| | Bobby | I am writing this review in part, to inform potential students that if they are currently unemployed, partially-employed, or unhappily employed, and they are relying on getting employed in the field as a direct result of this program to relieve their current employment situation, that they should be prepared financially, and with their personal and family emotional support needs, for a long journey.
I am currently a student in the first cohort, and looking to make a career change. We are now in the 16th month of Career Path 3:Modern Frontend Developer, which was originally stated to take 6-8.5 months. I entered the program wanting something more thorough and less dense/accelerated than the at-the-time typical 3 month accelerated program, so I was ok with the stated 6-8.5 month time frame and expected there might be some reasonable extended time since it was the first cohort ever. At this time, the best and fastest students, even those dedicated to full-time study, still have not graduated/finished the program, nor obtained employment as a direct result of having attended the program. There are more than a few people in this path and cohort that are already developers and employed as such, are otherwise likely happily/gainfully employed, or perhaps have a significant someone that can support them through the program, so for those folks, the overtime of the program probably does not matter so much and is possibly even viewed as bonus continuing education for them. But for those that are unemployed, partially employed, or unhappily employed, and had high hopes of being employed in some capacity in the field by now, the greatly extended program time frame has caused financial and personal/family stress.
The curriculum intention is broad and deep. This is a very good thing, and a reason that might make you consider enrolling in this program. The implementation of that so far, needs work however. Course material has often been bloated and not to-the-point enough, less complete in important points than perhaps it should be, and its sequencing sometimes does not make the best sense. There doesn't seem to be frequent enough and steady time spent building substantial projects to develop a sense of accomplishment, proficiency, and confidence, at a point where we are well into the program. This is acknowledged internally and I believe steps are being taken to address these things. There are now also efforts to trim down course material to reduce the overall program time. As long as these remedies are actually fully/successfully implemented, the curriculum will hopefully settle in to something traversable within stated time frames, and result in proficiency and confidence-building works worthy of showing within that time.
There needs to be more attention paid to the status of a student's progress and skill level at various stages in the program. A working project does not necessarily mean the details of semantics, structure, and best practices have been appropriately met. There has been a feedback process in place that has not worked very well at all in that regard. There is discussion now about how this ongoing student evaluation is to be achieved.
One true test of value for any program is the ability to provide the path, material, projects, feedback, and support, to take a person, with their diligent efforts, who is not currently a programmer/developer to a level of proficiency and confidence to become employed in the field outside of the program itself. This has not happened for anyone yet in this program. I do think that this program has the potential to produce thoroughly skilled programmers and developers, assuming that it gets further attention to hone down and improve the digestibility of the material, and address how to evaluate a student's real state of development throughout the program. However, you, and your family and loved ones should be prepared to live with your current personal and employment situation and finances, for the long, yet somewhat unknown, duration. |
