Hack Reactor

I started off with no background in programming. By the midpoint of the cohort, I was very knowledgeable with the javascript and implementation of new technologies. The rest of the time I use my knowledge to build out awesome projects and collaborate... Read More with teams. I had I great experience learning, building, and interacting with fellow developers.

The community building here was excellent. I treasure the friends I made and the learning that happened. This bootcamp is an excellent choice if you fit the following: You have previous coding experience (1 year of college/JS basics), you enjoy learning... Read More and doing the problems found on LeetCode/CodeWars, You want to connect with other aspiring coders, and get exposed to new technologies that you may otherwise procrastinate on. Remote Full Time Pacific is the way to go. The administration was fantastic in creating community.

Quit my previous full-time job needing a career change. At the advice of a few friends, Hack Reactor became the top choice. Six months after graduating, I still talk about my end-to-end experience with my new colleagues and family. Most importantly, Hack... Read More Reactor gave me the tools and training needed to create for myself a fulfilling career. In short, worth every minute and penny to the determined and motivated. It's a fast-pace, demanding program that requires your full attention, but if you are able to commit, there will be supportive staff and a challenging curriculum, focused on preparing you for the job market.

I recently graduated from Hack Reactor's San Francisco campus and I highly recommend this program to anyone looking to switch careers. The program ended up being fully remote due to COVID-19 and has definitely changed my perspective of online learning.... Read More I had heard so many wonderful things about this program, and was lucky enough to experience it - even virtually - for myself. As others often mention, the curriculum is very well-thought out. The staff also continuously gathers feedback from students throughout the program with the intent of making adjustments for future cohorts, showcasing their own desire to learn from your personal learning experience. Perhaps most importantly, the projects I worked on simulated many aspects of the actual job experience, putting me in a strong position to apply for such jobs after graduating HR. On top of the clear professional benefits, I also made several lifelong friends along the way. In short, I've never learned so much in such a short amount of time. I highly recommend HR to anyone looking for a truly challenging, one-of-a-kind, and life-changing experience! Pros: Hack Reactor staff is out-of-this-world amazing. They really pour all their heart out to support the students. Curriculum is top notch and well-curated for those looking to make a career change. Cons: Requires your complete dedication and attention from start to end.

I just finished the bootcamp in October 2021 and loved my experience. I was part of the San Francisco cohort, which was unfortunately remote due to COVID, but the remote format was surprisingly engaging and still provided ample opportunity to bond with... Read More my classmates and staff. I never thought I'd learn as much as I did, but this program exceeded all my expectations. Though 13 weeks is really too short to become an expert engineer, the crash course covers the latest, most in-demand tech stack for a full-stack developer, and leaves you with 4 apps to add to your portfolio, team projects to speak to during job interviews, and the skills and confidence to find a job and continue to learn. The bootcamp was split into 2 halves. In the first half, we learned the tech stack (JavaScript, Express/Node, React, MySQL, MongoDB) through daily lectures, local workshops, and 2-day sprints where we pair program with a classmate. Though the lectures were sometimes a bit dry (too many slides, too high-level), the local workshops held by the SF staff were phenomenal with material tailored specifically to student interests and highly engaging as well. The second half was project-based where we applied skills learned in the first half and work in agile teams to create a few apps (1 front-end, 1 back-end, 2 full-stack). Because of all the pair-programming and team-based projects, I got to know my classmates pretty well by the end, and also have relevant project experiences to speak to during job interviews. Throughout the bootcamp, I was consistently impressed by Hack Reactor staff, especially the SF team, who was always knowledgeable, quick to respond, happy to help and offer support whenever needed. I had heard that Hack Reactor placed a lot of emphasis on autonomy, so was pleasantly surprised to receive extra support when I was struggling with Javascript fundamentals in the first half of the program. Staff went above and beyond, staying late, hosting additional workshops and office hours, to ensure that all students, including myself, had a solid grasp of the material heading into the second half of the program. Overall, I'm really happy with my experience with Hack Reactor. I knew it would be difficult going in and was challenged as expected. Learning and working with my classmates was really fun, and I felt fully supported throughout - the staff really cares about the students and do their best to help them succeed. You won't regret this program!

I like to think of the classroom setting at Hack Reactor to be like the teacher that hands out assignments and expects you to figure out what you're supposed to learn from the textbook. Leads don't really help with the cohort and Help Desk is what you... Read More are supposed to reach out to for technical help. There's busy times and slow times so I found myself having to work on assignments during work. My anxiety/depression worsened because you were expected to do so much outside of the technical work that I didn't have time to dedicate to assignments. Words like "you have to show your face on zoom or it's going to count against you, " and other stuff contributed to my health downturn. It just seemed like HR were being strict parents that put you on a short leash. I couldn't breathe. The "support" really seems to focus on what you are lacking and not uplifting their students. I'm not saying spoon-feed your students and hold their hands all the way through. I'm just saying give some flexibility and let go a little. The bootcamp puts major stress on each of the students and they don't need any more. Especially when they already have demanding full time jobs. It just seems to me like HR needs to make some major updates to their system (not curriculum, but the system).

Tl;dr if you have a similar background as me and love to code, enroll in Hack Reactor. You won’t regret it. I have a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering. I worked as a ME for 8 years then earned an MBA and worked as a Product Manager for 2 years. I always... Read More had an interest and passion for software and tried to integrate it into my job and side projects as much as possible but felt if I was going to make a switch to be a professional Software Engineer, I needed a few things: A structured curriculum to learn specific things to make me employable, a mechanism to learn best practices which would set me apart from people who just figured it out on their own, and a network of fellow graduates and career coaches to help me find a full time position. Hack Reactor absolutely provided those things and I fully believe I wouldn’t be working at a FAANG company today without that support and education. I picked Hack Reactor because it seemed like the most challenging, was consistently ranked high, and the network of alumni is broad and well-rooted in the industry (because it has been around for a long time). I was not wrong and they exceeded my expectations. Hack Reactor is brutal. Say goodbye to your current social life. Your new friends are fellow students. Just don’t get too attached because many will not be able to make it. Lectures are great but don’t expect a deep dive into CS theory. They just teach enough fundamentals so you can sound knowledgeable in an interview and a lot of applicable knowledge so you can actually build things. The first half of the program is a lot of pair programming. They generally pair the strongest students with the weakest. Weaker students face the challenge of the stronger person moving faster than they can keep up and the stronger student faces the challenge of being held back by the weaker student. Fortunately if you don’t like your pair, they are rotated every two days. I STRONGLY believe they should separate students into a higher performing group and lower performing group so that the unique needs of each group can be more accurately addressed. The second half of the program is longer, group projects, but individuals typically work on their own features, somewhat alleviating the challenges of the first half of the program. Two staff individuals I would particularly like to highlight were Josh Elder and Liz Martinez. Josh was the Technical Mentor for the Seattle campus. His technical knowledge far surpassed anyone else in the staff. Josh was the goto person for any bug anyone experienced. I personally saw issues go through three other staff members before being escalated to him and he was able to solve the issue within 5 minutes. He also taught many of the lectures where he was energetic and engaging. It’s very obvious that Josh loves to teach and his passion for it shows. I’ve talked to many students who said that they chose to attend the Seattle campus specifically because of Josh’s reputation. It was REALLY scary to quit my full time job and join a boot camp. I really didn’t know if it would work out or not, but it definitely did. I get to write code and learn every single day, which is great, but I also doubled my total compensation. I couldn’t be happier. I can’t recommend Hack Reactor for everyone, but if you have a similar background and similar passion for software, I couldn’t recommend Hack Reactor enough.

If you're reading through this review, it means you're in the same spot that I was in 6 months ago. In a traditional 4 year university, it will cost an upward of 20 - 40k. In addition to the cost, it is the time. Time is a limited resource that a lot... Read More of us cannot afford. Hack Reactor is easily the best choice if you want to switch career without having to spend 4 years learning the materials to become a software developer. Now you're wondering, is it possible for a person with no coding experience to become a full stack engineer? The answer is YES! Hack Reactor does an amazing job teaching you how to problem solve. If you're looking for a bootcamp to hold your hand, then this bootcamp isn't for you. This bootcamp is made for students that are willing to persevere through challenges, and have a passion for learning. Hack Reactor has an amazing staff support, top-notch lecturer (best in the industry). Arguably the best part of Hack Reactor (aside from the technical) is the community (your cohort mates). When you spend 11 hours a day, 6 days a week, it became relatively easy to get close. These connections will transcend the 3 months of this bootcamp. It is a support system that will help you survive through the 3 months. This was worth the time, money, and effort. Everything that is worth doing will be hard. But if you're able to get through it, you will be an amazing software engineer.

Alright y'all ngl the program is very difficult, you will have no semblance of a life for about 3 months. You will see more of your classmates than your own friends and family for three months but you will not regret it. I went in not expecting much,... Read More but the program astonished me! I thought that I was going to learn some JavaScript and some modern frameworks/libraries that are common in the work place. I did learn those but I got so much more from the program. It really had me start thinking about code as a software engineer. Hack Reactor doesn't like to refer to its program as a bootcamp, they like to call it a Software Engineering Immersive. And they absolutely deserve the title!