| Deanna | I had read both the good and bad reviews online but I still wanted to come out here over various other bootcamps I had thoroughly researched because of its unique all-inclusive, all-immersive package deal of room and board and instruction right downstairs, and also because of its scholarship opportunities for women. My review below is solely based off my personal experience as a student of the February cohort this year.
Pros:
1. The live-in, full-immersion aspect seals the deal. You can roll out of bed and walk downstairs for class if you wanted to, or you can get up earlier and have that much more time to finish up homework before the day instead of wasting it away commuting.
2. It's hard to say exactly what Coding House will be like for prospective students, because with each cohort, they're constantly making slight tweaks to the curriculum based off the previous one(s). My cohort developed heavily with the MEAN stack. Cade, our instructor, definitely knows the stack well and also taught it well. So far, I am developing with Angular at my job. Perfect; it’s just what I learned from Coding House.
3. It's ultimately up to you how much you're willing to work for what you want. When I needed the extra support, they were there to help me. Cade was a great instructor who was always willing to help. Patrick was the main guy for our second half of the program. He was super supportive taking the time out to sit down with me and work through problems I had with my final project, as was AJ. My own peers were supportive of each other, too.
Improvements to be made:
1. CS fundamentals could definitely be better worked into the core of the curriculum. We did code challenges every morning the first seven weeks, but by the second half, the instruction got a little too lax on that front; we were mostly left to our own devices and to work on our projects. I found myself working on these fundamentals usually during the weekends, even during the first half. Use your own judgment as to how much of your free time you want devote to studying up these things. You won’t always be in an environment where everyone is literally living with you and can help each other out, and this crazy bootcamp-like schedule isn’t going to last forever, so bite the bullet for 14 weeks if you have to.
2. Communication, or the hassle of dealing with logistics during the onboarding stages prior to having begun the bootcamp is another thing that could be worked on. My advice is they definitely need to implement a more structured approach when it comes to logistics especially in the initial stages of the entire onboarding process, and including sending more coherent emails throughout the cohort. I think Coding House just hasn’t hashed out a more systematic approach to dealing with everything more professionally, which can definitely throw people off guard.
Nevertheless, I know I could not have made it as far as I have, let alone in only 14 weeks, without having attended Coding House. If you're willing to put in the extra hours and you're not afraid to seek out the help when you need it, you're going to make it through and learn so much in this condensed amount of time all the same. Was I stressed and challenged there, and do I have a lot more to learn? Of course. But I definitely enjoyed my time there, and perhaps more importantly, I got out of it a job offer that far surpassed my own expectations and a skill set that won't be forgotten any time soon. |