Coder Foundry

Antonio was a great instructor for this one-week boot camp on Xamarin Mobile Development.

This was my first experience with CoderFoundry and first Mobile Development training and I was quite impressed.  The instructor is well educated and/or experienced in Xamarin Mobile Development and the surrounding technologies including MVC and WebApi.  The class was all hands on, no lectures and taking notes.  Detail reference material was handed out and was very helpful.  All development projects were real-world sample projects that we worked with and added features to it, expanded it's abilities or tweaked the UI.

As with any leading-edge technology training, we had our fair share of issues that slowed or delayed training, but nothing too serious.  Most of these issues were caused by NuGet package updates that were unplanned since the previous month when this course was taught.  Well, these issues are occurrences in .Net developer’s everyday life and you need to know how to understand or debug the problem, research and update the correct NuGet packages.

Being a seasoned Microsoft .Net developer, I had hoped for more in-depth coverage of Xamarin Forms and all its controls, but to attract a broader range of students with different experience levels, the class also included training/review in WebAPI and SQL to access the data for the mobile app.  Other classes within an hour and a half drive offer the same similar curriculum.  Overall the class covered a good basis to begin Xamarin Mobile development to grow from.

My employer had an existing Xamarin iOS application that I need to take over maintenance and development, Antonio also helped me learn how to configure my Mac and Visual Studio on my laptop to work together.  THIS was a great help.

I would recommend this class to any Mid-Level or Sr. Level developer that is needing to or wanting to expand their development onto mobile devices. 

To the reader,

Please note that your opinion may very well differ from my own (the writer) and this is only to help give insight as to if Coder Foundry is the right place for you.

 

I stumbled upon Coder Foundry while I was looking for a career path that was right for me. While I was initially nervous about taking the course, I decided that I should go ahead and try it out as I had two weeks to get my money back. Now that I have finished the Couse, I somewhat wish I had gotten my money back. Of the many things that were stated throughout the course; the two things that stood out to me the most were, "We will help you find a job." and "No, you don't need a degree to get a job." Well, I sit here now writing this review to say that over the past several months, I have adamantly applied and followed up with over 40 companies in the North Carolina area as well as spoken with around 15+ recruiters who have all given me a similar answer as to why I was NOT being looked at or chosen for the position. That answer was, almost always one of two; "You don't have a degree and we can't hire anyone without a degree." (and yes, HR reps said that even though they are to treat everyone as equal on their desk.) and "You don't have enough experience, have you considered getting a degree?" Most of the positions I applied to were entry level requiring anywhere from 1-5 years of experience, with or without a degree (meaning a degree was not required). I have now decided to further my education in computer science by getting a degree and taking part in WBL (work-based learning).

As far as Coder Foundry is concerned, they helped me get three interviews while I was an attending student, and zero interviews after I graduated. I managed to get around five over the phone interviews of which only one seemed promising. There liaison has not contacted me to help me with finding a job nor with any information about companies that may be hiring.

The instructors are knowledgeable but not overly helpful, as the most of my questions were meet with “Have you googled it?” or “Keep looking.” and only where finally answered (after multiple times asking the same question in different ways) in what seemed to be you should know that already manner.

The curriculum overall was laid out in a nice fashion but was not executed in a timely manner due to the main instructor not being in class on a few occasions, granted things do come up in life that we need to take care of. And after having five different people teach the class, there is no consistency in the teaching style nor information being taught. Keeping in mind that it only covers .NET and Microsoft’s codebase, they did manage to cover all the basics, but there was a lack of fundamentals. I recommend prior knowledge of any languages such as Microsoft VB, java, or even python.

 

I should also mention that it is labeled as a 12-week course. With that in mind, I was told that I would not be receiving my certificate of completion because the instructor had to approve of and sign off on our work. That took three more weeks of extra time and money to appease the instructor. This made me very upset as every time I fixed something and said this is done now, the instructor would say hey you need to make this a different color and change this icon because it will look better. All of that for a single piece of paper saying that I have completed a 672 hour course (even though I had accumulated more that 672 hours of work because of the ‘three week extension’ for not having it done the way the instructor wanted it to be; this is also why I list my graduation to be in May as opposed to April when the class actually graduated).

 

All in all, if you have made it this far, I feel I can not recommend this course to others because of the cost and the way I was treated as well as the so called ‘services’ that I never received. I gained more life experience than I did knowledge of programming.

 

To prospective students, I wish you much luck and hope that this opinion has helped you to make your decision.

Coder Foundry is an amazing course that teaches current and up-to-date information that can actually help you get a job in the current market. The hands-on approach used there makes it much easier to learn. The course is difficult, but the teachers are all very well experienced and eager to help every step of the way, even helping outside of class hours if need be. They also do fantastic work with the job placement service at the end of the course. I would recommend Coder Foundry, just a fantastic course overall!

Coder Foundry is an excellent place to learn a new career in programming. Before enrolling in to Coder Foundry, I was working two jobs and was still struggling to make a decent living of just paying the bills. I knew I needed a change and desperately was still looking for a way into the computer technology industry that I had been trying to get in to since I graduated from college with a Bachelor's degree in the field of Computer Science. When a lot of companies would look at my resume and see an educated track record but no hands on experience using what I was taught, Coder Foundry trained me hard by teaching me the hands-on approach of creating code for fundamental real world job experiences to not only prepare you for how it works in the real world but also to be better equipped to succeed after obtaining that job. Coder Foundry has changed my life for the best possible chance at not just getting a career that I love but planting the fundamental pieces to grow stronger than the compeition. Although the work load can be strong and feel overbearing at times, to counter this the class size is fairly small. This gives you time to be addressed individually if neccessary during critical points in the session. While the instructors have different strong points, both are great at helping you learn the key points you need to understand to become better at your skill in programming. No instructor is too busy as well. They both are ready and willing to help you, during reasonable hours of course, at any time if something is troubling you or you just are having a hard time understanding something. But upon completion of this program, you will leave for the better, and be the best equipped for the opportunities that come afterwards. 

In general Coder Foundry is pretty wonderful, however in my review I do want to mention things I'd like to see improved.

What I loved:

- Because of the depth Coder Foundry's teachers went into when it came to developing, I'm very comofortable with C# and Object Oriented Programming concepts. I can now gab about them with ease in an interview

- The passion of the teachers at CF and staff at the adjoining company, Core Techs, is commendable. I always felt valued and listened to as a student, and the teaching methods were stellar (Jason and Antonio ROCK!)

- Having a visible portfolio with well thought out projects really helped me show off my skills as a back-end developer and a creative person (my background was in art history). I know it helped me land the position I have now at a great start up in Raleigh.

Needs improving:

- Unfortunately I was part of a cohort whose education stopped mid-way through the course. CF was forced to close for a few months due to funding issues, however they did re-open in February. I elected to return to CF, but had to restart at the beginning of the course. This was actually beneficial because I could perfect and solidify what I had learned. Where improvement was needed was at the end of this new curriculum, which became hodge podge. I had to start and restart projects because the focus of the instructor would change. I would've liked a continued consistency in my learning experience.

- I wish they would've gone into more depth with important information developers need to know, like HTTP, how the web works, SQL and data manipulation, and languages like Angular and AJAX, which are consistently asked for by employers.

- I wish they would've added a team project. Several companies have asked me about working in a team of developers, which I unfortunately do not have, as our projects were always individual. Maybe the Bug Tracker could be a full team effort in the future?

If you're considering a coding bootcamp, just make sure to do your research on what companies are looking for. Coder Foundry is a great way to learn .NET, C#, and other Microsoft technologies, but is the company you want to work for hiring for that? That being said, Coder Foundry does teach you how to THINK like a programmer, so even if the languages they teach aren't spot on, you'll be able to learn what you need on your own after learning the basic concepts of programming. Overall, I would recommend Coder Foundry. It is a good company with great people. It can definitely get you where you need to be if you're changing careers.

 

I drove 1.5 hours every morning and again every night to attend. This was easily worth every penny for the tuition and my gas. Never before have I looked forward to Mondays. 

 

Programming is not for everyone, but anyone can do it. This course was 12 weeks of constant information, constant programming, constant breaking things, and constant fixing things. Yes, the work day was 8 hours long (9-5), but to get the most out of it, myself and most others continued working afterwards and on the weekend, but any job in this field is going to be like that. It's a field with constant growth and updates, and as developers you have to be leading the charge if you want to stay relevant, and this course helps with that. 

In addition to actually teaching the languages, Antonio (our instructor), taught us how to ask the right questions. You're never going to learn everything about every programming language. There's too many, and they're all too robust and vast, what's more important, and what Antonio made sure to point out on the first day, is having good resources and knowing what the right question to ask is. 

 

The curriculum was fast paced, but it was carried out in such a logical way that everything built on the things we did before. The first project was just getting us familiar with the Visual Studio IDE while having us begin our online presence. The second project introduced the meat and potatoes of what we were doing. The third and fourth projects were garnishes and fine dining presentation (to continue the metaphor). That's not to say the second project was the hardest. I'd say the third one was, but that's because we were cut loose. We had been given the tools, the rest was up to us. If we had questions, Antonio was available during class time and after hours as well, but the better option would be to ask our peers or start building and using our pool of resources.To Antonio's credit, if you asked him a question, you were not immediately given an answer. You were guided to the answer. How else are you going to learn something? 

 

Lastly, the job assistance is real. Throughoiut the course we had mock interviews to prepare us on how to showcase our apps. Additionally, we were taught the basics we needed to be able to handle any of the interview questions. Class vs Interface? I got you bro. Abstract vs Concrete class? Got you there, too. Need me to reverse a string or write a fizzbuzz method? Yep, I can do that. Overloads and Overrides? Let me give you examples of both. 

All of these questions are common interview questons or whiteboarding problems. All of which we could do (assuming you paid attention, but then... why wouldn't you?)

Further, we were sat down in front of employers as early as week 8. The job placement wasn't even really supposed to start until after graduation, but the hype was so real for Coder Foundry thanks to Natosha that we had opportunities for jobs very early. 

 

I might sound like a fanboy, but this school helped turn my life around. I was a bartender before coming here. No coding background what-so-ever. Now I'm a software developer. It really is incredible. 

I have really enjoyed this course. I came in with little knowledge about coding though I have done some at different points in my life. This course has opened my eyes to the wonderful tools that can be used to grow anyone that is willing into a career field that will have near limitless opportunities. Coding might not be for everyone, but this course will give all of the tools and more to accomplish your goals. They are always training on the most current available options that are the best to find jobs and grow in this field as a software developer. I will be taking these things with me where ever I go and look forward to taking what I have learned and applying it to whatever life throws at me next. It is a challenging course but they are honest with you about that from the very beginning, and if it wasn't so, the amount that could be learned would be so much less than what is available.

There are many people out there who say that anyone can learn to code and become a developer. Coder Foundry's immersive curriculum and the instructors teaching styles proves this thought. Before joining the cohort, I had a few years' experience. I joined a team where experience varied amongst our team. The instructors were able to tailor their teaching styles to match everyone's comfort level with the languages and everyone was able to complete the required objectives. As for myself, even with a few years' experience under my belt I still learned a lot from all of the instructors and from my team members. 

The applications that were used as learning example were extremely professional looking and well planned out. The instructors took great care in designing the learning process to teach everyone how to build out each component for each application. They also went through great lengths to push everyone's creativity in building the applications into something that is personal to each student.

After the cohort was complete, the team set their sights to helping all students work toward gaining employment as Full Stack .NET Developers. With new positions constantly being sent, the team helps everyone with preparing for interviews and even modifying resumes for particular positions.

I would recommend Coder Foundry to anyone who is serious about getting into web application development.  

The Coder Foundry course was great. I believe the curriculum was perfect for a beginner like myself, as it started off with the basics and evolved throughout the course into an in-depth look into .NET & C#. I was impressed and happy with the amount of individual time I received when I needed help and the encouragement from the instructors was extremely helpful. I feel like I learned and accomplished a great deal after graduating which will enable me to apply the course to a future career.

Coder Foundry is a great way to establish your foundation in your skill set and be prepared for a role as a developer. The instructors, Antonio and Jacob, are both very knowledgeable and ready and willing to help you if you're ready to put in the work. It's not easy in that it is A LOT of work. You are going to get stuck/lost. You're going to spend more time than you maybe thought going in on the projects. With all that, it is very much doable. And the support Kelly provides in your job search after completion of the course is A-1!! She will help you with your search, then there is also interview prep if you need it (you will!) If you're reading this you're considering it. Do it, you'll be glad you did!