| | Jordi Z | I started the Codeworks bootcamp in April 2018 and graduated in August 2018, here’s my background, bootcamp experience, and outcome:
BACKGROUND
- 34 years old.
- Bachelor’s degree in journalism.
- Got into coding over two years ago.
- Wanted to choose the most demanding, hardest bootcamp I could find.
- Wanted to switch careers and become a front-end developer.
BOOTCAMP EXPERIENCE
- The pre-course will feel hard an give you a good grasp of the hard-parts of JavaScript.
- Your batch will be formed by people from a myriad of countries and backgrounds.
- Codeworks people are flexible with misfortune (and great people too): I had a bike accident and broke my collarbone one week into the program and needed surgery two weeks later. Had to restart the whole thing on the next batch and there was no problem doing so.
- Codeworks is very demanding, but you will get what you put in it: Time will fly, and you will be incredibly busy, so invest 100% of your time, effort and your interest and you’ll get a proportional return. If eventually you realize this is not for you, you’ll still learn plenty of stuff, make great friends and know more about yourself, but don’t get too lazy or you’ll meet my next point:
- Codeworks people is pretty inflexible with laziness: Become a drag to your batch because of your lack of interest, poor attitude or consistently not showing on time for no reason and you’ll promptly see yourself out of the program. I’ve seen this happen.
- Arol, Alessandro (the founders) and all the TA’s from the bootcamp have great sets of skills, learn from them as much as you can, ask all the questions, and leave no stone unturned because that’s your chance to absorb years of seasoned skills in three months. Moreover, once you graduate you will always have them as a safety net for advice or particular questions you might have.
- My advice: At some point, you’ll lean towards a particular technology or side to development (be it front-end, back-end or whatever). Stick to it. Choose a path and follow it. Our field needs a lot of specialization. A Barcelona startup CEO once defined the development scene as ‘broad but shallow’, so help deepen it and your skills will be in demand!
OUTCOME
- I graduated at the end of August, the week after demoing our thesis project I started looking for a job. I got my first call the very same day I started searching and my first offer within three days. The offer was economically within the average for a junior developer in Barcelona but I rejected it because I wanted to see more.
- I got some coding challenges from potential employers: After what I had learned in the bootcamp, none of them felt particularly hard.
- I got a good idea of what I wanted, how much I wanted to be paid and what technologies I was willing to work with or not. That helped a great deal to have successful interviews.
- Marc is a wizard when it comes to providing great support getting you in touch with potential employers and helping you with negotiations. So listen to his advice and apply it. I didn’t do this once and now I regret it so LISTEN.TO.MARC.
- Every time I made it to the on-site interview I ended getting the offer.
- Don’t rush your decision, companies need developers and you can provide what they’re looking for. Marc will tell you so when you feel the impulse to accept the first offer you get, so, again, it’s probably a good idea to listen to Marc.
- All my peers that wanted to get a job where employed as developers before two months after graduation.
- For some weeks, I took a free-lance job offer to develop a small app for a startup. I always felt like I had the proper skills to be working on my own, which greatly boosted my confidence as a front-end developer.
- In the end, I accepted a front-end developer offer from a Fortune 500 company who offered above average salary and benefits.
- Some months into the job, I can tell you that I don’t feel like I am lacking any coding skills compared to my peers.
All in all, if you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering if it’s a good idea to enroll. I can tell you it is, but be willing to trust these guys, their method and be sure that you can put the effort it demands. It will be great to see you become a member of the family of Codeworks graduates. |
