Ironhack

I took the Ironhack bootcamp in between working as a Business Development Manager in the Berlin startup ecosystem and starting a Master's degree in Data Science. My objective was to understand software architecture in order to work as a Product Manager, how web apps are created from scratch and to try out potentially moving fully to a job in software engineering. My experience with Ironhack was absolutely fantastic and I would do it again, anytime. 

I will answer the questions I had when picking a bootcamp and hope this can help any future student.

Why not do an online course ?
What I found very special with Ironhack was how teachers and peers were an amazing motivation, something you don't get online. The teachers were available  every day until 10 pm and even on weekends, which I found incredible, everytime with a smile on their face. The teaching team also spend significant time on team building and allowing the students to get to know each other with after school events, cooking sessions, giving the whole experience a very personal touch. They were extremely helpful with every question I ever had, no matter how basic. Studying with a cohort of students and sharing a physical classroom made it much easier for me to keep it up even during hard days where the learning felt like a lot of work.

Whats the niveau of the course and how much time do I need to spend during the course?
I personally had some previous coding experience (Python and C++, but six years before the time of the course) and no idea about front end. There is elaborate pre-work distributed by Ironhack before the start of the physical course that allows you to prepare yourself if you feel insecure about being ready. I did not spend a lot of time on it and found that we were "caught up onto the same level" within the first days of the bootcamp. The course is intense and requires you to spend some long evenings in class, however, it is clear that everyone learns for themselves and teachers are supportive no matter what effort you make - if you keep it low for two days, you will not punished with a frown or less attention. Teachers continuously checked up on the students level of understanding and offered additional courses and catch-up sessions whenever needed. In general it does feel like the whole group goes from "0 to 100" in the two month, coding-wise.

Does it make you job ready?
Totally. I personally was not looking for employment after the bootcamp as I was starting a Master's degree, but nevertheless talked to many CTOs, companies etc in the course of the bootcamp and realized how "good" you get at Ironhack. Talking to my peers and seeing where (and how quickly) they got hired gives me the confidence to say, it makes you absolutely job ready.

For perspective: I enrolled in the full-time web development boot camp after receiving an Uber scholarship award. I graduated from Ironhack in June 2018 and went on to find a job three months later in early September. 

When I first started the course, I had no previous experience in coding, was barely comfortable with a Mac (yes, you read that correctly), and I was WORKING (part-time). If you can avoid working, please do, because this course WILL require time outside of the 400 hours you are put through, and then some.

I was amazed by how knowledgeable our instructor (Nick) and TA's were (I'm talking about you Sandra and Marcos!) as well as the sense of community that is evident from the day you first walk in. Aside from the facts that my cohort missed out on Nizar and that we constantly had to skip over lessons just due to the pace at which we had to learn, I can honestly say that everything is set up for you to succeed. The curriculum is constantly changing with the latest and greatest so that's a huge plus too.

This will be hard. It will challenge you, you'll learn something new every day, and you'll have to put in a lot of work and effort outside of the classroom. But it will be worth it.

I'll end with a final note on my experience during the job hunt and the awesomeness of Daniel Brito (the Outcomes Manager). Don't you dare go ghost on Brito during your job hunt. He's your wing-man, your therapist, your cheerleader on the sidelines and more -as long as you Slack him first. It took me three months after graduating (and A LOT of rejection) to land the job I'll be starting in a few weeks. Don't be afraid to hear no. Keep trying, and, if you're trying to land a web dev role, KEEP CODING. And even if you're not, KEEP LEARNING. Don't be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to jobs - there are other roles willing to pay you for the skills you acquired - my current role doesn't require coding, but the skill helped me land it. Brito was there throughout the entire process, constantly keeping track of my progress, and rooting for me the entire time. 

I'm grateful to have gone through this experience because it really did change my life. I've made friendships that'll last me a lifetime and the return on my investment was better than I could've imagined. 

I have just finished the 9-week UX/UI Design bootcamp in Ironhack Paris, and I'm happy to say it's one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

After a few years working in advertising, I wanted to dive into the digital world, working on a product that would evolve over time, and would make its user's life easier. That's why I decided to attend the UX/UI design bootcamp in Ironhack Paris, after looking for different learning options online, and getting recommendations from friends.

During this bootcamp, you will learn the full UX/UI design process, mixing theory and actual case studies to apply your knowledge. For your final project, you will work with a real company on an actual brief (in my case a start up specialised in car logistics), which is super interesting, and gives you a sneak peek of your future professional life as a UX/UI designer.

It is definitely an intense program, where you have to assimilate lots of knowledge in a limited amount of time. You won't be alone though: my other fellow students were really supportive of each other, and the teachers are always there to help you, challenge you in every decision you make, to push you out of your comfort zone.

Overall, this bootcamp helped me to always challenge myself, discover new skills, to be ready for taking my career to a new level, thanks also to a career support program that helps you find the  best company to work for after the bootcamp.

Oh and the perks: you will be in the beautiful building of WeWork in the heart of Paris (10min walk from the Champs-Elysees), with a nice rooftop to enjoy (free) beers in the evening! :-)

Lastly, this bootcamp is quite pricey but I can assure you it is definitely worth it, if you want to switch career to become a UX/UI designer!

Last Christmas I met a UX designer from San Francisco who was on vacation in Mexico City. He told me he worked at a startup that helps immigrants in the US to have access to education. In three years, that company had already helped more than 1K people. "I want to have a job like that!" I told him. I enjoyed working as a graphic designer in an advertising agency, but I wanted more. I was not fulfilled. Six months later, I was studying UX/UI design in Ironhack and I can say that this has been one of my best decisions I have made. It was difficult at first because the course is quite intense and demanding, but it's worth it. In addition, the Ironhack staff is very supportive and prepare you to be competitive and find a good job in a matter of weeks.  

Moreover, at the hiring fair we had the opportunity to meet people from high profile companies such as Bancomer, Liverpool, Clip, Multiplica and many more.

I will always be grateful to them for helping me achieve my goals.

I’ve just finished the full-time web development bootcamp with Ironhack (May-August 2018) where we learned MEAN stack development. The course covers a wide range of topics and gives you all the tools needed to start your career as a junior developer, however to get the best out of the course, it’s important to be fully invested and to know what outcomes you want from your bootcamp.

- the negatives –
There is a big importance on team building within the class and with the other cohorts happening at the same time, but at times this can feel a bit forced. If you’re not very social, this can be tiring.

Scheduling/organization seems to be a bit of an issue. Some examples: having (somewhat required) career prep sessions or activities during our lunch breaks, never receiving reinforcement lessons, catching up on courses during our project weeks, etc. This probably depends a lot of the cohort and the other factors, but some things just seemed last second and/or badly timed.
 

+ the positives +
The materials are good, and the staff is nice, but the stand out was our instructor, Nizar. He is truly an excellent teacher; enthusiastic and very clear in his manner of explaining (simple and complex) concepts. I could not have asked for a better instructor for the course.

The career services were also super helpful. The Outcomes Manager, Dina, helped us with our resumes, rebranding, and explaining our background to recruiters. We got to meet with many companies, as well as recruitment sites. I most certainly feel that without the connections of Ironhack, I would not have had as much exposure to companies looking for junior developers.

Three weeks after the bootcamp, I had three offers from very interesting companies. I can honestly say that none of that would have been possible without Ironhack.

*For future students, a knowledge of French will be helpful. It won’t cause any problems during the course, but it can ease communication with classmates/TAs and future employers.

I am overall super happy with the program! If you want to learn web development, join Ironhack.

First off, let me start this review by saying that I was a part of the full-time web dev cohort in January of 2018 and I graduated in March 2018. So this has nothing to do with any current instructor - just to be clear before I start. I waited this long to write a review because I wanted to see how I felt after the course and wait until I found a job (which I did) and how I felt at work in terms of preparation and knowledge.

I want to start by saying that both of my TA's at the time (Sandra & Jessica) we're both incredibly amazing and super helpful throughout the entire course. If it wasn't for them I probably would not have finished the course and I would not be where I am today. Sandra knows the material so well and honestly, should have been our lead instructor. I know others in my class felt the same way.

After extensive research and planning, I ultimately decided to attend Ironhack over other boot camps because of 3 things: The lead instructor Nizar who has a great reputation, the curriculum looked more modern and promising over other schools, and Brito also has a great reputation for job placement.

The night before my class started we all received a message on Slack from a guy named Louis, introducing himself as our lead instructor for the entire cohort. I immediately contacted someone about it because I wasn't happy about Nizer teaching the course as that was one of my main reasons for attending Ironhack. Changing lead instructors pretty much last minute and not informing the students prior to the class beginning was a huge failure on Ironhacks part and I felt we really got screwed over. They obviously needed someone asap to teach the course because Nizar was transferring to the campus in Paris. I spoke to multiple people about the issue and no one really seemed to care. To make things shorter we were left with a subpar instructor who was previously teaching Ruby in Japan. Not being able to do anything about the situation (I already had quit my full-time job for this) I decided to give it a chance and do the class. From the first week, I could tell that there was something off about him. He did not know the material at all, he could not fix the bugs in our code, knew nothing about Angular and honestly I don't think he even knew how to code in JavaScript as he was just following along in the lessons line for line and encountering errors he could not fix, ultimately leaving us with a bunch of code and projects that don't fully work as intended. Louis became more and more unprofessional as the cohort went on, saying to students how he "didn't really want to be a programmer" & how 1 or 2 weeks before the class ended he had "already purchased a plane ticket back to Japan for his girlfriend". He would often leave in the middle of the day leaving the work for the TA's to manage and ourselves. I would ask him for help multiple times when I would get stuck and he was not able to help me or even point me in the right direction. I would go to Sandra right after and she immediately knew what was wrong with my code. When it came time for Module 3 of the course & the Angular portion of the material, he was pretty much a ghost. He knew nothing about the framework and Sandra our TA, taught the class for the entire remainder of the course, which helped everyone out a lot. During this time, he sat in the back of the room on his computer or left early. The fact that Ironhack allowed this to go on and didn't offer any sort of help or compensation for it really bothers me to this day. I quit my job dropped everything and paid good money to go there and we shouldn't have had to deal with this sort of thing. But of course business is business as usual and that's more important to them it seemed.

Lead instructor aside, I feel the curriculum has flaws but is pretty solid as far as material. My two biggest issues with the curriculum were that the Canvas portion was WAY too long and honestly completely useless unless you're going to build browser games at work (which you probably won't). I feel like we could have used all that time to focus more on fundamentals of JavaScript which was lacking and something more realistic to prepare you for the real world. My second issue is that there were WAY too many bugs in the curriculum. Since Louis was never able to fix the bugs during the class, he would often stop that portion of the lesson and continue on to something else because of time, and leaving us with a bunch of repositories and examples that don't work. The curriculum should be reviewed, re-written, and tested thoroughly before presenting it to students so everyone can finish their lessons and in-class assignments. I would suggest hiring someone to do this if they haven't since then.

I gave 3 stars for my overall experience because at the end of the day my classmates were all awesome and I had a really good time. The campus is great, everyone is friendly, and it's a really cool experience. My TA's were awesome and honestly, I would give 5 stars if I wasn't stuck with an awful lead instructor.

Last but not least, Brito (Outcomes manager) is really awesome and a great guy. He helped me a lot during career week and even took time out of his day post-career week to video call me and help me out with my job search. He gave a bunch of in-person job search help sessions 2 times a month after the cohort ended and I was able to learn a lot of great techniques and special ways to get in contact with employers and was able to effectively land interviews. He was always available on slack to communicate and responded quickly. This man gets 5/5 stars and I would give him more stars if I could. Super helpful guy and Ironhack students are very lucky to have him!

I was able to find a job a little over 2 months post-graduation and I started working as a Jr. Software Developer in June 2018. I'm still here and I really love my job. Although I did not feel ready AT ALL after the class ended because of our unfortunate circumstances, I decided to keep coding every day once the class finished and did a couple courses on Udemy to keep my knowledge fresh and continue pursuing being a developer while getting interviews. I can honestly say that if you don't continue coding once the class is done - it's over. It's tough to motivate yourself daily to put in the work but in my case, it definitely paid off and I'm super happy I pushed myself to get there. I deal with imposter syndrome every single day but I know that with time things will start to click and things will get easier. This is not an easy job at all.

My advice to anyone who wants to take the course is to really make sure who your lead instructor is going to be and regularly ask to make sure that person is still going to be teaching so your not hit with any surprises the night before class starts. I would suggest doing some online courses on Udemy before starting the class as it will really help you progress faster. Looking back, I wish I would have been better prepared and I know what I would have done differently now that I'm done. You can't learn everything in 9 weeks! Spend a few months learning the material before you start, it will help a lot. And listen to Brito!

I graduated from Ironhack Miami's UX/UI full-time boot camp this August. This program is by far one of the most amazing opportunities I have ever found myself being a part of. After graduating college in may, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I came across user design experiences through the school General Assembly but found that they did not offer user interface which I wanted to learn. Ironhack is one of the only institutions in the country which offer both. And from what I've learned, only learning UX is not viable enough to take into the workforce, you need to learn interface as well. 

I graduated with a bachelors in art history and had been craving to go into the creative field. At first, I was unsure about Ironhack and was scared to make a move from New York to Miami to participate in this program. But my fears were soon gone after my very first day at Ironhack. The first day, our fantastic TA's told us by the end of the nine weeks, our cohort would become not only our friends but our family. This learning environment is unlike any other I have seen throughout my schooling career. David Fast, my instructor, is a TRUE visionary. He is brilliant, driven, and cares about his students in a way I have never seen in the American school system before. The work environment is so beautiful at building co. You gain the insights of people from their vast background, and you end up growing with your classmates, and they help build you up throughout the entire course. I can go on for hours about ironhack, but all I can say is... if you can take the time to take this course... it will change your perspective, your motivations, and your life in the most wonderful way. I recommend it from the bottom of my heart. I miss ironhack so much and hopefully, one day ill have the opportunity to participate in the web dev class as well. All the best, and good luck!

I recently graduated from the Ironhack Miami, Full Time Full Stack Web Development boot camp in August 2018

I went to Ironhack to learn, hands on and specialize myself in web development after having self studied over two years on my own.

Was it worth it? Yes. Did I learn anything? A ton. Was it hard? Oh yes it was.

The Ironhack curriculum and training is intensive. It will definitely require more than 400 hours in 9 weeks, on your own time, besides your class time as well, mastering the craft in becoming a full stack developer. The hours will be spent in class will also require you to work at home and complete your class assignments, especially during your project weeks.

It is intensive, fast paced, rigorous and incredibly demanding, but everything's done for you to succeed. If you can make it through the Ironhack curriculum, you can make it through anything else tech or life throws at you with an incredible confidence knowing that you know what you know. The instructors are always present as well as the Teachers Assistants. You are not alone as your classmates are going through the same things as you, are here too, working together as one cohort, in unity, fear not, you will always get some help when needed and if your not afraid to ask.

Of course in Tech you won't know everything there is to know when you graduate, but you'll be prepared to have an incredible kick start and keep improving a lot faster than if you didn't attend Ironhack and tried to learn on your own. There are many that can learn well on their own by self study. It's possible. With Ironhack, my newfound skills and experience are now more solidified than ever. This is a lifelong learning commitment even after graduating. Just like breathing. If you are committed to coding, you can't stop coding. Commit. Commit. Commit. It will be woth it. You are worth it.

Your instructor Nick, is the Godfather of Code. If he can't fix it, the code doesn't exist. A gazillion thanks to Nick, all the Ta's, Brito and the Ironhack staff. An incredible life changing experience I will never forget and no longer have to hope for a better future.

Once you've graduated, you're always an Ironhacker. If you ever need anything during your job search, Brito is the man you can call and ask for help, advice, contacts, or even just drop by for events or just to say hello. Just be sure to slack him.

You must be willing to work hard. Not procrastinate and definitely don't hesitate Just go for it. One of the most important investments you will make in your life. This is by far, not an expense, but an incredible investment in yourself. The return is....priceless.

I just recently graduated from the UX/UI Design full-time bootcamp at Ironhack Miami, and I had the time of my life. It was a very difficult and extremely challenging process for me, but the amount of knowledge and hands-on experience you acquire in only 2 months is amazing. Needless to say, the bootcamp experience is really not for the weak hearted. It pushes you beyond your limits and tests you on every level to really pull out the best within each student.

The most important skill I’ve learned during my time at Ironhack was to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. That’s essentially the nature of the course; it forces each student to enhance their strengths, but most importantly, work on their weaknesses. There is limited time to get assignments done, so exercising better time management is essential. There are presentations and public speaking almost every week, there is the constant exercise of accepting failure and making mistakes, and the idea that perfection is your enemy (so if there are any perfectionists out there, get ready to let go of this habit guys, because everything is actually supposed to be “Agile”). I also learned that throughout any UX/UI design process, the user should always be the guide, and you really have to follow and respect the process, never jump to solutions.  

The staff at Ironhack was very helpful and most importantly, were always positive. It really helps to be surrounded by instructors and TA’s who believe in each student’s potential, who are ready to listen when you need to vent, who provide constructive feedback, any help needed or just be uplifting with optimistic comments. I am very grateful to everyone at Ironhack who guided me throughout the cohort: my teacher, David, my TA’s Hugo and Hector, my Web Dev week instructors Sandra and Colby, as well as Brito, our super dedicated Career Resources professional! They just made my time in the cohort extremely enjoyable and meaningful.

Also, being in such an amazing co-working environment such as Building, helped make the experience memorable. I really love it there, I always feel welcome and comfortable, like it is my home away from home. I have spent A LOT of time there, and I love the fact that students have access to the space 24/7 with the use of the fob (I didn’t want to return mine at the end of the cohort!). It is no wonder I would always tell people who asked me about the course that I would live at Building and sleep in Aventura. I cannot express enough how much I loooooved being in that space and am happy to return each time I visit. Everything about it was awesome: the classroom environment with the ability to write and ideate on the white walls, cover the glass walls with our sticky notes, the nook with the comfy couch on the 2nd floor, cafecito at 3:05 brought to us everyday by the very sweet ladies: Mercedes and Maria, and especially the rooftop with the beer on tap. It is just a great space to get inspired, work, and also to network.

The only cons I have for the cohort, is that I wish the course were longer. I personally think 3 months would be ideal, but if not, then at least 2 weeks extra so that the students can have more time to work with the web devs and also to better prepare for the hiring week. I felt an enormous amount of pressure to get my portfolio ready and honestly didn’t feel comfortable with what I presented to perspective employers. So it is important to have either an extra week to solely focus on that or to incorporate it more throughout the cohort (weekly check-ins on the progress, time for business cards to be made). It was constantly drilled into us that “the portfolio is what will get you hired”, so quality time to work on it is essential. Students will be better prepared and most likely result in more hires right out of the hiring fair. So, win win on both ends: great for the students as well as the school. Being able to work more closely with the web dev cohort is also essential in order to better prepare for the field. It would be great to work with them in fully developing one of our projects into a functional app, for example.

Overall, my experience at Ironhack was very positive and this was the best investment I have done for my career. I had to overcome a lot of personal difficulties and blockers along the road, but truthfully, there is nothing more fulfilling than when you overcome something that initially might seem impossible, whether that is fear of public speaking or just delivering assignments on time. I loved every minute of the cohort and will forever be a proud Ironhacker. I have made incredible friends, developed a great support system with the school, and am excited as well as ready for what is yet to come!!! Cheers!!!

• People I met there, my class, the teachers, the TAs, the web dev class and the staff are great. Everyone is on the same page, eager to work and bringing his skill and his good vibe to the table
• The network it brings you is huge, it's opening you several doors and gives you a nice pit stop to boost your career
• The content of the course is relevant and complete. David is a super pedagogue, and extremely attentive. Plus, we are working on three different projects which enable us to master the design thinking methodology at the end of the course.
• What I learned: The complete methodology of design thinking, how to actually use the lean UX method and how to conduct proper research.
• I feel ready to go on the market and I already had three mission offers after 3 weeks of graduation!
• The staff was really competent, and I would like to thanks particularly Jess, Alia, Brito, and David for their work
• Building and co, the cowering space was perfect and provides everything you need: a comfortable space to work, coffee and snack to refill at any time.

Being a webdev in 9 scholar weeks... not exactly. Yes, you'll be a full stack webdev, used to good practices, 9 weeks after you started the bootcamp. But you'll start the bootcamp after a 2-3 weeks (full time) prework at home. And all over the bootcamp you'll have to also do extra-work late in the evening and during the week-ends. Should I have known that, I would have set up arrangements to stay close to the school during the week to be able to provide a 100% work. Anyway, it was a huge experience. Both the admin and teaching teams are awesome, and even if having the students learn so many things in a so short time sounds like a miracle... yes, they can! So... if your motivation and your energy are strong, just do Ironhack and enjoy!