Coding Dojo

To be honest the remote Coding Dojo Bootcamp program is NOT worth $6,000 or MORE! After "graduation", I'm left with NO job in the field and horrible debt! My review is based on the remote experience. 

- The remote program value is NOT worth the money.

If I had known that free YouTube videos, free edx.org courses, affordable Udemy, Treehouse, and free Udacity courses were a STRONGER learning foundation than an entire expensive Bootcamp program, I would have SAVED so much money! I wasted both my time and money on this program. 

I thought that having direct human interaction with an instructor would be a stronger learning experience. The remote program only includes two live lectures a week from instructors. There are daily online exercises that you complete by yourself. Initially, I was attracted to the remote program because I was working full-time and could do classes in the evening to hopefully transition to a new career change after graduation.

The pacing of the overall program is unrealistic for the working class and the instructors often RUSH the lecture material. The result is that you do NOT get a solid learning foundation but a rushed final product. My fellow Bootcamp classmates struggled to turn in assignments because they had jobs and the lectures didn't cover all assignments.

- The remote program quality is POOR.

The program gives this false perception that you will be fully trained and ready for the software workforce. The program doesn't teach best practices and sometimes the instructors even forgot the basics of setting up an app. 

Although I respect and liked the instructors, they do not teach you the core features or basics of a programming framework or stack because they didn't have time. The curriculum rushes them. Something essential and simple like the Django Admin dashboard robust functionality. The MEAN portion also felt rushed and MongoDB lectures were very unclear.

I was told I would never get a job using the code that they taught me! They completely rushed and skipped over what frameworks have built-in and the power of the technology. 

It got to the point that I had to PAY outside experts to correct the code quality that the instructors taught me. I also had to pay outside experts to redo code samples that were taught in the program, just to get employers to look at me. So not only did I have to pay the Bootcamp monthly $1,000 installment payments but also additional costs for support that they lacked.

- The remote program lacks support.

AWS deployment was required to pass the final Django exam. No TA knew how to deploy on AWS at the time. With the instructors not available on weekends, I had no choice but to pay outside experts once again!

- The program post-graduation experience.

The remote program's learning quality will NOT make you stand out when applying for jobs. You can forget about passing technical interviews or algorithm screenings! You will fail entry-level tests even for new computer science graduates because Coding Dojo lacks foundation and does NOT replace a computer science degree. 

For the remote program, algorithm training sessions are optional and not enforced or structured in a way to help you pass the most basic level algorithms. On the contrary, I was told the onsite program requires students to do algorithms every day and the learning quality is better. I was told by staff that the basic on HacerRank was too hard to do.

In conclusion, SAVE thousands of dollars please! Enjoy cheap Udemy courses, go to in-person meetup events, find a Code Mentor and watch free YouTube videos. You will learn so much more and have better code samples to show jobs. Seek certification from a program that uses best practices in programming stacks and does not rush the learning experience or quality.

Let me start with the good....

My cohort was amazing. The instructors were amazing.

They say you are the sum of the five people closest to you. If that's true, then for four months, I was an effing genius. I cannot begin to gush about the people I have met there and how they've continued to play a huge part in my life, even today. Everyone was diligent, eager to help, and insanely smart.

I was genuinely surprised and impressed by the camaraderie found the in the people here, not just within my cohort. And since the nature of these boot camps is to attract people from all walks of life, each person I met was this amalgamation of interesting experiences. I learned the most from these people.

The resources

For someone like me, with zero programming and technical education/knowledge/foundation, the instructors and the platform will be an immense resource for learning.

You will have to put in the work and the time. Don't think just because you paid $14K and come to class... sometimes... that you will learn through osmosis. GTFO. I spent a minimum of 60 hr/week here and I still know nothing, but I do know a whole $#i&-ton more than when I started. Know what you're getting into. It's a process. I recognized early that I will never be the strongest programmer and that this will be a life long journey. 

Do all the assignments - there are a bunch;

Do the research - the platform is painfully incomplete and this will teach you to StackOverflow like your life depended on it;

Do the best you can and then do better - open more than one belt exam if allowed, even if you pass on the first time (You, smarty-pants).

Now The Bad....

The company

A lot of broken promises - they initially said we could open other stacks (outside of the three) at the completion of our program. Lies.

Not a good value for the material you actually get. After graduating, I've taken courses (Udemy, Meetups, FCC) where the course work was much better edited, clear, updated regularly, and cohesive all for really cheap or even free. I guess, though, you're more motivated when you have a little skin in the game. $14K to be exact.

Too much politic-ing. Rules and regulations kept changing, often mid-stream. It's very confusing for students to keep up with all the mess. To Coding Dojo corporate - if you're going to change something, have some consistency and let the last cohort be grandfathered in. It's unfair and makes the company look unprofessional and amateurish.

The resources

The platform is painfully incomplete (*see previous comment. They will tell you it's by design. Um sure, is the outdated information also by design?)

Also, some courses were so poorly written that you could cleary tell they did not car about those sections.

But to be fair, it's been a month since I logged in because they kick you out 6 months after you graduate... which is crap because on MOOCs, you have access to all your courses (free and paid) for LIFE (or the option to dl if the course is to be archived). For $14K I'd expect to have access for at least a few years or the option to download my couse work.

The career services

Vary by campus, so I'm told.

The info we got in VA was mostly generic. It might be really good for someone in HS that has no work experience but if you're switching careers or seasoned, you will find the information laughable. The resume examples are horrendous - these are examples of what gets thrown into the trash by recruiters. 

Furthermore, they want all graduates to reguritate the same cultish motto "1,000+ hours of programming" blah blah blah. Be more creative. They need to understand that the pitch, the resume, and the approach will be different for the individual and spend more time with THE individual. 

The instructor for career services was late 75% of the time. He also failed to tell us our course would be starting a week late... Causing people to come into the Dojo when they didn't have to. He also didn't update the materials he sent out... Some dating to the previous year. LOL.

Honestly, I was a bit annoyed with the program itself. Corporate did not feel professional or organized. But like I've mentioned earlier, the people and friendships I've made my time awesome and I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

And no. I am not a software engineer.

Online Coding Dojo Bootcamp was great but went by too fast. I am an experienced Programmer who was looking to review my concepts and learn new programming languages like Python and ASP.NET Core technology. While the curriculum is well structutred and the instructors are great, it went too fast for me, I did not get a chance to review concepts and felt like it was too fast. I am still struggling on some concepts I did before I joined. I need more practice, more real application to what I learned. More hands on, more testing questioning practice.

While my time at CD was extremely challenging, it was also extremely rewarding. It's true what they say, you get what you put in. Me and my close friends at the Dojo spent 10-12 hours a day in the lab, we were genuinely passionate about what we were learning, and now we're all in better places in our life. One thing I would say, don't do it for the hope of attractive salaries, focus on developing yourself and learning as much as you can, because this field of work is already a truly rewarding. Good luck!

My name is Arthur and I graduated the Coding Dojo program  months ago.  I started the program to change careers, but have not yet made my move.  I am still working to get comfortable with some new languages and concepts that are currently being used.  My time in the bootcamp was challenging but definitely a good experience.  If you are looking to learn, be prepared to only get as much out as you get in...hopefully.  I really enjoyed the instructors and  TAs, but class participation was not mandatory.  Therefore, if other students were  not working to group up my only resources was the teacher (spent hours picking Devon and Wes's brain).  I also got some great support from one or two other students.  I would recommend an online bootcamp only if you cannot make in person sessions (which require more teamwork) and also have 25 hrs to dedicate to learning.  I would do the bootcamp again!

Hi everyone, my name is Dumitru and I went thru Coding Dojo bootcamp together with my brother the same time. I want to start with the fact that if you are passionate of web developing, coding and you are not completely new to programing then Coding Dojo is for you. Coding Dojo offers some algorithms code examples, wich can be found here: http://algorithm.codingdojo.com/ you just have to enter your email and take the test, and if you pass the test then you kow for sure you are ready. I'm telling that because bootcamp is not for complete beginers. So in my case Coding Dojo did a great job, in the morning we had 1 hour of algorithms, after that we jumped directly to the platform. Coding Dojo's platform is very wel designed to teach you the newest techology on the market (they difer from location to location, I went to Chicago IL location and at that location they will teach you Python with framework Django, C# with framework ASP.Net Core 2.0, MEAN with framework Angular 5). At Coding Dojo you become full stack developer but you have to dedicate your self, you have to study full time, you can't have a job while in the bootcamp, it is a lot of material which need to be learn in a short period of time. It is a lot of strugling but as they say at Coding Dojo is rewarding. The greatest thing about Coding Dojo is that after each stack they offer you to connect with 2-3 friends and build a website, so after Coding Dojo you should have at least 3 projects. This projects are very important because the improve your knoledge and the most important is for your job interviews. During my job search I got a lot of interviews and I got a lot of questions on my projects. So if Coding Dojo asks you to do a project, do it, it will help you geting a job. About job hunting, after you finish Coding Dojo you get a diploma and next week you are going to have career service week, during that week you'll get a lot of information how to get a job, salary negociation etc. Coding Dojo is not going to look for a job for you, you have to look for a job, I got my job in 2.5 months after finishing that bootcamp, my brother 3.5 months, some of our colegs got jobs after 1.5 months. I'm working contractor for a big company (Abbott under Cognizant) my borter is also a contractor under another company for Google. My bottom line is that it is challenging to find a job, but that not only because is a bootcamp students from coledges universityes, also have a hard time find jobs.
My opinion is that is worthit, but you have to follow the instructors tasks, they kow what is better for you.
Thanks and good luck with your job hunt.
       

       Thanks Coding Dojo.

        Dumitru and Nick.

I'm a career changer and I would love to share my experience at Coding Dojo. 

• What did you do before Coding Dojo?
  • I was an architectural designer and an MBA student. 
• Why did you decide to join Coding Dojo?
  • As I went through my MBA program, I realized that I want to work in the infotech industry. In order to break into the tech industry without a computer science degree was tough. Also, it didn't really make sense not to know what "coding" is since I would have to work with programmers in my future career. So, I decided to take a coding boot camp. I've researched about a few boot camp options (Hackreactor, Thinkful, and UCLA Extention program along with Coding Dojo) in terms of the ROI, proximity, and culture. Coding Dojo fits my need the best. 
• What did you get out of Coding Dojo?
  • I grasped the overview of what coding is and how engineers think and work. At the end of the program, I was able to build prototypes myself that is a valuable skill to become a product manager. 
• What do you do now?
  • After Coding Dojo, I worked as an associate product manager for a startup. There, I've learned how to work with cross-functional team and development process of the digital product, especially making the data-driven decisions at every given time. Now I'm a project manager at a data science consulting firm: working with data scientists to build machine learning solutions for various business problems. 

Coding Dojo was one of the best learning experiences of my life. Coming from the first cohort of a new location was a bit worrting at first, but we got lucky with the postitive and close-knit learning environment. Being a new graduate, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my career or where to start. After learning a bit of html myself, I decided a fully emmersive experience would help me grow the skills I needed to further fuel my hobby.

I'm glad I made the investment to attend coding dojo because I absolutely love what I do. With the large amount oif flexibility and creative freedom in my craft, I enjoy creating websites and apps. If I don't entriely know how to do something, I know the way to think of the solution with the foundations that coding dojo gave me, I can problem solve at work. Even though I still don't know what industry I want to be in for the long run, the techinical and personal skills I gained at coding dojo will allow me to really go anywhere.

Coding Dojo Chicago is awesome. 

Before the Dojo I was a banker and also never completed my college degree. Zero experience in coding but I knew it was a lucrative career path.

I decided on the dojo because I had enough saved away to make the switch and I wanted a career path that was secure and vital. Everyone wants a developer and the need for great developers is only increasing.

I was really on the fence though. Everyone says 6 figure salary on the ads but I basically thought to myself eh...is it really going to happen to me? I took the leap of faith (backed by lots of self research) and went to the dojo.

At the Chicago Dojo I got a great understanding of 3 different full stacks and a community of peers from the onsite that are still friends today! I even built a mobile app and launched it with people from my cohort after we graduated. We successfully had over 1k users world wide downloading and using our app which may not be a lot but it was great to get through those steps of launching a prodict into the world!

Now I am a mobile developer making that very 6 fig salary that all the ads rave about and so this review is certainly overdue.


SOME IMPORTANT CAVEATS:
1. Not everyone in my cohort is a developer. Many took different paths in tech or dropped tech altogether. Some people just did not believe they could do it. It's a shame but many people for some reason just didnt have the confidence in their abilities and the stress can really psych you out of your success. Please if you take this leave the tears and self doubt at the door. Bring your A game. Listen to motivational videos if your getting stressed, whatever it is that gets you pumped for your success be sure to know what you need to bring your focus back

2. I did NOT get a 6 fig job directly out of bootcamp! Here is the timeline I personally tooke:
-Graduate
-3 months learning and building out mobile app (no job and very little applying)
-Part time Code Teaching Assistant for 3 months @ $15-20/hr (still building out mobile app on my own time with friends)
-Land a job at a startup for $55k/yr, 3months there and the company went under!
-Land 6 figure job (current) 

Some people went into 75k/yr jobs right out of bootcamp but I was really passionate about building out this app and I didnt even really try to apply. Others applied really hard but never got a stable job in the industry so moved on to something else. I usually found the people who were less confident in their abilities had a harder time. The people who didnt get psyched out, or at least easily recovered from their stresses got jobs far more easily.


So yea! zero college degree, zero code expereience, and  one Chicago Coding Dojo. Life changed!


You can do it! You need to keep your mental toughness about you the whole way through. There is leterally no difference between me and others who took the course, actually some came in with more experience but I did find that the most confident people who came in pumped to learn and took it easy were far more successful than those who came in seemingly stressed out or believing the courseload was too daunting. 


Best to you on your journey!