Hack Reactor

I graduated from Hack Reactor in 2015 and have worked with the alumni team there -- most prominently Marlene -- for all of my job searches. They've been incredibly helpful with introducing me to partner companies and helping coach me through the negotiation process.

Thanks to their guidance, I've been fortunate enough to negotiate up an extra ~50k during the four years that I've been working and know that I can always count on them to help out for my future job searches.

I cannot thank Hack Reactor Remote enough. At every stage, HRR provided the support I needed while keeping things very transparent about where I could improve.

My journey with Hack Reactor was an extensive one, all the way from the prep course till now, after landing my ideal job as a software engineer. HRR is tough...but well worth it. If you're ready to go "all in" then HRR is for you. The community is close-knit and emphasizes both great soft skills and great technical skills. I admire that HRR stays up to date with the curriculum, always updating and curating fearlessly. The entire instruction team (Hailey, Annah, Robin, and Cody) does a stellar job of communicating with the students to make sure they're progressing on pace. After graduation, the job support counselors also guid...

Hack Reactor Remote program is everything that it was described as. It was very challenging and demands ALOT on you as a student. That being said - if you are willing to work hard you can have such a fun and rewarding experience!! I learned so much in this course, not only about software engineering, but about myself about myself and how I best learn. I found the staff to alway have my best interest in mind every step of the way - all the way from my first day through my job hunt and accepting my first position.

HR may be more expensive than other schools - however in talking to friends and coworkers that attended other bootcamps - HR offer a better curriculum, more job hunting support, and foster a tight knit community no matter where you are located. I would 100% recommend this co...

I attended Hack Reactor and graduated at the beginning of July, 2019. Before attending I had been programming in my spare time for a couple years, but I was never able to maintain any kind of structure or rigor to my learning. I wanted to make a career change and work as a software developer, and when it became apparent that my current method of self-teaching was not working out for me, I decided to enroll in Hack Reactor.

The course is divided in to two phases, a "Junior" phase and a "Senior" phase. During the former, you spend a lot of time pair programming and working to complete various coding projects. A lot of it is centered around learning to pick up and become productive with technologies that you may not be familiar with, and getting comfortable referencing documentation. Th...

Hack reactor was an amazing program, and I can attribute my success in the field to it. It was fun, and intense, and I distinctly remember it being a work hard, get rewarded type of scenario. The instructors were fantastic, and the curriculum really taught you what you needed to know to succeed as an engineer in the valley. As grateful to the program as I am for what I learned there, what really amazes me is the support I continue to get from its Alumni Director, Marlene Tang.

Marlene is truly a lighthouse in the dark when it comes to actually functioning as a software engineer in the industry. Sure, Hack Reactor had gotten me in the door, but Marlene not only keeps me in the building, she pushes me to climb to the top. She gives support in working, learning, growing, promoting... yo...

var TLDR = ‘Hack Reactor > App Academy && Austin > San Francisco’;

My journey to becoming a Software Engineer began almost a year ago. It started with choosing which program to attend... that can be overwhelming. After a lot of research; I literally read every review I could find on App Academy and Hack Reactor. I decided to attend App Academy’s bootcamp prep course in San Francisco. The prep course wasn’t terrible, but I definitely don’t think it’s worth $3K I paid for it.

App Academy does offer a deferred payment option where you only pay for your tuition after you graduate and get a job. That seems pretty cool initially. Then I found out that if you fail two of their assessments you get kicked out of the program forever. For me that meant I would have to start all over at a dif...

I graduated summa cum laude from a top 20 US university and am a former management consultant. College was great. Hack Reactor was amazing. I learned so much in so little time, and took away much more than content - Hack Reactor (re)taught me how to learn and reset my expectations for my own grit and growth mindset. And while my outcomes were unusually strong, I'm not the only one who's ended up with several offers from top Silicon Valley companies 8 months after writing their first line of code.

TL;DR: Hack Reactor deserves its reputation as the best software engineering program on the market.

I'll talk briefly about three aspects of my experience: instructors/staff, curriculum, and career support.

From the paid prep course I took, all the way through the career support post-graduation, my instructors and coaches were absolutely top-notch. In any interaction with Robin (tech mentor), his respect for the students' investment is deeply evident: He is always extremely prepared. His skills and his ability to articulate them are razor sharp, and always current. And his teaching approach displays a keen instinct--he knows what you have within you, and he won't let you get away with anything less. He also won't let you drown. Annah (lead counselor) similarly does an excellent jo...

The hardest things in life are often the most rewarding. My background is I have a Marketing degree and worked as a Wealth Management Advisor for high net worth clients but I decided I wanted more out of life and a job that will always be there which is why I went down this path.

I was not tech savvy at all I knew nothing about anything basically, but I started with Hack Reactor's online prep course which was amazing. The purpose of the pre-course is to get you into new things make sure you are learning a good amount of the basics and prep you for the immersive program.

I got accepted into the Full Stack Immersive and let me just say this is something that is hard. It takes a lot of time and you do have a full days schedule of work but it is worth it! This program is something tha...

I was skeptical about coding bootcamps at first, but after Hack Reactor @ Galvanize, I saw for myself why it was such a highly-rated program.

One of my greatest personal takeaways from the program was how it fundamentally changed my outlook on learning, and really stretched the boundaries of what I previously thought was attainable. It still surprises me, up till today, how much I've managed to achieve in such a short amount of time. I can say with confidence that the curriculum preps you well in terms of technical skills, personal growth, and the job search that comes thereafter.

I think the outcomes of the program speak for themselves. I have finally secured a job I've only dreamed of in the past and my only regret is not taking the plunge sooner!

Hack Reactor was a great overall experience! I learned a lot about full stack development and made a lot of potentially life-long friends from my cohort.

The curriculum: I thought this was very well designed to enable the students an opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the world of full stack web development. One important note is that the technical mentors work hard to ensure the curriculum is up to date so when you finish, your skills won't be obsolete! This is very important when you start job searching after you've finished the boot camp. I was very impressed as most of what we learned was usually listed on the job description.

Job support: finishing the boot camp is only half the battle. I was and still am very grateful for the support I received from my career coach ...

My experience at Hack Reactor was exceptional. The curriculum was immersive and challenging, while the community of like-minded individuals fostered an environment for collaborative learning and growth. It is a rigorous program, requiring some level of grit and above all, challenged me to think like an engineer. HR is not a traditional classroom-set course (although there are lectures here and there), but is much more hands-on, with you learning through the application of concepts as well as trial-and-error. For me, this method of learning was critical to my growth as a developer. Ultimately, HR provided a strong foundation that prepared me for entering the industry.

Let me start by saying that this was one of the biggest and scariest decisions I've made in my life! Now that I have that out of the way, I also want to say that this was also one of the best decisions I've made in my life. My experience throughout the program was nothing short of exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time. I don't think there is anyone there or anyone that has gone through the program that wouldn't tell you that it requires mental fortitude to take the leap of faith and push yourself towards you goal of becoming a software engineer. One of the wonderful things about Hack Reactor is that, that fortitude is fostered in amazing ways. The sense of community that is developed with not only the other students but also the staff is something that you don't often find in...

It's not easy to quit your job, spend a large portion of your past 3 years of savings, and then commit all of your time for a chance to succeed as a software engineer. It also wasn't comforting that I often felt behind when I joined the program. For moments, I had the looming cloud of fear and regret when I couldn't complete a project or I performed poorly on an assessment. Despite all the fear, if you are a passionate individual who has a strong work ethic and is willing to commit 100% of your time for at least 6 months with no back-up or fail safe options then I know you'll succeed. If you will work together with your fellow students then not only will you all succeed together but you'll create friendships for life.

TLDR I was able to land 5 software engineer job offers from mid t...

I had a few friends who did Hack Reactor prior to me and all found good jobs afterwards. I wanted a career change so I saved up and set time aside to do Hack Reactor. I didnt do much looking around for different immersive programs as I saw first hand the results that my friends got. With no prior coding experience, I started learning via Hack Reactor's SSP in early June and really enjoyed what I was learning and how it challenged me mentally. I decided to pursue it as a career and do the immersive after this experience in SSP. I enrolled into the September Remote Immersive as I don't live near a campus. The curriculum was hard and fast paced but manageable. My cohort mates were a great resource and all were willing to help. The curriculum of HR really sets you up to be successful in the...

I was impressed with Hack Reactor from the very beginning of the enrollment process, which was pretty rigorous. They clearly spend a lot of time and effort to make sure that each cohort is filled with highly capable people, and it shows. I was impressed by the pace we were able to keep, and I learned a ton from working with a really interesting and talented group of people. I was in the remote program, where cohort size was around 20 people; I thought this was just the right amount to ensure we were able to build a strong community and each receive the proper support from one another and from the staff.

No major complaints about the program...it isn't cheap, but I think a worthwhile investment if you're looking to 'up-skill' very, very quickly and you have the means to make the in...

I did Hack Reactor Remote from July-October, 2018. This was by far the most intensive training program I have ever been through and this is coming from a guy who worked on 2 master's degrees simultaneously in grad school (seriously don't do 2 degrees at once). After graduating from Hack Reactor I spent 5 months job searching before landing multiple offers and ultimately accepting a role with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in their Technical Apprentice program. Without a doubt Hack Reactor accelerated my programming skills, but more importantly it required me to build things as a team or during pair programming. This may come as a surprise to some, but software engineering is all about team work. The image of a lone wolf programmer hacking away in a dimly lit cave surrounded by empty cans of ...

The TLDR version is that I attended Hack Reactor Remote (July - Oct 2018), and 5 months after graduating I started my new job as a Google Software Engineer. I highly recommend Hack Reactor.

PREP: I didn’t know any Javascript. I didn’t even know what terms like full stack meant. I did Hack Reactor's full time Structured Study Program for about a month prior to getting into Hack Reactor. I had to learn quite a bit to even be ready to apply to the program, and SSP gave me the structure, support, and resources I needed to make it into Hack Reactor.

HACK REACTOR: This program is not for the weak, but it works! I studied 9am-10pm 6 days a week for 3 months. The staff is really knowledgeable and compassionate. I fully expected the intense program to feel torturous, but I was pleasantly s...

Really great learning environment and one of the most challenging things I've ever undertaken. Worth the price for the personal mental investment, the top notch curriculum, and the network. But be sure to be active in asking questions and do your toy problems !!! Don't expect the school to do the learning for you because a large part of it was building things autonomously with very loose guidelines or direction. Honestly I think that part and the way the school teaches you to talk about your projects and ideas are invaluable to you as an engineer.

The alumni network is really strong, very active and I had multiple instances of engineers going the extra mile to help me get my foot in the door. I was able to get a job 4 months after I began looking in Los Angeles. My career coach was ...

Hack Reactor, I feel, best models the real world of Software Engineering because you are thrown in and left to largely fend for yourself. This shouldn’t come as a discouragement to those on the fence - I believe many I see in Software and my own abilities are always best improved with little interference. Although during my time at Hack Reactor we worked only in JavaScript, the focus of the curriculum is put on how a program is structured, the idea behind writing quality code as opposed to being focused on how to write specific code in a specific language. You will be able to take patterns and models learned from this course and break into any direction you desire with enough curiosity and conscientiousness.