Epicodus

Every 6 months or so I get approached by someone asking about my experience at Epicodus. It is from someone who knows someone who is on the fence of switching careers and they aren't sure if Epicodus is for them. I love connecting with these people, because... Read More I love sharing my experience. They usually have the same concerns I did, "Is it worth the cost", "Will I find a job?", "Is this the best [coding] language to learn?" I can tell you it is worth it. My biggest skepticism was that I thought Epicodus was another Coding bootcamp cash cow, taking advantage of the tech trend. After the first few weeks my skepticism faded because I was learning how to code by writing and testing code 8 hours a day. It was hands on, real world practice. At the end of the bootcamp we were setup with internships. I felt I was prepared sufficiently. It is a program I owe my current success as an engineer and because of this I can say it is totally worth it.

This was one of the best things I have ever done.

I chose Epicodus after researching a few different fast-paced coding programs- some were shorter (and still cost more), some were longer. I picked Epicodus based on price, location, and the pair programming.... Read More

Though I didn't think I would enjoy pair programming, I thought it would be valuable to learn how to collaborate, not just have a role on a team, but actually build something together. It ended up being far more enjoyable than I had thought! It was fantastic to learn from, lean on, teach, and support eachother through our courses. I rarely had any issues with others, and in fact made some very good friends.

The staff is great. The teachers do not hold your hand- they are there to help you learn, not provide you answers. That said, there were times I found such devious ways to baffle myself and them that Loren (my instructor) and I would spend hours learning new things to tackle the issues. They are friendly, capable, and more than willing to help you through the tough spots. The internship/employment staff is also very supportive! When I had opportunities to interview before we had done the in-class prep, they took extra time to help me practice before hand.

The only thing I see wrong in the curriculum was that I wish there was more of it! It IS a short program though, and they can only put so much into everyday. There are many further exploration links and suggestions provided in addition to the daily lessons.

If you are attending Epicodus, a few suggestions:

Follow up on as many of the extras as possible. Do the optional second assignments on your own time if you don't have time in class.

Do not make assumptions about your pair until you have worked with them- preferably more than once! Everyone struggles with different parts of the program, and they may lag in one area only to be the expert you need in another.

If you are struggling- I certainly did- remember that the things that looked hard a week ago seem easy a week later. Keep at it and chances are whatever seems impossible today will seem easy in another week.

Keep your github clean and your readmes up to date - it will save you a lot of time later!

Learn all you can about tech interview/algorithm/BigO notation and PRACTICE solving coding challenges/whiteboarding as much as possible. These are essential for the interview process and are not covered except very briefly in the coursework. Codewars.com is a great place to practice.

Network! Go to events, make yourself talk to strangers. It is how you get most opportunities in this field.

Don't wait until graduation to start looking/applying to jobs- and don't let a 'failed' interview bother you. (I failed a few!) Many jobs take a while to get back to you, you want a head start, and the interviews are TOUGH- but they are a skill like any other and practice is the only way to get better.

You can get hired! There were a few of us that had jobs even before our internships ended- some through regular application/interview, some through introductions (networking!!!).

I loved this school, and would do it again in a second. Highly, highly recommended.

Since I don't want to write a completely separate review, I'm copying mine over from Coursereport.

I'm a recent graduate of Epicodus's C#/.Net program and if you're serious about making a career change and doing this right, then read on.

I was very hesitant... Read More to buy into the bootcamp hype. I spent a tremendous amount of time doing research and making sure that I was making the right decision before I decided to apply to Epicodus. Epicodus is unique in the sense that not only are you going to go through a high-intensity program, but you're also going to end up with real on-the-job experience at the end. Not only that, but the program is one of the cheapest around.

What sold me on Epicodus was the fact that they also include an internship portion. This is absolutely the most important part of the program (apart from how you approach it; more on that below). It gives you that real experience that employers are looking for and may (when I say may, I mean don't count on it) lead to a job. It's rare for the internship to lead straight into the company that hires you, but it does happen. In my case, I didn't internship with the company that I was hired by, but they were a part of the internship program and were actively looking for motivated developers.

Epicodus's curriculum is fantastic for the most part. For the tech industry, it's extremely hard to keep up with how fast technology changes, but the instructors do a decent job of keeping the curriculum up to date and also have a good amount of experience troubleshooting through outdated lessons. During our program, Angular had just went through a major overhaul and they had new information up within the week. Similarly, Visual Studio 2017 had come out, and they immediately reacted to this by starting to update the curriculum. You'll be learning the newest and latest tech, which is what companies are looking for.

I had mentioned above that it really depends on your approach this. Epicodus (and honestly ALL bootcamps) need a certain level of real commitment. You can't go into this and 'dabble' around. The curriculum is fast and the concepts are difficult. It's easily the hardest (and definitely most rewarding) experience I've ever had. But I went into it deciding I was going to no-life code for 6 months. Epicodus was perfect for that. You get what you put into it. And to me that means you might as well go with the bootcamp that is cheaper and includes an internship.

That's not to say that if you don't no-life it, you won't learn something. Technically, if you're passing your weekly code reviews, then you'll easily come out of this with enough to build on.

Graduated and was lucky that my internship turned into a job. All the staff were super friendly and supportive at Epicodus. Great place to meet likemined people and grow your network. Would highly recommend to anyone wanting a career in tech. The course... Read More is challenging; be prepared to work hard especially if you are not familiar with Internet technology.

I graduated from the very first Java/Javascript/Android co-hort in August 2015 and have been asked to write a review about my experience at Epicodus. Many, many things have changed at Epicodus since I graduated, so I don't think my review would accurately... Read More reflect what a student would encounter now. Please keep that in mind as you read my review. Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have specific questions about how to get into the world of Android development.

Why Epicodus?

Epicodus is dirt cheap in comparison to other programs. I would not have been able to afford attendance at other bootcamps. I don't know any other in-person program that also offers an internship that costs so little. This was a huge factor for me.

What did I think of the teachers, curriculum, pair programming...

Teachers

My teacher left 2/3rds of the way through the program. This may sound like a red flag, but it wasn't because of Epicodus. We still keep in touch and while he was there he worked very hard.

The founder replaced him. He doesn't have a background in Java or Android. Realizing we were kind of on our own at this point, I chose to spend more time studying with online courses through Udemy. That ended up being extremely valuable, as I knew much more going into my internship.

I always felt very supported by the staff and my fellow classmates. I had an amazing cohort.

Curriculum

Sorry, I cannot give a favorable review here. The curriculum for the Java/Android portion was very, very incomplete. Basic building blocks of Android were not covered. Even as beginners, we knew it was not good. It would not have prepared anyone for Android development. I learned way more from some Udemy courses than Epicodus. You might be wondering, "how can I tell if the curriculum is any good now?" All of Epicodus's curriculum is online. My advice is to reach out to someone in the community and ask for their opinion.

Please keep in mind that this was the first run through of a course which is now 2 years old. I know several people have put a lot of work into the curriculum. I don't think anything I said applies now. Unfortunately, that was my experience with the program...so it goes in the review.

Pair Programming

I both loved and hated this. When you pair with someone who is very passionate then you learn a lot. I really looked forward to pairing with certain people because I did not have much confidence at the time, so I didn't want to "drive" very much.

It's good practice because at your internship and job you will need to know how to talk through bugs / issues you find with your peers. It's also a good exercise in patience... :)

Tips for during and after program

Network network network. If you don't get hired out of your internship then you will need to fall back on your network. I can't emphasize how important this is. Network like a crazy person. Follow recruiters for your favorite companies. Accept random recruiter invites. Some people will tell you to do the opposite, but I got a job at Nike by accepting a random recruiter invite.

When you are not networking, study study study. I know they emphasize work life balance there, but if you are like me, and not working for 6-8 months is a big financial risk, then you should be studying studying studying. You can't afford to fail here.

Job assistance

The staff worked very hard to find interviews for me. However, I ended up getting an interview that turned into my first job through a friend... What did I say about networking, again???

Overall

The Java/Javascript/Android course is very strange. If you are a java web developer, you probably aren't using javascript. If you are a javascript developer, you definitely aren't using java. If you are an Android developer, any java you need to learn can be taught while learning Android. Throwing in a web backend course makes no sense. The three classes do not build on each other at all in the way that their other courses do. i.e. Rails is a very obvious pair for Ruby because it was built specifically to work with Ruby.

My point is, Epicodus is not trying to prepare you to be a mobile developer. They state very clearly on their site that they are teaching you how to program and pick up new things quickly. I am an Android developer not because of Epicodus, but because of the extra work I put into learning Android, and the luck I had in getting an Android internship. You are not guaranteed an internship in your field of study. Of my 30+ class, only 6 of us have jobs in mobile development. The weird thing is, if Epicodus decided to focus 15 weeks on Android or iOS development, they would churn out some really amazing mobile developers. I still don't understand why they don't do that.

If you are trying to change careers and do not really care where you get placed, then this is a great choice for you. You won't get the same value for your $$ anywhere else. I don't know any other place that offers internships, and this is huge. Even if I had gotten a job in something other than Android development, it still would have been worth it to me.

If you have played around with mobile development and really love it, and want to be an Android developer, I would advise you to look elsewhere. Udacity & Google offer an apprenticeship program, for example.

Epicodus provided the learning environment and support that I needed to become employed as an Android Engineer with a really great company.
I’m in touch with pretty much everyone from my cohort, and we meet about once a month to hang out and talk shop.... Read More

What Epicodus does for you:
Epicodus provides excellent curriculum, teachers that are committed to student success, and an excellent learning environment.
The work is challenging, especially if your prior programming experience is limited.

The work is largely self-driven, the assignments are available online, and you are given the tools to complete them. It’s a bit of a race against the clock everyday to understand and implement all of the new concepts that get thrown at you.
You certainly get out what you put in to this program.

I loved the pair programming, as I genuinely enjoy meeting people. But aside from meeting people, pairing also gives you excellent practice talking about what your code is doing and how you are trying to accomplish your coding goal. This is actually very important, and one of the hidden benefits to pairing, IMO.
Having months of practice verbalizing technical problems helped me when I sat down with a Sr dev at my internship to track down a bug. It also helped me in post internship job interviews.
Pairing also brings a unspoken accountability which I know made me more productive. When working/studying at home, it’s easy to log into Facebook or pull up a YouTube video when I’ve ‘earned’ a break. That doesn’t happen when working side by side with someone else all day.

The Epicodus staff is fantastic, I’m still in touch with a some of them (Hi Perry!). From what I’ve seen, they are committed to providing the best education and employment support they can.
There were times that I felt the resources were limited (teachers are busy, career services could
probably use more staff), but there was never a time when I felt that the staff’s commitment was limited. Also, I understand that it’s one of Michael’s (the founder) goals to keep the program as affordable as possible. In that light, the fact that Epicodus is working to be as lean and efficient as possible ultimately benefits the students.

What you need to do on your own:
Learn data structures, especially if you’re hoping to land a C# or Java job.
Learn design patterns outside of the ones covered in the curriculum.
Participate in events and meet-ups. Meet people, ask for their card (or name), follow up w an email the next day. If you have to cold-email them 2 months down the road, reply to the same thread so they know they’ve met you before.
Be willing and able to talk about what you’re working on and/or what tech you’re excited to try next.
Read tech blogs, article, listen to podcasts, watch people live code on twitch. Immerse yourself in the stack/field that you are interested in.
Continue to build and work on portfolio projects. Deploy them.
Learn new stacks and frameworks.
Work on soft skills. I know it sounds cliche, but I 100% wouldn’t have landed my Android Engineer role without being able to communicate and relate well.

Realities:
The market seems to be more saturated with Jr Devs that it was a couple years ago. Bootcamps are more prevalent. It will be harder to stand out and land jobs, or sometimes even interviews.
These are forces that are outside of Epicodus’ control, but they present challenges that new grads will have to navigate.
That said, opportunities are there.
Jr Devs aren’t hired because they are amazing programmers. They are hired because they have demonstrated strong passion for the field, curiosity, excellent communication skills, and a technical baseline that can be built on.

I had a mixed experience at Epicodus. I enjoyed pair programming and my internship was awesome.
But I do have some issues. Epicodus has not been that helpful with job placement. Yes, we worked on a resume, did a mock interview, and the like, but there... Read More was no solid guidance in the job search or worthwhile connections to companies like New Relic, which is practically across the street. When my career counselor saw my Epicodus approved resume, she was shocked and immediately made me rework it. Demo Day was very disappointing. A few "employers" (New Relic was NOT one of them) meandered around the room looking at projects. I had to actively flag them down to present my project to them. I don't know anyone who landed a job from Demo Day.

I also don't feel that the instruction prepared me for a full-time coding job--there's lot of hands on coding, but nothing about optimizing code or anything about coding methodology, e.g. functional programming versus object oriented programming. The code reviews are kind of a joke. I didn't really get very useful feedback--it's mostly positive, but nothing specifically related to the quality of my code. To get a good score all I had to do was read through the week's lesson and follow the directions.

My main problem with Epicodus is that they sell you on the dream of changing your life with a coding job--anyone can do it--just complete our program and you'll be a programmer. Companies need Epicodus graduates to fill open positions! That has not been my experience and I know other Epicodus graduates who agree with me. I think I'm worse off now. I quit two of part-time jobs to attend Epicodus, now those jobs are gone. I have code experience, but not enough for a FT position. I sih I had just saved my money and done Freecode Camp with some meet-ups on the side. In fact, one of the people who interviewed me for a position got her job from Freecode Camp. If someone from Freecode Camp is interviewing someone Epicodus, it doesn't take a genius to find out which route is better.

Before attending Epicodus, I spent about a year, off an on, teaching myself to code through various online materials. I felt that I needed a lot more experience to confidently apply for jobs in programming, and discovered Epicodus while searching for... Read More bootcamps in Portland. For the cost of the program, I think it was a really great value, and the curriculum was beneficial. Going in each day, knowing that I would have to create a minimum of one program per day, I was confident that the repetition would really help ingrain different principles of programming.

The curriculum is also very honest. During my time at Epicodus, Angular2 hadn't been fully released yet, and there breaking changes almost daily. This meant that sometimes the curriculum wasn't 100% update. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't a downside. As fast as things change in the world of programming, it's a reality that you are going to encounter a lot of out of date information, and you have to figured how to handle that issue. That was just one example of how Epicodus didn't sugar coat realities in the industry.

The internship can be hit or miss through Epicodus. I tried to make the best of mine, but it wasn't the best follow up to an otherwise great program. That being said, I knew other fellow students that had great internships that turned into jobs. Unfortunately, it's a little luck of the draw on that aspect. The internship should dissuade you from going to Epicodus; the rest of the program was excellent.

Lastly, I found that I had to work really hard and do a lot of extra work to find a job even after finishing the program, so don't expect that you're going feel fully equipped for your first programming job, if your only experience is Epicodus. But, if you put in a lot of work, and are diligent, it's definitely a good stepping stone into a job in programming.

Background:

Prior to starting at Epicodus in October 2016, I was a full-time student pursuing a degree in Computer Science. The desire to have more hands-on experience, in an accelerated program, motivated me to research the different “bootcamps” available... Read More in Portland. Bottom line, I wanted to get to work. Ultimately, I chose Epicodus based on price, my initial experiences with staff (shout out to Debbie for hosting a great informational open house), and the opportunity to have an internship at the end of the process.

Overall:

As many others have said, Epicodus changed my life. Today, I am working as a full-time Web Developer for a company that I absolutely love. Epicodus provided me with the tools and opportunity to jumpstart my career in web development. That being said, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort. Merely showing up for 40 hours a week and completing the bare minimum will not turn you into a developer.

Curriculum:

In doing my research ahead of time, I entered Epicodus with the knowledge that this would not be a hands-on program, in terms of having day-to-day instruction. I enjoyed the lack of lectures and the minimal help from teachers (though they were always there if needed). This independent learning structure helped me learn how to problem solve on my own (something that has come in very handy in my new role). The world of web development is ever-changing, so I thought that Epicodus did a good job at keeping the curriculum as up-to-date as can be.

From the curriculum that I did receive, I feel as though I understand the languages and syntax that are used today. As I mentioned above, Epicodus will be what you make of it.

Pair Programming:

Pair programming was a great tool for learning. Depending on the skill level of your daily partner, you either have the opportunity to learn from someone with more experience, or to teach someone who may be struggling with the concept at hand, which helps to solidify your own understanding. In the intro class they emphasize working with someone new each day. But, as the program progresses they understand that you may find yourself working with several of the same partners over time. If you find that you don’t work well with another student, there’s no pressure to work with them again.

Internship:

Epicodus set up four internship interviews for me, with two being at the top of my “wish list”, one in the middle, and one pretty much at the bottom. The process was a little nerve-wracking, as there isn’t a guarantee that you will be matched with your top choice (even if they also list you as their top choice). They do this to make it a fair process, but it can still induce some anxiety. Luckily, I was matched with my top pick, as were many of my friends.

My internship was a fantastic experience. I was given client work right off the bat and had daily interaction with the rest of the development team. As Epicodus has mentioned, your language of choice may not be the language you end up utilizing in your internship. This was the case for me, but I found that picking up a new language was not as daunting as I thought it would be.

Job Assistance:

I can’t comment on the job assistance that Epicodus provides, as I accepted a position with my internship company. From my brief interactions with the outreach team, they are all very responsive and eager to be of assistance. I gave five out of five stars because I still landed a job. :-)

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If you have any questions about my experience at Epicodus, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/ryanpback).

I would not be where I am now if it was not for Epicodus. Prior to Epicodus, I worked as a support developer as a startup and I always felt lost and suffered from imposter syndrome. Epicodus helped me to develop the right mindset to to become a problem... Read More solver, and not just a developer who remembers things. I learned to recognize patterns across many technologies which allowed me to familiarize myself with the unfamiliar with confidence and speed. That alone is huge in the world of software development. On top of that Epicodus covers a huge bredth of knowledge. My only complaint would be some of the later Javascript curriculum which covered Ember.js which you just don't encounter that much. I know that Epicodus plans alleviate these minor problems in the future though as they are pushing more Angular and React which are much more prominent in the industry. I now work as a UI Engineer at a large company and though I do not know everything going into this job, I know I can pick it up much more quickly and confidently due to Epicodus. I give Epicodus my full recommendation.