It has been amazing to see the progress of our students in the first 8 weeks of the 12-week program.
While we may have a different focus and a different business model, if you want to talk to us about our experience it could be helpful in what you are trying to do. You can contact me at mike at codeacademy dot org