I applied for a visit visa in October. It was a straightforward process. Paid the fees (100 pounds), went for biometrics to local uscis office, uploaded supporting docs to a online portal and sent my passport to New york. It came back in 2 weeks with stamped visa.
You can go to Treehouse (http://referrals.trhou.se/shadkhan2). I learned for 3 months straight and got a junior web dev gig for 65k. You will get a 50% referral if you sign up.