Techtonica

My time with Techtonica was a good experience overall. If you are a women or non-binary individual I can not think of another program with the benefits at the same level as Techtonica. You get six months to learn and understand what it means to work in... Read More the tech industry. You will need to be self reliant as this program is not like a normal / traditional higher education environment. There are no daily lectures and you will required to find the best way for you to grasp and understand the material. There are resources provided to assist with questions and tech help though so you are not left completely in the dark. If you have the chance to apply I would as this program can change the trajectory of your career and life for the better in the long run. (Location: Remote)

Techtonica was a difficult but amazing journey. You learn A LOT because Techtonica not only teaches you a full stack (PERN: Postgres, Express, React and Nodejs) but you also learn how to work in a tech environment by learning how to communicate, learning... Read More how to ask for help effectively, how to give/take feedbacks, how to pair program, how agile development works, how to destress, how to overcome imposter syndrome and etc. Theres so much to learn and do which makes it hard but Techtonica knows this, that is why each participant is given their own mentor for support and why there are hundreds of volunteers able to help in a Slack channel when you're stuck and specially why everyone is taught to help each out. The curriculum is solid and the pace is just right and the support after finding a placement is amazing, I hope everyone gets the opportunity to take the same journey I did!

Techtonica was an awesome experience! While it was very challenging and sometimes I had major impostor syndrome, it is set up in a way to really help participants work through challenges and be successful. The staff is awesome and always make themselves... Read More available to help or just chat. Other ways in which participants are supported is through mentors. I had two and I learned so much from them. Other mentors are also available during program hours. In regards to the curriculum, at first I felt like things were overwhelming but eventually learned to trust the process, later things started making sense and falling into place. What I learned allowed for me to feel confident in creating many projects (one final project). Another thing I found extremely useful was all the interview prep. I feel like that really helped prepare me for final interviews and have a more realistic expectation for what interviewing in the real world is like. Overall, I am very grateful for this experience and finally being a software engineer!!!

Being a part of Techtonica has changed my life. I gave up coding 2 years ago because I wasn't making any progress and then last year in 2021 I decided to give it another chance and came across Techtonica. I now have built full-stack apps within 6 months,... Read More thats how amazing it is. I feel confident in my ability to keep learning, their curriculum is well paced. It is fast, challenging but very doable and there is A LOT of support including a mentor assigned to you and others who volunteer their time! It's a mix of independent work and pair programming as is experienced in the real world of tech, there is a lot of collaboration. Besides a lot of technical skills developed here, I gained SO much value from all of the soft skills taught to us and the guest speakers (there are plenty!). I really enjoyed this experience because not only do I have financial stability now, lots of foundational technical skills ,I have overcome a lifelong feeling of imposter syndrome, I feel comfortable advocating for myself, the list can go on. If you put in the work here, you will succeed and come out a better version of yourself and with a great internship at the end. They care a lot about their participants, actively listen and really provide a safe space during this challenge because coding is hard but very rewarding and fun!

This program is intense but beautiful. I went in expecting to of course learn Javascript, but came out with so much more. We learned the PERN stack, how to collaborate with others, how to work with github, the terminal being ur friend and not your foe,... Read More but also how to set boundaries, advocate for yourself, and how to give feedback in a professional setting that translates beautifully into every day life. There was also no shortage of guest speakers that did a great job at showing the diversity in the industry job wise. Just so much. The curriculum was solid but with the amount of time we have for the program, u can only spend so much time on each concept. You are able to put things into practice right away though which helps it stick

I chose Techtonica because it met my needs and goals. It is a boot camp that puts women and nonbinary people at the forefront and supports diversity in the tech place and the fact that this boot camp is free and offers almost a guarantee for an internship... Read More at the end was a no-brainer for me to join. But do not think that the competition or the chance to get in is that easy either. You really do have to put in the work: fill in a short application, long application, complete some code curriculum, have two 3 hours pair programming sessions (it can be intimidating if you have never pair programmed before but they will explain how it works and it is pretty straightforward!), and a few interviews with Techtonica staff. Although it was intimidating as a beginner and self-taught coder for a few months prior to joining the program, if you make it through the interview, you are definitely more than capable than you think of completing the program. In terms of my time at Techtonica, I felt really supported by my cohort mates and staff there. The space felt safe, welcoming, and very involved in making sure people felt heard and feedback was always taken seriously. The general program format was projects due every week alongside learning new topics such as APIs, JSON, HTML and CSS, JavaScript, Express, React, Docker, and a bunch of front and backend concepts to prepare you to be a full-stack engineer. You also have a technical mentor that you get to meet with weekly and 1:1 with the technical manager for check-in like you would in a normal tech job. You also have mock interviews every week covering the material of the week you learned prior. On Wednesday, we had a soft skills day where we worked and focused more on the behavioral aspect of being in a work environment. I found the overall curriculum to be a general overview of full-stack concepts and knowledge we needed to know that gave everyone a breadth versus depth approach which I appreciated. I would highly recommend Techtonica to anyone who has been wanting to get into the Tech industry but has had a hard time jumping through gates and steps to get there. I believe Techtonica does a good job of holding your hand throughout the whole process of learning, getting your first tech job, and supporting you after you finish your internship. Just know if you want this, prepare to dedicate a lot of your time like any full-time job to it, really focus and be present if you are in this boot camp to make the most out of it!

I started coding just half a year before joining Techtonica. My coding experience was limited to writing loops, creating functions, and solving some algorithms. I had never created any applications and didn't know what front-end, back-end, API and databases... Read More are. The competition to get into the program was big. There were multiple steps: completing a long application, finishing a small JavaScript tutorial, two 3-hour pair programming sessions with other applicants, where we were observed by volunteers, and the last step - a 1:1 with a Techtonica staff (writing a code) . Luckily, I was accepted. The program was very intense. Almost every week we would cover a new topic and we would practice the new skills by completing weekly projects. At the end of each week we had knowledge assessment. The best part of the program is that each student gets matched with a personal technical mentor, who helps with the weekly projects, answer technical questions and help to debug. Techtonica staff was also very supportive, and students could address any problems/issues they had. Another great thing about Techtonica, is that the program does not only teach coding but also trains students for behavioral interviews and develop soft skills. Every week we had mock interviews with Techtonica staff, and we had a lot of opportunities to practice interviewing with volunteers from tech companies. I am so happy that I got to know about this amazing program and decided to join. Next week, I am going to graduate from Techtonica, and I got an internship for a back-end role in one of the Techtonica sponsor companies!

I spent years trying to save up money to get into a program. When I first heard of Techtonica, it was the first time I saw a program that seemed to genuinely care about representation and equitable efforts to get underrepresented groups into Tech. It... Read More was hard to catch when applications were open, but when I finally caught it, I followed the requirements to apply. Looking back, I appreciate all of these requirements. Compared to other programs that were either too easy to get into (but expensive), or difficult to get into (and still expensive), Techtonica had requirements laid out for applicants--you had to join their studying workshops (thus get experience pair programming), fill out a long application, and then do a kind of "group" interview where you pair programmed with other applicants while being observed by Techtonica staff. It was all worth it because once we got started, there was no sense of condescension or competition among us--we were genuinely interested in the growth of one another. The curriculum wasn't perfect, but I eventually learned that Techtonica was actively trying to keep up with what would most likely help us in our first jobs. I once asked alums what essential thing they took away from the program (I expected they'd mention a specific part of the tech stack we were using). Their common answer was "learning how to learn, and how to learn fast." Staff couldn't promise the tech stack we were using would be used for our first jobs, but being a month and a half into my current internship, I now know what the alums meant. Programming as a career will involve a lot of learning, so I'm continually grateful for Techtonica's structure that taught us how to approach problems. There are some things I'd recommend improvement for, such as bringing in more guest speakers who can speak on what it's like to navigate in Tech as someone from an underrepresented group. But overall, my main takeaways from this program include: - technical skills to be a great programmer - professional skills to work well with others and be our best professional selves - a sense of camaraderie among other underrepresented folks in the Tech industry (I'm so grateful to have met and worked with the amazing folks in my cohort!) - support and networking opportunities (we had a lot of volunteers, our own mentors, as well as guest speakers) - my first internship! (THANK YOU, Techtonica!) I highly recommend this program to anyone considering it. My only recommendation would be to find support on your own if you can. Techtonica gave us a LOT of support. But what I know really helped me was having friends outside of Techtonica who were willing to help me during off-hours. It's a tough program, but it's oh so worth it!

There was a major overhaul and lots of improvements this spring. If I had to say one thing about the program, its that you can see your feedback make a difference. Even though we're in the virtual form, Techtonica feels like a very people/team culture.... Read More You can't be a loner in the program. In general, the program is incredibly supportive, on many levels, and to many kinds of people. You're gifted with so many opportunities and space to just learn and explore, to grow and thrive. You choose how you learn but you also don't learn alone, you get to collaborate with peers, with various mentors, with industry volunteers (ie Twitter), and so much more. You can focus more on the learning process, and not endlessly chase, "what skills/project would land me a job?", along with trying to network, ultimately stretching yourself thin. You're matched with a mentor and get 1:1 help from many folks, emotional + financial + general support, lots of collaboration practice, and end up with an apprenticeship so you can get your foot in the door. PROS: - You do weekly mock interviews (technical + behavioral) as a practical way to track your progress and get quick feedback. There used to be monthly assessments, but that was scrapped. - Even in the virtual setting (due to COVID), there's a lot of speakers that get invited to chat about their work in the tech field. They try to do a variety including Developer Advocates, Product Management, Security Engineer, DevOps, etc. - There's lots of collaboration practice, including daily code challenges and pair-programming. If you're introverted and timid, don't worry, you don't have to make those pairs on your own. - There are technically no "instructors", but there's still guidance, bundles of resources, and mentors + volunteers. Volunteers would hold "brown-bag" sessions about requested topics, there were plenty of volunteers always around, and the SEAM would walk through topics with us. It's not a classroom setting, but we still had access to "classroom-like" resources like CodeAcademy or Treehouse, and you can do whichever works for you. POSSIBLE CONS: - Often the material is fairly straightforward, but you have to be proactive when something isn't clear. Now is the time to practice asking good questions, during daily stand-up or wrap-up or other meetings. - You do still have to do a fair amount of self-teaching, and if they're open to it, study groups with your peers are helpful. If you're someone who needs that strict set classroom time and set assignments that get checked afterwards, this might not work. The curriculum does have practice problems in every lesson, but you have to choose to do them. - Sometimes things did unexpectedly change, especially in my cohort with curriculum overhauls, which can be unnerving to some neurodiverse folks. You are allowed to take breaks and mental health time, don't be afraid to do it if you need it, it's something I wish I didn't hold back on. That being said, you also have to make sure you're on top of things (it's okay if you miss some content, if unsure just ask!!), and again, be pro-active.

When I applied, I honestly wasn't expecting much of this program and had little trust that it wasn't more than a scam, but I needed a change in structure. College moves at way too slow of a pace when you're a low-income, single mother living paycheck... Read More to paycheck. 6 months later, I'm so happy I applied. What I took for a gamble was actually one of the best decisions I've ever made. PROS: - Curriculum is flexible to your learning style. - There's a large pool of fantastic mentors and volunteers to help you learn, and they actually work in the industry. - Stipends help you support yourself so you can focus on your learning and skill development - Lots of opportunities to network and make connections in the industry. - They simulate a real work environment to prepare you for actual work experiences. - Tons of interview and soft skills practice. Really helps with your confidence. - Exposure to numerous kinds of jobs in the Tech industry. They have a variety of people come in and give presentations and answer questions about their specific career. It's a great way to learn about all the options out there for yourself so you can find your best fit. (Product managers, technical writers, security engineer, developer advocates, data analysts, the works.) - Cohorts are at max around 15 people. It's great because you're not lost in a sea of faces, and you'll get to ask YOUR questions. You're also more easily remembered after networking events. - They're very receptive to feedback and ask for it frequently. They won't let you fall through the cracks if they can help it. You don't need to be afraid to speak up, here. - They care about your mental health and stress management. - They understand the value that comes from having different backgrounds. - This program is 6 months long, rather than the usual 3. I feel this is a much better pace. You're learning a ton, but you're not cramming 120hrs of work into a single week and burning yourself out. There's more time to solidify and round out your skillset. CONS: Honestly, it's hard to list any. Anything I could have complained about at the start of the program, they put lots of effort into improving. Being part of their first remote cohort, there was a lot of adjustment needed during those first couple months, especially with the pandemic. Occasionally, certain documents and items in their curriculum could be out of date (because tech is just constantly changing) or not applicable anymore due to the remote situation, which caused some confusion. But mentors/volunteers greatly made up for that, and they were quick to update sources of information accordingly, so we never stopped learning. We started off doing assessments on a monthly basis, which was stressful because it felt like we really didn't know how we were doing for the whole month in between that feedback. They quickly adjusted that too, however. We started having shorter assessments and mock interviews on a weekly basis, with immediate feedback so we'd know exactly how we were doing and what we needed to work on and they were always aware too. Stress and anxiety went down drastically after that change. They also hired someone to lead weekly meditation sessions to help us manage stress, which I thought was very thoughtful. I have no doubts that they will continue to improve their program. I'm almost jealous of future cohorts. I think the only significant CONS come from whether or not a bootcamp suits your learning style, so... TO MAKE THE MOST OF THIS PROGRAM: - Be comfortable in not knowing everything. That's the nature of working in this industry. There's simply too much to know, and there's constantly new things being added. The real skill of a software engineer is knowing how to pick up a new concept WHEN you need to. - Ask questions! - Be proactive in finding the answers you're looking for. (I can't stress this enough.) - Don't go down rabbit holes trying to read a coding book from front to back, you won't retain 1/5th of what you read. - Implement as you learn. The concepts stick more when you jump in and try them. Seeing it in action can provide an understanding where words just don't cut it. - Communicate. The staff at Techtonica really care. If you're struggling, need to take a mental health day, anything, don't leave them in the dark. They want to help you, they want you to succeed. - Your fellow participants are your friends. You all have different strengths and experiences to contribute. You can and should help each other grow. - Pace yourself. Take breaks, don't pull all-nighters. It makes a difference. - Trust in the process.