I graduated from the online self-paced software engineering program. To me, Flatiron's strength is its support structure. The school bends over backwards to provide multiple channels of support. I was originally slated to join the in person program in Seattle, but switched to the online program because it made more sense with my family. I was nervous about a lack of support structure in the online program, but that proved far from the case. There was an abundance of instructor and student led Zoom sessions, focused on relevant topics throughout, including open office hours. The curriculum resides in Flatiron's online platform called Learn. While in the platform, there is always the option of clicking the 'ask a question' button. Questions are displayed to other students who can answer, but Flatiron also has instructors monitoring the questions. You're awarded 'Karma' points for answering questions. I only was able to answer two questions because the instructors were so quick and solid. There are multiple slack channels monitored by section leaders, depending on your place in the program. Finally, you have your educational and career coaches. Your coaches keep tabs on your progress, well being and ultimately job search. Everyone I worked with at Flatiron was enthusiastic, supportive and enjoyable to work with. The curriculum was a combination of reading, videos and test driven coding exercises. The exercises followed a logical progression from programming basics to React/Redux frontends with Rails driven APIs. The curriculum stressed principles and problem solving over recipes. There were some video based walk-throughs that I was not a huge fan of, mostly because I'd rather read or work through problems. But those were few and far between. Most videos were recorded zoom sessions from previous cohorts. Those were enjoyable, informative and even inspirational at times. I experienced a few hiccups and inconsistencies in the Learn system along the way but nothing too catastrophic. Early on I used the 'ask a question' button a couple times and had it figured out in minutes. Later on I could usually work around issues. The cool thing about Learn is that it's built upon Github. So you can dive into the code, troubleshoot and offer up suggestions via pull request. This ensures a pretty healthy evolution. Most of the problems I experienced were right after a version change. Within a couple weeks the kinks were worked out pretty well. That version switch was optional by the way. I actually think the option to contribute to the health of the system is a pretty valuable learning experience. Flatiron is owned by WeWork which started experiencing problems while I was in the program. Flatiron did a great job of communicating as the issue emerged. I did notice some instructor shuffling and maybe an increase in time to book project reviews. But that was a matter of book a review maybe a few days out vs next day. I felt Flatiron was dedicated to providing quality education and honoring their commitments. If anything, I think the WeWork issue just slowed campus expansion. It's worth keeping an eye on, but my sense is Flatiron is fairly independent and in control of their internal affairs. During my time at Flatiron the COVID pandemic and protest in response to George Floyd's death emerged. Folks at Flatiron did a fantastic job of communicating, supporting and adjusting to the uncertain times with heartfelt compassion. The Flatiron family, both staff and students is diverse across all spectrums. The school takes pride in its diversity, and is all the better for it. Going into this program I had some experience coding, including a couple computer science classes in college, years ago. My degree is in Forestry, so technical, but not rocket science. My job leading up to this was pretty much 'the computer guy', including sys admin, configuration, help desk, some scripting and low code development. Before that, I was in EMS. I'm an EMS instructor of several years, which informs my respect for Flatiron's staff. I took this course to fill in gaps, refine my skill-set and land a full-time coding gig. The curriculum was challenging but digestible. The volume of material was significant. This is not a casual endeavor. I juggled a full-time job and raising a toddler. There were many late nights and dark times but Flatiron folks were there for me. I did land a full-time gig before graduation, during the COVID lock down. I kind of lucked out, I was finishing my final project and hadn't fully ramped my job search up yet. The position was presented by my career coach, and seemed to be a good culture fit for me, so I applied. I do live in Seattle, a tech hub. The career coaching was informative, supportive and valuable. Overall this was one of the better educational experiences of my life. It just worked for me. It was a good blend of prescriptive exercises, open ended portfolio work and support. Flatiron folks just seem to care and are interested in your success. | 