JRS Coding School

TLDR: This course is a fantastic investment. You will learn what you need to know in order to get hired as a junior dev immediately upon graduation, as long as you are appying yourself.  

The long verison: 

I was in the most recent cohort, Jan 2018-April 2018. I had an excellent experience. Trip and Tom are awesome teachers. Trip was our main instructor and he is REALLY fantastic at explaining difficult concepts, and clearly puts a great deal of thought into how he delivers information in order for the students to understand it best. It's pretty incredible how quickly they get you up and running, and in a lasting way - you aren't simply memorizing, you're really, truly learning. 

By then end of the course, you will have the skills you need to be a junior full stack developer. I had no prior javascript knowledge going into the course, and before the course ended I accepted a job offer as a junior React developer here in Charleston. I'm in my first few weeks of the job now and it's going really well - I feel like I was well prepared, and my employers are surprised at how much I know already. 

Like any course, or really anything in life, you do need to apply yourself. Trip and Tom will point you toward the right door, maybe even turn the handle a bit for you, but you have to push the door open and walk through it yourself if you want to get the most out of the course (as it should be). They are encouraging of this and they create a really positive learning environment. Trip is especially sensitive to the emotional dynamic of the class, which I really appreicated - he is empathetic to the frustration that comes with learning and does his best to keep everyone positive and in good spirits even through the toughest parts of the course. 

Scool-life-balance: In the beginning there is not any homework. Any extracurriculars you do are up to you. I probably spent one night a week studying after hours to hammer in some concepts, which I'd recommend doing as a bare minimum. Once you get into the last 3 or 4 weeks of the course, you will be doing a good deal of work after hours to finish your final project. I know some folks had part time jobs outside of class, and if you have to do that you can pull it off - BUT, if you are forutnate enough to not have to work while in the course, I'd really recommend not working and just focusing on your studies. 

This is all to say: this course ROCKS and is well worth the time and money. If you're trying to change careers, this is a really fantastic way to do it. By the time our cohort graduated, half the class either already had jobs or were pretty far along in the interview process. JRS rules!!!!!!!

This is a great program - especially for individuals with little to no coding experience looking to change their career.  I started as a former high school teacher with only a few free codecamp lessons under my belt.  I'm thankful to share that this training taught me what I needed to know to secure a position in software development shortly after the course concluded.

I have no regrets about choosing this program.

Here were a few things that helped me decide:

1) Curriculum to Cost Ratio:

Most programs seemed to want me to choose between front end or back end.  If they did offer a full stack path it was often more expensive, or for a longer period of time.  As a beginner I wanted a full stack education to see the bigger picture in software development.  I'm grateful to the JRS curriculum for embracing this approach and using their years of expertise in the industry to define the most applicable and valuable technologies to learn while working to keep the cost and program length down.

2) Face to Face Instruction:

Coding is challenging.  More so than I realized coming in.  Deciding on a 12-week immersive program adds to this strain.  I knew I wanted a full time program and that I preferred one that met face to face.  With this in mind, the JRS instructors were great.  Each very knowledgable and willing to explain any material in a variety of ways - including before or after regular hours.  They clearly enjoy the classroom and I appreciated their passion for leading others to a set of skills that they believe in.

3) Employment

Most established programs have the advantage of dangling high employment statistics about their alumni and others even provide tuition reimbursement to graduates unable to find work after so many months.  As a seemingly new program, I was worried about this. I learned quickly that I didn't need to be.  First, the instructors are not new to software or to teaching.  Second, they are well connected in the area and more importantly well connected to the industry's direction.  You will gain skills needed in the industry and you will notice that the local community holds a respect for what you've learned because of the instructors who lead the course.

Good luck!

Having struggled to find the time and motivation to learn coding skills on my own, I decided to try a bootcamp to fully commit to a career change.  The JRS Coding School was the perfect experience for me. Going in with little JavaScript experience, by the end I felt proficient as a junior level JavaScript developer.  The teachers of the course, Tom and Trip are great at imparting their knowledge in accessible ways. Having the course from 9-5 really helps you commit to learning how to code, and gets you ready to shift your career to the field or move to a school situation that has a work-like feel.  The topics covered in the course feel applicable to the work that I am doing now that I have graduated and gotten a job.  My favorite part of the school was how modern and up-to-date the ideas and techniques we were being taught were. I was confident and still believe that this is what makes the experience so valuable. I couldn't reccomend the JRS Coding School highly enough. 

I highly recommend JRS Coding School not only to those who may be thinking about a career change, but to experienced web developers who have not yet had a chance to work with full-stack JavaScript, the future (now present!) of web development. 

Whether you're a back-end dev proficient in server-side rendering (PHP, Ruby, etc.) and looking to get your feet wet in client-side rendering apps; or a front-end coder looking to expand your skills across the stack into databases; or a little bit of both and want to lean how to do it all on the command line; well, you couldn't find a better program for a crash course in full stack JavaScript. 

And, if you're like me and think you can do it yourself on your own time, well..., you can, but it would take you over a year to cover the depth that this course goes through in 12 weeks. That is, unless you have willpower to sit by yourself for 8+hrs/day; pick all the right resources; never come across a question you couldn't answer; and enjoy schmoozing with no other living soul save for your cat (good luck, my friend!)

JRS helped me kickstart an entirely new career.

As a bit of background, I had a Master's degree in Human Resources, and spent five miserable years working in that field.  Finally, I'd had enough, left my job, and started at JRS in January '18.

It turned out to be an amazing decision.  I'd argue that those months were some of the most fun (and fulfilling) months of my life.

Our typical day went something like this:

• Show up mid-morning (9ish)
• Learn for about 50 minutes, then a 10 minute break
• Learn for another 50 minutes, then a 10 minute break
• Learn for another 50 minutes, then a 10 minute break
• Break for an hour to an hour and a half for lunch
• Repeat the cycle of 50-ish minutes of work and 10 minute breaks until around 5 p.m.

That schedule worked quite well.  We never felt overwhelmed, and the breaks were frequent enough that we were alawys alert during instructional time.

It also helped that the teacher, Trip, is A) extremely funny, and B) the most effective teacher I've ever had (that's including every teacher I had in 9.5 years of college).  He breaks things down very simply, and walks you through every step of every process with great care.  He's also extremely open to questions.  On top of that, they're recording everything and sending out the links to the videos, so you can always go back and re-watch anything you didn't catch the first time.

My classmates were awesome, too.  We all became good friends.  Even now, many months later, most of us keep in touch.

Finally, I'll say that we didn't have much homework.  JRS believes that it's extremely easy for new programmers to burn out, so they try to keep you stress-free.  It seems like a lot of the bootcamps I read about really stressed 70-80 hour weeks.  JRS is probably around 40-45 hours, and it's really high-quality, efficient instruction.  Their model works very, very well.

And the results?  Well, I had two job interviews within a week or two of graduating, and officially started one of them around a month later.  Two of my classmates (out of 8) were employed before we even graduated.  A few others had jobs within 30 days.

In short, I highly recommend JRS.  It's fun, it's relatively stress-free, you learn a ton, and (assuming you pay attention and do the work) it'll likely lead to a job in a great field.

My experience at JRS Coding School was everything I'd hoped for out of an emersion program.  I had very little programming experience before going to the school and I came out with enough knowledge to get a full time job in the software developement field.  The instructors went above and beyond to help us learn, and they have a passion to further the industry and stay on top of the direction it is heading.  The frameworks and technologies we were taught are some of the most sought out in the industry.   JRS Code School presented a well thought out lesson flow that allowed me to learn more than I could have on my own.  Not only did we learn how to code, but we spent time learning how to work in groups and other skills needed to be a part of a developement team.  I highly recommend JRS Code school to anyone who is serious about learning code.  You won't find a better deal for your money.  

Prior to starting JRS, I would have considered myself an absolute novice when it came to software coding and development. After 12 weeks of an intense yet absolutely enlightening full-stack development immersion, I consider myself confidently qualified to pursue any entry level software development position. I could not have asked for a more patient, knowledgable, and effective duo than Trip and Tom at JRS. I endorse JRS without reservation; what sets JRS apart from the rest, is that they trully want to see their students succeed in software development and ultimately better the Charleston, SC technological corridor.