Le Wagon

Learn to code and change your life! 9 weeks and that’s it, you can call yourself a dev and realize any web app with your two hands? Sounds a bit ambitious but four weeks after finishing the bootcamp (batch#48) I can definitely confirm that this is true!... Read More I have quit a comfortable yet annoying product manager position in the IT industry to jump into a fascinating but risky entrepreneurial adventure in the Travel sector. Le Wagon was a pivot in this adventure and gave me efficient technical skills. Thanks to the content and the quality of the bootcamp, I am developping a MVP on my own. I am about to show it to potential investors. All I need now is to incorporate my company an test my product!

My experience at the batch#50 Le Wagon at Rio was amazing! Really a life changing experience. Before the bootcamp I couldn’t find a job and was actually struggling to find something I wanted to do. I’ve learned so much with the Wagoneurs, I feel like... Read More I can do anything right now.
I was always interested in technology and what it could do, so I got into Mechanical Engineering school and looked for researches and extracurricular groups. But when I graduated at the beginning of 2016, I saw that most of the opportunities in engineering were on production, following orders and doing a lot of the same thing every day. Nothing in the area interested me much, but I still felt like I needed a job, so I got lost looking for opportunities without any focus.
One of those job searches led me to find out about Le Wagon. At first I was a bit skeptical because I didn’t picture myself as a part of the start-up/entrepreneurship world and didn’t know how much they could actually teach me in 9 weeks, but I decided to apply just to learn to code better and hoping I could find a job as a developer afterwards. I am so glad I gave it a shot.
I had some programming skills before the bootcamp, but now, after it, I consider myself a web developer. Not only we learned to write HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery and Ajax, we also learned how to build software from scratch with a strong and scalable ruby backend using the Rails framework. Something I also consider very important is that now I feel confident enough to look for solutions for whatever problem I may face on-line and adapt to my code, which happens all the time to developers. All of that using Git and Github to contribute with my batch and project buddies.
Le Wagon gave me the technical skills with which I can now build any prototype and start-up any idea I have. During my time there I really found myself doing something exciting, with the help of awesome people. It really changed me personally and professionally. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn to code. This is the place for that and much more.

I was a student in batch #48 in Paris. Before Le Wagon, I had studied finance, international relations and Islamic studies (quite a mix, I know) and worked as a political researcher, and as a news producer in a international news channel.

I joined Le Wagon... Read More because I wanted to set up my own news-related website. I attended the bootcamp while studying towards a master's degree on the side, which I don't recommend, because Le Wagon will need your full attention, and missing even one day in an intensive coding bootcamp can set you back quite much (I ended missing a few days, because of family circumstances, because I got sick, and also because I had to study for my exams).

There, in the last three weeks, three of my classmates and I built a service that helps people in need to find soup kitchens and free meals near them using simple text messaging. After the bootcamp, we are still working on the website and have transformed it into an non-profit association.

Le Wagon was an intense experience, one of the best in my life. And it wasn't easy: frustrating at first, but rewarding at the end. And the key is not to give up. Besides learning how to code, I made some really good friends, and I also had the pleasure to meet some great people amongst the teachers, teachers' assistants and staff.

I highly recommend Le Wagon to anyone who wants to learn code.

On July 2016, the company in which I worked as an engineer for years had to let go all of its workers. The Brazilian crisis hit us and it hit us hard. In that day I realized that the good old times of engineering had been left behind and that there was... Read More no use in looking for a new job. The country wasn't growing anymore, there was no money left and nobody was investing. Me, as a Construction Engineer, realized that I couldn't be independent, that there was no use for all those years that I dedicated to my work. I would always depend on the government, investments and big corporations.

Some weeks later I realized that I had to learn new abilities that would give me independence that would break that rope.
That's how I restarted to study coding. I had learned a little bit on university, but the good old Pascal wasn't any good anymore.
I bought some courses on Udemy. I started with python. I watched some hours of class but was a bit lost. I didn't know how to apply that on the real world and neither where I could use all those For, While, classes and objects.

I got tired of python and started trying to learn front-end. I thought to myself "Now we're good". I was really learning something from html and css but when I got to javascript and jquery then even though the teacher had really nice ratings on Udemy that was just not doing the job. Sit in my chair watching classes wasn't getting me anywhere - it was time to get my hands dirty.
I started to look for on-site courses and I was introduced to the bootcamp concept. I found some really expensive ones in the USA that appeared to be very good, but it wasn't financially worthy for me. I then looked in Europe and found a French coding bootcamp called Le Wagon. And, to my surprise, there was a batch starting in Rio, close to my apartment.
I then researched innumerous reviews, articles, videos, instagram posts... everything that I could get my hands on. I only found good reviews and comments, so I decided to apply to the batch starting in January 2017 in Rio.

After I got approved in an interview with one of the cofounders of Le Wagon Brazil, one of the mandatory pre-requisites was finishing up the Ruby track on Codecademy. During this course I realized that Ruby is a much easier programming language than all the others I had contact with. I liked it so much that I finished the track in a few days and one month before the begging of the bootcamp.

In the first days of bootcamp I noticed that the methodology was completely different from everything I had seen before.
Their learning platform to start with - a system of exercises, examples, questions, classes, and everything you'll need during your course and resources that will help in your career. Everything is there.

Everyday classes start at 9am with one hour and a half well needed theoretical classes. We had 6 different teachers, every one of them teaching subjects they knew very well. After the theoretical part we jumped in to the real life exercises, some of them mandatory for the day and some more expert optional exercises. The platform has a buddy system so we can work in pairs, every day we had a different buddy, so we got to work with everybody - working in doubles is fundamental - the best way to learn is teaching.
The exercises were hand picked, not all the methods and solutions were in the classes, and so we had to learn how to dig in for solutions - like in real life coding challenges. We learned how to go through documentation, good old Google and our best friend stack overflow. That's how a developer works. Based in somebodies solution, we build our own.
At the end of the day we did some live coding with the teacher, where we solved one or two extra exercises together - it was always really cool to see other students solutions and logic to the same problems.

During the bootcamp we learned necessary programming languages. We started with Ruby - we've build some software’s that worked on the command prompt - you know, that thing that looks really hacker like! We've learned to parse and scrap websites, I really loved doing that, and I scrapped many websites myself.
Then we jumped in database, an elementary part of every software, we learned how to persist and manipulate the data.
Then we jumped into interface design with the frontend part, HTML and CSS helped us design our apps user interface. We also went through javascript and jquery, the old black command prompt got left behind and we could build good-looking web apps!
In the 6th week, we finally reached Rails! This is the week where all the magic happens! Everything is connected and makes sense: Ruby, HTML, CSS, Jquery, Database. Everything is possible now!

In the last two weeks of the bootcamp we have to build a app from scratch. Every student gets to present as many ideas as he has in mind and the ones that get more votes from the students gets developed. We were divided in four groups.
My group developed an app to order food and beverages in stadiums and events and get it delivered in your seat. We learned how to develop many interesting functions, like logins, payments, facebook interaction, etc. In two weeks, we had used almost everything we had learned in the 7 weeks before.
In the last day we had the opportunity to present our project to the public, with the presence of the press and even VCs, investors, and members of the tech community. Awesome!
It's a long text but I really wanted to show you how everything felt!

If it was worth it? Definitively! Some students got jobs, some launched their products and some are working as freelancers! I managed to become independent, as intended!

I graduated from a French Business School in 2015 and after a few years travelling and working as a business developer in tech companies I thought it was time for me to start learning again. I wanted to expand my technical skills and find a way to express... Read More my creativity.

In coding, there is always new trends to analize, new things to learn. A friend of mine who works in the tech and start-up scene in Paris recommended me Le Wagon. I was already living in Barcelona and I met Gus, the driver, who invited me to a demo day. I was amazed by the quality of the projects. I decided that I wanted to learn how to build a product from scratch and decided to join the next batch. That’s how I fell in love with the world of programming !

The first 2 weeks were tough. I had to jump head first into a brand new world full of equations and that I found very conceptual. But I soon understood that I will never be left alone with my problems. Becoming a developer comes with an amazing community always prone to share advice and to support you.

The program very well-structured: lectures in the morning, exercizes in the afternoon with the help of the teachers, and live-code in the evening as a recap of the day’s concept.
The teaching was also top quality. The staff at Le Wagon Barcelona is skilled, supportive and enthusiastic, and I have been amazed by the teachers’ availability and dedication. There is a real sense of community that helped me throughout the bootcamp and since. This is more than a technical program, the bootcamp also teaches great product and project management skills : during the project stage I learnt how to define the easiest Product possible with an optimized user experience.

In a few words, Le Wagon gave me necessary skills and enough confidence to feel autonomous after the bootcamp to work on my own projects and keep learning: there will definitely be a before and after Le Wagon. I would recommend the course to anyone ready to start a challenging coding journey and discover an exciting community.

My 9 weeks training at Le Wagon Bordeaux (batch#51) was such an amazing experience ! The teachers team, the pedagogy, the interaction between alumnis and the projects we made, gave me really operational skills and a clear vision of what an efficient work... Read More is in full stack web developpement. In the last 10 days we built a full and working platform for delivery companies and customers with all the techs we’ve learned, like geolocalization and mapping.
Be prepared to meet exciting people, to spend hours of working and to finally blow your mind !

Would you like to learn how to build a web application from scratch, surrounded by skillfull and friendly teachers? And follow courses at le Wagon in a beautiful city next to the sea while having a good glass of wine after hard day of work? Bordeaux may... Read More be your destination :)

Hello everybody! My name is Pierre. I have been a student at the Le Wagon - Bordeaux for 9 weeks (batch 51). How incredibe and serious the way code has been taught to me, with no experience at all in web developpement before starting the courses. (I need to remind you that the courses is also structured for advanced level students).

You will probably fall in love with ruby when coding simple programs to start, enjoy designing your database schema and play hard with ActiveRecord in Rails, the framework you will use to build your web app! Patience, one step at a time, the road is not that easy and you will have to work hard during those weeks if you really wish to assimilate intense hours of courses and code (several langages as well!)

You will also learn to design your pages, use Bootstrap and make layouts responsive to user’s devices (mobile phone, tablets etc.). Everything is made (online plateform, live codes, exercices, documentation) to make you practice and to be automomous in your work. Helpfull teachers and assistants will guide you through the courses, resolvings conflicts and bugs, giving you advices and tips when you’re stucked, and on top of that : share experience as humans with a strong passion for code! (You will meet extraordinary, available and open-minded people).

During the 10 last days at Le Wagon, you will work on a rails project in team (you build everything from scratch and present a demo in front of a public audience in the end.

I developped with my team a social online plattform to share opinions on various themes with a fun angle. It was a technical challenge to increment the Websocket ActionCable technology in our app to get results in real time with a friendly user interface.

Le Wagon – Bordeaux is also very involved in technical business life. Meetups, business conferences on various themes and they foster you to particpate in order to increase your developper’s web culture, your business vision etc.

That was honnestly the best courses I have ever had in the past few years in a great environnement: kitchen and unlimited coffee, comfy chairs and work space!

It's been a few weeks since I finished my training in the wagon in Bordeaux during the bacth #51 and today I confirm a sentence that I could see on their website: "You will learn in 2 months what you would have learned in 2 years".

After graduating with... Read More a degree in commerce, I wanted to reorient myself in an area that really attracted me but I did not want to go back on several years of studies. The ideal was to find a fast and qualitative training to get strong skills in web development and The Wagon was the key to succeed.

I had the opportunity before I graduated in marketing to do a year of computer science, but i realised that after a year I did not have real reusable skills.

9 January 2017, the adventure begins with 28 totally different people. The first few days are relatively difficult, we code, it works but we do not know how. More days passe and I realize that our level is really good. All that we were doing with difficulty and that we didn’t understand a few days later came basic elements that were mechanically realized with a real understanding.

We spend 9 weeks to think and work, we learn all that is necessary to develop a website from scratch.

The last two weeks are devoted to develop a personal project in a group. I was able to develop a survey application with impressive functionalities. The fact of being able to make it discover to other people was a satisfaction and a motivation to continue in this field, due to the complexity of the site and the final result that was incredible.

Today the training is over and the Wagon has been the best experience of my life. I have been able to obtain a relatively high level that I could never get without the help of the teachers but also the students who support during the 9 weeks and the network of more than 1200 people.

Thanks to the wagon for this new passion, this great atmosphere and these deciding skills that I added to my cv.

When I first came across on Le Wagon website the first thing caught my attention was their slogan: “Change your life: learn to code”. I thought this was exactly what I wanted, change my life, jump in another “adventure”.

After my 4 years in China and almost... Read More 1 in Cambodia working as a Project manager in the garment business, I wanted to go back to Europe and start again a new career.

Cause my IT background and cause ,as Project Manager, I always worked with developers I decided that the best way to go back in the market was to polish off my coding skills, which I was not touching since the university times.

To me coding always been something boring to do.
I remember at the university studying C or Pascal was a torture, thats why I decided to follow the networking path and avoid code.

But since today the world need coders I decided to give it a second opportunity and study it again in some cool course all around Europe.. and boom! That is exactly when I came across Le Wagon.

I made my decision in one night.. “if it’s cool as it look like then I have found the right course for me”.

I signed in the day after. The first available batch was in Barcelona (beautiful city!) I called them, I did my interview and finally ,after few days, I got the confirmation: I was in!

After a wait of almost 1 month, here I was , learning code in a beautiful city like Barcelona, and yes, everything was like I expected It was, absolutely fantastic.

All teachers and people from Le Wagon they were not just teachers but they were and are great human beings, taught me how to code and how to love it, they transmit me their passion and their will to keep going and to learn something new everyday.

And right now I just can’t stop! I do code everyday and I am hungry of learning more and more, knowing that now I am part of an amazing community that is there anytime I will need help.

Thanks Le Wagon for this great experience, you really changed my life.

Le Wagon is worth the investment and lives up to its reputation. Before joining the bootcamp I was trying to follow online tutorials to learn how I could build some prototypes of ideas we had for web apps but with the feeling I would never be able to... Read More leave the training wheels and ride on my own. I found Le Wagon by chance and seeing that the technology stack covered in the programmed matched what I was trying to learn, it looked like a perfect fit.

The program is demanding and fast-paced, but it is aimed and suited at complete beginners, although I feel that if you take the time to explore the technologies covered before starting you will get so much more out of this bootcamp.

The teachers are experienced in software engineering and they approach topics both from practical standpoints as well as theoretical. The teaching staff is always available to help you with your doubts at all times.

There’s alsomore than simply coding though. Le Wagon organises talks and interviews with entrepreneurs and people involved in the start-up scene, which greatly complements the content of the course.

What really surprised me was the atmosphere between students and that’s something Le Wagon staff fosters and encourages – creating a network of contacts and fellow-students which will continue beyond the bootcamp.

The pace of the last two weeks is hectic due to the final projects but that’s where it all comes together. My team and I built a web app to track routines through user created questions/forms and it was great to see that I was able to build and structure a product on my own that differed from what I had been taught.

Now I understand why some of the reviewers wrote that Le Wagon changed their lives or that it was the greatest thing they’ve ever done. It’s not cliché. Even if you don’t plan on becoming a developer, it is an enriching experience and a fantastic coding program. As for me, I found something I really love doing.