Hack Reactor

I'll preface by saying Hack Reactor is not for the faint of heart. I truly believe anyone can do it - but not everybody will. Some people will not have the right attitude, drive, and determination to do what needs to be done to complete the program successfully.... Read More That being said, if you decide you want to do it and that there's nothing that can stop you, nothing will.

I did Hack Reactor after investigating a bunch of bootcamps. I decided on Hack Reactor due to their focus on people as whole software engineers instead of just as coders. I am more than happy with my decision. I was hired on as a TA after the program. During my time at Hack Reactor I've watched the curriculum grow in ways other bootcamps have not. It is really the best program available.

The only advice I'd give my younger pre-Hack Reactor self is do more studying before the program. Take some only CS classes from Harvard, MIT, or Stanford (they're all available online for free). Get a better solid foundation on which to build your CS knowledge. Other than that, I wouldn't have done anything differently.

Attending Hack Reactor has been one of the best decisions I've made in my career. You could argue that you could teach yourself or maybe even try to go back to traditional school, but I believe nothing is as cost or time-efficient as attending the best... Read More bootcamp in the industry. There is plenty of free knowledge and alternatives out there to learn the skills of a software engineer, but for most people starting out it is incredibly difficult to know what to focus on. Hack Reactor will offer you a well thought out roadmap that has been proven to work for thousands of students. You're guaranteed to learn the most in-demand technologies and skills in the industry thanks to its rapid-iteration teaching approach, which provides frequent experimentation and rapid re-investment of findings back into the class. One of my favorite thing about the program is that is practical in nature, so be prepared to experience a non-traditional yet more efficient approach to education in which you'll learn by doing and collaborating with others. By the end of the program, you'll have an amazing portfolio of projects that will impress any hiring manager. And even after you are done as a student, you'll still benefit from the amazing career support Hack Reactor provides and you'll have access to the incredible network of Hack Reactor alumni. Be aware that attending this immersive program will be challenging, but I promise it'll be a fun and rewarding experience.

I attended the Hack Reactor Remote Immersive program and I personally thought it was an amazing experience. One caveat I do want to make clear though is that you NEED to be prepared to take on the commitment if you're going to go through the bootcamp.... Read More You'll likely end up spending 10+ hours/day for 6 days a week working on stuff for the bootcamp so you need to make sure that you're able to commit to that. If you do ensure that you're able to commit to it, then you'll be able maximize the benefit you get from the program and learn a ton while you're there. If not, then you'll likely fall behind and feel like you're wasting your time/money. Hack Reactor does offer a part-time remote program that may be suitable for those that can't commit to a 10+ hour/day for 6 days a week commitment. I personally did not attend that so I can't speak for it, but I hear many good things about it.

Hack Reactor does a great job of structuring the curriculum in a way that gives you a lot of guidance on what exactly you need to do at first, then slowly removes the scaffolding as you work through the program. This is because the Hack Reactor curriculum highly emphasizes autonomy which is an extremely important skill to have as an engineer. Although it's an uncomfortable experience as the scaffolding is slowly removed, it is necessary for one's growth as an engineer. In the real world, you often have minimal direction and are just given a problem to solve. You must go and figure out how to solve that problem on your own.

Another thing that Hack Reactor does great is teaching you how to learn things quickly and efficiently by having you to dive into various different subjects and learn them in a span of a few days. In the software engineering world, tools are quick to change so it's important to be able to adapt to the situation. As of right now, React is the "hot" framework at the moment, but prior to this there were frameworks like Angular and Backbone that were the "hot" frameworks. As an engineer, you need to learn how to pick up these tools quickly and efficiently because the software engineering world is constantly evolving and being able to quickly pick up these tools is an invaluable skill to have.

Outside of the curriculum, the support you get from the staff and community is amazing. I really enjoyed the cohort I was in and everyone was more than happy to help each other out. I never felt afraid to ping a staff member/classmate if there was something I was struggling with. They're always available help with both emotional and technical support which I really appreciated.

Hack Reactor also gives great support for the job search once you're done with the program. They mentor you on strategies to employ while applying in order to get a good response rate from companies and tailor the coaching you receive based on your strengths/weaknesses. I even got great advice for my personal career growth within my job once I had accepted a job offer. Another great resource for the job search is the alumni network. The alumni network is massive and people are constantly posting about things like job listings within their company, interview tips, development tips, etc.

For cons, I don't have much to say because I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. As I said earlier, you NEED to be prepared to take on this commitment. I fully believe that I had the experience that I had because I made sure to give the program my all and 100% commit to it. The program gives you all the tools you need to succeed, it is on the student to use those tools properly and receive the maximum benefit from it.

For me Hack Reactor was the best choice I could have made to jump start my career as a software engineer. The program is constantly introducing you to new challenges to overcome. Plus the curriculum is constantly evolving to help students be as prepared... Read More as possible for the modern workforce. The staff are amazing and genuinely care about the students as well as their success. Talking with some of the staff after graduating I realized how excited they get when a student finds a job which really gives this sense that our success is their success. Given the rigorous, fast-paced structure of the course you receive a unique experience where you don't really have the option to procrastinate. Things happen very fast and you will learn a lot, but you need to give it 100% in order to succeed.

SSP has been an incredible experience and I got so much more out of it than what I expected. Here are a few things I observed about my particular cohort, SSP24. Right from the start, I noticed that everyone was at a different point in their coding journey.... Read More Some had little to no experience, while others had varying levels of experience. What I also noticed, as far as I could tell, was that the class really catered to everyone. While the purpose is to prepare you for the Readiness Assessment or the TI (tests/interviews that get you into the immersive), SSP provided a ton of supplemental material for those who are moving beyond the pace of the class. My point is that I think SSP is a program that can be beneficial to anyone looking to improve their JavaScript skills.

But here's a little more about my personal situation and experience going through the program. I graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor's in Integrative Biology and decided recently that I no longer wanted to become a doctor. After much thought and research, I knew that I wanted to learn how to code and become a software developer. My goal was to get into Hack Reactor's immersive program, and so I decided to join SSP.

The recommended pace was way too fast for me at the start, and I realized very quickly that this wasn't a program that was going to spoon feed me on everything that I needed to know. While I wasn't prepared for that, I definitely preferred it after a few days. I found that I really enjoyed struggling through problems and being challenged to figure it out on my own. Overall, the class prepared me extremely well for the technical interview. SSP24 started on March 19. I had my TI on May 3rd, and got accepted into the SF immersive program starting June 11.

My class instructor, Kevin Gavino, and my three TA's, Jon, Ethan and Henry, did a fantastic job in creating a positive, welcoming environment that was conducive to learning, which certainly helped me push through those particularly tough days. These 4 guys are the reason that I would recommend SSP to anyone who's interested in getting into Hack Reactor's immersive program. I seriously couldn't have done it without them. They really went above and beyond what they were expected to do, and it was easy to tell that they were genuinely interested in seeing their students succeed.

Ssp is a good program to go through the only thing i feel that should be added is that if you go in with a rocky understanding you can and probable hit alot of road blocks and will take alot more time to truly understand what is going on with a bad start.... Read More

Currently in second round of an SSP, and based on the comparison between both rounds the second has been better overall. My biggest concern with the SSP 21 course was I felt the instructors were top persistent with the idea of learning on your own and... Read More I suppose gaining knowledge from your struggles. I definitely do not advocate for supplying answers to helpdesk problems outright, but I gained less direction and insight to my helpdesk problems in SSP21 as opposed to my current SSP.

The pros to this program are the structure they give you and a certain time frame to do problems in a day so you aren't able to procrastinate as easy as you could when you work on your own, which helps me a lot. I can't think of any cons because the SSP... Read More class has helped me immensely, when I began the first SSP course I struggled and got very behind but with that struggle I learned so much and this second round I am getting through the coursework in a fourth of the time it took me to the first time.

I did go to SSP 21 with Kevin Gavino!