Hack Reactor

Before my time with Hack Reactor, I had no prior coding experience, but was looking to make a career change. I enrolled in SSP in February of 2018, which was great in helping me decide if this was something I really wanted to pursue and if I could handle a bootcamp environment. I spent a few months preparing and finally enrolled in the September full-time remote cohort. Those 12 weeks were one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it was more than worth it. As a student, you have to learn so much in such a small amount of time, but the curriculum and environment really prepared me for the industry. My cohort was the guinea pig for new curriculum changes, which made things difficult at times, but they really do their best to keep the projects up to current industry standards. Even th...

I have been at Hack Reactor both as a student and as a staff (Hacker in Residence), and after having seen the program from multiple angles, I can confidently say that this is a fantastic place to become a software engineer.

As a student, I had an incredible experience. The curriculum is fantastic. It's very obvious that a large amount of thought and effort went into the lectures and assignments, and the program even uses learning techniques found in teaching literature (i.e. spaced repetition and allowing students to struggle with problems rather than giving answers). Also, the Hack Reactor culture and community is amazing, which made it very easy to meet new people to network with, study with, and even become friends with.

As a staff, I was always blown away by how much everyone ...

HR does a good job in preparing you for your first job in the software industry. It's not an easy program, and you're not taught EVERYTHING you need to know (which is not possible in 3 months), but you're adequately prepared to have a good idea about how things work, and how to learn and figure out what you don't understand. The curriculum is solid and there is a good amount of support at all stages, but don't expect hand-holding for 3 months. Struggling and figuring things out on your own is built into the curriculum and a necessary part of working in web development.

The job search is definitely tough, and can indeed take up to 6 months depending on a lot of factors. HR's job search prep is solid, and if you follow it and put in the work, you will be fine.

I found my job about 4...

I attended Hack Reactor in Austin,TX as an older student. I found that the curriculum heavily favored hands-on learners and I was surprised at how much I learned in such a short period of time. If you have a choice, I would try to pick a cohort that does not graduate in Q4. I found the closer it got to Christmas, the less people were interested in hiring then the second week in January the interviews all kicked into overdrive.

I attended Hack Reactor Los Angeles in summer of 18 and I had a very mixed and eye-opening experience. First off, id like to say that the educational portion of the corriculum is only done in the first half of the program. I dropped out after the first half, receieved half my money back (almost 9k), and finished the second half at home. I even managed to finish it faster than if I had stayed in the program thanks to most of the material being availabe on websites like Udemy for $10 (my cohort-mates filled me in on every topic I needed to cover to finish my front-end and back-end capstones).

Many of my ex-cohort mates complained that the majority of their time was wasted in the second half, and because it was mostly unsupervised, some even played LAN video games all day instead of cod...

Pros:
1 .Knowledgeable instructors and TAs.
2. Structures that mimic real job situations.
3. Peer pressure that keeps you motivated.

Cons:
1. Not cheap, but is still a good investment if employed at market salary after graduation.
2. Bootcamp in general, increased difficulty in finding an entry-level position compared to a CS degree new grad getting a job through on campus career fair.

Hack Reactor is just a platform. It is not intended to solve anyone's life problem. It offers challenges advanced enough for even seasoned engineers. You learn and grow through working through those challenges. Hand holding is minimum, and that is intentional.
Success at Hack Reactor requires a matured mentality: understanding that we 99%ers can only achieve success through hard work.
If yo...

Hack Reactor is by the far one of the best boot camps you can now attend. If you've considered a career switch to Software Engineering than I highly recommend that you take the leap of faith and enroll in Hack Reactor.

During your time at Hack Reactor you learn not only how to code like an engineer but to think like one as well. Being autonomous and a self learner is a must to succeed in Hack Reactor. You will be expected to put in a lot of work to grow as an engineer. It will be challenging but once you land your first job all the time and money you invested into the program will be worth it.

I have no regrets. Enrolling in Hack Reactor helped me become a Software Engineer and I encourage that you do the same.

Hack Reactor was the second online boot camp experience I had, and while I would not recommend the first which I will not reference by name I will fully recommend Hack Reactor. It was a great experience. The curriculum was fantastic, the pair programming and group project structure prepared me fantastically for the job that I have started (a job the Hack Reactor Alumni network helped me get). I was VERY worried about finding a job even at the completion of the course. Terrified to even apply for fear of my skills being inadequate. However, once I started I found that I was more than prepared for my new career path. If this is what you want to do, I suggest this is the course you take. And the remote programming is also excellent training and proof to a potential employer that you...

Hack Reactor is a great program. I really enjoyed attending and spending time with the helpful and supportive staff and students. It felt like the only place where I felt motivated and encouraged enough to ask questions, try new things, and continue to "climb that mountain". I spent 3 months studying my butt off, literally slept for 3-5 hours a day ( 7 days a week ) and living on a $25,000 loan rather than attending schools for 4 years, working, and owing over $100,000. I didn't talk to any of my friends, family, or even my fiancé for that time. That's ok though because now I am back to my normal life, with a good job, and no longer have to worry about "The struggle" as often as I did. Do I regret it? No. Would I do it again? Yes. Should you do it? Yes!

I attended the 12-week Hack Reactor remote cohort for full stack development which started in June 2018. Prior to Hack Reactor, I was attending the University of Texas at Austin with little prior coding experience. At first I was definitely skeptical about the program, but also the outcomes. Seemed WAY TOO GOOD to be true that in 12 weeks of the program grads on average made $75k+. But this was the industry I wanted to be in and after doing research, Hack Reactor seemed to be the best fit for me. The program was INTENSIVE... no surprise there. It is split into two phases: a "Junior" phase which is a 6 week long crash course on coding filled with a variety of topics split into 2-day sprints. The junior phase was fast paced but definitely manageable; with alot of content thrown your way a...

So let me give you some context. Before attending Hack Reactor in 2017, I was unemployed for an extended period of time. And before then, I was employed in a job that wasn't satisfying. During my employed tenure, I was doing simple HTML and CSS copy pasting, but I knew I could do better and wanted to take my game to the next level. So I left my job and for the next few years, I tried learning software engineering all on my own.

I learned a lot by myself because I have that tenacious growth mindset, but it wasn't enough. While I learned bits and pieces here and there, I didn't have the high level overview and understanding of how you build a piece of software both from the frontend and the backend.

So I made the decision to attend Hack Reactor. I felt that by applying, I could ac...

I think Hack Reactor's curriculum is very well thought out with what skills are desired currently in the industry, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in changing careers.

I moved to Austin just to attend Hack Reactor (HR) and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Before HR I had few job prospects, little money, and no college degree; now I'm doing work that a truly enjoy, making much more money than I need, and... still don't have a college degree. 😜

The program is hectic and difficult, especially when you're so poor that you have to live in the cheapest part of town, cook almost all your own food, and take the bus everyday. But the leadership there and the other students were fantastic; it was amazing being surrounded by so many smart, dedicated, and encouraging people. Although almost all my time was spent there those 3 months, it all flew by way too fast.

Although the program itself was difficult, the hardest part was the job search. Don...

I came into Hack Reactor SSP with 0 experience in computer science or coding of any sort and have learned a great deal about the subject in such a short amount of time. There is a great support system and structure to SSP and I enjoyed being apart of it.

I just completed SSP37 and would absolutely recommend this course to anyone willing to put in the time and effort. Hack Reactor's SSP program provides all of the exercises necessary to be fully prepared for their technical interview, as well as a "helpdesk" that provides help if you get stuck on any of the exercises. I definitely took advantage of the helpdesk throughout the course, but just know that while this support is there, the mentors will not give you any easy answers or quick fixes - they will help point you in the right direction and encourage new ways of looking at the exercises, but you need to do the work of researching, trying different strategies, etc. If you're a driven student that is motivated to succeed, this is the program for you! Shout out to Kevin, Heather, Ma...

I benefited greatly from taking this structured prep course. Jacob and the TA's were expert at reviewing and teaching the fundamental concepts in javascript programming. As result I'm much more prepared for the technical interview.

Coach John did a fantastic job. He was always enthusiastic and willing lend and ear and a helping hand.

Though the SSP isn't a core component of Hack Reactor's immersive program, it does a pretty good job of preparing one for such an endeavor.

There were several times where problems were presented where the technique/technologies weren't covered until later in the course. This frustrated me, my peers, and my TAs on a few occasions. It's clear the creators of this curriculum encourage us to begin to think and behave like developers in the real world. A big component of that is being able to solve problems on our own and research if we haven't been taught how to solve the problem we're working on. As a result, I'm torn between feeling annoyed because we paid to be taught, and understanding that we need to FITFO (Figure it the f*** out). I know from talking with a few of my peers that th...

I've just finished my 4 weeks live online prep course for Hack Reactor SSP39. From what I understand this course uses the same material HR gives you on their site for free to do on your own. If you are good at learning on your own then I would recommend doing that way. The prep course is $250 which will be applied toward your tuition if you get in. You can retake the course if you didn't make it through. You will have 3 assessments along the way but it is not a pass or fails. The next day your course coach will go over the assessment with everyone. There is live support but it is not here to teach you. The support will just give you hints to unstick yourself. I was expected more like what a remote online course would be (i.e. pair programming) but you are pretty much on your ow...

There wasn't any cons that I can think of. I learned so much from this program and built a huge connection in software engineering field. I would recommend this program to anyone who come for suggestion.