About Codesmith
Location:
Codesmith’s Software Engineering Immersive program is an advanced residency designed to help individuals launch a meaningful, high-level career in Software Engineering. Codesmith offers a 12-week Full-Time Immersive in both onsite and remote settings,... Read More
In addition to the core curriculum, Codesmith offers an extensive hiring support program that guides residents through the hiring process, including interview strategies, portfolio development, and post-graduation check-ins. According to the most recent outcomes reports (July-December 2020), the median starting salary of Codesmith NYC graduates is $120,000. 80.3% of graduates are hired within 180 days of graduation. LA grads also demonstrated one of the top results, with 83.1% of graduates landing their first roles within 180 days post-graduation at a median starting salary of $116,500 (third-party audited & CIRR-certified).
Codesmith's mission is to develop an exceptional network of brilliant and collaborative Software Engineers who are passionate about pushing the engineering community forward. With this mission in mind, Codesmith offers numerous payment plans to all applicants and scholarships to female engineers, minorities, military veterans, prior bootcamp grads, and other underrepresented communities in tech.
Do you represent this school? Suggest edits.
Courses
Full-Time Software Engineering Immersive
Part-Time Software Engineering Immersive
CS Prep
JavaScript for Beginners
Codesmith Reviews
Average Ratings (All Programs)
Anonymous
Software Engineer | Graduated: 202012/4/2020
Course
Full-time Remote Software Engineering Immersive
"Challenging and Rewarding"
After reviewing many coding schools and their outcomes, Codesmith seemed like the ivy league of bootcamps. Coming from a completely non technical background, I knew it would be hard to get in and even harder when I got there, but I hoped the outcome would... Read More
The hours are very intensive and you have to know what you're signing up for. You are living and breathing code for 3 months straight and it can get mentally exhausting to constantly try to retain loads of new information. Sometimes you might want a break but you can't really have one. But with persistence, as a graduate I can say the hard work pays off. You truly learn what you need to know to secure that first software engineering job.
My personal experience was a little bit rough. I signed up for the onsite immersive program and I felt like I could learn best in that environment. Due to Covid19, after the first week the entire program was forced to go remote. Remote learning was not necessarily for me. It was a lot harder for me to get my work done from my home environment with all the distractions. Codesmith also has a unique teaching style. For each unit, they will give a couple hours of lectures on some new concepts and then throw you into a 2 day project with a partner where you feel like you don't have the slightest idea of where to even start. There is a help desk that the Fellows answer but the teachers aren't really around much. It is definitely frustrating at times but having to learn things the hard way through Google and lots of errors does help you remember and understand what you are doing. I do wish the lectures were a little more related to the code we would be writing and not just overall big pictures. After struggling for 2 days and probably not finishing your project, they give an approach lecture on how to do it and it make it look like a breeze. It helps to reinforce and understand what you struggled with, but some things would just be useful to know beforehand to be able to progress further in each project. You will have a growing list of things to go back and review but probably won't have time to do it.
After 6 weeks of these 2 day units, the second portion of the program is focused on building your own projects and web apps. This is where you get to really apply what you learned and also learn so much more based on what your apps needs are. It was so rewarding to have completed that first project and see the end result of what I coded from start to finish. It shows you that you can actually make cool things! There is one solo project and the rest are done in groups. Most of your time is spent on one prodution project which will be the focus of your resume. You have the opportunity to learn a lot from your group members and help each other out. In the real world you will likely be working in teams so it was good to see the dynamic beforehand.
The best part of Codesmith is the hiring support. They go through rounds of your resume and tear it apart (in the best way), they help you prepare answers to interview questions, and bring in people to practice mock interviews with. They have someone to help you negotiate your salary once you have an offer, and after you graduate there are meetings every week about the job search. You also have access to the alumni community and your own cohort mates for tips and references. The networking aspect is awesome. A few months after graduated I started my first job as a Software Engineer. The role isn't exactly what I wanted but now my foot is in the door, which was the whole point for me. I know after a year or so of experience under my belt I will be even better equipped as an experienced programmer to find the job I'm looking for. Overall, I wouldn't have been able to make this career change without going to Codesmith.
Do you represent this school? Respond to a review.
Ben Mizel
Backend Engineer | Graduated: 202012/2/2020
Course
Full Stack Software Engineering Immersive Program
"Supportive and Challenging"
It was reading these very same online reviews where I first learned of Codesmith. After seeing their outcomes on CIRR and attending a handful of free JavaScript -- The Hard Parts workshops, I chose Codesmith over other programs for what seemed like the... Read More
My experience was consistent with that initial sense; it was clear that the entire team had thought critically about how people learn and how to teach most effectively. And no small part of that effectiveness was due to the culture that had been thoughtfully created, one of warmth and encouragement that always seemed to be saying "This is new and challenging work, but we're there for each other and we'll figure it out together."
It's a remarkable community that, long after graduating and beginning work as an engineer, I feel lucky to be a part of.
Travis Frank
Software Engineer | Graduated: 202012/1/2020
Course
Full-time Remote Software Engineering Immersive
"Codesmith is the Real Deal"
Everything about my Codesmith experience was exceptional- from the instructors to my peers to the technology, I found Codesmith to be worth every penny.
Some Background: I learned Python when I was younger, but I came to Codesmith with a Bachelors of Music... Read More
Instructors: While researching immersive programs, I was disappointed to learn that most (if not all) bootcamps are taught primarily by prior students, in the form of ‘fellows’. While your mileage may vary, in my Codesmith experience this turned out to be an unnecessary fear. The fellows were bright, eager, kind, and helpful throughout my three months in the program, and served as references during my job hunt. These folks are typically only kept on for three-month contracts after graduation, so I cannot guarantee that your experience will be identical, but Codesmith fosters a can-do attitude in the community, so I am hopeful that you will have a similar experience. (Note that some of the senior instructors are full-time employees and industry veterans, whom I also found to be great teachers)
Curriculum: The curriculum at Codesmith is primarily centered around React, Redux, Node.js, Express, and PostgreSQL. No other front-end frameworks are taught, and while MongoDB, AWS, and OAuth are touched upon throughout, the backend technologies other than Node are explored more shallowly. Codesmith’s approach to curriculum can be summed up in a phrase they’ve coined: ‘hard learning’. Enter my only gripe with my Codesmith experience- while the technologies they’ve chosen to focus on are excellent choices from a popularity-in-the-industry perspective, I do feel that Codesmith’s ‘heard learning’ approach sometimes leaves something to be desired. In particular, as projects become the focus of your days, the ‘hard learning’ approach becomes a burden more than a boon, as your energy is primarily directed towards your projects and the curriculum begins to feel frustrating rather than constructive. This is not to say that the experience is bad- rather, I simply found it to be a minor frustration that mars an otherwise enjoyable learning experience. By the end of the program I felt that I had made great progress in the core curriculum, and that can be attributed largely to ‘hard learning’.
Projects: Perhaps the greatest part of Codesmith is the project portion of your junior phase and the production project portion of your senior phase. In your junior phase, three projects punctuate the conclusion of the core curriculum, small affairs the last only a couple days each. These are the perfect on-ramp to working in a team environment on ‘real’ software (at least, something a little more substantial than a tutorial). The production project, however, is the crowning jewel of Codesmith. Students are required to work in teams to develop an open-source developer tool or similar project, in order to give back to the community and nurture a deep expertise in one technical area. By requiring these production projects to solve problems faced by developers every day, students acquire an intimate knowledge of a corner of the industry, experience that can be spoken to in job interviews with authority. In contrast to other immersive programs, where final projects are often mock-applications, Codesmith’s approach ensures exposure to real problems you will encounter in your career (and it looks great on your resume, to boot).
Job Assistance: Codesmith’s hiring program is exhaustive, and stresses the realities of applying to engineering roles. With lectures and workshops on interviewing, your ‘pitch’, negotiating, networking, resume development, and recruiters, the hiring program provides guidance on every step of your job search, and continues indefinitely post-graduation with weekly workshops for grads in the job hunt. Mock interviews with grads help to ease you into the experience of technical interviews, and the daily emphasis on algorithms and data structures throughout your three months prepares you well for mid-level interviews.
Overall: Codesmith was life-changing for me, beyond a new career and a new job. The people in my cohort were curious, intelligent, and bound by the common goal of bettering their lives. I cherish many of the friendships I made at Codesmith, and I can’t wait to give back to the Codesmith community in the years to come.
Joseph R
Sr. Software Developer | Graduated: 202012/1/2020
Course
Full Stack Software Engineering Immersive Program
"Highly Recommended!!!!!"
I'm the type of person who digs through the internet for reviews. I'm one to make sure of the quality of services and products that I choose before making a purchase or a subscription. I found Codesmith after days of googling, watching vlogs of people... Read More
Taylor A Davis
Graduated: 202011/24/2020
Course
CS Prep
"I feel that this prep course has set me up for success in the immersive itself."
I entered into Codesmith's CS Prep program with basically 0 formal experience with coding. I had done some self-study, but found i needed more of a structure. Though the program is only 2 weeks long, it definitely covers a large basis needed to start... Read More
Anonymous
Software Engineer | Graduated: 202011/8/2020
Course
Full Stack Software Engineering Immersive Program
"Life changing, massive growth!"
I took a while to enroll because I was skeptical about the outcomes. Let me tell you, it’s real. When I had no choice but to change my life, I took the leap and it was the best decision yet. Everything, from the admissions process, curriculum, to the... Read More
Sam
Database Marketing Manager | Graduated: 202011/4/2020
Course
CS Prep
"CS Prep's best asset is the pair programming"
Some context on me for reference:
I aim to transition into the tech field for software development/engineering; I am working full-time in a somewhat connected position within an field, so I will go the part-time route for now given current situations with... Read More
I enjoyed CS Prep and would recommend it to others. That said, this course requires foundational knowledge of JavaScript. Some exposure to functions/execution context, callbacks/higher-order functions, recursion, and closures will help you retain more information during the course as well. I found that this course doesn't teach those basics but rather provides a place to practice and flesh out thoughts/ideas with sample problems. Luckily, those basic/foundational materials are free on Codesmith's YouTube channel and are indeed helpful.
If you (like me) did not have that exposure to the concepts I mentioned previously, then you'll struggle but can catch up over time with enough work.
The best part about CS Prep was the pair programming and inherent networking within their Slack channel. The pairing was by far what helped me learn the best.
Anonymous
UI Developer | Graduated: 202011/3/2020
Course
Full Stack Software Engineering Immersive Program
"Challenging, supportive, and inspriring"
I had a wonderful experience at Codesmith. The support I received was outstanding and I felt really prepared to enter the job market. The first time I ever looked at code was 6 months to the day that I was offered a full time software engineering job.... Read More
Joe Kinney
Aspiring Software Engineer | Graduated: 202010/6/2020
Course
CS Prep
"Challenging, comprehensive and fun"
Codesmith's online CS Prep course is a must take for aspiring software engineers who come from non-technical or non-programming backgrounds that are looking to apply for the full-time programs.
After majoring in math in undergrad and working in finance... Read More
The enthusiasm and dedication on part of the instructor and other students was highly motivating and allowed me to quickly accelerate my coding ability, while developing relationships and genuinely enjoying the process. After CS Prep, I was able to pass my technical and will be participating in the NYC full-time immersive.
Would highly recommend the course to anyone interested in the full-time programs!!
Anonymous
Graduated: 202010/2/2020
Course
CS Prep
"Csprep"
I just finished attending CS Prep I must say I learned so much in such a short amount of time! The course itself was only two weeks and it can feel like it going definitely a little too fast but you are given all the recording of the classes to go over... Read More