| | When deciding which bootcamp to attend, I knew what I wanted and what I didn't want going into it. I wanted an inclusive, friendly learning space where I felt comfortable asking questions and making mistakes. I wanted to learn languages that employers are hiring for but I didn't want to be pigeon-holed into only writing and being proficient in one or two languages - I wanted to learn the hardest thing about programming: how to THINK like a programmer. I also wanted a knowledgeable instructor that I could have access to whenever I needed to ask questions.
While other bootcamps in Portland offer popular languages, friendly learning spaces, and knowledgeable instructors; PDX Code Guild was the only bootcamp in Portland that ticked all of my boxes! Needless to say, it was an easy sell.
I spent the first 4 weeks learning Python 3. There was a huge emphasis on learning how to program rather than how to write in Python specifically - something that would make learning JavaScript later on in the course beautifully easy. We wrote a dungeon crawler game, a phonebook, wrote algorithms, and much more.
The class then moved on to FrontEnd: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We built our own portfolio page, a photo gallery, a dice game, and a few other smaller projects. I especially loved this section!
Finally, Django and database design. This was the final piece to the full-stack puzzle before moving on to working on our Capstone Projects. Each Capstone was completely unique to each student. We were allowed to choose our project based off of what interested us. The only requirement was the project had to at least include all of the languages we learned. Many of my classmates, including myself, put an emphasis on the part of programming they loved best and focused on that. My project was, while also demonstrating deep understanding of backend, very front-end heavy.
All-in-all, it was a great experience. It was VERY hard but I came out a programmer! My instructor was VERY knowledgeable and supportive, the staff friendly, and the overall curriculum exactly what I was looking for. I would recommend this bootcamp to anyone! |