My experience at Alchemy Code Lab was definitely not worth the time, and especially not worth the money I spent. They put more time and effort into convincing you that you will get a job in tech than actually helping you get a job in tech. The job assistance is a joke and consists mostly of their career person telling you to "be positive", "go to networking events", and having special guest lecturers, who are friends of theirs or previous students, who tell you similar obvious job placement advice. The teachers, while knowledgeable in the subject matter do not really know how to teach others unless they already have a background in computer science. The most hands on teaching you will get is from previous students that just finished the program and are being paid minimum wage. If you have any history of workplace trauma, personal trauma, or lack confidence in yourself, you will not do well in this program. This program is mostly for white men who already think highly of themselves and who won't have a hard time getting a job in tech regardless of their abilities. In my opinion, Alchemy Code Lab is a predatory school that preys upon people who are in bad work situations. They spend a lot of energy and time on convincing you that anyone can code and anyone can get a job in tech making $85000 a year with unlimited vacation time and the best benefits in the world. They do very little to help with the job search or helping you make the connections they insist will help you get a job. If you are having a hard time in the classes they tell you you're doing fine and that everybody has a hard time. They tell you just keep moving forward and eventually it will all make sense. When you finally get wise and ask for help, they will just keep gaslighting you until you break. When you finally do crack from the pressure they blame you and tell you that you are unprofessional and won't ever be able to get a job in tech. That last part didn't happen to me personally, it happened to a friend of mine in the cohort ahead of mine. I had a similar experience but mine was more just being gaslighted over and over and told me experience wasn't what others were experiencing. After talking to other students I found that many were also having the same problems with the program. Another thing that they do is lie about how many of their students get placed in jobs in the tech industry. They count any job in the tech industry not coding jobs, even if you're job doesn't have anything to do with coding. I got a job at a tech company doing remote sensing and lidar processing due to my previous career in geospatial science. They count that as me getting a job in the tech industry. Even though I don't do anything tech related that I learned at Alchemy. Also my job pays a little more than half of what I made before I started Alchemy. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money here. Go take some coding classes online for free at freecodecamp or somewhere else. Try taking a computer science course at a community college. Don't waste your money on predatory schooling. | 