Juno College of Technology

When I decided it was time to make a career change I started searching for a coding school, and there are plenty. When it came to HackerYou alumni the reviews had something in common: how their experience were amazing in class and beyond that.

Having finished their Web Development Fundamentals course I can now say that myself. 

Not only the course is structured in a way that you learn A LOT without even realizing, but every single HackerYour team member is an amazing professional that loves what they do, and it reflects on their work. Classes were never boring, it never felt like a chore, it didn't even looked like I was about to spend the majority of my Sunday studying! I was excited about what new amazing things we'd learn that day. Everybody was. HackerYou creates a sense of community, where people from the most diverse backgrounds can feel valued for what they can bring to the table, and what they can learn from one another. Our instructor (Jazz) and our mentors (Allison and Meagan) were always friendly and approachable, no questions left unanswered.

If you want to start coding but don't know how to start, or already have a basic knowledge but want to step up your skills, this is the course for you. If you work with devs and want to be able to communicate with them better, this is the course for you. If you are thinking about changing your career but don't want to make the big jump yet, you guessed it right, this is the course for you! Now I know for certain that I want to go down this yellow brick road. I'm still impressed by how much I've learned in class!

This course is good even if you have 0 knowledge about HTML and CSS, and I mean it. Don't feel discouraged if you barely know how to turn your computer on, in a matter of weeks you'll have a new set of impressive skills!

I graduated from the full time front end bootcamp this June 2018 and it was honestly a life changing experience.  The instructors and staff are amazing people, very warm and attentive.  The course material is updated so that you are staying ahead of or at least on the curve of emerging trends in front-end development.  I would absolutely take this course if you are looking for a career change to web development.  

In terms of what was taught (you can see the full curiculum here) we spent a couple of weeks reaffirming previous html css knowledge, it is required that you have some previous experience with this as there is a tech test to get in.  You then spend the rest of the time learning JavaScript fundamentals, some tooling, React framework and some of React Router.  The course is designed to help you create a portfolio site to eventually get a job working as a developer full time.  I was offered a job less than a month after graduation which is honestly amazing given that I spent months job hunting after finishing university.  While I will say that some of my classmates are still looking, there are at least half of us employed and the other half are having interviews / have taken a break for the summer to pick back up come September.  You will not necessarily learn EVERYTHING required to work in the real world some things will just need to be learned on the job but you get a really solid foundation to tackle most problems you will face.  Prior to taking the bootcamp I took the part time fundamentals course and the part time JavaScript course (taking this one was especially helpful, although no prior knowledge of JS is required).  In terms of what I knew before the fundamentals...almost nothing? Some Dreamweaver suite from high school, some C++ from 8 years ago...I do have a background in science but I think that anyone can make this change with enough effort and determination.  Honestly great experience, I am going back to be a bootcamp buddy for the up-coming cohort and will probably linger around and participate for as long as they'll have me.  

I am nearing the last class of the Summer 2018 Part-Time Javascript course, and have taken the Part-Time Web Development in Summer of 2017, and having taken many University and Online courses that aim to reach similar end goals with their students, Hackeryou's teaching style and ever-evolving curriculum makes it a worthwhile decision to deviate from the traditional education path to a career.

The course currently in 2018 of Summer covers Javascript, ES6, jQuery, APIs, Git/Github, Firebase, React intro and a little bit of Node.js to keep you interested in further learning. The class style is a mix of simultaneous coding/lecture together, taking each portion and block of code, each concept step by step. Questions are immediately welcome at any time, which is great because it prevents the class from moving on to something more complicated when the current item isn't fully understood. We each build 3 projects and they are increasing in challenge level, with you feeling like you've accomplished a hurdle after the completion of each one. 

No question feels too silly to ask in the Hackeryou classroom, and the 2-3 TAs in the class are paying attention every minute to spot if someone's raised hand goes unnoticed, or if anyone is having trouble with following along. The students I've had the pleasure of learning with are all engaging and so creative, and most of all everyone wants to be in that class, come from 9-5 jobs and continue their day absorbing new information, actively participating in class. 

One thing I would love to see in the future for this class, (even though there are plenty of opportunities to work on code challenges with partners in the class, and Tiff (our instructor) always incorporate it into class) is more group work or pair programming, I found that I got to learn just as much if not more from my peers as I did from self learning/googling. Having maybe 1 group project or assignment may be really fun!

For anyone interested in a course I encourage them to take the step, you will not regret learning in a supportive environment with no ceilings set on what you can achieve.  After this course, I feel more confident in building interactive web applications using APIs, and I look forward to continuing to develop my skills to become a full-fledged developer. 

I recently graduated from Hackeryou's Web Immersive program. The experience has been exceptional. All the staff are extremely knowledgeable and supportive. Same goes with all my fellow classmates. I never would have imagined making such great friends in such a short amount of time.

The first step that I took was to take the part time Intro and Advanced Web Development courses on the weekends. Shortly after I finished those courses, I started the 9-week Web Development Immersive Program. One of my reasons to go to HackerYou was because a friend of mine who is an alumnus of HY had recommended the school to me. The other reason was because I heard HY was the best there is went it comes to teaching web development.

The 9-week program was very intense but there were lots of support from the staff, students and the HY community. There's ongoing support after graduation with job searching as well. Throughout the courses, my web development knowledge grew from simple self-taught HTML, CSS and basic JavaScript at the start of the part time course to being able to code entire websites in Reactjs.

If you are brand new or have little experience with web development, I highly recommend taking one of the part time web development courses to start with. It’ll build a solid foundation and you’ll see if the new career path is right for you.

Long story short, HY took me from playing around with HTML and CSS as a hobby to a full time employed front end developer in less than one year. I couldn't be happier with the choice I made with attending HY.

I completed the HackerYou Immersive Web Development Bootcamp and got a job as a Front-End Developer in a week and a half. When I graduated from University I spent 4 months to find my first job. This is by far the fastest job search I've ever experienced.

I've been approached by many friends asking me why I chose HackerYou and what's the difference between HackerYou and other boot camps in Toronto.  Prior to attending HackerYou, I was an English Teacher in South Korea. I spent a lot of time researching all the boot camps in Toronto when I returned home. I've attended a majority of free workshops and read plenty of reviews. I ended up choosing HackerYou because a friend of a friend referred me. On my first attempt to join the HackerYou boot camp I failed the tech test and I ended up taking the Part-Time JavaScript which did prepare me really well for the boot camp. I was able to pass the Tech challenge and the interviews during my second attempt. The fact that HackerYou is selective helps to ensure that you're actually ready for the classes. They want to you succeed. The other thing is because each student is hand selected you will end up being extremely close with your classmates. Everyone becomes friends. In the end, you're really more of a family. 

The HackerYou community is unlike any other I've seen. Alumni return to help tutor and support students. Each of us was paired with an alumni boot camp buddy. My boot camp buddy was amazing, not only was she there for emotional support but she continuously helped me whenever she could and we are great friends now. 

I came into contact with my current employer through the HackerYou Industry day which is held on the last day of the boot camp. There are quite a few employers that really enjoy hiring specifically from HackerYou. I've been working for 2 weeks now and I love my job as well as my company. I'm learning a lot in a supportive environment. My core team is composed of 7 Front-End Developers and 6 of us are HackerYou alumni. 

I feel very fortunate to have had such a positive experience and none of that would have been possible without the hardworking team at HackerYou as well as my unbelievably talented classmates. One thing HackerYou does really well is they spend a lot of time building your confidence so when you graduate you're a strong coder but you're also able to talk about your work to potential employers. 

Ryan, the CTO of HackerYou is hilarious and super smart. Sometimes I feel like his proximity to my laptop will fix all my code! Hahaha.  Danny was our lead instructor and we adored him so much that we named our cohort The Danny Pack. Zoey and Adam were our mentors and they always went above and beyond to make sure we understood the concepts in class. Not only were they there to teach us how to code but they were a great source of moral support as well. 

If I had to provide one constructive criticism to the entire experience I would say the first week of boot camp felt a bit slow. In order to get into the boot camp and pass the tech test, you would have to have a good basis in HTML and CSS and I felt like my cohort was already strong in both of those. I would have prefered if we spent less time on HTML and CSS during the first week so we could have more time to absorb React later on in the course. What we learned during the week as still valuable but it could have been at an even faster rate.  

Boot camp was not easy but I'm grateful for the experience and I honestly miss going to class already. If you're looking to become a Front-End Developer HackerYou is the school to go to. Each year there are only 4 boot camp sessions. The team focuses a lot of time and energy on each student and when you graduate, the CEO of HackerYou, Heather is by your side to coach you through the job hunting process. In the end, I can't imagine going to any other school.

I graduated university and grazed over some web dev courses but never thought it could be something I could do as a career. I didn't know how to go about it further so I decided to go to college for it and absolutelyhated my experience. It was old school and dry- I dropped out after one semester. 

Two really good friends of mine graduated from the HackerYou Immersive Bootcamp and to quote one of them, said it was "life changing" and so I had to see for myself! After doing the part-time Spring 2018 Web Dev course I can confidently say that I've developed the skills to create things I've always imagined in my head and to further my skills I've decided to enrol in the part-time Summer 2018 JavaScriptcourse with my eyes set on the 2018 Fall Bootcamp! What I loved about my experience is having such enthusiastic instructors and mentors. The best part is meeting new friends that are just as excited as you are making it even more motivating to learn. When people ask me what I like about the course material I like to say how easy it is to digest. There is an example or a practice activity for EVERYTHING- which helps if you're a person like me who needs hands on experience to really absorb something.

With the skills I've developed at HackerYou I plan on becoming the best web developer I can be to make all the shiny new things I have planned in my head. Being a web developer doesn't only have to be a career but something you can enjoy outside of work too! I would highly recommend the part-time web dev course at HackerYou.

I’m just finishing up taking the Part-Time Web Development course (Spring 2018) and it’s been an amazing experience that has given me a really solid foundation of web dev knowledge and skills. I initially started the course to develop my interactive skills as a designer, but I've enjoyed it so much that I’m continuing with the part-time JavaScript course and (hopefully) the full-time bootcamp to make a switch to web development as a full-time career.

When I was first looking into coding schools, HackerYou really stuck out as the one with the most positive reviews and the strongest and most supportive community. I spoke to some alumni and the real testament to me was seeing how involved and enthusiastic they remained in the HY community regardless of how much had passed since their own learning experience/career transition. By the time I met the team, got a tour of the space and received the full information on the course, my positive feelings were completely affirmed and I was ready to make the jump.

In terms of the course itself, I’ve found the teaching style/curriculum to be incredibly conducive to learning web development because you’re pretty much always practicing concepts in real-time with mini challenges in class. You also get a solid foundation in building something complete from start to finish with the course projects, much like you would in a professional environment. The instructors/mentors are super approachable, knowledgeable and helpful and you can tell they really care about each and every student’s success. Because the course is part time, they work as full-time developers during the week, and it was definitely comforting to know everything we were being taught was up to date and being regularly implemented by them in their day jobs.

As an added bonus, the community around HY is truly incredible. Everyone makes you feel welcome and comfortable, and you can really tell that everyone absolutely loves being there. There’s no such thing as a stupid question and whatever stereotypes you might have heard about the tech industry are completely (and actively) dispelled here. I can’t speak for other bootcamps in Toronto but that was one of the things that definitely stood out about HY from the moment I started looking at coding schools and has continued to be true throughout my experience as a student here. (Also, I have encountered multiple absolutely incredible HackerYou dogs, which doesn’t hurt.)

Coming out of the PT fundamentals course, I feel more confident in building sites from scratch with basic interactivity than I ever would have imagined. I would highly, highly recommend this class (and HY more broadly) to anyone interested in boosting their digital skills or making the first step in a career switch.

I am an Account Supervisor in a Creative Agency, I was looking for a new challenge this year and wanted to broaden my skill set, by delivering websites, mobile apps and other online experiences that provide more meaningful and relevant experiences to users. I also want to be a better asset to my team and challenge myself. ​

These 12 weeks at HackerYou were amazing with Ricardo, Jas, and Jen. They were patient, they provided insightful feedback and had great advice to help us think outside the box. I have learned a lot about how to understand and solve a wicked problem, and how to transform different ideas into a seamless whole. We worked on insightful methodologies, user guides, and group projects. It was an inclusive and great environment to share with the mentors and the other students. I was able to expand my creativity but also embrace discomfort in an analytical way.
I had the chance to attend both the fundamentals and advanced UX design classes and work on 2 capstone projects. The projects were challenging and a great way to use my personal skills into these projects.
These courses brought a real added value to my resume. I am always excited to learn and explore new areas to boost my career. I would definitely recommend these courses to my friends or colleagues, who would like to challenge themselves.

I have recently just completed the Winter 2018, Part-time Web Development Course and it left me wanting to do more. HackerYou is one of the best schools I’ve been to. It is a very accepting environment. It’s hard to find a place that greets you with a smile every time you walk in but HackerYou one of those places. The teachers and mentors are all a pleasure to be around. They are all quick to help with problems with either a smile or a joke.This creates a great atmosphere to be in and exciting to stay almst like a second home.

The course projects are a lot of fun and have a way of pushing you to your best. Unlike other institutions you do not receive a mark but that feeling of accomplishment when you finish the project, knowing that you pushed yourself and gave your best effort. Project 3 is where you get full control of the development of the page. I can say that I have learned alot through the trial and error.

I took the part-time JavaScript course at HackerYou and now I'll be going into the full-time Bootcamp. I highly recommend HackerYou. They have an incredible support system and a team of dedicated teachers/mentors who are always willing to help.

 

Tiff was my instructor and she as amazing. The pacing of the class was good and HackerYou takes into account feedback from the students. Tiff tailored the lessons to our class and I appreciate that we are always taught the latest in web development.

 

Prior to entering HackerYou, I was attending a college for computer programming. I have to say that HackerYou was a major upgrade. The instructors here have current experience in the field and they are always pushing themselves to learn what is trending in the industry so they can pass that information on to their students. They are knowledgeable and invested in the success of their students.

Although the bootcamp was challenging in various ways, it was made easier by my lovely cohort members, the knowledgable and supportive instructors, and the alumni of HackerYou who are more than willing to give up their time to give back and help. As a developer you are expected to never stop learning, but HackerYou's bootcamp provides a strong foundation which you can build upon and will provide you industry relevant skills which you will use directly on the job as a developer. If you have concerns about time management, I along with many other members of my cohort commuted everyday to and from HackerYou everyday, and I personally was still able to make time to go to the gym twice a week, which was something very important for me to maintain. 

All in all I can't say enough good things about HackerYou and it's community. If you're hesitant about jumping right into the bootcamp and have the time, look into the part-time class which provides you with the fundamentals of HTML and CSS which definetly made the first two weeks of bootcamp way easier and gave me the opportunity to get a sense about HackerYou and what it was all about.