Founders and Coders

I've just finished Founders & Coders and would highly recommend it to anyone. It's an amazing environment to learn in, surrounded by people who are genuinely interested and excited about what they're doing. The support that you get throughout the course is really good but you are also challenged and certainly not spoon-fed. The fact that you learn to write vanilla javascript before using any frameworks gives you a really good understanding of the language but there's also a lot of room for pursuing technologies you're interested in.

What has also stood out for me is how welcoming the community is, both during and after the course - cohorts tend to keep in touch with others on the course, as well as those from previous cohorts, and continue to help each other improve.

I've just finished the Founders and Coders programme and I couldn't be happier. In summary, Founders and Coders taught me how to write clean and readable code and after completing the programme I was connected with a company who interviewed me and then offered a Software Engineering position.

The things I loved about Founders and Coders:

- the programme focused on vanilla JavaScript.

- we spent a lot it time writing Node.js servers and creating databases. This is very difficult to learn on your own.

- we built an app every week in a team of 2-4 people.

- challenging and engaging workshops.

- almost all the the time we pair programmed with a fellow student.

- there were weekly code reviews during which experienced developers would give us advice on how to improve our...

Founders & Coders is an awesome full stack coding bootcamp. The culture and approach to life-learning (rather than spoon-fed learning) are what make it stand out to me. It's very intensive and there are ups and downs along the way, but you've got to work hard to reap the benefits of such fast learning.

At Founders & Coders you’ll not only develop your programming skills in the short space of time, you’ll also learn to how work well with others, be encouraged to contribute to helping develop the course itself, and work out of your comfort zone regularly to push you to higher levels. Simply put, the course will help you grow as an individual, and you’ll leave the course with highly valuable attributes that many employers look for.

The course reviews here sum up the course well, in my opinion the best thing about Founders & Coders are the core values shared by everyone- in short; every member is wonderfully motivated about making a positive difference to the world through technology, it’s inspiring. Applying to the course and completing the 16 weeks has been one of the best decisions ...

I feel extremely lucky to have had the chance to attend a Founders & Coders bootcamp. It's extremely challenging and hard work but I have learned more in the last 16 weeks than I did in the 10 months leading up to it when I was teaching myself to code solo by doing moocs. The community at F&C is great and the atmosphere is very friendly and supportive. My cohort was half women and that was very helpful in making me feel like I belonged there.

I learnt more during the last four months than at any other time of my life. It is exactly what my university experience should have been like and all without the £30,000 debt. What makes Founders and Coders so great is the people. The entry requirements are tough and this ensures that you are surrounded by intelligent, switched on individuals. Everyone has pushed me to be better every day, I would not be anywhere near as far in my coding career if it was not for this course. As well as the skills I have picked up, there are the friends that I have made. The atmosphere in the space is one of the most welcoming, accepting and friendly I have ever encountered, I will have a hard time leaving!

Are you looking to become a great developer, but do not have previous experience in web development?
Do you want a great learning journey, and share it with a group of young people you'll soon be calling friends?

Founders & Coders is the answer!

Founders & Coders is not only incredibly good to learn Full-stack Web Development, it is a community you can rely on to keep on learning, and a place which feels like home.
You will learn from day1(!!) to build powerful websites. By the end of the course you will be highly confident building full-stack apps, whether in 1-2 day hackathons or over the span of several weeks. I am now a much better developer than I could have ever imagined when applying.

One of the key differences with other bootcamps is that the learning doesn't stop aft...

This course is great because it makes coding accessible to anyone regardless of their background. All you need is to have a keen interest in learning to code and enjoy problem solving. You get to work with the latest Javascript frameworks and collaborate with so many people on lots of projects. After the course you can freelance with the Founders & Coders freelance cooperative. Continued learning is highly supported and encouraged. And it's totally free! Highly recommend applying :)

A truly stellar peer-led coding course that submerges you fully in full stack JavaScript development, ability to learn React and Node.js, a cooperative environment with support from 0 to developer. As a mentioned in the title, it is entirely free, a meritocratic, supportive, social-democratic collective.

Pros
* Knowledgeable and helpful mentors
* Great community
* Excellent collaborative environment
* Continuous feedback and adaptation to improve the course & your own work
* Free!
* Can stay on to work on freelance projects as part of a cooperative

After a masters in Art History, I was unhappy about where my career was going. I found out about the school and joined Founders and Coders a couple of months later and honestly could say it was one of my best life choices. I've met lots of lovely people; the work is challenging and creative; my career looks much more promising. I have found that the collaborative way of teaching suits me very well. I have learnt so much in the last few months. In addition, I have been given the opportunity to work with amazing clients such as Breast Cancer Care and other reputible charities so early on in my career as a developer. I would highly recommend.

What surprised me about Founders and Coders was that at its core, the key to its success was a group of people in a room committing to learning together. It's so simple but deceptively powerful.

It was one of the hardest, most intense experiences of my life, Founders and Coders doesn't hold you hand, it teaches you how to learn.

I learnt more in 16 weeks than I did in 3 years, met some extremely talented people who I want to continue working with and am really excited about my future in software development.

This is full-stack javascript boot camp with a twist - there are no tuition fees and no teachers. This is a model based on peer learning combined with excellent support and structure - the ideal environment in which to develop the practical skills needed for coding. Stay at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, learn with and from some of the smartest people you'll ever meet, begin working for real clients, use your newly-acquired skills to make a real difference to people lives..... too good to be true? I can assure you it isn't. It's happening right now so get involved!

This is one of the best decisions I could ever have done. I grow up as an engineer and also as a person. Founders and Coders is more a family than anything else. Thank you!

In no particular order:
- A rounded introduction to fullstack development
- A modern syllabus (ES6, Node, Hapi, React, etc)
- Supportive environment and mentors
- Encourages resourcefulness, self-directed and peer-supported learning
- Regular feedback sessions to shape and tailor aspects of the course to each cohort
- High entry requirements, very selective
- Lots of external speakers from industry on a variety of topics
- Social enterprise which encourages engagement with third sector
- FREE

It's hard to believe how much I have learned on the course when I think back to how little I knew before starting. Having finished the course, I feel comfortable setting up a full-stack, fully functional web-app - frontend, backend, database, and any of a number of powerful modern frameworks.... I remember before the course, I barely knew how to make a simple static web-page.

The fact is that Founders & Coders is an incredibly effective way of learning the skills you need to start a real career in software development. IT WORKS as a way of gaining an incredible amount of knowledge and experience in a very short amount of time. It's also amazing fun, thanks to the people teaching and running the course, as well as the close ties you build with your fellow students.

I can't really ...

Pros
Collaborative,
Great atmosphere,
Free course,
Best of all: Actively seeking paid work for graduates

Don't expect:
Spoon feeding,
to get onto the course too easily

A life changing full stack JavaScript web development course! Working collaboratively and learning from my peers, whilst teaching everything I learnt to them, was such a brilliant way to supercharge my development skills. If you're thinking of doing this, just do it. Speakers such as Stephen Fowler (Tech lead at Guardian) Twitter, Bithound and ITV gave us a real grounding in the web development industry. What's more, this place is a real social enterprise and believes education should be free! No fees! I couldn't believe it but it was such an honour to be a part of this incredible organisation.

Simply the best environment in which to learn coding.

This is a fantastic coding school, it genuinely feels like a cooperative. The tutors are always happy to give guidance, but also give you the support you need to let you teach yourself. The curriculum is constantly adapting to the views and needs of the students. You are encouraged from early on in the course to branch out and go to lots of tech meet ups and hackathons, this gives you a well rounded view of the London tech industry and teaches you how to promote your developer skills.
Go for it :)

A great course, and learning environment. A very good choice of tech (full stack Javascript, node and react), and the opportunity to work on real projects with real clients, make this the best boot camp in London (also amazingly its free!). Fantastic people and supportive learning environment, excellent career opportunities afterwards. Many outside speakers and workshops, strong links to t London's tech/startup community. Definitely recommended!

Founders & Coders is an amazing course.

I did the course Summer 2015 and it was one of the best decisions of my life.

The course was a lot of hard work but I loved it. It's amazing how much knowledge can be learnt in such a short period of time. The peer learning and self teaching has left me with more skills and knowledge I could have ever imagined and after the course I was able to get a job as a web developer.

Pros
-Knowledgeable, inspiring and fun teachers
-One of the few courses to offer Node.js and React training
-Free!
-A great community feel
-Option to get paid working on freelance projects for the final 4 weeks of the course
-A member of the community forever
-Option to get involved in teaching the future cohorts

I can confidently say that Founders and Coders has changed my life. The amount of knowledge I have gained from Founders and Coders is unmeasurable. There is no way I could have learnt what I did. In such a short space of time, on my own.

For me, the future looks so much brighter and that's all thanks to Founders and Coders.

I can safely say that the Founders & Coders Boot camp, has been a thoroughly enjoyable, challenging and rewarding experience. Coming from a back ground in sales, whilst pursuing various online routes to learning how to build websites I became dis-enfranchised with being the lone ranger sitting at home. After attending the Monday evening meet-up sessions I began to take on the pre-requisites for the Boot camp after getting a feel for the environment I knew it was something that I wanted to be a part of. The course itself consisted of weekly tasked based learning in the form collaborative projects. Whilst the course is taught free of tuition there was no compromise on the quality provided. Throughout Founders & Coders we were encouraged to participate in pair programming and help one a...

Studying with Founders & Coders has changed my life! Amazing people and I couldn't recommend it more! There really isn't a better place to begin your education in software development.

I've never learned as much in 3-4 months as I did at Founders&Coders. Thanks to the course, I managed to land a job as a Front-end developer in a very exciting startup in Norway. There is no chance I could have done this otherwise.

The course is also very social, so I made a lot of new friends. The F&C space is constantly filled with friendly, ambitious and interesting people.

To potential future students reading this: I'd recommend you to spend 100% of your time on the course. Most people need to spend more than the regular 9 to 5-hours in order to get to a good enough level within three months. Plus, get used to figuring out how to solve problems on your own. This is an important skill - both during the course (which is based around peer-to-peer learning) and after you've gradua...

I knew I wanted to get into programming. But I didn't know what I should learn in order to get a job. And even if I did, teaching myself would be mega boring. Then I heard about Founders and Coders.

I have, quite literally, learnt more than I could ever have imagined in an incredibly short space of time. It's quite unbelievable - all of a sudden, half the techy/coding jargon floating around the internet isn't so foreign to me anymore. The command line is becoming second-nature. I'm empowered to have great ideas and be able to code them into reality. In short, Founders and Coders has given me exactly what I was looking for, without having to pay a penny. The organisers are lovely, and symbiosis of 'coding' and 'co-operative' works very well.

If you know you want to get into...

Founders & Coders offered me a chance to develop my interest in computers and web development into a full time career in a matter of weeks. After starting the 8 week course in January I went through what was probably the most intense and enjoyable two months of my life, spending each week working on a new project with my team-mates that would prepare us for some of the challenges we would face as web developers. After finishing the course I began working on short one or two week paid projects that helped serve as an introduction into the real world of development, with the option of extending contracts with the clients we enjoyed working with. This would not have been possible without the years of experience and industry contacts the F&C membership have.

The course is run almost excl...

I have always been vaguely interested in programming. Everything I heard about it made it seem like it would be a good fit and that I would enjoy it. But exactly what I should be doing to develop understanding, competence and confidence as a programmer and developer was always obscure at best, and more concrete tasks would get priority.

At FAC, I was surrounded by mentors with a deep understanding and passion for javascript and test-driven development. I also learnt a lot from my cohort, whose energy and passion would always magnify and channel my own. Working on projects with them has taken me from someone who could fill in the missing word on a code learning website to someone who can build a webapp that manages data, user IO and connects to various APIs.

Though the 8 week core ...