Le Wagon

Paul Manche – Batch 325 – Bordeaux Je souhaitais apprendre à coder pour compléter ma formation d’école de commerce avec comme objectif de devenir Product Owner. J’ai découvert la formation du Wagon et après avoir effectué le travail préparatoire j’ai été admis à Bordeaux. Quelques jours après la fin de la formation et une recherche active j’ai décroché un premier stage en tant que développeur marketing digital chez Cdiscount pour renforcer mes acquis. Je recommande ce bootcamp pour sa pédagogie avancée et les rencontres qu’il m’a permis de faire.

Signing up for the Le Wagon coding bootcamp in Lisbon was definitely one of the best decisions I've ever made. It is without a doubt a very intensive course and the learning curve is steep, but the staff is incredibly supportive and always there to help. You get to work on great projects and, by the end of the course, you'll not only be able to create web applications in just a few days, but you'll also learn the entire technical workflow of how to work in a team with other developers in the same way as you would if you were employed as a professional developer. I feel that the applications I've worked on during the bootcamp and the technical skills developed were definitely what helped me get a position as a developer immediately after the course and I only have Le Wagon to thank for that. You can also expect great support from the staff after the bootcamp (they provided me with a reference once I was offered a position as a developer) and access to a lot of learning material and perks.

3 months ago, I was somebody else.

I was looking for another way to live, a community closer to my values, I was looking for creativity, open-minds, taking life as a game… 

I used to work in the finance department of big companies, I also worked for a hospital, until I quit to be a freelancer.

I have always been attracted by tech and coding. I saw that as playing with my brain. Sudoku style. 

 

I was not believing in myself.

A while ago, I went to an event to talk with a recruiter in tech who discouraged me from going this way. At this time I had even gathered information about Le Wagon. 

But I put this idea in a corner of my head. 

 

Until the beginning of the new chapter of my life.

A summer night on the balcony/terrace with friends, I talked with a web developer friend, a wonderful woman who changed her career. This was last July. 

A few days after, I had an interview with Marie-Gabrielle at Le Wagon, and I subscribed in the same week.

I remember my answers to the question: “why Le Wagon?” - “because I am looking for being surrounded by interesting and benevolent people.” And this is how I felt was Le Wagon.

 

I was dreaming awake.

Indeed surrounded by amazing people coming from everywhere (not only geographically!): teachers, staff, and students! Learning all day every day. In a sunny and very cool environment at La Gare. My brain has never been so awake! 

Never any judgment, we were free to find our pace, and ask for the support that we needed.

Plus, yoga class with Claudette, the best yoga teacher in town I know.

I used to say that if every school was like that, we would all get tons of diplomas.

 

This is a Marathon, not a sprint!

I pushed my limits a bit too far the second weekend by not sleeping that much, I have learned my lesson, and the next weeks I acted like a coder monk! I was doing yoga in the morning, going to the class walking, drinking ginger-lemon infusions, learning, coding, coding, coding, going back home walking, doing some meditation, having dinner, doing my flash-cards, going to bed, and falling asleep after 2 minutes I started my audio-book… Until the free beers & socializing friday nights. :) 

 

The intense 9 weeks gave me the opportunity to create a better version of myself.

Especially during the group work for the 3 last weeks. I think doing so much in a little amount of time within a brand new team, gave me the occasion to grow, watch myself under new conditions, and be surprised by the “new me” I met.

 

I am so grateful for Le Wagon and the wonderful people I have worked with on the projects.

And today, I am so happy to be part of this community, in addition to have made friends for life.

Vi Pannetier, alumni @ Le Wagon Montreal | Batch #329

 

The best decision I made in my life. They told me: “start coding and your life will change” and it was right like that.

I never thought could be programing in 9 weeks, even when I never had any computer skills! 
Take time to do the prep-work the most conscious you can; much better will be your  performance during the bootcamp.

Being a product-driven bootcamp make's Le Wagon, not only a coding school, even more a life-changing experience where you will gain skills to be a dev, PM or entrepreneur.

And one more thing, DO FLASHCARDS!

I have been curious about digital technology for years, but being a project manager in a full-time role, I didn’t know how and where to start learning next to my job. As I decided to change my career in the beginning of 2019, I intentionally planned to take a learning sabbatical for myself and finally learn to code before taking on a new job. With little research online, I found Le wagon and wanted to check it out first hand. I went to Barcelona to attend the demo day of the previous batch, where I talked to teachers and previous students and experienced their final products myself. That experience convinced me that it was the right decision to apply for the full-stack bootcamp at Le wagon.

The bootcamp was an intense experience, with at least ten hours of coding each day, but after every day in the camp, I felt smarter than the previous day. After weeks of lessons and buddy coding we moved into team projects, building an AirBnB clone for renting pets and further to build our own project within the final two weeks, a friend finding app called BuddyUp. After just 9 weeks, I had the pleasure to present our web application on the demo day, the event I had just attended a few months before.

Attending Le Wagon in Barcelona has not only given me the chance to learn and work together with talented and motivated individuals from all over the world, it has also given me access to and valuable skills in technology that I draw on in my new job, a business role in a tech company, as well. Unlike some of my classmates from the bootcamp, I didn’t become a developer, but I learned how to think like a developer and that helps me in my job every day.

After 5 years working in the Food & Beverage industry in marketing and sales, I felt the need to develop technical skills in order to gain more freedom and efficiency in my day job. During my career, creating weekly reports on Excel and Powerpoint was part of my duty. I am a person who doesn’t like to do the same task over and over. So, I learned the basics of VBA programming and find a way to automate the creation of these reports and be able to spend more time analyzing and providing useful recommendations. Excel became my best friend when it comes to improving my efficiency at work allowing me to focus more on added-value tasks. But I felt limited in the creation of tools to go even further.

As a marketing manager, I had to work with digital agencies to improve our online presence, starting with redesigning and improving the performance of websites. I felt truly frustrated not being able to make adjustments myself. I learned how to use WordPress in order to make tiny changes. But again, I was limited and wanted to deeply understand how a website works, how everything fits together. Back then, learning how to code seems necessary to me. I tried to self-learn coding with free online resources and by attending coding events. It was a good starting point, but I felt quickly discouraged by the lack of guidance and the lack of purpose.

The full-stack developer program of Le Wagon seems to be exactly what I needed: a team of professionals with a tailored learning process to guide you and the challenging objective of creating a real product from scratch in only 2 weeks. It appeared to be very promising!

My experience at Le Wagon clearly exceeds my expectations! I wanted to learn basic programming languages and bring technical skills to my background. I came out of this experience with technical abilities, personal growth and unique opportunities. This is such an empowering investment!

Le Wagon provides you with a clear process: at first, I felt lost and overwhelmed but quickly, I was able to apply the key concepts in practical exercises which gave me a clear vision of what concretely I will be able to create by myself. Starting with Ruby, you learn the key-concept of a coding language which gives you better ease of learning other coding languages after it. Then you learn how to manage the database using SQL, how to design a beautiful interface using HTML and CSS, how to add interactivity using Javascript to improve the web page manipulation, the interaction with the user and the webserver. Last but not least, you learn Ruby on Rails providing you the structure for all the code you write.

Le Wagon gives you a product vision: I not only learned how to code, I also learned how to create a product from scratch. Starting with an idea, defining the core functionalities according to different user stories, sketching out the wireframe with basic UX/UX concepts, defining the database architecture, designing the mock-up using Figma and last but not least, coding the different features using back and front-end languages. Oh! I forgot, and you learn how to pitch your product in front of a large audience. Of course, you are not doing all these steps alone, you work in a team of 3-4 persons and develop soft skills in order to deliver a quality Minimum Valuable Product on time! During the 2 weeks project, I developed both technical and soft skills that are required when you work as a developer or a product owner.

Le Wagon team is always here to give you the support you need: each day, teachers, TAs and all the team is present and dedicated to help you grow. Most of the teachers and TAs did Le Wagon bootcamp before, so they know exactly what difficulties you face every day and how to help you make the most out of the learning journey. The fact that they already went through the bootcamp also reassures you that IT IS POSSIBLE and YOU CAN DO IT!! The rest of Le Wagon team is also really supportive: whatever your needs are, you can always count on the staff to help you find a solution! Le Wagon team isn't there to put pressure on you, but rather to support you and sometimes to cheer you up when you need it. Personally, I was a bit lost and needed help to better understand the type of role I could apply for after the bootcamp. The community manager reassured me and shared with me the resources I needed to have a better vision of what to expect in my future career (Contacts, forums, events, organizations, companies…).

Le Wagon gives you the opportunity to grow your network. Le Wagon not only teaches you how to code but also helps you to get a foothold in the tech industry! They organize many events (Le Wagon Talks, Lunch & Learn, Meet-ups etc.) where you can meet and learn from experienced tech professionals. They also are really well connected with the startup ecosystem which gives you the opportunity to connect with innovative companies and be inspired by great entrepreneur stories. Le Wagon is part of a huge tech/startup community, so they can individually, help you connect with the right person depending on your needs. When I started Le Wagon, I was new in Montreal and didn’t have any network. Thanks to Le Wagon, I developed my network and even find my partners to start a business with!

At le Wagon, you will have a lot of FUN! I didn’t expect to have that much fun. The great community of open-minded people with a diverse background and the positive and caring culture of Le Wagon is just the perfect combination to be yourself and enjoy every moment of this intensive experience! It reminds me of the holiday camp: you don’t know what to expect and at first, you stay “vigilant”, then you get to know people and realize it is a safe place to be yourself, learn new things and surpass yourself while having fun; you don’t sleep that much because you want to appreciate every single minute and make the most out of this experience until it is the end and you already feel the nostalgia and you want to do it all over again! The difference with summer camp is that you will never lose connection with Le Wagon community because you will always be a part of it!

The future is so much brighter now!

Thank you!

Léa

I did le wagon in order to learn how to build an MVP of a business idea that I was working on for two years. 

My expectations were quite high, and I trusted the bootcamp to deliver thanks to an experienced developper that strongly recommended it. Let me tell you that I was not the kind of person to even have a look at what a program was, it all looked very mystical, and I did not want to deal with it! But experience forced me to demystify it, and even code myself 😱.

I couldn't find any curriculum online that was adapted to my way of learning. To be honest, the challenge seemed incommensurable at the time. Am I really going to be able to build a website from scratch after 9 weeks (I mean it's nothing) ? 🤔 

Well, it was not easy! There is a say which states that 'You learn best once you'r out of your comfort zone', I was out of it every single day! (reading it is different from experiencing it...)

Not comfortable and, most probably, the best decision I have ever made! I have built my MVP 🚀. I even enjoy coding now 🤓. 
It is a life changing experience, indeed. And in so many ways! I learned how to build a first version of the Project, and most importantly I met incredible people! They keep on teaching me every single day 😎. 

That's what le wagon is, a strong technical learning experience that embodies a powerful sense of an international Community ready to help, anytime.

Thank You ! 

The Wagon is a very interesting bootcamp to follow if you want to become a web developer. During the 9 weeks, you will be accompanied by very high level teachers who will help you to understand all aspects to create fast and efficient web applications. Pedagogy is also turned on the methodology and the state of mind to be a good developer. At the end of the 9 weeks, 3 weeks of team project can learn to work together what will be essential for the future. If you want to deepen your skills as a developer or change your life, then do not hesitate a second. After the Wagon, I started freelance and I give classes to Wagon Lille.

Just to start things off, I had no prior coding experience at all before joining this Bootcamp, I was a project coordinator for a local architecture firm before joining an F&B company managing a small group of tenants. My journey started somewhere in 2018, I took part in a nationwide competition for entrepreneurs, I was convinced I had a great business idea, it paid off and I made it to the final round. On the day of the final pitch, I was put down at every possible moment for not having the technical ability to carry my business to the next level because I lacked the necessary programming skills. Needless to say - I lost the competition. A few months later, the incubator I had applied for had created a platform using the same idea I had pitched to them.

What came next was a situation familiar to us all - I went through a period of self-pity and disappointment. I thought I was just not good enough and returned to my old mundane job, got back on the hamster wheel, and started grinding my life out hoping for something to change – which never happened of course. It was a painful lesson but all this time I kept reminding myself that I was going to learn basic programming one day so I would never be in a situation like that again. It was in June of 2019 that I came across Le Wagon online. Most of their Bootcamps are located in Europe and across the world, they were even starting out right here in Singapore which would have been so convenient for me. But one location seemed to call out to me more than anything – Bali. I knew from the first moment I landed on the website that I wanted to learn how to code in the Island of the Gods. I dropped Dirk an email and soon enough we were speaking over the phone and he told me everything I needed to know about the course.

A couple of months later I was on the plane to Bali to start the next chapter of my life. The first two weeks of the Bootcamp I was clueless and lost. I had no idea what was going on and I was afraid to approach anyone for help. I was just so used to studying on my own but the load was really heavy and even staying up late nights burning the midnight oil was not helping. I was struggling to keep up with the pace of the course and I even started to question my intelligence at certain points. I didn't know if it was more comforting or worrying to know other students were going through the same thing but at least we were all in the same boat. As the days went by, we spent hours and hours learning and coding, slowly but surely everything was starting to make more sense. I won't go into so much detail as to how the course was structured but all the small pieces of the puzzle were finally coming together to make this beautiful big piece of art. The teachers were patient with us throughout and never lost their temper even when we bombed them with so many questions every single day.

Looking back now after the Bootcamp, I finally understand how Le Wagon was training us to just keep taking whatever life throws at us and not to give up. It was not something I thought I would have ever learnt at a coding Bootcamp. We were all thrown into the deep end of the pool and we were struggling to stay afloat. They say that's the only way we learn how to swim – when our lives depended on it.

And learn to swim – we all did

During the final weeks of the course, I was fortunate enough to have some students vote for my pitch to work on for the final project. The final two weeks after were some of the toughest but most rewarding weeks of my life. It was not just about coding anymore. It was about learning to code and learning as a team. We could all sit in front of our computers and watch multiple "learn to code online" videos but this part of the Boot camp was something that could not be found anywhere else. It was at times frustrating working within a team especially since everyone comes from diverse backgrounds. Working in a team setting always causes some tension and stress and some mornings, I felt like giving up.

On the other hand, what I did not know was that the teachers have all seen situations like this countless times before. They spent hours sitting with the whole class guiding us through the process. They helped us from a personal and technical level. It seemed as if the teachers cared more about us and our projects than their actual teaching jobs to be honest. I learnt to be a better team leader and to exercise patience. The teachers were key in encouraging us to continue learning and kept pushing us. It was heartwarming watching the teachers help every single student in the class. Some of us understood concepts better, some of us didn't but they gave the same amount of attention to every single one of us and the required help that we needed. They never said no to us it was encouraging knowing how much the team at Le Wagon genuinely wanted us to learn.

I was not the brightest student in class, neither was I the most hardworking. The only attribute I possessed was an honest willingness to learn. Le Wagon kickstarted my coding career and set up the strong foundations to build on my journey into the tech industry. It wasn't just about programming and coding, it was about learning to code in a real time stress environment with a team and finding ourselves in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

I was a lab research assistant before coming to Le Wagon. My Bootcamp experience was quite a roller coaster, as I almost quit the first 2 weeks. However, with the help of the TA's and teachers, I became more confident and more comfortable with the assignments and lectures. I don't regret choosing Le Wagon because I'm so satisfied with the experience I had. The final two weeks were really good because that's where you actually put everything you learn into motion, which is very rewarding and I felt that I made the right decision in choosing Le Wagon. l would definitely recommend Le Wagon to anyone who wants to learn how to code.