| | Jonathan Ansley | Pros:
The instructors work full time as web developers. They are supportive and they have lively personalities which makes the subject more fun.
The teaching assistants are helpful.
The career support is better than I received from my college, grad school, and other organizations.
We are learning way more than HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We have used APIs, Node.js. Sequelize.js, MySQL, etc. In future weeks, we will learn to use React, React Native, and other cool technologies.
Schedule:
I am in the Monday and Wednesday section of about 20 students. Lately, only about 12 people have been attending in person. I believe the others are watching the live video feed from home. The videos are saved, so you could re-watch if needed. I prefer to attend in person. However, if you need to travel, you could watch online.
There is also a Tuesday and Thursday section. I have had a couple of schedule conflicts, so I attended the other section, and it worked fine.
Both sections come together on Saturdays 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM. Saturdays are usually focused on group projects and breakout activities.
They track attendance (online is OK) and submission of homework. If you miss too many classes, or if you fail to submit too many homework assignments, you will not get a certificate from George Washington University. I have submitted all of my homework, but I might not get everything to work. They have given me credit for it. I think they want to make sure that you have done most of it.
They have "office hours" where the instructor and teaching assistants are in the classroom 45 minutes before class and 30 minutes after classes to help you.
Cons:
You need to manage your time well. It is difficult for me to work full time, attend 10 hours of class, and do 10 or so hours of studying and homework.
If you do not work hard, you can get behind.
Overall, it has been a great experience, and there are not many cons.
Overall:
My classmates support me and each other.
If you are extremely disciplined, you could probably learn most of the material by watching YouTube videos and reading documentation. You could also pay a subscription to a website. If you get stuck on an issue, I guess you could get help from people on StackOverflow or somewhere like that.
Then, you would need to get a skilled profile coach to help you improve your resume, LinkedIn profile, etc.
I chose this boot camp because I am ready to improve my career. I also wanted a structured environment with good instructors, career support, and a certificate from a well known university. |
