Coding Bootcamp Praha

I got curious about the programme when I was scrolling through meetups happening in Prague and I came across the open class that Coding Bootcamp Praha regularly organises. We tried several languages at the workshop and I got so excited that I decided... Read More to attend the next full-time bootcamp. I prefer to learn in an environment where I enjoy the people around me and that’s exactly what I got for the 12 weeks.

I enjoyed learning a variety of technologies and decided to focus on the Javascript / React development. This is what I appreciated a lot that the instructors showed us a variety of languages, frameworks and libraries but we had certain space to specialise in whatever we preferred. For example, I know now how to connect React with Laravel, a php framework, but within my team project I focused on the React side. I believe however that knowing both frontend and backend development will be a great asset for my future career.

I would like to thank all the instructors for dedicating their time and for patiently solving any problem I had (even when I made the same mistake several times :-) ) They are wonderful bunch of people, all very experienced and always willing to help. I also would like to thank the managers for all the help with my CV, LinkedIn, and tips how to do my job search and build a network. They went out of their way anytime I needed them and I enjoyed all the extra career workshops they organised for us with other companies.

I am now working part-time on a React project and part-time I am developing my own idea that I started already during the bootcamp. Good luck to everyone who is thinking on going on this path!

Before joining the Coding Bootcamp Praha, I worked as an account manager in a marketing agency for three years and before as a marketing assistant. After 8 years in the industry I was feeling bit depressed and needed a change in my professional life.... Read More

In the beginning I felt nervous about getting back to a classroom into an intense programme for 12 weeks. I had read and heard a lot about the intensity of the programme and how demanding it could be, especially as I didn’t have any science background. Despite all, I am convinced that applying for the Coding Bootcamp Praha from the professional perspective the best thing that happened to me since I left school.

It was a great and challenging experience. I have started with my studies already few weeks before the programme began by studying the online resources, which Coding Bootcamp Praha provides to the students. Within the 12 weeks in the classroom I learned all the different steps of building a website - front-end, back-end, and working with the database. They use many creative methods to learn you how to code. Everything what we have learnt is clearly structured on their online platform and is available for the students and graduates even after the programme ends.

Now I feel I can work for lots of different companies and it was rather quick for me to find a job in the field. When I look back at myself struggling in the marketing world few years ago, I am so happy that I made the decision to apply for the Coding Bootcamp Praha.

The programme was well worth it as it doesn't just teach you how to code, it teaches you how to think and to actually be able to solve a problem. The next step is learning how to build a full-stack website, backend and frontend, and how to go through... Read More the full web development cycle.

I had a terrific experience at Coding Bootcamp Praha, never learn so much in such a short time. The atmosphere is super friendly and yet very professional. The teaching staff is dedicated, passionate and experienced.

My most important takeaway from my time in Prague is that there is a way of learning, I feel that I can quickly learn any programming language. In my current job as a junior JavaScript dev I really appreciate that a lot because I keep learning new concepts every day (and I love it :-) )

I can wholeheartedly recommend the programme to anyone who wants to switch into web development.

Really grateful to the entire Data4You Team!

I have been interested in coding for a long time but I could never manage the time or the patience to teach myself after regular work hours. I tried several online courses but it never felt like I can actually build something myself. I googled around... Read More for other options of learning and came across coding bootcamps. I did my research and chose Coding Bootcamp Praha, mainly because I wanted to learn full stack web development and many other programmes only teach front end with a bit of - mainly ready-made for you - back end. Besides the curriculum, I also really wanted to study in Prague :) I truly enjoyed my stay and made a massive progress in these 12 weeks. I am now working as a backend developer and despite I need to keep on learning every day, the bootcamp got me ready for the job. What I also like is that I keep in touch with the alumni through alumni events that are organised as it helps me meet new people. Thx guys!

Coding Bootcamp Praha enables you to switch careers into web development & despite I was not sure if I can make it in the beginning, I am so happy that all the hard work and dedication paid off for me. My advice for anyone who is applying:

- Be ready to... Read More work hard. There is no magic formula - the more you study and think about stuff, the better you get.

- Don't stress yourself if you cannot understand every little detail immediatelly. The instructors will keep telling you that it is a part of the process, so trust them, do the work and you will get there.

- Use the career support. I got my job through their partner organisation and currently work as a Javascript developer.

- Work with others. Study together with the other students after the classes and on weekends. You will have access to the bootcamp office at all times, thus make use of it. Also it really helps when you motivate each other when things get complex.

- Do the pre-bootcamp preparation. I underestimated this a bit and I had to work extra hard in the first weeks despite I had plenty of time before. Be smarter ;-)

Prague is a fantastic city. The Schools location is in the very heart of the city and easy to get to from anywhere in the city. The instructors had a great knowledge of what they were teaching and put in a huge effort within class hours and outside class... Read More hours to ensure they were giving the best lessons possible. The course itself is very demanding however if you are willing to put in a lot of effort you will get a lot out of it.

Six months ago there was Sebastian, a guy who tried out coding through Freecodecamp and few other resources and was really enthusiastic but didn't know how to set up any real project. Now there's Sebastian, a junior Javascript developer, who still keeps... Read More learning but already in his new exciting job!

For this transformation I am saying really big thanks to the Coding Bootcamp Praha, the instructors and the team who was there always for me.

I chose Coding Bootcamp Praha for two main reasons:

(1) It's fullstack and teaches a lot of backend. As I tried frontend myself (not that I was any good at it but I tried it at least) already before the programme, I was very curious to dive deep into backend.

(2) I checked with several past students who all got jobs right after the programme and they wholeheartedly recommended the programme to me. They all appreciated how the instructors devoted their time to them and their expertise in the topic. In my experience, it also helps that the size of the class is small - only 16 students are accepted to each batch.

How did it go for me?

It's incredibly challenging but if you do as much as you can, it pays off. In the middle of the programme it gets real tough because you learn more complex php, try to grasp the concept of MVC model, there are so many linkages between things...but if you keep it up, you start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel around week 8. That's also the time when you develop your team project and through this work, many concepts start falling into places. I had a great time working with my team and I am so grateful for that also because it helped me to learn Git, which I need in my job every single day. I liked the idea of presenting our basic product at the Demo Day in the last week of my batch, it gaves us all good motivation for make the final push.

Thank you also for improving my LinkedIn and CV and for all the encouragement I got both in the class and during the individual meetings!!!

Hi everyone, I am Francis and I graduated this year from the Coding Bootcamp Praha. I would consider myself an advanced beginner before the programme, by which I mean that I took several on-line classes and attended an HTML/CSS intro workshop.

The reasons... Read More why I chose Coding Bootcamp Praha was based on:

- It's truly full-stack (unlike many programmes that focus much more on the front end or I found them too simplified / not providing the entire picture).

- It teaches PHP, which is the language of the web, and which provides a great pool of job opportunities (unlike a sexy but minor Ruby). Since the majority of web apps is built using php, this gives much more chance to juniors who at the beginning of their career are more of code-adjusters as opposed to code-writers (I was told this by a friend of mine who is a programmer and I would like to pass it on to others as I profited from it myself.)

- I found the staff very helpful and they tried their best to answer all the questions I had.

- The bootcamp helps to find accommodation. I did not want to stay in a shared flat (the bootcamp accommodation) so they helped me to find a studio nearby.

- It is based in Prague and I always wanted to spend some time there. Now it has actually become my home for some time!

GOALS

My goal was to get a junior web dev job. Or, bit more modestly I was hoping to learn as much as I could so that I can keep on learning and getting a job in the field was like a distant dream.

Originally, I thought I could never get a job in Prague but a completely new world of opportunities opened up for me while I was there. I am now working as a php developer for a mid-size agency here in Prague and I love every minute of it. But if you expect that once you graduate from the bootcamp that you are an expert in everything, then consider other career options. I keep working super hard each day but because I truly like to keep learning, it does not feel like "a job" - definitely not in the sense of the word as when I worked in a law firm in the past. The bootcamp is the stepping stone but at the end of the day it's all about you - you have to want it & do everything you can to make it happen!

INSTRUCTORS

The most helpful people ever. I appreciated how each of them were there always for us, each thinking in their own unique way, which has provided me with various perspectives and approaches to tackling new challenges. They often stayed hours after the classes, figuring out our projects. It was the students who in the end called it a day as several of the instructors looked like they would keep coding with us all night :-)

FELLOW STUDENTS

The programme is open to what they call motivated beginners, which was fantastic for me and I made the best progress I believe I could. However, that also meant that few other students realized that programming is too difficult for them / they cannot be bothered to study so much (I literally studied all evenings and weekends for 12 weeks and I also did several weeks of pre-bootcamp preparation). Thus, unfortunately there were three students (friends who knew other before) who failed the exams and blamed everything on the instructors / staff / even other students (!), tried to harass people outside of the class, and you can also see them posting crazy-style totally madeup multiple reviews here. They verbally attacked several of us who posted our certificates on Linkedin. So that would be the only negative experience for me but I guess that programming simply is not for everyone. On the bright side, I made several good friends whom we keep in touch and share both career tips as well drinks together.

GRADING

There is a number of exams, projects and challenges. The exams and projects are graded but if you fail you can also submit the challenge instead and / or re-take the exam. The exams are stemming out of the materials and I did not have issues passing these (but that doesnt mean I got 100% :-) ). Some other students found the exams tough but I do not think there was anyone who did not pass a re-take as long as they studied hard enough. Here I would like to make a warning - being in Prague is great but it is also very tricky for many of us who come from countries where beer is not so cheap. Think about it - its just 12 weeks, slow down and simply do not party during that time. You will have all your life afterwards for that...

To sum up - I came with a wish and I left with a job. Take some online classes beforehand to figure out whether you really feel passionate about programming and if you do then I hope you will have as great time at Coding Bootcamp Praha as I did.

I took part in the winter batch of 2017. I had some previous coding experience, several years ago, and some concepts were familiar to me. The course goes through multiple technologies such as HTML,CSS,PHP,Javascript and MySQL. The difficulty is rising... Read More as weeks go by, so it's absolutely necessary to put quite a time by yourself and study away from the classroom.

The instructors were extremely helpful to assist after the class was over or even early in the morning before class.Every instructor is proficient in his own subject and you should try to get as much as you can from them. There is lots of practice in class. Most of the times a new subject would be introduced and afterwards there were exercises which we had to do on our own, and then check with the solution of the teacher.

The only negative thing I can think of is that around the 6th or 7th week the material got very hard and at first it seemed impossible to grasp it. Nevertheless with more practice in class,back home and with the introduction of a framework things started to make sense.

Overall I'm very pleased from the Bootcamp as I have learnt a lot, enjoyed the wonderful city of Prague , and was privileged to meet wonderful people.

Before we begin: This is an honest, objective account of my experience at CBP, or DATA4YOU, in their April 2017 term. Just a quick note, I did not complete the course as I left halfway through after digesting my first 6 weeks experience and thinking hard... Read More about whether I'd continue.

Why Did I Choose This Course?
Over the last 2-3 years, I've created and run my own eCommerce stores, as well as successfully consulted in the field of digital marketing. The success of my previous ventures allowed me the freedom to live and work remotely and provided me with enough time to further develop my skills in any area I saw fit. Being involved in online business & digital marketing sparked my interest in all things tech and I felt that learning to code would seriously enhance my ability to perform in this field. So that's when I decided to look for a coding Bootcamp and take it to the next level.

I chose Coding Bootcamp Praha (Data4you) because:

Location: Prague was absolutely STUNNING, I felt like I was living in a fairytale city from a Disney movie. For my first experience in Europe, I honestly could not have been happier about spending 2 months in Prague.

Price: As most the students remarked, we were all persuaded to join the boot camp as it was so affordable and based in a great location.

Reviews: While the sample size for reviews was VERY small (less than 5), they were all positive and so I felt just confident enough to take this course seriously. Looking back now, I wish I had listened to my intuition more seriously.

What were my goals?
From speaking to my classmate I found out that most people were either trying to get into their first career or transition into a new one. This was not why I was here, I planned to learn enough during the Bootcamp to merge my current skills with my newly learned skills in web development.

History of the class
The class is organized and run by a sister and brother duo. The course has only been around for about a year and they had previously "graduated" two cohorts of students before ours. It was mentioned at the course by an instructor that they originally intended the class to be for kids but after assessing the demand they decided to create a camp more suited towards those looking to change careers. Looking back now...this explains a lot about the quality of the curriculum.

Instructors
On their website, they advertise that including the two co-founders they have eight instructors during the course. This is incredibly misleading information. They only have one instructor a day, and for my cohort, they rotated between four instructors. I felt as though most of the instructors were very uninterested in the success of their students or the concerns the students had. Some examples:

They prefaced the class with the comment "There is no such thing as a stupid question" but on one occasion I saw one of the instructors get very upset with a student who was apparently 'not asking the right questions' and asked him to stop interrupting the class, which I thought was very unfair.
When spending time with the students outside of class there was a growing unrest in the students of the course, we were beginning to be very unhappy with the curriculum of the course. We voiced this on several occasions to different instructors and despite them acknowledging our concerns, no action was taken to improve the course delivery/curriculum.
Curriculum & Delivery

The course is split up into 12 weeks. On their website they claim that the typical day is structured like this:

9:00 - Morning Class: Challenges of the day are introduced by the instructor through lectures, activities, and discussions
11:00 - Live-coding Game: how to write better code, Challenges of the day on practical examples that students improve
12:00 - Lunch
13:00 - Simulated Work Environment: Individuals and group work on the challenges and portfolio projects in collaboration with our instructor
15:00 - Individual Progress Evaluations: Personal discussions between the student and the instructor who supports the student with specific recommendations
17:00 - Best Practices: Wrapping-up the day as a group, presenting accomplishments
This was what all the students were expecting from the course and much unrest grew when we were instead spending 8 hours a day watching our instructors point things out on a projector. Occasionally we'd code in the actual class, but the majority of the time it would be in a rushed 30 minutes where the instructor would FLY through the code at a pace not one of the students could keep up with.

My Experience
I loved being in the city of Prague, it was a dream come true and really instilled me with a great desire to see more of Europe. In the beginning of the class, I was very hopeful about the end result, and I was happy with the students we were studying with. We all became good friends and spent a lot of time together inside and outside of the class, and so we became very comfortable with each other and had strong mutual trust.

The first week or two of the class was slow but my peers and I were satisfied because we had been told things would get harder as the course progressed, at this point, we still had a lot of patience and were excited to learn more.
By weeks 3-4 the sentiment of the class began to shift, many students felt the quality of the course and its instructors was lower than they had hoped. Several debates between the students took place outside of the class in bars/restaurants in weeks 3-4. Overall, the mood started to shift and we all agreed we'd have to voice our concerns in class in order to try and steer the rest of the course in a direction that would give us all the best outcome. So, we began voicing our opinions in class as a group and privately to instructors.
By weeks 4-6 my peers and I became more agitated and disappointed by the class. Many jokes were passed around that we could have learned more from free coding resources online or if we did not attend class and instead coded together on projects outside of class.
By the halfway point I had lost faith in the quality of CBP and felt that I could better spend the 40 hours weekly on self-learning, I usually always self-learned subjects in the past and have had good results doing so. By this point, I had also started to get sick on a regular basis because I was studying 40 hours a week at CBP and working 30-40 hours per week outside of class, which I think started to impact my health. Overall, I felt that the increasing frustration of myself & my class mates, our lack of hope that the course would improve, and my health condition, were enough reasons to cease attending.
The Refund Policy:
My biggest regret was that I didn't ask more about their refund policy before paying to attend the class. By the time week, 6 came round, myself and several other students were expressing great interest in obtaining refunds. However, we all read more about the refund policy and realized we most likely would not receive any refunds if we asked. I know for a fact that a big reason why many of the students chose to finish the entire course was that they were not able to get refunds + they had already paid for 3 months of accommodation. Despite being deeply unhappy with the course, they felt trapped.

As for myself, I was lucky enough to have the freedom to leave if I saw fit, and so I stopped attending the course. After taking some days out and time to recover from my illness I emailed the Data4You team and expressed my reasons for leaving and asked them if a refund would be possible. I still had one installment to pay them and asked at the very least if they would refund that, to which they told me they would report me to the authorities if I did not pay for the remainder of a course I would not attend. Overall, my biggest regret is that we did not read the refund policy more clearly & that the students who also wanted refunds did not band together and press for this to happen.

Conclusion:
If you're REALLY serious about attending a coding Bootcamp, I would strongly recommend against attending CBP/Data4You. They are a very new Bootcamp and have not worked out the seriously low quality of their curriculum. I'm certain that if they do not improve the overall quality of the course, they'll certainly be out of business very soon. I know from some of my friends that their experience in other Bootcamps was nothing like mine at CBP, there are certainly other much better investments out there. At the end of the day, I felt like the Data4You team were far more interested in our money than the outcome of their students. ​​