CS Prep

This course did not prep me for the technical interview. I dislike that it was advertised by codesmith that it will aid you in the technical interview. The instructor was good but the material wasn't that helpful. You do have pair programming but the first week was about 15mins and the final week was ~45mins. Its not helpful if a lot of your other classates are beginners.1. Skip this class if you are unsure if you want to join codesmith2. Do csx, freecodecamp and leetcode if you want to do well on technical interview

This course does a good job of teaching the material, but a relatively poor job of teaching you the skill necessary to succeed in their technical interview. If you are taking this with the intention of going on to the immersive program, there are probably better ways to spend your time/money.

The course is well-structured and provides ample opportunity to clarify challenging aspects through meaningful repetition. The instructors are knowledgeable, personable and passionate. Along with a great community of students, Codesmith offers a learning environment that is effective and encouraging - you won't feel intimidated when you have questions or when you are struggling with the material.

I took CS to prepare for the interview to the full-time immersive program. I thought it was definitely worth it. I had Matt as an instructor and he was very supportive and went through the material in a way that was easier to understand. We went in depth on higher order functions, callback, recursion and some more material. We also had a group project that was great. I definitely feel more prepared for my technical interview. 

The CS Prep class has been invaluable in preparing me to pass the technical interview for the Codesmith immersive program. It was a great opportunity to experience the teaching style of Codesmith programs as well. Big shout out to my instructor, Matt for being so helpful.

Overall,  I felt that the CS Prep remote experience was exceptional for people who are trying to get into the immersive bootcamp.  My instructor, Matt Peters was very knowledgeable, helpful and made sure that anyone who had questions were able to get answers both during class hours and outside of class hours.  I came out of the class with more knowledge, resources, AND peers than I had going in.

I participated in CSPrep, the two week part-time pre-bootcamp prep program, and am eagerly preparing for the bootcamp itself.  Codesmith is incredible for a few reasons.  First their approach which involves building a complete, rock-solid foundation including understanding what is going on under the hood with the javascript engine using diagramming of the callstack, thread of execution, execution context, and memory, and precise technical language is great.  Second, instruction is interactive and socratic and I can attest, as a current teacher, that the instructors know all of the good teacher moves.  Finally the culture of everyone struggling through hard learning and not looking up code, pair programming and answering each other's questions and being kind and generous and supportive made me feel at home and overcome imposter syndrome.  Codesmith is a community it is hard NOT to want to be a part of.  This is a mission driven organization that has genuine educational motives at the forefront.  I <3 Codesmith!

Codesmith is an environment where knowledge is built upon hard work, indeed, but most importantly, kindness. In all my time there I never received but words of encouragement, inspiration, and guidance. Every instructor and volunteer seem fully committed to you understanding  why  code works the way it does, not simply gimmicks or fancy tricks.The curriculum is filtered  through best practices, truly modern approach, and updated technical background, so you hit the ground running on your way to land that first job. Most importantly,  you learn to incorporate new developments on JavaScript into your toolbox, to remain on the cutting edge of both the industry and the top echelon of professionals.My appreciation of the profession and its growth greatly improved upward by the long hours invested in  the course, but the results speak for themselves, the accompaniment I've received inspires me to work harder everyday to accomplish my life goals and make my instructors proud.Truly, I can not recommend every course offered by Codesmith enough, there is where your hard work produces generous fruit.

As someone who has only been coding for a little over a month, this course was very challenging. I was overwhelmed at times, but the support I got from the instructor and classmates were extraordinary. My instructor Sophie was incredibly responsive and supportive. She made sure I understood everything I had questions on. I have learned so much in these short two weeks that i never thought I could achieve. After this course I am 100% positive that Codesmith is the way to go. I've applied for the immersive program and I will continue my education here in Codesmith. I highly recommend this course!

Pros:- Great Curriculum: CS Prep teaches you the Hard Parts of Javascript and prepares you for the technical interview of the Codesmith Immersive. It provides a great starting point for students to understand the field of software engineering, as you pick up tidbits of wisdom while progressing through the course. Their supporting materials were also organized and helpful. - Community: My cohort had an amazing community. Many of the students would constantly talk and joke through the Slack channel and Zoom chat. There were minimal difficult personalities, and the vibes were generally good.- Accessible Instructors:  All the staff at Codesmith are very responsive and supportive. I really appreciate how easy it is to communicate with the employees and find help on whatever problem you have.Cons:- Expensive: CS Prep lasts about two weeks, but there is only class four days a week (three hours on weekdays, six hours on Saturday). In my opinion, $875 is expensive for the amount of time spent learning, but the price does roll over if you get into the immersive. To me, CS Prep is not worth the money unless you are for sure planning on joining the Codesmith Immersive. 

I attended CodeSmith CS Prep 2 weeks program. The program is structured very well. The instructor is knowledgeable and knows how to guide learners to build up their own coding logics step by step. CodeSmith provides a supportive platform so I can get much help when I need it. I will definitely recommend this program and pursue to join their engineer immersive programs.

I enrolled in CS Prep with the intention of preparing for one of the immersives at Codesmith later this year. I wasn't sure what to expect going in but it was a great experience overall. The whole class (~30 people) was super supportive and encouraging of everyone. Our instructor, Sophie, was really knowledgable and seemed really invested in helping students and making sure they succeeded in the curriculum. I will add that going in I was surprised by how much pairing there was (every day), but I found it a valuable experience and the final project was a blast. I definitely plan to try to get into one of Codesmith's immersives after this positive experience. 

I entered into Codesmith's CS Prep program with basically 0 formal experience with coding. I had done some self-study, but found i needed more of a structure. Though the program is only 2 weeks long, it definitely covers a large basis needed to start your coding journey. That coupled with lots of pair programing, and an awesome group project at the end, I actually feel like I understand why people love coding so much. Definitely would recommend taking the CS Prep program for anyone who is still very new, and not sure about a bootcamp setting just yet. It's challenging, and you get some practical experience. 

Some context on me for reference:I aim to transition into the tech field for software development/engineering; I am working full-time in a somewhat connected position within an unrelated field, so I am aiming for the part-time remote intensive (PTRI) for now given current situations with COVID. I enjoyed CS Prep and would recommend it to others. That said, this course requires foundational knowledge of JavaScript. Some exposure to functions/execution context, callbacks/higher-order functions, recursion, and closures will help you retain more information during the course as well. I found that this course doesn't teach those basics but rather provides a place to practice and flesh out thoughts/ideas with sample problems. Luckily, those basic/foundational materials are free on Codesmith's YouTube channel and are indeed helpful.If you (like me) did not have that exposure to the concepts I mentioned previously, then you'll struggle but can catch up over time with enough work.The best part about CS Prep was the pair programming and inherent networking within their Slack channel. The pairing was by far what helped me learn the best. 

Save yourself the time and energy I spent on researching bootcamps, and choose Codesmith. Before choosing Codesmith, I attended in person information sessions at every bootcamp available in NYC on Javascript, Python, Java, Ruby, Android, and iOS at Flatiron School, General Assembly, Fullstack Academy, Grace Hopper, Pursuit, Hack Reactor, and Galvanize. Codesmith stood out in the CIRR report with the highest salary post graduation because they elevate you to qualify for mid level to senior level jobs. Having viewed every Codesmith Meetup video tutorial, I found Codesmith to have superior teaching method using graphical explanations. I asked every bootcamp, "how many Data Structures and Algorithms questions do you cover", because that is the bread and butter of technical interviews. Most of them said zero, which explains why some graduates can't get job offers. CS Prep, the 2 week part time class, covers 2 easy level questions per night. The Immersive covers 1 easy or medium question per day. Since CS Prep is free (tuition rolls over) if you later join the Immersive 3 month full time or 9 month part time class, there's no reason not to take it. Lastly, Chris was my CS Prep instructor, and he is incredibly knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and patient. In 2 weeks, he significantly improved my understanding of recursion, OOP, higher order functions, callback functions, and closure.

After taking the CSPrep course, I have become even founder of the Codesmith path. I started knowing nothing and worked my way up through their csx program to prepare for the 2-week CSPrep course. The content taught was rather good, but what I found most valuable are the ideas they instill - instead of just teaching the code, this course also taught me how to become more well-rounded as an engineer, including being able to efficiently communicate with peers and how to get past a block in your logic. Overall, I really do enjoy this program and am looking forward to taking their full program.

Codesmith's online CS Prep course is a must take for aspiring software engineers who come from non-technical or non-programming backgrounds that are looking to apply for the full-time programs.
After majoring in math in undergrad and working in finance for 5 years, I decided to take the leap and pursuing Codesmith due to the quality of the curriculum and the stellar outcomes. Very quickly, I realized that passing the technical interview was a major challenge and milestone. The CS Prep program only runs for ~2 weeks, but during that time students learn about callbacks and higher order functions, closure and object oriented programming. We pair programmed on a daily basis and each collaborated with a group to create a project at the end of the course (my group made Yahtzee).
The enthusiasm and dedication on part of the instructor and other students was highly motivating and allowed me to quickly accelerate my coding ability, while developing relationships and genuinely enjoying the process. After CS Prep, I was able to pass my technical and will be participating in the NYC full-time immersive.
Would highly recommend the course to anyone interested in the full-time programs!!

I just finished attending CS Prep I must say I learned so much in such a short amount of time! The course itself was only two weeks and it can feel like it going definitely a little too fast but you are given all the recording of the classes to go over as many times as you heart desires!  My instructor Matt was great, he was so caring and really wants you to succeed! I would message him with all my concerns and struggles. He would would write back with resources.  I recommend this course to everyone, it is a great way to learn basics in javascript in such a short amount! If you are planning on attending the immersive program and are having trouble with certain areas, definitely attend! This course will give you the clarity you need to move on to the immersive program! 

I started playing around with Javascript in March and have spent months looking for a pre-course for a bootcamp that suited my needs. The teachers in this program were absolutely amazing and showed passion in teaching the content. The amount of information I learned and practiced in just two weeks was more than I learned by myself in six months. I highly recommend CSPrep for someone who is new to coding and also to people who want to understand what is happening under the hood in JavaScript.

Review of CS Prep courseI'm writing this review because it wold have helped out a lot when deciding whether or not to take the prep course. So, I took the CS Prep course right before the onset of COVID19 lockdowns with the goal of getting into Codesmith right after. The program was designed to prepare you for the immersive and to allow you to pass the technical interview, and that's exactly what it did! Looking back, I didn't really need to take CSPrep - I had a fairly good grasp of all the concepts and went through the CSX platform fairly quickly. But nevertheless, I would still highly recommend taking CSPrep even if you do feel prepared. The course offered me a lot more than just preparing for the interview. It also: 
Got me used to Codesmith's teaching style

Got me used to pair programming, which is a huge part of Codesmith's overall teaching strategy

Got me more comfortable with not knowing things. Codesmith really pushes your limits and tries to make you uncomfortable so you can get used to knowing how to handle yourself when you don't know something. 

Gave me a community of friends. Codesmith is also really big on community (which you can probably see in almost every other review here), but attending CSPrep gave me a lot more insight on just how important it is. I still talk to the people I worked with in CSPrep and we even helped each other get into the program by offering advice, conducting mock interviews for each other, and just motivating each other in general. I've seen a lot of people from my CSPrep cohort in my current Codesmith cohort (PTRI 2), which goes to show that the curriculum really is there to help you succeed. 

TL;DR - Codesmith's CSPrep program is really awesome! If you have the money to take the course or can apply for CSPrep scholarships, do it. You won't regret it!