Coding Dojo

Yes, yes, I know what you're thinking. But it's true. I used to be digital marketer, and I got a job offer yesterday as a Junior Developer two and a half weeks after graduating from the program. Here's the thing though: I worked my butt off for it.

They told me that this would be the hardest thing I've possibly ever done in my life—and that's true. They said it would be 60-80 hours a week of effort. My mileage was closer to 50. The bottom line is that it's going to be hard and it's going to be a lot of work. However, can you do it? I believe so. Is it worth it? Most definitely.

I do extremely well in an academic environment. If you don't do well in a classroom setting, you might want to reconsider. But I will tell you this: you will get exactly what you put into this program. If y...

The instructors are students from previous cohorts who couldn't get a job, so they hired them back so they could pad their misleading "employment" stats.

Before I started at the Coding Dojo, I had very little experience with programming. I had always wanted to become a developer, but for whatever reason I had never taken the steps to get there. A few months before enrolling at the Coding Dojo, I decided to start taking the steps to become developer by taking several free online courses and reading several books. I found these things informative, since I essentially knew nothing. However, this wasn’t enough for me. I knew I needed to have a structured learning curriculum and personal guidance, if I ever hoped to switch careers.

I began shopping around for boot camps and was accepted into two programs. Before deciding on which of the two boot camps to attend, a friend recommended the Coding Dojo. My friend had a family member who’d bee...

I was already a self-taught programmer, and the reason I decided to join Coding Dojo to enhance my skills in the full-stacks they teach, and data structures/algorithms. It turned out that barely any of the instructors have industry experience, the majority of them were former students that were FAVORED by instructors.(YES, THERE IS FAVORITISM IN THERE) The learning platform is awful, and after paying about 11K I CANNOT access there unorganized platform, where I am still able to access Udacity's learning platform as a NanoDegree graduate, which is stronger than Dojo's certificate of completion in the industry. Their morning algorithm session is USELESS! Only one hour of implementation of an algorithm, which for beginners and even intermediate level is not enough to prepare you for a whit...

Coding Dojo is no small investment. If you're already a strong Developer and want to learn a new stack, network, or strengthen your portfolio, the Dojo might be a good fit! If not, I'd encourage you to continue looking for a program better suited for you!

The program is rigorous and fast-paced. You should be a disciplined self-teacher as you'll need to study a few hours each night. The instructors will typically let you struggle through the remaining material in groups before explaining the most difficult topics. At just under $1K per week, you might expect periodic feedback from your instructor. Well, you'd be wrong. Staff offer to review code; but, rarely make themselves available. Coding Dojo pays plenty of lip service to the idea of molding students into self-sufficient develop...

I decided to attend Coding Dojo for two reason: the people and the variety of technologies I would learn. A coding bootcamp is a huge time commitment and I wanted to learn in an environment where I enjoyed the people around me. I attended open houses and a Saturday workshop to get a feel for the environment, the people and the teaching style. There are a lot of good boot camps available and I believe that a large part of success is not finding the best, but finding the best personal fit for you.
Trying to learn three stacks in 14 weeks is a daunting task, and I knew that I would not have the same depth of knowledge as someone who may have spent that same amount of time focused on one technology. However, I saw several advantages to this approach. By learning several technologies I was ...

I had an amazing experience at the Coding Dojo! It was an extremely well-rounded program providing three full-stacks, daily algorithm practice, and collaborative projects with other students. The professors ranged from former students to veterans with decades of experience -- all of whom were very knowledgable and willing to help. They also stay very involved after the program, whether you are on the job hunt, or even if you have secured a programming job. I would definitely recommend this program to family or friends.

Bonus: I got really good at ping pong while giving my brain a break.

A good program. I selected Coding Dojo because it taught full stack development, meaning you will learn everything from database queries to front end design. The nice thing is that this allows you to explore different roles and make an informed decision on where you want to specialize, and another benefit is that you know how everything works in context, which was important to me.

The space is beautiful, it's a loft style place with plenty of windows and sunshine, which is helpful since you're going to be sitting there for 8-12 hrs a day 5 days a week min. The curriculum is very well thought out, I learned Python, MEAN stack, and Ruby - each were based on 3 weeks of instruction and 1 week of review/project development.

It was a very tough experience, but I had a lot of fun. The ...

Pros are the training in Algorithms. Each day we take one hour to whiteboard them. Every week is a focus on a particular subject. For example, one week will be focused on sorting, another hash tables. We work together with other students. I personally grew in my ability and confidence in Algorithms.

The stack instruction is ok - not bad, not great. I think this may be due to the fact that the instructors or at least the one I had lacked real world experience. At least the instructor I had didn't have any coding experience outside coding dojo, or at least it wasn't documented on LinkedIn. They had been a student at coding dojo prior to being a teacher there. Nonetheless they were very competent and impressive despite the lack of real world experience and I learned a lot from them.

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Overall, its a good overview on telling you what you don't know, so you can go back and work on it after you get out, while your looking for a job. The online program, mid program changed the Algorithm portion of the class, stopping it without any notice as well as firing half the Teaching assistants that answered questions. The excuse given was that the founder was coming back and was changing things up. As this was a core reason most people took the class, as algorithms allows you to pass interviews for a new position, that most of the students were upset. The next week, there was a notice that it was a choice for people to do it, but that they would be putting in a new program afterwards, which still has not been finished as of the end of the classes.

Great experience. Loved the instructors and staff.

I loved my time at Coding Dojo Chicago. The instructors are very knowledgeable and care deeply about student success. Their learning platform is great at providing a number of assignments in order to practice a new skill (as opposed to just being slide after slide of information). Students practice algorithms every morning, which allows exposure to computer science fundamentals like big O notation and data structures. After learning each stack (At the time of my attendance - Python/Django, Ruby on Rails, and MEAN), students can participate in a project week, which was my favorite part of the experience. It was great working on a longer-term project, putting our skills to use, and working on a team (practicing a loose agile methodology and collaborating over Github).

The fact that the...

I went into the 14 week full time program with minimal at most programming experience. I came out of the program be very knowledgeable in 3 stacks. The online platform that they use can be improved in some sections but they are very prompted and helpful in correcting any errors you may find. I'd say the most valuable part of the bootcamp would be the teachers. They are very knowledgeable and ride the thin line between giving you all the answers and not really helping you at all. But riding this line is allows the students to better learn problem solving techniques and explore alternative option to fix an issue.

After years of working as a copywriter, I was looking to learn a new skill and was particularly interested in learning to write code. After the company I was working for shuttered its doors, the thought of adding a new skill set was even more appealing. After a lot research and thinking things over, I made the choice to leave Colorado for a few months to attend the full-stack program at Coding Dojo Chicago. The skills I learned there were absolutely invaluable. Two months to the day I left Chicago, to head back to the mountains, I started a job as a Digital Producer. I work on the UX team, where I not only get to hone my front end skills, but also work with content management. It's the perfect blend of my skills, and I know that my time spent at Coding Dojo is what gave me the edge over...

After working 6+ years in the IT consulting, I decided I wanted to take a different direction in my career. I earn a degree in computer science but never got into the web technologies. After doing research about the different web dev accelerators, I decided on Coding Dojo.

The variety of content offered via the three stacks platform. The instructors are constantly adjusting their teaching styles to better suit every individual student's needs. The small cohort size allowed me to get the attention and coaching I needed to succeed.

My cohort was the third group of students to study at the Chicago location, there were changes during my time there. There were instructors from the Seattle location on loan until they could find Chicago-based instructors. All the instructors were grea...

In Chicago, despite having many other options, I picked this place for one reason: you will learn 3 full stacks.
We were the second cohort in this camp, so the place was not fully ready, but I saw many improvements.
Pros:
- You will learn a lot in a very short time, as I said, 3 full stacks, one each month.
-They do "Algorithms Hour" every single day, which helps students get used to white-boarding from week 1!
-They improve their platform regularly.
-Belt Exams to assess your ability to use what you learned to build an app from A to Z in less than 5 hours.
-They implemented "Project Week" recently, which is a great chance to collaborate with you peers.
-Check out the online option, it may work better for you than the one on campus (if I can go back in the time, this would have...

I came into the Coding Dojo bootcamp (ONLINE BOOTCAMP) with high expectations. Unfortunately, they fell short in more than one area. I'll elaborate on the pros and cons of my experience while attending Coding Dojo.

I initially joined Coding Dojo because their marketing lured me into finding out more and eventually signing up with them. I liked that they taught the MEAN stack and Python/Django. This is exactly what I wanted to learn. So naturally, joining for me was a no-brainer. First thing I noticed is that they have an algorithm app. They make you go through it before actually starting the course. This definitely helped prepare me for the more challenging aspects later on down the road. Second thing I noticed is that they have a lot of content for students to go through and it kee...

I enrolled at Coding Dojo immediately after they opened the Chicago location. The instructors are incredibly knowledgeable, personable, and professional. The program is tough, and you get out what you put in. I spent many late nights working on the projects. I had many positive experiences at the Dojo. The main focus is becoming a self-reliant full-stack developer, and I feel like I accomplished that goal. The curriculum is evolving and constantly improving and will only continue to improve.

My only knock was that when I enrolled the career services apparatus had not fully materialized yet. Now, I can see they are actively improving in this area, so your experience won't mirror mine.

Overall I had a lot of fun and learned a lot a the Dojo, and strongly recommend it.

I recently graduated and am freshly entering the tech world, so I don't know how the tech industry is as a whole, but I really enjoyed the environment at Coding Dojo. The instructors and my fellow students were all very friendly, and the vibe was generally very relaxed and easy going. There is a biegarten literally a 1 minute walk away and that also made the experience extra fun. With that said, learning to code requires dedication and persistance. One of the rules at the Coding Dojo is that when you are coding, you need to first struggle for 20 minutes before asking help from an instructor or TA. You can ask a fellow student, but you guys must also struggle for 20 minutes first. This may seem counter intuitive too many at first, but in my opinion this is a great policy. This really tea...

I learned a lot from Coding Dojo; the 3 stack approach helps you solidify computer science principles. As a recent graduate of Coding Dojo, I feel that I have a strong foundation to learn new technologies as the are released, and that I can be ahead of the game for years to come.