Le Wagon

After 8 years playing poker professionally and having just turned 30, i was in a hurry to find something else to do with my life until a friend suggested code and Le Wagon to me.

It was such an amazing life experience. The way they pushed me to learn, it was just what i needed to start a new chapter in my life.

Great friendly environment, teachers always willing to help and the opportunity to build a project from scratch is the perfect way to learn how things work.
I'm sure i will remember those 9 weeks for the rest of my life and i will always be grateful for it.

Read less

I came to Le Wagon through a friend's recommendation. I remember when he heard about it, then decided to do it, and later told me his experience. It was all so amazing, I thought he was exaggerating. He really wasn't.
Le Wagon was everything he told me about and more. I was a designer and now, a little more than two months later, I am a web developer.

I've been fascinated with computers for almost my whole life. And my whole life i've steered a wide path from it because people tend to put us in little boxes and, as much as I loved science and was super curious, I ended up in the creative-artsy box. while I was growing up, I was somehow led to believe there creative-artsy people were not cut out for technical jobs. So I didn't even try. It took thirty years, a lot of courage and a deeper understanding of multidisciplinary skills to finally question that and boy, oh boy, how wrong could I be.

Because of the structure of the course and because it's so intense, there's not much time to waste. Don't get me wrong, we love to party and there's plenty of beers to be had, but that's usually after a really hard day's work. You get from a "never coded before" level to a "coding all day everyday" really fast and it's really fascinating to go through, and watch such a diverse group of people go through it with you. I could not be more pleased with the didactics and the pace of the bootcamp. It is really intense and it is really hard. For me at least, that had no prior knowledge and no prior experience with actual coding (or anything tech-related, for that matter), everyday was a struggle. But as much as I struggled, the sense of accomplishment was that much greater when I could finally figure it out.

A lot of times I couldn't actually, not by myself, and that's fine. The buddy system and the T.A's were really helpful in this aspect. They really do guide you in the right path and you feel really stupid sometimes because once they point the direction out to you solving a challenge actually seems really simple. And next thing you know you ask for help and figure it out even before they have a chance to explain the problem to you and you just go "oh, never mind, i got it!".

I think even if the bootcamp was just lectures and challenges I would have learned a lot. But nothing compares to the last three weeks. You actually get to work, as a group, on a Airbnb clone and on our own project and that is the game-changer: because collaborating on a group effort is hard, and that's what the market is all about. That was even more important than learning to code, for me. Learning to work around other people's code, to improve it, to correct it, to have my own code improved and corrected, to solve conflicts and elusive bugs. I cannot believe we got to design a product from idea to fully functional in 10 days, but hey, such is life aboard the Wagon.

Read less

I have attended Le Wagon Bali this summer and now I can safely say enrolling in the Le Wagon bootcamp was one of the best decisions that I made.

Prior to attending the bootcamp I have worked for a large IT consultancy but more on the project management side however as I was really interested in the digital side I always wanted to learn coding but I never seemed to be able to find enough time and motivation to do it on my own using online resources.

Originally I considered doing a computer science masters however having a full time job, the time and costs involved in completing a masters degree made it not a feasible option. Therefore the bootcamp seemed like a good alternative as I was able to take some time off to attend the bootcamp without having to give up my job completely.

I choose Bali as I always wanted to visit it and thought that by attending the bootcamp there I would be able to explore Bali as well. Choosing Bali was definitely the right decision as I was far away from home (London). I didn’t have to worry about life admin or other commitments (which I would have had if I would have done the bootcamp back at home) meant that I was able to fully focus on learning and making the most of the bootcamp.

The bootcamp was very intense (usually classes would start at 9 and end around 6:30, some weeks we would study 6 days a week). The first few weeks were especially tough as we covered a lot of different topics in a relatively short period of time however being surrounded by supportive teachers and equally motivated classmates really made this an enjoyable experience. Every day was well structured, it consisted of lectures and practical exercises. Probably the most fun part of the bootcamp was the project weeks during these weeks everything that we have learnt in the first 6 weeks really came together as we got to work in teams and build apps based on our own ideas.

In addition to the learning, the bootcamp had a great social side as most of the classmates in my batch were not from Bali and came here on their own, everybody was keen to get to know each other, socialise and do things in the evenings and explore other parts of Bali on days off.

Overall I cannot recommend Le Wagon Bali highly enough, I have learnt so much, met many amazing people, had a very enjoyable experience and got to live it Bali for 2 months!

Read less

I have always considered learning code. Coming from a totally different background, the transition was not easy. I had to overcome many personal fears : Is it the right move? Will I be able to keep up with the algorithms? Will I be rigorous enough? I remember trying to learn all by myself on different e-learning platforms but it did not really work out. When I joined Le Wagon I was delighted. I immediately felt like it was the right bootcamp for me : product oriented. Something tangible to learn something totally new. The first few weeks were quite confusing as my mind was saturated with brand new words and concepts: functions, models, controllers, views, databases… But I eventually started to like it thanks to the outstanding teaching team! A whole new world was opening its doors. After graduating from Le Wagon I started working as a freelance developer right away. I partnered with another alumni (hi Franklin) and it surely helped to start this new journey. Le Wagon does not only give you technical skills, it is also a dope spot to meet cool people! I am now fully enjoying my freelancer status as I can work from wherever I like, build cool products and meet inspiring entrepreneurs! I am also still improving my development skills, because obviously it is never done. I can now admit it and say it out loud, it was the best decision EVER and TOTALLY worth it!

Read less

8 years after graduating from a business school I believed it was time to learn something new, to stop the never ending daily routine at work, and get some new skills. I wanted to learn how to code to be able to lauch my Minimum Viable Product. So I can turn a nice idea into something real, to actually test it, to overcome the fear that I am not legitimate to build something. Le Wagon empowered me in an incredible way, I learnt how to code, I spent an amazing time. If you think about it, and you can take the time, then just do it, do not overthink, it is the best way to spend your money and your time. Now I even discovered that I love to share what I learnt, by being an teaching assistant for the new students, just 3 months after I completed my course. 

Go for it !

Read less

 

After a year working on sales operations and growth, I felt like I was lacking technical skills: all I did was creating non-scalable process that required a lot of manual work and repetitive actions.

I joined Le Wagon batch #146 to complete my business background and finally be able to bring code and automation to my process.

Even though I felt completely lost at the beginning, the methodology developed at Le Wagon - and truly passionate and skillful teachers, thanks a loooot - helped me scale up my technical skills. Working for 9 full weeks with teammates on practical and incremental code challenges helped me getting completely comfortable with what was gibberish to me before :

- Talk about technical subjects with developers 
- Implement technical sales tools 
- Connect to any API 
- Develop in-house tools to support growth needs 
- Scrape any website I wish in minutes

These are just few examples of the skills I developed thanks to this amazing Bootcamp that got me form knowing nothing about coding to being fully independent about creating whatever needs to be done, just what I needed.

Le Wagon : an incredible team, an amazing methodology and brilliant teammates.

Thanks a lot, 
Victor

Read less

I was a student in the batch #100 in Paris after finishing my business studies at ESCP Europe. After having graduated, I felt I had to acquire more technical skills (understand : learn to code). I knew about Le Wagon from an alumni from my school. So I decided to try my luck … And I was pretty amazed by my time there !


During my 9 weeks there I really appreciated the way code is taught. On a typical day there is 2 hours of class and the rest of the day is spent doing exercices with another student. You never work alone at Le Wagon. Most of the progress is made during those exercices, by cooperating with your buddy.


But what I enjoyed the most is the general philosophy. I really felt like nothing was impossible to learn. On the first day, most of us had never opened the terminal, and 9 weeks later we designed and coded an entire website including a pretty complex backend and beautiful frontend. When I face a problem I have never seen, I am able to tackle it by myslef.


I am now working at Backmarket as a Product Owner, a job I would have not been able to do without Le Wagon. Thank you so much, it was some of the most exciting weeks of my life !

Read less

Before attending Le Wagon Milano, I had high expectations from the bootcamp, but I was far from imagining how much I could learn in only 9 weeks.

Even though I had some knowledge in programming, I was challenged from day 1. The whole journey is intensive, and everything is thought to offer the best learning experience to the students. The wide teaching staff allows to learn from many developers, with each member coming to teach his own area of expertise. The pair programming on small projects and challenges gives opportunities to think beyond solutions that each of us could have produced alone. The final project is a great hands-on experience to work in team as a developer.

Moreover, Le Wagon taught me how to approach one problem as a developer, and how to figure out the way to solve it.

Le Wagon’s bootcamp gives you all the tools to become a developer if you are ready to take them and work hard. I totally recommend !

Read less

The Le Wagon bootcamp is a very intensive experience.

If you like being challenged and solving problems, you will absolutely love it.

Le Wagon's way of teaching content is very different from schools/universities in a really good way. They take a hands-on approach, focusing on less hours of teorical knowledge and more hours of practical challenges. Expect to spend 90% of the time coding.
You must be aware that for you to take the most of this bootcamp, you must be fully commited to it. You shouldn't plan to work during the bootcamp. It's a fulltime course.

This was my average daily schedule during the bootcamp:

07:40H - Wake Up
09:00H - Morning Lecture
11:00H - Its challenge time! Start doing the daily challenges with your designated pair of the day.
12:30H - Lunch
13:00H - Keep working on the challenges. If you manage to finish the mandatory ones, start doing the optional (The difficulty increases for each optional challenge. Its hard and very fun).
17:00H - Live code - A special challenge of the day, coded by the entire class together.
18:30H- End of the day. Le Wagon stays open until 23h. Some students go home, some students keep doing challenges. In my case, i stayed everyday until 23h, doing the extra challenges and studying.
23:00H - Time to home and rest.

It is very demanding and very very rewarding. You will learn a lot, meet many interesting people from different backgrounds and develop a full project in the end along with teammates. If you are considering applying, go ahead and do it. It was the best learning experience of my life.
 

Read less

I’ve been founding and managing businesses in various industries gathering insights from different parts of the business and yet, it seemed like something was missing. Every time my partners and I attempted to scale a business we got stuck as either no one in our team had sufficient technical skills to develop what we needed or it was too expensive to be outsourced.

So I decided this will not stop me again in the future. I will quit my job, learn to code and become the successful entrepreneur I always wanted to be. Easier said than done… I did tons of research and finally came across Le Wagon's intense full stack web development bootcamp. I was hooked as soon as I saw the program: OOP, Ruby (fastest growing development community), Rails, HTML, CSS, JS, Ajax, API’s, DB (SQL, My SQL, PostGres), developing environments and collaboration tools (Git & Github, Trello, Slack) and deployment (Heroku)… It looked insanely complete.

Then I came across SwitchUp, and Le Wagon’s top score of 4.99 out of 5 (+600 reviews!!). Could this get any better? It did, I found out that they are in Bali. A week later I was already signed up and preparing for what I thought will be one of the greatest experience of my life. Some expectations, huh? I was part of Le Wagon Batch #163 in Bali and believe it or not it totally surpassed my expectations. Not only the program is as strong as they claim, teachers, fellow students (we were 25!) and manager were so incredibly nice and helpful which made my experience so much more rewarding.

And you not only learn, you make! During the last weeks my team and I developed The Pool of Printables (www.thepoolofprintables.com), a platform that allows you to collectively raise money to get high quality 3D designs and boost the 3D printing community. We felt so proud making and presenting it on the final demo day!

Bottom line, if your goal is similar to mine, to understand more about coding to boost your entrepreneurial and/ or managing skills and be able to code MVP’s, or if you aim to become a full stack developer, Le Wagon is the place for you. I loved the experience and I can’t recommend it enough.

P.S.: the access to the Le Wagon community that you have during and after the bootcamp might be the biggest resource you don't have on your radar while looking for bootcamps. More than 3000 like-mined people helping with developments, finding jobs, freelance gigs, team-mates, co-founders… BOOM.

Read less

在加入Le Wagon前，我在美国华盛顿大学读大一，同时也做了两年的平面设计freelance。我对计算机、设计、商业这些领域都很感兴趣，在学校也学了很多关于这方面的课程，但学校所教授的内容大多停留在理论层面，即使做了一些小的课堂项目，难度和强度也比较低。所以在今年夏天，我选择参加Le Wagon bootcamp，希望能够学习开发相关的知识并且真正开始做一些比较复杂的项目。

在Le Wagon的两个月，每天的生活都非常忙碌，无论是上午的课程还是下午的练习都很有难度。就知识体系而言，这些内容给我对网站开发的理解打下了非常扎实的基础。同时，Le Wagon组织的活动（alumni drink，杭州tech crunch）也让我认识了国内创业圈和技术圈更多的人。而在最后两周的final project中，我真正体会到了实际开发项目的难度之大。从团队协作写代码到oversee项目整体进度，这些十分具有挑战性的任务都让我成长了很多。

Read less

Over the years, I’ve worked as the business or marketing guy for various companies. I was always drawn to these roles because of my ability to ‘play nice’ with others. But in some ways I was also limited to these roles because I lacked a strong technical skillset. In my mind, this technical skillset could be many things… coding, design, data science, architecture, medicine, and law are all examples. Unfortunately for me, I had never developed any of these skills. I wanted to find a way to develop myself so that I could provide more value to companies while also freeing myself from the business/marketing mindset. I didn’t want to just sell, I wanted to build. After nine weeks of intensive learning with Le Wagon, I’ve not only gained a deeper understanding of full-stack web development, but the confidence and knowhow to extend my learning to other technical areas. Although the bootcamp has ended, the learning has just begun. I’ve begun work at a local startup as a WeChat Mini Program developer, I’ve joined forces with other Le Wagon alumni to continue learning new frameworks, and I’ve built a strong community of developers, hackers, and entrepreneurs who want to use to tech to add value to the world. Choosing to join Le Wagon was a great decision. It has reshaped the way I see the world and my role in it. Read less

Before coming to Le Wagon I had a start-up. The things were going great until the day when I realised that it was actually the time to build the product.  I didn’t have the skills to build it. Moreover, I thought that programming is like an art - only the gifted people could do it and excel at it. After a couple of months of unfruitful searches for a technical co-founder or even a person who would help me out without asking for a fortune, I started considering learning how to code myself. I was terrified, I was unsure but I made the decision. I went to Google and searched for «the best coding school in Europe», and Le Wagon popped up immediately. I read a few recommendations and reviews and it became a no-brainer to me. 
The program is very intense, yet extremely rewarding. The feelings you get when your code works are very genuine, I’d compare it to the emotions of kids who build something really cool with Lego and are super satisfied with their work. The classes were extremely fun and I really enjoyed the idea of working with a new buddy every day. Not to forget the teaching staff: the guys have an insane amount of patience to be there for you and explain a very minor detail until you *really* get it, which is invaluable. After all, Le Wagon is one big family.
Of course, there were tough things. When I first saw «9 Intensive Weeks» on the website I couldn’t imagine how really intensive they are. You spend 9 hours a day learning how to code, making thousands of mistakes, asking for help. However, these 9 weeks have been one of the best weeks of my life, and I can really say that I have pushed my own boundaries. I may sound like a cliché but it is true: I couldn’t imagine myself being able to do things I can do now. It truly is amazing and fulfilling. 

One thing that I also want to mention is that coding changes the way you think and the way you dream. Before going to Le Wagon, I couldn’t think of building a complex, technical product that has hi-tech features. Now, after the immersion into the tech culture, it is really inspiring to dream even bigger and aim for something that would change the world.

If you are considering joining Le Wagon, don’t think too much - it will change your life, just like it changed mine.
Everybody can code, it «simply» takes desire, effort, an open-mind and people that would support you. So why not doing it with the best school?
Change your life - Learn how to code

Read less

During my gap year, I decided to learn to code. While learning I felt demotivated because I was doing it alone so I decided to join Le Wagon! As I expected, I had students and professors by my side that allowed to learn more and faster ! I totally recommend it, let's go :D

Read less

Before Le Wagon I was a postdoctoral researcher in science. Seeing the growing field of technology and startups and the simultaneously rising demand for developers, I decided to join the Le Wagon Bootcamp. Before Le Wagon I already had basic experience in programming and therefore I was having doubts if the Bootcamp might not be demanding enough. However, I was challenged from the beginning to the end and it was hard work to prepare the lectures and get the exercises done.

That said, there is no problem to get successfully through the Bootcamp and deliver great final projects without any prior programming knowledge. This works because the Le Wagon curriculum and teachers adjust very well to the different pre-knowledge of the students. The program is well structured and all programming fundamentals are taught before going into the development of web applications.

Most importantly the whole Le Wagon team of teachers and assistants spent a great effort on helping the students and make it a great experience for everybody.
Le Wagon prepares the students to work as a developer alone or in a team. I recommend Le Wagon to anybody, who wants to change their career, independently of the professional background.

Read less

A year ago I finished my training at Le Wagon (batch 83). I was looking for a web developer training to learn to code, use APIs, learn to scrape the web, to become a growth hacker. I also wanted to be autonomous and create side projects and why not create a startup one day. There are a lot of bootcamps to learn to code in Paris so I compared them and I chose Le Wagon for several reasons:
- It is a reference training in the startup ecosystem.
- For their “product” culture
- For the network. I have built a network of trusted relationships today thanks to the bootcamp.

I was hired as a growth hacker at the end of the batch in a startup accelerator. I was able to practice my skills. A few months after Le Wagon, I continued coding and I created a tool. I launched my own marketing automation tool through what I learned ( www.tribly.co ). The bootcamp has a cost, but it is an investment to do in oneself which is worth it and which is quickly profitable.

Read less

Le Wagon is an amazing experience its very challenging. It was a great learning experience and It was very intresting to see the development of apps from developer standpoint. I enjoyed working with the teachers, as an American it was very interesting to see what the world was up to in terms of apps and startups. 

Read less

I have been living in Japan for 5 years working as an English teacher but teaching myself coding on the side. I tried to switch careers multiple times with no luck until I found Le Wagon in Tokyo. 

Teachers are amazing. The program is hands-on with lectures and then building on what you learn through challenges and small projects throughout the day. The teachers take you through the concepts step by step. There are TAs (and the teachers) that help with the day's challenges if you need it. I was an incredible experience and I almost didn't want it to end.

Now, I'm a full-stack developer for a startup in Tokyo. I've built life-long friends through the program and have finally realized my dream to code professional all thanks to Le Wagon!

Read less

Le Wagon changed my life completely.
Honestly I couldn’t code really well, but this bootcamp tough me how I can manage my life if I really want which anyone didn’t teach me in the school and in my work. Actually it was more important than just only coding. To decide attending the bootcamp wasn’t really easy for me because I had good career and salary in Tokyo. But I just realised sometime we need to decide and make big change in our life otherwise our life will be same level and never learn anything. Now I have more independent mind set and I can manage my life by my self!

Read less

After working for a start-up for a couple of years I felt it was time for a change and I wanted to challenge myself by learning something completely new. I love travelling and to have flexibility in a job, so why not learn how to code? I didn’t have any experience in tech or coding at all and after hearing all the great things about Le Wagon Bali, I decided to quit my job and jump in with both feet to become a full stack web developer.

I got straight into the deep end and in the first few weeks I got to learn, amongst other things, Ruby, SQL and OOP which started coming together when we learnt the Rails framework. Not having any prior experience, I was afraid that I would end up thinking coding was too technical for me, or that I would not be good at it. By the time it got to the project weeks of the Bootcamp, I was really impressed with myself for being able to code real web-apps. Before the bootcamp I never imagined this possible.

After two weeks of non-stop coding for our project SkillSwap, we were able to finish on time and present it on Demo Day to the local teach community and digital nomads (watch the videoclip!). This is the feature I like the most about Le Wagon. It is very product-oriented and I believe it is quite unique in that sense. Not only can you be a junior developer when you graduate, you are also trained to be an entrepreneur and product owner to pitch a product, manage product design and project constraints, conduct business presentations, with the aim of launching your idea to the market. The feeling is incredibly rewarding and empowering.

I never imagined I would like coding this much and so will you.

Read less