| | Jason | I applied to Fullstack on recommendation from a couple of friends who are developers. I had looked into 2 other highly respected bootcamps as well, but was not interested in the hours they offered. Fullstack is 5 days a week 9-6, while the other two were something like 9-8 M-F and 10-5 or so on Sat. Perhaps they end up covering more at the other schools, but I'm not certain. I knew that I would need to get enough rest, and that I would probably have enough to study on the weekends anyways, which was certainly the case. In addition, I liked that FS has a large alumni base and I felt like I was joining a large network.
The application process was pretty smooth, and included a live pair programming algorithm over Zoom or Skype. I was excited to be accepted, and had to begin the pre-course which was online, at your own pace with weekly deadlines and mini-tests called checkpoints. Most of the pre-course was targeted at improving your javascript skills and didn't include any frameworks or any type of work with stacks. After 3 weeks or so of that, the on-location portion began in NYC. It was exciting to be back in a learning environment, and I had been out of school since 2005. It was also energizing to be surrounded by many other people who were making a career change and were eager to learn. Unfortunately, we were on location for only a week (or two?) because of COVID, but I was extremely pleased at how well everything worked in a remote setting.
The 13 on-location weeks are split into two phases. The first, called junior phase is essentially learning the core stack. Node, Express, Sequelize, React, Redux. Then there is a week off with limited assignments, and a god chance to relax and review. The second phase is essentially putting everything we learned into practice, and prepping for the job hunt. I was surprised at how robust their career coaching was from resume reviews, interview practice, etc. I came out of the program a transformed person, and was fortunate to land a job within 2.5 months of graduating. |