i won't say that hack reactor would be a fruitless experience for all, but if one has the motivation i would not recommend spending 20K on a bootcamp when all the material you need is accessible online for free (or for much cheaper). the best part about hack reactor is that you get to meet some great people. however there are some aspects of the bootcamp i would completely change if i had the chance.

each cohort has a designated 'counselor' that is with you from the beginning of the program to the end. i wouldnt exactly call these people counselors though, as they're not trained to be therapists. in fact, some counselors seemed clueless as to how to deal with a student's personal problems and don't seem prepared to provide a student with realistic coping strategies. there were times ...

I have to say Hack Reactor was one of the much enriching experiences of my life. It's been a little over a year since I quit my day job and began my journey of learning with Hack Reactor. A year and three days to be precise. My only other prior programming experience was a little SQL I learned through work. It helped in my experience however it's not necessary. My peers came from all walks of life and ages. One member of our cohort did the program on the other side of the globe and would be awake and engaged in PST time. Another just finished high school and pursued Hack Reactor immediately after.

Hack Reactor in my own slightly biased opinion is for everyone. However, it takes a particular mindset and willpower to be a good fit. I didn't get into Hack Reactor on my first attempt. No...

You will find that most of your time spent here will be in pure frustration. They will give you projects to do but most of the things you learn you will look up on third party websites like StackOverflow. There is no shortcut to learning the things you need to become a software engineer. (Most companies will laugh at you when you apply after Hack Reactor and don't have a CS degree) Save the $20k and go get your degree, instead of a certification that means nothing. Your time and money will be much better spent. Oh, and job support?! Basically, this means they will review your resume and cover letter one time.

Hack Reactor is a daunting undertaking, to say the least. My experience was probably similar to many people out there - the novice programmer, the excitement of building and creating slowly budding in my chest as I explored the surface of programming, growing more enthralled with each new step I took into this marvelous new land until I finally decided to make that dreaded 66/hr a week/3 month plunge. It was exciting, but utterly terrifying, and I had no idea whether I was really going to be able to do it or not.

I've been out of Hack Reactor for 8 months (wow, that's a lot longer than I thought!) at the time of writing this review, and I can honestly say it was the best decision I have ever made. I am happily working in my preferred field, with my preferred techs, and I'm loving eve...

I recently graduated from Hack Reactor Remote. I will say, I didn’t expect to learn so much through the process. If I had known, I would have made the jump instead of letting life situations somewhat force me into it.

Background

I was an Applied Math major at UC Berkeley, but ended up going down a more business oriented route. I got into online and mobiles games at an early stage and was able to progress pretty decently in my career through that. Still, I always had a passion for building things and if a few things had gone a bit differently would probably have ended up being an engineer down a different path.

Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but I kept wanting to make the switch. Of course I gave myself the same excuses; switching careers is a pretty big risk, I’m too old (mi...

I graduated in September from the Hack Reactor Remote program. Since then I’ve been an HiR doing personal tech coaching and interviews, and I recently accepted a fantastic offer from a really cool company.

I really can’t recommend HR enough. What really stood out to me early and often was the amount and quality of the career education and support. I attended a reasonably good 4-year public university and never received anything near the quality or quantity of fantastic career support as I have at Hack Reactor. Even early in the course, there are lectures going over the qualities that make a successful software engineer, what to expect, how to navigate the job market, how to market yourself, etc. Then, once you’ve graduated you’ll receive amazing continued job support. When I got my o...

I went through the Hack Reactor Remote program last fall and it was by far the best educational experience I have ever had. It was a rigorous 12 weeks and took a good deal of preparation leading up to it but overall it was definitely worth it. Everyone I went through the program with along with all of the instructors and staff members went above and beyond to make the program the best that it could be. The job support team upon graduating was amazing as well and provided excellent resources to guide me through the job search. I was able to get an awesome job as a Full Stack Software Engineer within 4 weeks of graduating and I love what I do.

If you are willing to put in the work and love code, Hack Reactor is definitely worth the investment!

Like you, I was extremely skeptical of attending a programming bootcamp. The thought of it just seemed way to good to be true, there had to be a catch, and there is one. The catch is hard work. The only way to achieve success at a bootcamp is the same way you achieve success anywhere else: putting in 100% effort and persevering. I was unsure of the remote experience and whether I would like the structure of the class or not, so I attended the remote prep program. The prep course was worth the money and gave me a great preview of what the Hack Reactor environment felt like and I loved it. I wasn't sure if the full program would be worth the money (spoiler alert it TOTALLY was) or that it would really be enough education to get me a job with zero experience. I read dozens of reviews from...

I've been to some good schools, like the US Military Academy at West Point's pre-freshman year course, and there I was one in four students to be in all of the highest level classes, and I still made it onto the Honor Roll and Dean's List. The staff in my high school nominated me for the #1 graduate, and I graduated #1 in US Army Human Resources school. I scored perfectly on every test that I've taken (if I tried to), and I went into Hack Reactor knowing I could do very well there. Boy, was I in for a surprise! I struggled the ENTIRE time, and, though there are no rankings among Hack Reactor alumni, if there WAS to be ranks, I would have definitely, definitely been dead last. I was around people whose intelligence levels were higher than I could fathom. Sure, some of them were jus...

Hack Reactor probably isn't totally what you expect. There's no way for even the most pedagogically brilliant of teachers to crack open your skull and wholesale pour information into your brain. Knowing this, I was curious as to how the outcomes could be as good as they stated.

The reality is that the secret sauce of Hack Reactor is in the environment they cultivate, the cohorts they construct and the almost Machiavellian way in which they guide your learning down very specific avenues without you even realizing you're being guided. The frustration is a prized ingredient baked into the dough. As they say in this industry - it's not a bug, it's a feature.

The other part of this is that Hack Reactor is often terrifying. Virtually everyone has days where they question whether or not ...

A quick reminder: Hack Reactor was created in late 2012 by DevBootcamp grads.
In this article I’ll review the curriculum of the bootcamp and the reality graduates are facing.
The curriculum.
~45 per class 90 per floor. 180 at any given time. The “Elite” program generates a cool $3.56M every 3 month.
The first week is here to set your expectations, they have hours of lectures specifically on what to expect for the next 11 weeks. They offer you to drop out within the first week with a refund, minus the $2K+ deposit you paid. Ironically the number of lectures drops dramatically after the first week. After which lectures are every other day, 1 hour long each, for the first 6 weeks. The second 6 weeks you’re basically learning on your own.
The material is divided in “sprints”, you have ...

I was originally hesitant to attend the bootcamp, especially with the price tag. I had enough saved up to attend the bootcamp but I was worried about affording to live in San Francisco. Luckily, I took the leap (and I'm 100% sure I made the right choice!).

I paid off the tuition with my savings and I crowdfunded a loan using WeFinance.co for my living expenses. Best (and toughest) 3 months of my life.

The people there were great, I learned a lot, and they have an AMAZING network. When people refer to it as the "Harvard of coding bootcamps" it's not an understatement. People who attend basically have their choice of jobs.

If you're on the fence, make the jump.

I attended Hack Reactor from August through October 2013, and it was the most useful educational experience I've ever had.  I don't say that lightly, as I've attended two highly ranked universities.

Hack Reactor's value stems from both the sheer amount of knowledge they stuff into your head and the "how to solve problems like a programmer" ethos they distill into you.  On the knowledge side, I'd  say there are five distinct phases of the course: Precourse work, structured learning, individual projects, group projects, and the hiring phase.

The precourse work is intense and ramps you up to a speed at which you could probably go ahead an get hired as a junior developer (!!!).  You learn the basics of the distributed git workflow, ...

I went through the Hack Reactor program, and counter to their excellent advice on how to manage a job search, I accepted an offer to work there before the founder could even complete his sentence, and without even having gone into compensation. Getting accepted is a strange type of challenge - it's now how much you know, but how you learn, that seems to make the difference. As such, the syllabus doesn't tell the whole story. Graduates have gone on to work in software engineering, web development, data science and more managerial roles.

It was such a captivating environment that I was irate at having to go home at night. I went from having next to zero software background (minus dabbling with CodeSchool etc) to writing scaled distributed computing networks that got their fair share o...