NYC Onsite Software Engineering Immersive

I attended Codesmith after graduating from another bootcamp bc I didn't feel prepared to find a job at the level I wanted. As w/any endeavor, it's up to you how much you want to invest in your future, in time, energy, commitment, and community. Codesmith provided everything I could have asked for, and so much more. They don't just help you, they support you, for a lifetime. I found a great job after graduating, as did all of my classmates. Even more, having graduated 2 years ago, I recently needed help through a difficult time in my life. I knew I could turn to Codesmith for support, and of course, they were there. The people at Codesmith, the community they foster, and the spirit they engender, are radically empowering, perpetually nurturing, and practically innovative. A wonderful life changing experience!

Bio:I am a degreeless self-taught engineer who started in 2019 and landed a front end web developer role in 6 months.About a year later, I was stuck in a company I wasn't happy with and was not growing as a marketable engineer.I had two choices to make:1. Go back to school and get a computer science degree. (Solid route, but takes a long time)2. Attend a boot camp. (Pricey and does not guarantee a job)Why did I choose CodeSmith over a CS degree?1. 3 months vs 2 years time span. (I had some college credits to transfer in)2. CIRR reports had overwhelming positive statistics for Codesmith graduates.3. I also had been coding for over a year and a half so I had experience coming in.Summary:So now you're probably reading this review to convince you why you should attend Codesmith. Well, just do it."Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."CodeSmith is not going to hold your hand and give you a golden ticket to a job. What CodeSmith will teach you is how to learn, how to solve problems, how to collaborate with engineers, and how to keep pushing forward with that stupid bug you've been wrestling with for days/weeks.
At the end of the day, CodeSmith is a FOR profit educational program much like your colleges down the road. You get what you make out of the program.
Pros:- CodeSmith culture is amazing and collaborative- Well structured full stack javascript curriculum with other niche topics sprinkled on top such as DevOps & Machine Learning with Python- Data structures and algorithms unit- CodeSmith projects are damn fun- Great resume programCons:- My cohort felt like a beta cohort as we were the 2nd cohort to be in a full remote learning environment. (Thanks Covid)- Some units felt drawn out. (👀 DevOps)- Some engineering fellows were downright amazing and others... meh not so much- Some residents didn't really need to be there and I felt a major disconnect because of that. (AKA not looking for a job in the field just here to learn)- ExpensiveAdvice:At the end of the day, no program is perfect but CodeSmith is constantly iterating on their future cohorts to make them better. With that being said, I learned a lot about myself in those 3 months, what I could do, what I couldn't do, and how I can become a better person/engineer. I fully recommend CodeSmith to anyone who's interested or is reading this.* If you attend the program, start networking and applying before the career lectures. This will help you practice interviews and get rid of your nerves. Thank me later.Result:Well if you're still reading this bravo and congrats! I'll answer the last question that's probably on your mind.So... did you get a job? Duh. I applied to several jobs (probably 40-50) within a span of 1 month right before the program ended.I received an offer 24 days after the program ended with a 66% salary increase. ✌️

Summary: its most likely going to be the hardest thing you've done in your life. None of it is easy. Getting in to Codesmith is hard, graduating Codesmith is hard (the 75+ hour weeks are no joke). Getting HIRED after Codesmith is going to be even HARDER. Seriously, getting a mid-level engineering role is hard. Don't expect to graduate and easily get hired. That said, I did get hired 10 weeks after graduation with a mid-level engineering role (but that was 10 weeks of 100% effort). If you're serious about moving into engineering, Codesmith should be your top choice. It will be much harder than you're imagining, but it can be done (even in a pandemic..!).  
Outcome:  10 weeks after graduation, a base salary very close to Codesmith median + equity. 
My Background: Non-technical major from top 50 public college. 'Prestigious', but non-technical work experience before Codesmith, so I just left it off resume. If youre making a switch to engineering, pretty much nothing you did previously really matters. Don't expect it to help you, it may actually hurt you if its on resume. I had written a little code before prepping to interview at Codesmith, but not much. Took 3 months of prep and 2 interviews to get in. Then had 1 month to prep before immersive. So 4 months pre-Codesmith, 3 months at Codesmith, 2 month job hunt, turns me from zero (pretty much) to mid-level engineer in 9 months. Granted thats prop an average of 45-55hr weeks working towards it.

Quick summary: I have no technical background, I studied about 500 hours before being accepted into Codesmith, and 4 months after graduating I landed a full time role with a great company, with a 150% higher salary than my previous job, and high career satisfaction.
Fiscally speaking, investing in Codesmith's immersive engineering program is worthwhile just for the guidance on salary negotiation, but it's a lot more than that.The immersive program environment reflects the actual workplace for engineers, establishing professional expectations and building teamwork skills and confidence in technical communication. I knew that I wanted to apply to Codesmith after attending a Hard Parts workshop in NYC, where attendees are expected to technically communicate in a group. It gave me instant confidence in what I had been previously studying entirely on my own with minor interest in participating in any kind of bootcamp situation.I spent at least 90% of my time at Codesmith working collaboratively with others. These team activities included: reporting regularly to stand-ups, preforming code reviews, mentoring newer engineers as well as receiving mentorship, using git collaboratively, preparing tech talks, and pairing - so I felt completely prepared to step into the professional engineering work environment.Codesmith's curriculum is progressive and up-to-date. If you're like me and have no technical background, you may have to put in a lot of extra effort before, during, and after the program. I don't think I would have landed a job by doing the bare minimum. However, if you're ready to work hard and keep pushing to learn more and more, this is the best program to support you in your journey to professional Software Engineer.

If you are like me, you are probably skeptical about bootcamps and their outcomes. I’m writing this review after accepting a mid-level software engineer position at a well-known company within 3 months of graduating. I also had to turn down several onsites and offers at other well-known companies. All this at the backdrop of a global pandemic and lockdown ( remote learning ). I say this not as a testament of my luck but through the lens of someone who has seen their cohort mates also receive dream offers ( who had no previous CS background ). Codesmith is tough, but worth it. Codesmith’s immersive program is tough, full stop. It will require work and dedication, but what I like about this program is that it gives you the direction to allocate your efforts in achieving that job-ready status. I have passed by other bootcamps and even seen some computer science graduates at top schools who have had trouble finding jobs 6-12 months out. Especially in this COVID lockdown environment. The harsh reality is that most if not all have worked extremely hard, but often not at the right efforts. Specifically, I found that Codesmith emphasizes certain things that most programs/colleges do not. Things like modern cloud technologies or CI/CD or expanding beyond the typical “MERN” stack, or the focus on technical communication and definitely the hiring portion. All of these and more culminate into a candidate that embodies a certain engineering ethos. It reminds me of the Tolstoy quote, “All happy families are alike, each unhappy family is unhappy in their own way”. There could be a million different reasons why someone is unsuccessful at career switching, but the focus should be on fostering specific characteristics that all successful candidates share. I found that Codesmith takes the guesswork out of what to focus on. So if you're curious/anxious at all about outcomes, I would compare different programs based on their audited results ( median salaries, % of graduates employed, etc ).

Codesmith has been, by far, the most rewarding experience of my life. Met amazing people who have become lifelong friends, and was able to leverage the hiring support to receive multiple FAANG offers in less than two months after graduating as a mid-level software engineer. The hiring support, including Uncle Eric, has been phenomenal - and far surpasses any type of hiring support or negotiation help you'll see at any other software immersive program or bootcamp in the country. You'll learn an immense amount in a very short time and the student projects are production level code, and are much more sophisticated, in-depth, and impressive than other 'student projects' coming out of any other program. It's a no-brainer to pick Codesmith.

It's what you make it. I only went to Codesmith, so I don't have any other bootcamps to compare it to. But I had no technical background and I started coding in January 2020, did the bootcamp June - August 2020, and had a job by the end of the year. If you do what they say (which isn't easy because it's hard work) the experience and outcome that I had should be achievable.

After reviewing many coding schools and their outcomes, Codesmith seemed like the ivy league of bootcamps. Coming from a completely non technical background, I knew it would be hard to get in and even harder when I got there, but I hoped the outcome would be worth it. Bootcamps are definitely a quick way to get you on a different track, but not without extensive amounts of hard work. I studied JavaScript basics through Codesmith's CSX platform for about 2 months and took their 2 week CSPrep course before I was ready to interview. I failed my first technical interview but they gave me some feedback of what to work on and the next week I came back and passed my second interview with some more feedback on my weaker areas. I was able to get a scholarship for $2000 which helped, but the school is definitely still pricey.The hours are very intensive and you have to know what you're signing up for. You are living and breathing code for 3 months straight and it can get mentally exhausting to constantly try to retain loads of new information. Sometimes you might want a break but you can't really have one. But with persistence, as a graduate I can say the hard work pays off. You truly learn what you need to know to secure that first software engineering job. My personal experience was a little bit rough. I signed up for the onsite immersive program and I felt like I could learn best in that environment. Due to Covid19, after the first week the entire program was forced to go remote. Remote learning was not necessarily for me. It was a lot harder for me to get my work done from my home environment with all the distractions. Codesmith also has a unique teaching style. For each unit, they will give a couple hours of lectures on some new concepts and then throw you into a 2 day project with a partner where you feel like you don't have the slightest idea of where to even start. There is a help desk that the Fellows answer but the teachers aren't really around much. It is definitely frustrating at times but having to learn things the hard way through Google and lots of errors does help you remember and understand what you are doing. I do wish the lectures were a little more related to the code we would be writing and not just overall big pictures. After struggling for 2 days and probably not finishing your project, they give an approach lecture on how to do it and it make it look like a breeze. It helps to reinforce and understand what you struggled with, but some things would just be useful to know beforehand to be able to progress further in each project. You will have a growing list of things to go back and review but probably won't have time to do it.After 6 weeks of these 2 day units, the second portion of the program is focused on building your own projects and web apps. This is where you get to really apply what you learned and also learn so much more based on what your apps needs are. It was so rewarding to have completed that first project and see the end result of what I coded from start to finish. It shows you that you can actually make cool things! There is one solo project and the rest are done in groups. Most of your time is spent on one prodution project which will be the focus of your resume. You have the opportunity to learn a lot from your group members and help each other out. In the real world you will likely be working in teams so it was good to see the dynamic beforehand. The best part of Codesmith is the hiring support. They go through rounds of your resume and tear it apart (in the best way), they help you prepare answers to interview questions, and bring in people to practice mock interviews with. They have someone to help you negotiate your salary once you have an offer, and after you graduate there are meetings every week about the job search. You also have access to the alumni community and your own cohort mates for tips and references. The networking aspect is awesome. A few months after graduated I started my first job as a Software Engineer. The role isn't exactly what I wanted but now my foot is in the door, which was the whole point for me. I know after a year or so of experience under my belt I will be even better equipped as an experienced programmer to find the job I'm looking for. Overall, I wouldn't have been able to make this career change without going to Codesmith.

I had a really wonderful experience at Codesmith. My cohort was amazing and I felt very supported by the staff throughout the immersive. I ended up with my first offer 6 weeks into the job search and was able to sign an offer with a base salary within the range reported on CIRR. I feel that Codesmith provides you with all of the knowledge and experience you need to succeed as a software engineer, but it is an extremely challenging and intense program and you'll probably have to work harder than you've ever worked before to be successful in the immersive and subsequent job search (be prepared for several months of 12 hour workdays and no time off). I'd highly recommend Codesmith to anyone looking to level up their skillset and move into a midlevel software engineering position.

It was reading these very same online reviews where I first learned of Codesmith. After seeing their outcomes on CIRR and attending a handful of free JavaScript -- The Hard Parts workshops, I chose Codesmith over other programs for what seemed like the exceptionally detailed attention they paid to the quality of their teaching and hiring program.My experience was consistent with that initial sense; it was clear that the entire team had thought critically about how people learn and how to teach most effectively. And no small part of that effectiveness was due to the culture that had been thoughtfully created, one of warmth and encouragement that always seemed to be saying "This is new and challenging work, but we're there for each other and we'll figure it out together."It's a remarkable community that, long after graduating and beginning work as an engineer, I feel lucky to be a part of.

I'm the type of person who digs through the internet for reviews, and quality of services and products that I'm interested in. I found Codesmith after days of googling, watching vlogs of people attending bootcamps, seeing their progress, and digging into message boards. I've also tried attending free lectures and workshops. And by far, Codesmith stood out for their pursuit of excellence. They are selective for a reason. As long as you put in the time, which is a TON, and you're generally good to work with, and if you're serious about taking this path, then you should really consider this program. I'm a musician prior to entering the program, have always been pretty technical and interested in computers (but never did coded anything), and after a year I now work at one of the biggest telecommunication companies. 

Through Codesmith’s CS Prep and Full-time Immersive, I made a full career switch into software development.  After researching several immersive programs, CS stood out to me with their distinguished reviews.  It was then learning JS through their CSX platform, attending their workshops and joining CS Prep where I was really captured by their unique curriculum  and teaching style.The full-time program was no exception as it continued to showcase expert-level instruction from guiding you through full stack web technologies to hiring support while fostering a collaborative and communicative learning environment.  The curriculum is certainly intense and unapologetic (in a positive way), and it’s up to the students to put in the work in order to get the most out of it - trusting the system and embracing the challenges will set you up for future success in your job search.  The solid community of peers and staff support are unique aspects of this program that set it apart from others.I greatly value the skills, experiences and friends that I obtained through CS, and I recommend this to anyone who is looking for the same.

Everything about my Codesmith experience was exceptional- from the instructors to my peers to the technology, I found Codesmith to be worth every penny.
Some Background: I learned Python when I was younger, but I came to Codesmith with a Bachelors of Music and a year in the music industry under my belt.  When COVID-19 became our new reality, I was searching for alternatives to performing, and learned JavaScript as I researched bootcamps.  After completing CS Prep and passing my technical interview, I entered the NY immersive program (held online, to maintain social distancing), which I completed a month ago, and signed a six-figure offer today.
Instructors: While researching immersive programs, I was disappointed to learn that most (if not all) bootcamps are taught primarily by prior students, in the form of ‘fellows’.  While your mileage may vary, in my Codesmith experience this turned out to be an unnecessary fear.  The fellows were bright, eager, kind, and helpful throughout my three months in the program, and served as references during my job hunt.  These folks are typically only kept on for three-month  contracts after graduation, so I cannot guarantee that your experience will be identical, but Codesmith fosters a can-do attitude in the community, so I am hopeful that you will have a similar experience.  (Note that some of the senior instructors are full-time employees and industry veterans, whom I also found to be great teachers)
Curriculum: The curriculum at Codesmith is primarily centered around React, Redux, Node.js, Express, and PostgreSQL.  No other front-end frameworks are taught, and while MongoDB, AWS, and OAuth are touched upon throughout, the backend technologies other than Node are explored more shallowly.  Codesmith’s approach to curriculum can be summed up in a phrase they’ve coined: ‘hard learning’.  Enter my only gripe with my Codesmith experience- while the technologies they’ve chosen to focus on are excellent choices from a popularity-in-the-industry perspective, I do feel that Codesmith’s ‘heard learning’ approach sometimes leaves something to be desired.  In particular, as projects become the focus of your days, the ‘hard learning’ approach becomes a burden more than a boon, as your energy is primarily directed towards your projects and the curriculum begins to feel frustrating rather than constructive.  This is not to say that the experience is bad- rather, I simply found it to be a minor frustration that mars an otherwise enjoyable learning experience.  By the end of the program I felt that I had made great progress in the core curriculum, and that can be attributed largely to ‘hard learning’.
Projects: Perhaps the greatest part of Codesmith is the project portion of your junior phase and the production project portion of your senior phase.  In your junior phase, three projects punctuate the conclusion of the core curriculum, small affairs the last only a couple days each.  These are the perfect on-ramp to working in a team environment on ‘real’ software (at least, something a little more substantial than a tutorial).  The production project, however, is the crowning jewel of Codesmith.  Students are required to work in teams to develop an open-source developer tool or similar project, in order to give back to the community and nurture a deep expertise in one technical area.  By requiring these production projects to solve problems faced by developers every day, students acquire an intimate knowledge of a corner of the industry, experience that can be spoken to in job interviews with authority.  In contrast to other immersive programs, where final projects are often mock-applications, Codesmith’s approach ensures exposure to real problems you will encounter in your career (and it looks great on your resume, to boot).
Job Assistance: Codesmith’s hiring program is exhaustive, and stresses the realities of applying to engineering roles.  With lectures and workshops on interviewing, your ‘pitch’, negotiating, networking, resume development, and recruiters, the hiring program provides guidance on every step of your job search, and continues indefinitely post-graduation with weekly workshops for grads in the job hunt.  Mock interviews with grads help to ease you into the experience of technical interviews, and the daily emphasis on algorithms and data structures throughout your three months prepares you well for mid-level interviews.
Overall: Codesmith was life-changing for me, beyond a new career and a new job.  The people in my cohort were curious, intelligent, and bound by the common goal of bettering their lives.  I cherish many of the friendships I made at Codesmith, and I can’t wait to give back to the Codesmith community in the years to come.

Codesmith was great. I graduated in August and accepted a job offer for well above the advertised average salary in October. 

I had a wonderful experience at Codesmith. The support I received was outstanding and I felt really prepared to enter the job market. The first time I ever looked at code was 6 months to the day that I was offered a full-time software engineering job. Codesmith fast-tracked my education and career in the field of software engineering. The curriculum is rigorous, and the projects you create during your time there are above and beyond any other program that I looked at. I made some amazing friends during my time there as well. The hiring support is incredible and I felt fully supported throughout the application process. I highly recommend the program!

Coming from a non-technical background, I did my fair share of research of what bootcamps were out there before finally selecting Codesmith. I had heard great things about its community and how they really emphasize empathetic engineering as a culture and this couldn't have been more true. I truly felt welcomed and never once did I feel judged if I started to feel like I was falling behind. Another great thing about Codesmith is their hiring program. They don't just teach you the skills and knowledge to become a developer but how to become a developer, aka the hiring process after you graduate. It's really detailed and they even have someone that helps you negotiate your offer when it/they come in. It's definitely an all-encompassing program and I'm so grateful I got to experience it!

There is no question. Codesmith prepares you for success, grooms your skills, and sends you off with the best possible chance to land an amazing job. I wish there was some competition to speak of... but there's not.

The Codesmith engineering immersive program is one of, if not the best bootcamp experiences around. After comparing various bootcamps by instructors, curriculum and outcomes, it was clear to me that Codesmith would provide me the best opportunity to transition into software engineering. The curriculum is rigorous and captivating, taught by experienced people, both professional engineers and top former graduates of the program. The combination of data structures and algorithms (important for technical interviews when looking for a job) and in-depth web development is key for any aspiring engineer, and the Codesmith curriculum pushes its residents to learn as much as possible during the program. The deciding factor on choosing Codesmith over other bootcamps was the culminating project, which is a tool built for other engineers to use during their development process, rather than a client-facing product. This kind of project requires a higher level of dedication, as the ideas and features for building a dev tool are more complex than a client-facing application. While the experience will be one of the hardest things that most people will go through, the community is extremely supportive and easily one of my favorite aspects of the whole program. The friends that I made during the program really made my time that much better, because we were all challenged at various points and supported each other throughout. While the job search is certainly challenging, the program provides great hiring support and checks in frequently on your progress, as well as providing a plethora of information on how best to succeed throughout the job hunt.

I took a while to enroll because I was skeptical about the outcomes. Let me tell you, it’s real. When I had no choice but to change my life, I took the leap and it was the best decision yet. Everything, from the admissions process, curriculum, to the job search has been dissected at every detail to provide the best results. There’s a lot of science behind this, so it’s not magic. It would take forever to explain how, but just trust the process and you will find yourself like a new born. If you keep applying what you’ve learned here at Codesmith, you’ll surely reach high places in all areas of life, not just software engineering. 

Attending Codesmith was a great experience; I learned a lot of things and it really shaped my foundation of web development. It was a grueling boot camp as you spend tons of hours coding and learning however, it was a decision I do not regret. Instructors were great, they really want you to succeed as the curriculum was hard! But overall, I would recommend Codesmith to anyone looking for a great boot camp.