UNH Coding Boot Camp

I just graduated from the part-time Full-Stack Bootcamp - normally this program is in person but it was fully remote due to COVID.

After just 6 months I have learned a tremendous amount and feel confident to apply for jobs as a full-stack developer. The instructional team (one instructor and two TAs) was awesome - they not only explained the material extremely well, but shared personal experiences that helped put things into context. They were also patient and really encouraged everyone to ask questions and get help when we needed it. The program provided us with a lot of opportunities to work as teams - with three group projects and in-class activities that we worked on with groups as well.  It moves fast, but a good amount of the curriculum builds on itself so that even if you're not quite comfortable with something at first, you end up getting more experience while learning the next topic. 

Beyond the instructional team there are lots of others who are there to support you as well. You've got a student success manager who checks in with the class and students personally to help keep you on track and provide encouragement and tips for staying sane through the bootcamp. There are folks in career services who check your career materials (resume, portfolio, LinkedIn profile, etc), give you great feedback about how they can be improved, and help you with advice for your job search. You also have access to a tutor every week. My tutor was fantastic - always helpful and encouraging. 

Be prepared to put in a lot of time outside of class in order to get the most out of the bootcamp. They recommend at 20 hours - I'd say that's a minimum. Also, be prepared to feel like you're at least a little lost... a lot, so be willing to ask questions when you have them - and you will!

I was looking for a change. I have been working in some form of customer service since I was 15 years old and it is getting old. I'm also a single dad and living on a customer service rep salary is  almost impossible. I saw the ad for the bootcamp on Facebook and took a chance. Honestly I feel better for it. I'm excited about a new career as well as the flexibility to work where ever. I have aspirations of moving to Ireland and will certainly be using what I learned at bootcamp to make headway and possibly work for a company in Dublin or Galway. I want to thank Mason and Bryan for their time and expertise as well as Adam and Josh the TA's we had everyone has been wonderful it was a great experience and worth every penny 

Background/Expectations:    I come from a programming background, I've been in the industry for quite some time but needed a skills refresh.    This program fit my needs because it was fast paced, technologically current,  in-person and outside of core daytime job hours.   I've been around the block a few times, so I expected to be "the oldest guy in the room".  I was pleased to see that in my cohort there was a cross cut representation of age, gender and experiences.   Some were complete novices and others were very seasoned professionals trying to get some new skills.   Any apprehension about being in the right place vanished immediately on day 1.

Curriculum:  The syllabus is good,  it matches up nicely with what I am seeing in the corporate world.  UNH/Trilogy keeps refreshing the content and the instructors tweak the material to keep it fresh.   Expect to answer seemingly endless weekly surveys, but I am presuming that is one benchmark they use to tweak the curriculum, so do them accurately and pay it forward!   There were a couple of items that I would drop from the curriculum, but they weren't significant enough to warrant a concern.  (e.g., teaching Computer Science in a day, adding Java is too much, our cohort deprioritized it)

Pre-work: There was a fair amount of pre-work and an interview before the first class begins.   Again,  I suspect it is to gauge the experience of the class.   It's also good practice for anyone who hasn't been in school for a while.   At the very least it provides a means to practice the homework submission process.

Instructors:  From my point of view, this was a real differentiator.  Local technical leads from local industry really allows for a personal touch.   They were either industry profressionals, bootcamp graduates or both.  Their abilty to salt the Trilogy/UNH playbook with their industry insights, tips and tricks cannot be over-stated.  top notch.    I appreciated their adjustments to the curriculum, while never taking anything away that was promised,  that allowed us to focus on what we deemed the important topics.   I didn't use the remote help that Trilogy offers.   Our instructors and TAs were readily available and that was sufficient for me.  But it was nice to know it was there if needed. 

Classwork:  I won't repeat the detail curriculum,  that's easily discoverable.  The beginning classes had a  fair amount of powerpoints with some hands on tasks.   All good stuff, but it had to be powered through.  Soon enough it turned into in-class examples and the memories of those powerpoint days faded to a hazy memory.   Candidly, sometimes I felt there was plenty of time to get the task done and at other times, it was just too quick. (YRMV).    I think that is hard to avoid given the pace of a bootcamp and different backgrounds of the participants.    Project work were group assignments.  That adds a layer of complexity but certainly emulates more real-world conditions.   

Homework:  The homework is tied very closely to the in-class examples.  If you can keep up with the in-class examples, then the homework will be challenging but do-able.   The Trilogy method is to have you do the homework the week after you've learned the new concept.  This means you may be juggling two concepts at a time in-class versus at-home.   Our cohort adjusted the homework to be due the week you we're learning the concept.   It was a trade-off,  better focus on one-concept which was good for new-learners, but it took away from the runway to the homework deadline.  In a 6-month sprint, there is no make-up time,  you're borrowing time from Peter to pay Paul, sooner or later it comes due.   (e.g., get your homework done before jumping into deep project work if possible)

Job Assistance: Full disclosure, I rated it highly based on observation but I didn't really use it.   It was all there and fully available as the class developed and there was plenty of reach-out.   I did review the job materials and it was all the same quality of materials that you would see in the corporate world.   It is designed to put your best foot forward.  It's on my to-do list to go back and polish my print and digital identities.

Final Thoughts:   As with any new endeavor, the usual maxim "you get out of it what you put into it" certainly applies here too.  The sweet spot would be for anyone who has had a modicum of programming experience, but the syllabus promise of first-principles teaching holds true here.   You'll have to do the work, but the curriculum structure, coding examples and teaching support is all there to help you clear the hurdle.

Don't let yoursellf get behind on the homework (they do allow some skips),  if possible try to even get ahead a bit.   The second half of the course picks up speed rapidly with React.   Stay with it and it'll make sense.   Do all the in-class assignments at home and master them.   They all are foundational and in most cases build into the next item.  

With respect to the three projects.   Have some idea of what you might want to do before you get to that point.   We lost valuable time trying to land on one idea that could have been used to develop ode.   If you have some fleshed out ideas on a napkin,  it will pay off in good team planning.  Save the homework skips for the final project, your future self will appreciate the favor.

Net Promoter Question:  Would I recommend UNH Bootcamp Full Stack Development to a family or friend?  Yes,  already have.

Great experience. The curriculum is solid (and always being tweaked and tuned to make it better and keep it relevant). Scott, our instructor, was always clear, knowledgeable, and helpful. It was made clear upfront that your success is up to you and you will be expected to spend a lot of time outside class, practicing and learning additional material on your own, but they always point you in the right direction and offer plenty of support. Tutors are available and staff is accessible online.

It was hard to gauge exactly what career services would entail beforehand. You're given guidance on your resume and online profiles along with some interview prep. Our final projects were presented in a "tech fair" format, which was attended by a few industry reps.  At least a few students landed a job before they even completed the course.

Overall, very satisfied.

I loved this bootcamp, but know that it's really difficult to keep up with it and work at the same time if you are neurodivergent. I took the 6 month course, and had to quit my part time job just to keep up with school. I had Lada as a teacher and he was really knowledgeable and helpful. He really wanted us to learn and learn the proper updated way to code. It's easy to look at Chat GPT and use it as a tool, but don't let it do the work for you, otherwise you won't learn and will fall behind in knowledge. All that being said, this course does help you get a job because of the assignments that you do, go straight to GitHub to build your portfolio. But it does not set you up with any connections to businesses that they say work with the school. I linked my GitHub to my LinkedIn profile, and because of the assignments I've done from the class, it helped me get interviews a lot! Getting a job in the field comes from you doing the footwork. I fortunately made connections from my previous job and was able to land a job that way. But if you are thinking you can get a job at Google, Amazon, or any big company after this, you might be mistaken. Unless you absorb EVERYTHING you learn, or if you learn crazy fast. There is no way to remember everything you learn, but just keep trying. That's the key, is to try! Also, it would benefit you to make a group chat with anyone you connect with as classmates, it makes the experience way less lonely and you're able to lean on each other during problems.

Pros: 
- Instructor, Teaching Assistant (TA), and additional support staff were very engaging and insightful. 
- Very streamlined process getting set up during onboarding. 
- Curriculum goes over Full Stack development using the MERN stack. It's very empowering to know the fundamentals of what makes a web application tick. Excited to start leveraging that knowledge in future projects, personal or otherwise.
- Plenty of services/resources provided by the Career Services Team to get things like your LinkedIn, Resume, and Portfolio ready for potential employers to view, including weekly Virtual discussion sessions.

Cons: 
- Substitute instructors/TAs: I was fortunate enough to be in a cohort where our assigned instructor and TA were engaging and made learning fun and easier to digest, but whenever either one of them had a substitute due to scheduling conflicts, the dynamic of the whole cohort shifted, and not for the better. I don't think that the substitutes themselves are at fault for that, but more that there did not seem to be enough done to make the transition less jarring. Most of the subs seemed to have to do catch up on the material/lesson plan while they were in session with us. Luckily, substitution was not commonplace.

Review from a recent graduate.

Pros: 
- Instructor, Teaching Assistant (TA), and additional support staff were very engaging and insightful. 
- Very streamlined process getting set up during onboarding. 
- Curriculum goes over Full Stack development using the MERN stack. It's very empowering to know the fundamentals of what makes a web application tick. Excited to start leveraging that knowledge in future projects, personal or otherwise.
- Plenty of services/resources provided by the Career Services Team to get things like your LinkedIn, Resume, and Portfolio ready for potential employers to view, including weekly Virtual discussion sessions.

Cons: 
- Substitute instructors/TAs: I was fortunate enough to be in a cohort where our assigned instructor and TA were engaging and made learning fun and easier to digest, but whenever either one of them had a substitute due to scheduling conflicts, the dynamic of the whole cohort shifted, and not for the better. I don't think that the substitutes themselves are at fault for that, but more that there did not seem to be enough done to make the transition less jarring. Most of the subs seemed to have to do catch up on the material/lesson plan while they were in session with us. Luckily, substitution was not commonplace.