Le Wagon

I always wanted to backpack across Asia. Just over a year ago I left my job to hike the Himalayas and at the same time I started a travel blog to share my experience. Out of fun and curiosity, I tried to get into web design. I signed up to a few online coding courses to try to teach myself but I quickly realized that paradoxically you need to know how to code before you can learn to code! I ended up getting lost in the mass of information and wasting a lot of time.
I was determined to change things so I bit the bullet and paused my travels to enroll in the immersive coding bootcamp Le Wagon in Bali where I heard the climate was warm and the culture magical. I have not regretted it ever since.
To summarise the bootcamp experience in a few words is not easy but I can say for certain that it far exceeded my expectations. The amount you learn in such a short time is incredible.
The course fed us wave after wave of new concepts everyday but the teachers, the structure and the course platform make the learning process simple and effective. We were taught the back-end language of Ruby and its framework Rails, then covered 3 front-end languages, database management and a wealth of other material. We learnt through a combination of daily quizzes, exercises, live codes and even flashcards after class to reinforce the lectures and we did this endlessly over five weeks. By the sixth week, we were able to create an Airbnb clone. It would have been impossible for me to do this by myself, let alone in such a short time.
By the seventh week, the bootcamp builds up to the apex of idea pitching, project selection and definition, using the sprint methodology to build a working prototype from absolute scratch in 10 days. I am pleased to say that our team performed tremendously and the app looked amazing. We presented the project on Demo Day as you would to an investor but in our case in front of a packed room of tech enthusiasts living and working in Bali who asked me some tough queestions! There is no better training ground than this.
But because we all know we can never fully master the infinite world of web design let alone in two months, the point of difference with other bootcamps and the power of Le Wagon is exactly this – 1. it gives you the ability to transform your ideas into a working web app that is ready to be shown to the world by the end of the bootcamp, 2. you will feel you are able to code independently, solve your own problems and 3. be ready to enter the tech world and embark on new undertakings. Right now, I feel nothing will stand in my way of coding and learning more coding which is exactly what I came to Bali for.
Less than a month since I finished the bootcamp, I am working on the project I built at Le Wagon with the hope to launch it as a startup soon. At the same time, I'm studying React with no major problem. I have also already been contacted for some freelance contracts.
To put it in a nutshell, at the age of 29, Le Wagon gave me the ability to start a new career. I could not have asked for anything better. The motto of Le Wagon is "Change your life: learn to code", and I guarantee you that it could not have been more appropriate. If you want to learn coding, Le Wagon is the best investment you could make!
And did I forget to say if you take the course in Bali, you will love your time spent mixing coding with an early-morning surf or a sundowner beer on the beach, all for a fraction of the price elsewhere. That is why I am calling Bali home for a little while longer.

I've always been an entrepreneur and my own boss since leaving university 10 years. I used to run a fast food business an grew frustrated with the scalability of it. So I tried some online coding and realised the power of it. Fast forward 9 months, the week I left Le Wagon I started a web agency with a friend from the course and we got out first customers that week. 

Le Wagon was genuinely one of the best things I've ever done. I am now my own boss again. Apart from the odd meeting, I can work anywhere I want, whenever I want, as long we deliver for our customers, which we are doing. 

Le Wagon is not just for entrepreneurs. The speed at which my class mates landed developer jobs is faster than any other industry I know. The level this 9 week course can get you to is unimaginable until you actually do it. All my classmates are happily employed either full time or freelance and loving their new lives. 

Software is eating the world. Don't get left behind. 

I have been working as a Digital Project Manager/Interactive Producer for the past 12 plus years at quite a few interactive Digital Agencies in Southern California.  Until 3 years ago, I quit a solid full time job of 6 years because I was simply burnt out.  Late nights, weekend work, and no real social life… I had to do something. When I quit my job, I really did not have a plan, but knew I wanted to have my own business, travel more, and to be in control of my time.  

After traveling a bit, I decided to start a small interactive agency.  Things picked up quick and a big issue I was facing was finding reliable talent.  I decided to learn more about the current state of the web development world to enhance my understanding and become a better Digital Project Manager.  I needed to get up to date with front end development(started in digital as a web developer years ago) and have always been intimidated by the backend.

I came across Le Wagon after going through a few dev bootcamp review sites. After checking out some of the Youtube videos and all the locations around the world, I knew I had to go. But which one?

Next thing you know I am in Barcelona. First time in Spain and learning full stack development at Le Wagon. The curriculum covers everything you need to know to get started with front and backend development. Each day you are challenged and building up to create your very own web application.  Of course you are not building it alone, you and your comrades you have been training with through the course are coming together daily to make it happen. And we made it happen!  

Teachers are awesome, course content is well thought out and presented well, and the support is exceptional. It was a good choice and think that taking the course was long overdue.  I wish I would have signed up sooner. The digital world is moving fast, and if you want to stay current you have to be sure you are around the right people and resources.  Le Wagon has been that place for me and has provided the knowledge upgrade I needed to take my skill set to the next level. The skills I have attained through Le Wagon have assisted in enhancing processes in my business as well as locating and hiring more reliable talent.  I also have a newfound love for backend coding.  

Thank you Le Wagon!

Before Le Wagon i was working in door to door sales, which is not really a career. So I decided i needed a career change. After a bit of research I found Le Wagon and was extremely interested in learning how to code. It was the best and most life changing decision I have made in my life so far. The people working at Le Wagon are amazing and so much fun to learn and work with. I have not stopped recommending it to people since I left. Just 2 weeks after finishing I was able to land an amazing job and I cannot thank them enough.

This is the training you have to do if you want to change your day to day and start a tech. way of working ! Working for 10 years as an Industrial Engineer, I moved to Bordeaux and wanted to make a real turn in my career.  Wagon allows me to do so, thanks to the quality of the trainings, the team of course and the tech culture.  In 9 weeks, you will learn how to build a website from the really beginning to the online version, knowing all the steps to do it in the best way, learning Ruby, Javascript, Html, Css, Ruby on Rails. I have just finished my training and have so many projets in my head now possible.

Doing Le wagon Bootcamp and learning how to code during 9weeks was incredible ! 

I didn't know anything about coding but the Bootcamp program is so well thought and built that you can't fail. 

It has been very very intense but so efficient! I have met great people, joined a great and active network and gained new skills : It opened new perspectives . 

In addition the Lille team is sooooo great: present, attentive, very competent. They are quality teachers!

I sincerely advise anyone who is interested by websites to do it. 

I recently completed Le Wagon Amsterdam batch #126. It was, in short, the best learning experience of my life.

Throughout and after high school, which I graduated the summer just before the bootcamp, I completed other coding courses before, but none of them had the same impact on me or taught me as much as Le Wagon. Even with very high expectations for the programme, they managed to exceed each and every one. The curriculum and structure side of the programme is amazing. The teachers and teacher assistants do a great job at explaining every concept just enough so you really understand what you’re doing. Additionally, they teach other soft and hard skills a developer needs to succeed in the industry, such as version control and collaboration with other developers.

What surprised and pleased me the most was the sense of community that is created since day one, and persists even after the bootcamp is over. The buddy system is a great way to learn to code with other developers, get to know the other bootcamp participants and even make new friends.

All in all, I would absolutely recommend LeWagon to anyone, regardless of previous experience with code.

Just before writing this review, I was programming away on an application for a freelance client; feeling the adrenaline of jumping back and forth between back and front-end as I freed the code of bugs. I feel in-control, powerful, and like I can accomplish anything if I really set my mind to it. A few months ago, this would not have been possible.

Before Le Wagon Shanghai, I always felt pretty stuck. I had that dreaded feeling of waking up every morning, anxious and complacent about going to work; doing everything for the paycheck. I always felt like my job controlled me and I was running on autopilot, doing what I needed to get done to go home and let life begin everyday.

In comes Le Wagon. What a crazy, incredible ride. I don’t even know where to begin.

• The course material was engaging and challenging. The lectures and instruction were typically short and sweet; giving us the fundamentals to go on with the day and code until we couldn’t code anymore.
• The instructors were inspiring and reminded me of how much I love to learn; especially as a more focused adult. I consider them to be lifelong friends and mentors. Not having strong role models previously, I gained several while on this camp.
• My peers may have been the best part about it. We were all going through the same crazy coursework together. I’ve come out of the course with freelance buddies, business partners and close friends.

I think the greatest takeaways I had from Le Wagon was that it gave me the skills and the confidence to get out there and start obtaining some freelance jobs to gain more experience. Furthermore, when I go to start my own business in the future, I will feel technically ready to make it happen. Finally, I love that I have an invigorated drive to learn again, and I no longer have the limiting beliefs that have stopped me from reaching my full potential in the past.

One thing to keep in mind is that you have to work your ass off to get the most out of the experience. This includes after the experience. Don’t let your skills go to waste after the camp by not putting them into action in one way or another.

Either way, you will enjoy it, you won’t have regrets. Make the investment, because it is so worth it.

My name is François, I took the batch#64 in São Paulo, Brazil. I used to work in investment banking in France and I wanted to take advantage of a life transition where I decided to live in Brazil to learn new skills. I was attracted by the tech world and wanted to get to know web-development with the idea to develop my own project or join a start-up (I joined a peer-to-peer lending platform in Brazil few months after Le Wagon). Getting out of Le Wagon you can easily get a role as junior developer, however it is also a strong asset if you are looking for product manager role or any business role in a tech company.

The key barriers to entry to web-development is the fact that a web application mixes a lot of pieces that you have to put together to have it up and running: you need a backend language (Ruby @ Le Wagon), HTML & CSS to build your frontend, javascript to make it bite reactive, a data-base, etc… which makes it extremely hard to learn on your own. Le Wagon pedagogy is great and quickly guides you step by step through the basics of web-development to build strong foundations (no blind application of something you would be told to do, you actually know what you are doing !).

The 2 last weeks are dedicated to building an application, it is amazing what you can achieve in 2 weeks when you had no previous knowledge few weeks earlier! My project was an application that helps friends getting together calculating the best neighborhood to hangout (based on where people will leave and taking commuting time into account) and generating a selection of bars and restaurants so that the group can democratically decides where it will hangout, ain’t that cool  ?

I quit my job as COO of a small software company at the age of 53 because it was becoming more of a sales position and that initiated me to make a career change and go all in on my dream of becoming a web developer. Three weeks later I was in Barcelona on a very intense web developer boot-camp to learn the full stack based on Ruby on Rails.

I had no prior experience to coding in any language so for me basically everything was new which meant focusing and working long hours every day - even outside of the 9-10 hour days on the boot-camp - in order to 'get' as much as possible. The instructors were great and especially their patience was admirable when we asked what must have been the same questions over and over.

Le Wagon lead us through everything from the database to the front-end step by step and through the entire process we were working hands on with bigger and bigger projects. We finished the camp in teams of 3 or 4 where we in two intense weeks built a fully functional and relatively complex web application. Our projects were constantly pushed through social media and getting attention from potential future employers which combined with all the extra events like job fairs and networking arranged by Le Wagon was a great inspiration and opportunity for us as new developers.

This camp far exceeded my expectations and at the time of writing this just a few days after finishing in Barcelona I already have two job offers in Denmark and Germany. I'm definitely going all in on this exciting field where the market is screaming for qualified people - I hope to be able to combine my future job with my interest in and knowledge of the Blockchain but that only time will tell...