Hack Reactor

I attended Hack Reactor Los Angeles as part of the HRLA22 cohort starting in April 2018. The tl;dr is that I’m happy to give Hack Reactor a 5-star review: it worked out for me exactly as I’d hoped. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, built friendships and professional relationships with an excellent group of people, and landed a well-compensated job I’m excited about.

About me: I’d been programming for several years before Hack Reactor, mostly in Python and SQL, which made me one of the more experienced people in my cohort. However, I didn’t have a CS degree, any engineering roles on my resume, or any professional network of engineers to speak of. I’d wanted to make the career transition for a while but hadn’t pulled it off. Before deciding to go to Hack Reactor I’d been taking classe...

I personally always found really long reviews helpful, so I’m paying it forward here! But first here’s my TLDR: I have never had another experience even close to my time at Hack Reactor, and I can truly say that attending is solidly among the best decisions I’ve made in my life. It was also one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and it’s definitely not for everyone, but if you’re committed and know your own limits, you stand to gain more than seems possible from something like a bootcamp. Really.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say, so let’s start there. I started teaching myself a little bit of JavaScript in late August 2017 while I was working in business development at a law firm – I had no previous coding experience whatsoever, unless you count WordPress as coding exper...

Hack Reactor was the right fit for me in my situation. Your situation is very important to consider when deciding whether to embark on a new career as a software developer. You need to have at least one of two things before coming to a program like this:

1. Be relatively young, relatively intelligent, and absolutely driven
and/or
2. Have a certain amount of experience/education/some other secret sauce that will help you stand out from the rest and secure a job ahead of the competition.

I will tell you that you will have to work hard, that is non-negotiable. But you can be of average intelligence and mid-to-late age if you possess some other competitive advantage.

I remember a talk from a hiring manager I heard at Hack Reactor, and he said if you "impressive me twice" he wil...

I enjoyed the fast paced, intesive style of learning. I felt that the balance between autonomous learning and support was nearly perfect. For me, the first half of the course solidified coding fundamentals and introduced me to real world coding skills such as setting up a Dev environment, team workflow, and collaboration. The second half allowed you to practice working on projects of your own creation with small teams. This part seemed necessary for both engineering skills, and to beef up your resume with great applications. We were prepared for technical interviews by completing a toy problem each day, practicing whiteboarding, and rehearsing interview questions. Upon graduation, there was still a ton of support by career specialists and alumna to help you land your first job. Overall,...

Before I attended Hack Reactor, I had spent four years as a baker. I made a living, but it wasn't really where I'd meant to end up, and I wasn't sure where to go as someone with only years-old, rudimentary experience in any other field. It was hard to imagine what job would take me, or what school would give me a chance, but Hack Reactor was a great fit for me. I attended the remote program, which made the intense hours a lot easier to handle.
If you consider attending Hack Reactor, know that it's, as they say, "like drinking from a fire hose". It's a lot to take in, and at times I (and everyone else) became convinced that I wasn't learning anything, or that I wasn't cut out for the work. For 12 weeks, my whole life revolved around web development and the software industry. In half th...

Hack Reactor gave me the skills necessary in 4 months, (after preparing of-course), to become a professional Software Engineer capable of dealing with problems in a real world scenario, passing interviews, and having hands-on experience. I will forever be thankful for the experience, and consider the school staff and curriculum above and beyond excellent. The time you spend here will be so packed with great organized content, and still there will be more to learn.

I've learned a lot during the SSP program. The resources are very helpful, and rich. SSP is not like a traditional school. They will not teach you for everything instead providing you with helpful resources and let everyone to learn themselves. That's the kind of system what I love because in real world, such as in workplace, you need to research a lot. And, that's how SSP prepare for you. But, don't worry if you stuck in somewhere, you can always ask help from teaching assistant and your SSP couch, or even from your classmate. Moreover, there is a day called TownHall in which you can ask questions whatever you want, and you can also learn from the other's questions.
So, here is the cons. Sometime, there are many thing that I need to learn, most of the resources in SSP are in typed wh...

Hi,

Although the course is 3 months, I will highlight my process that all in all encompassed about a year. Formerly a high school teacher in Computer Science (CS), I saved up money (Step 1) and made the switch at the end of 2017 academic calendar for schools. I studied for approximately 2-3 months (Step 2) through Hack Reactor's SSP program where I could ping a Teaching Assistant (TA) during class hours and we would Zoom video chat instantly over a CS concept. Hack Reactor requires a 20% level of knowledge before Day 1, hence this studying was super helpful and useful with a TA. Next, I enrolled in the program for 3 months (Step 3) and made an effort to apply as a TA once I finished (Optional Step). I was a TA for 3 more months and teaching content helped solidify my understanding an...

The entirety of the Hack Reactor process, I kept asking myself one question; is this worth it? From the studying to the admissions, to the icebreaker game on the first day (ugh), to the midcourse test, to graduating and up until I got my first interview I asked that question over and over. I can say now that it was definitely worth it. I had several interviews and accepted an offer a little over two months after graduating. Most of my cohort has a job as well just 3 months out. At least in Austin, finding a job isn't a problem for now. There are plenty of opportunities and positions.

Like other reviews have said, however, you get out what you put in. Its really hard work and while HR and their staff take great care to give you the tools for your toolbox, you have to want to...

I have never attended other boot camps but I can tell you that my experience with HackReactor has been nothing but great. We had a great tech mentor (Magee Mooney) who was very knowledgeable and more importantly very willing to help you grow. Her commitment and the way she engages with the class shows that she is genuinely interested in what she is doing. Other staffs (Kate and student-mentors) were very helpful throughout the course too. The curriculum was great- there were few hiccups here and there, but overall it was awesome! The course definitely sucks up your time and energy, but if you are excited and willing to work hard, you will come out of the course very satisfied. Honestly one of the best decisions of my career. I wish I could keep attending the classes forever!

Pros: Great staff - The tech mentors and HiRs do an amazing job in assisting throughout the entire bootcamp
Atmosphere - Everyone in your cohort has the same goal as you. Sometimes, they may be further ahead than you, but everyone goes to each other to ask for support because they all want each other to succeed.

Cons: Senior phase - You are put in a random group with people you may or may not work well with, which is fine because it can replicate the possibilities of having people you don't like in your future workplace, but since a majority of learning comes in this phase, it's very important with the group you're put in

I had a wonderful experience with the Hack Reactor and Kevin. Kevin, Mario, and Maurice did an excellent job teaching and making sure I feel comfortable with the material. I couldn't recommend a better course if you're a beginner, like I was, with no formal understanding of Javascript or computer science. The structure of the course maximizes time spent with code which is extremely important and incredibly valuable. Practice makes perfect! Kevin and the staff have are amazing. They truly love to teach people new things and are incredibly friendly and welcoming. Mario and Maurice were very helpful and patient. They helped me reach those "ah ha" moments where things would finally click and the puzzle pieces fall into place.

Kevin was hands down the best coach we could've asked for, experienced, a great mentor, and has the capacity to breakdown technical concepts in a learning environment easily for students to understand. Ethan was one of my TAs and my huddle lead, I have say that without Ethan I wouldn't have progressed as much as I have. He was extremely patient, guide me through my blockers and never gave the answer or made me feel rushed. From the contributions of Kevin and Ethan the possibility to gain entry into Hack Reactor immersive is possible, change your life now and sign up!

Great way to prepare for a boot camp or technical interview. Definitely drinking from the firehose for a few weeks, but worth it.

Think of software engineering as a trade and of Hack Reactor as a trade school. Sure, everything you learn at a trade school you could teach yourself, but you'll end up spending a lot more time and effort, probably go down the wrong path more than once and pick up quite a few bad habits along the way. Hack Reactor teaches you the tools of the trade, i.e the front- and back-end frameworks and libraries that are in demand in the job market now. They will also teach you some CS fundamentals, offer excellent tutorship during the 12 week program, and prepare you for the job search afterwards as well.

But what you get out of Hack Reactor will largely be what you put into it. You can put in the bare minimum effort and make it through, but you would only be doing yourself a disservice. Your ...

I studied Finance in undergrad, but fell in love with computer science when I took my first programming course called Financial Engineering. I first learned about Coding Bootcamps back in 2015 and finally made the decision to go in 2017. During those two years, I studied on the weekends, researched my options and saved up for 9 months of unemployment (3 month immersive + 6 months of runway for the job search). When it came down to choosing a bootcamp, I was between App Academy and Hack Reactor. I ultimately chose Hack Reactor for one reason: I met somebody with a very similar background to me (same degree in Finance from the same University) and his testimony gave me the comfort I needed. At the end of the day, there are many outstanding bootcamps (Hack Reactor, AA, Rithm, GA, etc...), ...

Starting SSP for me is an ongoing challenge. I never coded in my life and then started to learn to code, it was like a whole new language. I had to know what went where and how to write this in a certain order, not to mention that this course was a 4-week course that was from 9:30 - 5: 30 M-F. I started like everyone else from 9:30 am but I did not stop until close to 10 pm. The amount of information that I had to absorbed and understand was an ocean of knowledge. I thought that I would drown. But I did not drown, but I am behind in my studies. I am a slow learner but I did not give up on this. There is still some information that I have yet to process and still do not understand but will do my best to do them. The wealth of information, support from classmates/cohorts, the assistance ...

Hack Reactor is a challenging, 12-week immersive program that aims to teach you as much applicable information with the sole purpose of finding you, the student, a career after graduation. Most people spend years in college for this kind of end goal, but Hack Reactor condenses it into a few weeks. The program is designed to an exact science - most of the time it doesn't feel like you're spending 11 hours a day at a computer imbuing your brain with new, advanced technologies, but sometimes it does, and the staff is there for you when you don't feel up to par. The Austin campus staff holds their students to high standards, emphasizing both intelligence and empathy as core qualities needed in a developer. Like most great products, Hack Reactor actively listens to feedback given by their st...

Hack Reactor's immersive program is a challenge, but I was amazed by what I was able to learn in a short amount of time and the way the program holds you accountable in a positive way was perfect for me. The staff really are there to support you and your success both during the program as well as when you enter your job search.

The program is divided into two halves - the first is focuses on developing an understanding of full stack development (front end, back end, databases), the second is to introduce you to workflows and team environments (Git, Agile, SCRUM, deployment, etc.). I felt that I really did have a good handle on how the different pieces of applications are put together from the first half. In addition, the second half is important as it prepares you for how teams ...

Hack Reactor's curriculum is just amazing! You learn everything that's essential to bootcamps. The staff is really helpful when I hit some blocks in my learning, and the fellow students are willing to help each other as well. The community is passionate and supportive. The tuition is reasonable!

I strongly recommend anyone considering taking a bootcamp prep course to join HR's SSP. Hardly will you regret!