| | David Nishikawa | I came into the program hoping to develop some rudimentary programming skills to help me towards my previous career goals in biochemistry. I expected to come in for the summer, learn how to write code, then return to my field and maybe write some scripts to help analyze lab results or something. What I got instead is far beyond that.
The tech stack offered at ACL is top-notch and up-to-date. Marty, who develops the curriculum, has been in the industry for years and pays careful attention to what the next "big thing" is, which he then incorporates into the curriculum. For example, React with Redux has really begun to pick up steam recently and right now it's one of the hottest skills on the job market. Marty saw it coming and made React/Redux/React-Router a large part of our the curriculum, while also introducing us to component architecture and the virtual DOM in a more general sense, as used by the most used/anticipated frameworks like Angular, Vue, Ember, etc. We're also given a solid foundation in the fundamentals. I was worried that, while I've learned a bunch about git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node.js, Express, MongoDB, SQL, etc., etc., etc. in the class, I still didn't know enough about more Computer Sciencey stuff like algorithms and data structures. I took a couple Udemy courses to fill in the gaps and, turns out, a whole lot of what they went over we did cover, just without some of the jargon and without me realizing it. I should point out that I'm writing this after taking the 401 Full-Stack JS course. The 201 and 301 courses are solid and give you the fundamental skills to start working in Web Development, but it's in the 401 course that we really started going deep with the knowledge and were introduced to most of the cool, future-oriented stuff.
I care a lot about my work environment, so something I really appreciated was that Megan, Marty, SJ, and the other TA's and instructors work really hard to provide all the students with a comfortable, motivating space to learn in. This became more and more important as we progressed through the course and were stressing over increasingly complicated material (programming is hard!). To keep things fresh and moving, we were always encouraged to take a healthy amount of breaks, get up, move around, do some push-ups, etc. When it came to labs, sometimes we'd be working on something solo or in groups, and the nice thing is we were often given the option to choose. All the other students are friendly, motivated, and there to learn, so not once have I gotten the feeling in a group or pair lab that the others were slacking off or not trying. Seeing everyone around you working hard can do so much to keep you going! The instructors, councilors, as well as the folks in charge are super approachable and very open to feedback or often just to chat if you feel a bit overwhelmed. Finally, the physical classrooms are great: open and spacious with lots of natural light and little potted plants, and it's in the heart of DT Portland so whenever you need to pull your eyes away from the screen you can just stroll over to Powell's or Whole Foods or the food truck block. Next to the kitchen they keep a little table with free coffee, a hot water dispenser, and just about any kind of tea you could want. Even on project weeks, which were the most challenging, the ACL classrooms never failed to prop up my spirits and help me get down to business.
To wrap it all up, Alchemy Code Lab teaches some of the most sought-after technologies used in the industry today and gives students an amazing environment to learn it all in. When I was searching for a code school I researched and visited all of the most highly ranked ones in Portland before settling on this one. Not once have I regretted my decision. They have fully converted me from a career in science to one in web development, and I am truly grateful. |
