I am a Code Academy Student and it has been an amazing experience. I really don't think that I could have a better atmosphere for learning. The professor is one of the best I have had, the mentors are all very accomplished craftsman, but the atmosphere and student interaction might be the most valuable part. The 35 people devoting all of their time learning rails are unbelievably motivated and passionate. Just about every hour of the day there are people learning, asking questions, and working on projects together. To me, that part alone was worth the price of admission.
When we finish I know that I won't be half as good as most of the people on HN, but I do know that I have a solid base on which to build on. Not only can I read a lot of the technical posts on HN and fully understand them, but can take those and implement them into my projects. Most of the students in Code Academy came with startup ideas, and now not only have the ability to program them ourselves, but we have a solid network to help get it done if we need it.