Software Development Online Part-Time Accelerated

 Took the Online Part-Time Bootcamp and had the best learning experience. I found the materials very helpful and comprehensive, everything was explained in such great detail. What makes the course of a higher quality are the assignments you have which strongly help you in learning by doing. There are the required assignments which when completed give you a solid understanding of the concepts, but if you want to dig even deeper you take the numerous optional ones. Don’t panic if you get stuck. TA-s are ready to help, weekdays or weekends you can always count on someone to help with your code. The instructors are also very friendly, positive and ready to help, but most importantly they are very good at explaining the material in the lectures. This course is designed in a way that makes the learning fun, I personally spent hours of studying without feeling tired, all I felt was the joy of learning new things. But the feeling of coming up with a real project at the end of such short time and showing it to your loved ones is indescribable. Coding Dojo also teaches you team working discipline which I think is a key concept of being successful at a job or in life. If you want an organized bootcamp in which you want to start coding or level up at it, Coding Dojo is the right place to go! 

Great Bootcamp for a beginner to learn to program, starting from very basics to advanced concepts of programming. Besides the perspicuous curriculum, what helped me in this Bootcamp are: 
A lot of assignments which are great to practice skills every day, and 
Projects to deal with real problems in web development.

I took the Coding Dojo online course which met live online twice a week. When I graduated at the end of October, I felt like I'd just completed my first year at Hogwarts: I learned the existence of many things I hadn’t even imagined, studied hard, had my projects blow up in my face every other day, met some new great friends, faced difficult challenges with them and ultimately prevailed with the help of my magical and powerful instructors. It was challenging and rewarding and I feel like I’m becoming a more capable person who can now do some pretty cool things that I couldn’t do before. And there’s still so much more to learn! Do I think it’s perfect? No. Do I recommend it? Yes. 

First, right up front, Coding Dojo is not easy. I was warned that the program demands a lot of study time outside of class but it was even more demanding than I expected, mainly due to my own hectic work schedule. If you are going to enroll, be sure your schedule is clear and your loved ones will be supportive and not resentful of your absence… I found the schedule to be demanding and after months of coursework, the pace felt relentless. Having someone to give you moral support and who can cut you some slack on your home and social duties is very helpful. There were definitely those in my cohort who seemed to have an easier time than I and at least one who was consistently ahead of the rest of us, so I think I may have struggled a bit more than many. I had three instructors in my coursework and I am pleased to say that every instructor and TA I worked with demonstrated a genuine desire to help me learn and succeed. There are many choices out there for learning coding and when considering which one to take, my biggest worry was that I would not get my money’s worth. The instructors and staff at CD showed me many times that they are not about grabbing my money – they were flexible when they could be and gave me every chance to succeed.

Coding Dojo has a Learning Platform from which you get most of your information. The idea is that you read, watch videos and do assignments and then class is your chance to ask questions, build on what you’ve learned and work with a group to apply your knowledge. It’s important to keep up with the platform schedule because if you don’t, you don’t get as much out of the live class experience. The platform is nicely designed and pretty easy to navigate. The information could be a bit uneven at times… some areas went into very deep detail, others left me wanting a little more info that I found elsewhere. One of the things that impressed me about Coding Dojo is that they are constantly striving to improve the platform. If you think you’ve found an error, there’s a popup available on every page to report it. When my class told our instructor that an item could have been clearer or needed to be updated, he quickly updated the item with our recommendation right on the spot.

Other things I liked: like a martial arts dojo, they establish a tone of respect and humility that encourages learning by enabling students to admit what they don’t know. My instructors maintained their enthusiasm and positive attitude even at the times when I felt lost and/or incredibly stupid. Coding Dojo heavily promoted the idea of students teaching each other and I was admittedly dubious at first. I thought I'd be risking getting bad info from someone who didn't know what they were talking about or wasting my time teaching someone who was behind me instead of moving myself forward. As it turns out, I was completely wrong: I learned a great deal of useful things from my fellow students and my own understanding of the material was greatly enhanced when I tried explaining it to someone else. I also found that having a study buddy helped motivate me to put in more hours at the keyboard. I also discovered that I actually enjoy working as part of a team on coding projects, something I really did not expect. 

If I were to offer some constructive criticism, it would be to give individual feedback on our assignments. Other than the exams, I didn't get feedback on the many assignments I uploaded. I knew that they worked -- I tested them before I uploaded them -- but I would have liked to know if there was a much better way to have completed the assignment. 

I am in the early stages of portfolio preparation and job hunting so I don't have any feedback on that part as yet. 

To be honest the remote Coding Dojo Bootcamp program is NOT worth $6,000 or MORE! After "graduation", I'm left with NO job in the field and horrible debt! My review is based on the remote experience. 

- The remote program value is NOT worth the money.

If I had known that free YouTube videos, free edx.org courses, affordable Udemy, Treehouse, and free Udacity courses were a STRONGER learning foundation than an entire expensive Bootcamp program, I would have SAVED so much money! I wasted both my time and money on this program. 

I thought that having direct human interaction with an instructor would be a stronger learning experience. The remote program only includes two live lectures a week from instructors. There are daily online exercises that you complete by yourself. Initially, I was attracted to the remote program because I was working full-time and could do classes in the evening to hopefully transition to a new career change after graduation.

The pacing of the overall program is unrealistic for the working class and the instructors often RUSH the lecture material. The result is that you do NOT get a solid learning foundation but a rushed final product. My fellow Bootcamp classmates struggled to turn in assignments because they had jobs and the lectures didn't cover all assignments.

- The remote program quality is POOR.

The program gives this false perception that you will be fully trained and ready for the software workforce. The program doesn't teach best practices and sometimes the instructors even forgot the basics of setting up an app. 

Although I respect and liked the instructors, they do not teach you the core features or basics of a programming framework or stack because they didn't have time. The curriculum rushes them. Something essential and simple like the Django Admin dashboard robust functionality. The MEAN portion also felt rushed and MongoDB lectures were very unclear.

I was told I would never get a job using the code that they taught me! They completely rushed and skipped over what frameworks have built-in and the power of the technology. 

It got to the point that I had to PAY outside experts to correct the code quality that the instructors taught me. I also had to pay outside experts to redo code samples that were taught in the program, just to get employers to look at me. So not only did I have to pay the Bootcamp monthly $1,000 installment payments but also additional costs for support that they lacked.

- The remote program lacks support.

AWS deployment was required to pass the final Django exam. No TA knew how to deploy on AWS at the time. With the instructors not available on weekends, I had no choice but to pay outside experts once again!

- The program post-graduation experience.

The remote program's learning quality will NOT make you stand out when applying for jobs. You can forget about passing technical interviews or algorithm screenings! You will fail entry-level tests even for new computer science graduates because Coding Dojo lacks foundation and does NOT replace a computer science degree. 

For the remote program, algorithm training sessions are optional and not enforced or structured in a way to help you pass the most basic level algorithms. On the contrary, I was told the onsite program requires students to do algorithms every day and the learning quality is better. I was told by staff that the basic on HacerRank was too hard to do.

In conclusion, SAVE thousands of dollars please! Enjoy cheap Udemy courses, go to in-person meetup events, find a Code Mentor and watch free YouTube videos. You will learn so much more and have better code samples to show jobs. Seek certification from a program that uses best practices in programming stacks and does not rush the learning experience or quality.

As many, I was very skeptical entering an online bootcamp that costs over $5000, after doing some research I found out that they allow for scholarships. I applied for the diversity Scholarship and was awarded $500 off, and they were also running a sale at that time so my total for tuition came out to $4000. Not bad taking into account the fact that they also were very flexible with my installment plan dates.

Upon entering their started courses I was a bit overwhelmed, but was quickly helped by one of the instructors on where to find my course material, what to study, and how to properly prepare for the Python course (lots of precourse algorithms to get your mind prepared). They also had a Mattermost group where you can find live help from instructors and tutors, all of which I found as a great tool.

The initial course was a web development fundamental course which was very easy and straight forward as I have experience in Frontend Development, and ended up passing that with 98%. The next course however was a whole new world for me as it dealt with Python, Django, Flask, Jinga2, and MySQL very heavily, none of which I had worked with prior. I must say I really enjoyed Python, as it was loosesly typed just like JavaScript, yet so powerful for a severside programming language. Passed that course fine as well. Then came the MEAN Stack course (MongoDB, Angular, Express, and Nodejs). The beginning was great and easy to pick up on if you know a bit of JavaScript, however as the course progressed I felt things started moving fast, I ended up only having weekends to do assignments which was a big regret later. Ended up passing the course on my 2nd try and got a Red belt (2nd highest belt).

Pros: Overall my goal was to learn more about MEAN stack and be able to comfortably build fullstack applications, I gained the knowledge to do so, and then some. I am very satisfied with the results. I do wish they went over more on Object Oriented Programming on an advanced level, as that's what most employers seek these days.

Cons: Some of the coursework moves too fast, if you don't practice prior or do your own research, you will be left behind (however there is Mattermost and instrucors to help). It's best to be prepared at all times in order to be successful with your learning goals.

Online Coding Dojo Bootcamp was great but went by too fast. I am an experienced Programmer who was looking to review my concepts and learn new programming languages like Python and ASP.NET Core technology. While the curriculum is well structutred and the instructors are great, it went too fast for me, I did not get a chance to review concepts and felt like it was too fast. I am still struggling on some concepts I did before I joined. I need more practice, more real application to what I learned. More hands on, more testing questioning practice.

This online course was best thing that happened to me. It helped me to understand the core of programming, and after this course I got my first job. I recommend it.

Coding Dojo as an educational institution is remarkable.  It boils complex technologies down to their essence so that elaborate concepts may be learned quickly and efficiently.  You are truly prepared to tackle programming in the world in a short time due to the intense thought and preparation that Coding Dojo has done building their curriculum.

Before starting the Coding Dojo online bootcamp, I was on my final year of studies for Computer Sciences. I was interested on learning other programming languages and that is when I decided to apply for the full-stack web developer course at Coding Dojo.

The curriculum was just what I wanted. It contained the front end part of web developing, and two stacks for the back end development, Python and MEAN. The instructors were very dedicated on teaching us the best practices and get the most out of the online bootcamp experience, including here the online meetings, the assignments, the algorithm challenges etc. And what is more important, they were very determined to watch us succeed that they were willing to hold one-on-one online meetings and help us with whatever difficulty we had.

The knowledge that I gained during the Coding Dojo course has helped my carieer. Since then, I have worked as a web developer.

Before attending courses with Coding Dojo, I was in office management for 25+ years and the only coding background I had was HTML and CSS. For years, I had been interested in becoming a developer, but didn't know which route to take so I called a friend who manages a software engineering team in San Jose, CA. He gave me the contact info for Coding Dojo and told me he had heard really good reviews about them from his colleagues.

All of the instructors I had were fantastic and the courses were well laid out. The web fundamentals class was a breeze because of my previous knowledge of front end languages, but I really struggled with the back end stuff. I would recommend having some sort of basic foundation/understanding of Python and/or Javascript beforehand. If I had at least that much, I believe the experience would've been less stressful for me.

I am still working in an office managemenet role. However, because of dual knowledge of office management and coding, I was hired by a tech company to work remotely handling all of the back office administration, as well as helping some of the dev work. After my first year, I was offered a position as a full-time developer.

P.S. My company has hired two other Coding Dojo alumni over the past two years ;)

Before I started Coding Dojo, I was pursuing my last year of bachelor studies in Computer Science. During that time I was looking for an Internship programme. Meanwhile, I saw the announcement from Coding Dojo for their call for the new cohort and I immediately applied and luckily I've got accepted.

Being part of Coding Dojo was the best part of my career seeking phase. I pleasantly would say that it was the most beautiful thing that could happen to me! The curriculum seemed pretty comprehensive, I liked how it really covered the full stack.

During this boot camp, I developed projects in a vast range of technologies, starting with front-end development and the Python stack, then moved on to MEAN stack. Instructors and TAs were willing to help at any time and I really appreciate it. I've noticed how my confidence increased in programming, every time I passed the exams and that was the best feeling ever! 

Now, I lead my own tech startup which I co-founded with a friend from this boot camp except this, I also work as a freelance developer in a tech company.
 
I would recommend every girl to be part of Coding Dojo, to be more inspired than ever to give coding a shot and learn the feeling of building something. I promise you won’t regret it! :)

My name is Arthur and I graduated the Coding Dojo program  months ago.  I started the program to change careers, but have not yet made my move.  I am still working to get comfortable with some new languages and concepts that are currently being used.  My time in the bootcamp was challenging but definitely a good experience.  If you are looking to learn, be prepared to only get as much out as you get in...hopefully.  I really enjoyed the instructors and  TAs, but class participation was not mandatory.  Therefore, if other students were  not working to group up my only resources was the teacher (spent hours picking Devon and Wes's brain).  I also got some great support from one or two other students.  I would recommend an online bootcamp only if you cannot make in person sessions (which require more teamwork) and also have 25 hrs to dedicate to learning.  I would do the bootcamp again!

I recently completed the online program through Coding Dojo. Prior to that, I was 3 years out of college, working as a Construction Manager in the DC Metro area. I enrolled in the program because I wanted to find a more flexible job and also I believed coding would be a more fulfilling career for me. I couldn't afford going back to college full time and wanted to make a career transition as soon as possible, so I decided an online bootcamp would be the best fit for me. I selected Coding Dojo over other options because of their presence in the DC area and name recognition with tech companies here. I also thought the course material was up-to-date and the cost was much more affordable than other programs.  

The first 3 months of Coding Dojo's online program, I kept my full time job. I worked during the day and learned to code by nights and weekends. It was extremely difficult! You must be ready to dedicate a LOT of time to learning and mastering these subjects. For the second half of the online program, I quit my job to be able to spend more time on the program. After completing the program, it took me 3 months and applying to nearly 100 jobs, but I finally found my perfect dream job. I'm currently working as a Junior Developer for a government agency. My commute is shorter, my pay is higher, and I also have greater job flexibility. Coding Dojo's career assistance was excellent and I felt incredibly prepared to apply and interview for technical positions.

My biggest advice to anyone considering any coding bootcamp... If you treat the courses and assignments as a hobby, you will not succeed in technical interviews. Bootcamps can not force you to learn the material or force companies to hire their grads. You need to be excited about coding and self-motivated to constantly continue learning. That being said, Coding Dojo's curriculum was excellent and I felt extremely prepared to enter the workforce. 

A year after graduating with a finance degree and working as  investment analyst, I knew I had made the wrong choice in respect to a career path (to be completely honest, I knew I made the wrong choice in my penultimate semester). I always had a passion for technology and computers, and after taking some courses during college that required some light programming, I fell in love with coding. I began trying to learn to code on my own and quickly realized with an abundance of information that was avaialbe to me from all sources, I needed some structure. That is when I began researching coding bootcamps and came across Coding Dojo. After reading plenty of reviews and success stories, along witht  the great curriculum that Coding Dojo offers, I decided to apply and enroll in the online program (as I was workign full-time). BEST DECISION I HAVE EVER MADE!

The online program offered the flexibility that I needed as welll as not breaking the bank (Did I mention scholarships?). The instructors were amazing at breaking down concepts in laymans terms. The amount of resources Coding Dojo provides is fantastic. The online program course was mostly self-driven but instructors were always availble to help outside of lectures. In addition, you are connected with the dojo community (instructors, students, and alumni) so there is always someone to help you when you're struggling. The career services Coding Dojo offers really prepares you for your job search as well as offers assitance in landing a position. 

YOU WILL LEARN A LOT...NOT EVERYTHING...BUT A LOT. By the end of this program, you will be a self-sufficient FULL-STACK developer able to create your own websites, applications, etc. That being said, this program isn't a walk in the park, especially the online program. You really need to have a passion for coding as well as good discipline to keep up with assignments and projects.  My most memorable quote from my first lecture was "You will get out of this program what you put in". Truer words could not have been spoken. If coding is something you really want to do, whether your an existing programmer looking to learn new technologies or someone like me who had little-to-no prior programming experience, I wouldn't go any other way but with Coding Dojo. 

Nine months later from the start of the program, I was offered my first developer postion. Currently, I absolutely love my job and love what I do.  Looking back at the start of my journey and the transformation I made is mind-blowing. I am proficient in multiple technologies and built my own websites and applications from scratch. Now at my job I am learning a new technology stack and I can't even begin to tell you how well Coding Dojo has prepared me for this role. 

Coding Dojo is the way to go! You'll be a Ninja before you know it!

Long story short, I had almost ZERO background on computer coding. I had no idea on terms used, the way it all worked, how to approach it, and what it would mean for my future if I were to pursue it. I had been recommended to check the school out from a friend of mine who spoke very highly of it. I ended up commiting to the online program, and now, MANY moons later, I am completed with the online courses, and am extremely excited about my future. I learned a lot about myself, the computer coding industry, and how absolutely wonderful the world of computer engineering can be. The options and powers of it are almost limitless, and knowing that I can take what I have learned and apply it to the world we live in in a very healthy and positive manner is all I could ever want AND more. I highly recommend this course to anyone who is new to the field (as I was prior to joining), or to any seasoned engineers who are looking to round themselves out on the other subjects. The instructors were all wonderful and very helpful. The courses made sense and pushed you to challenge yourself. The end result of it was inspirational.

At the beginning of taking the course I was excited and eager to learn but didn’t know exactly what to expect. The teaching approach was the most impactful because it taught me how to learn rather than just the abc building blocks and be on your way. This changed the way I evaluate and learn new things. I was able to take my python skills that I was taught and apply them to finance and the stock market (with additional study for that specific area) and apply simple to more complex algorithms in quantitative analysis. Also Wes’s extra walkthrough’s of the algo book they recommend was incredibly helpful in understanding new concepts. They have some good people who care and I thank the team for their time with me. 

I decided to attend Coding Dojo as an alternative to University primarily because of the cost and it is, without a doubt, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I had dabbled in programming a little bit and even took a C++ course in community college, but I had almost no knowledge of what I was getting into. I decided to take some of the free courses (Web Fundamentals and Algorithms I-IV) provided by Coding Dojo as preliminary courses and really felt welcomed by the instructors (Speros and Jason). It was a great precursor because I found that after I started Coding Dojo, I had the same feeling. Instead of just coasting through the Web Fundamentals portion (since I had taken the class before the program started), I helped the class as much as I could. This proved to be a great solidifier for my learning, so I continued to do so throughout the program and three days before the program ended, I got a job as a Systems Engineer.

My fellow cohorts, instructors, and the TA’s were instrumental in my completing the course and without them, I don’t think I would have gotten a job so soon. In particular, Wes Harper, Jason Franz, and Minh Nguyen were always there to assist me if I needed it. I can’t thank them or Coding Dojo enough for how my life has changed!

As a recent college graduate in Mathematics, I knew I wanted a job in tech but didn't have the experience or know how to get a job so I joined Coding Dojo. I feel the curriculum really prepared me for a job as a developer. I was hired by a consulting company after the Bootcamp and during the training, I found that I knew as much if not more than most of the people there with CS degrees. Coding Dojo is a great resource and the best priced compared to other online coding bootcamps. I highly recommend this program for people with a degree that are trying to break into tech

Want to be a developer? Want to code? Love learning and challenges?  Not sure about algorithms? What if you have kids, job(s), outside commitments? How do you do a full bootcamp at 70 hours a week in-person?  I don't know!  I do know that Coding Dojo Online Bootcamp has supported this mom, to three young special needs kids, while living abroad, like family, to meet my goals of learning (how to write code, algorithms, Python, MEAN) and I've seen them support and challenge and work with so many other students with a wide background of education.  They all truly believe you can code and YOU can!  YOU will!  All the staff, instructors, career services, fellow students, and teaching assistants are super sharp people with a heart of wanting to see their student be successful. 

Coding Dojo has a FREE platform to do algorithms, critical to development, to support new folks... get passionate, get on and do them before you get into a program (http://algorithm.codingdojo.com/).  When you finish this, sign up for the new FREE algorithms class online (http://www.codingdojo.com/academy/algorithms-i) and meet and learn from teachers and current and past students.  I don't know any other program that offers so much free support. Whatever time and energy you have to pour into learning... it will be matched by other students, teachers, TA's.  

Maybe you're wondering...

how do I manage my time - I spend every morning and evening online coding or doing algo's... I use the messaging system they have to get questions answered most hours or collorbarate with students and share code and algorithms.
how much time do I have to put in to be successful? - This will depend on how much "distraction free" time you get.  If I were you, I would get started on algo's ASAP and then ask all the time for help when you get really stuck.  Get ahead by looking at the previous sessions video's to know what you're going to be taught for the upcoming lecture. Doing this allowed me to ask in live lecture about concepts being taught that were unclear to me during the previous sessions recorded lectures.  I also spend a lot of time on algorithms.
but aren't algorithms optional? NO.  Yes, but no. I used to hate algorithms and fear them but no more. Dive in and you'll be met with really passionate teachers and TAs who will help you master these and rock your interviews!
Career Services has options for folks in the online bootcamps through Zoom and I've gotten to hear from other graduates in industry and do a resume writing workshop.  I have chatted several times with career services, they're great and send out jobs frequently to graduates to consider.
Not getting the help you need.  Email your teacher or admin and tell them what you need.  I have no doubt you'll be met with compassion and your team will work with you.

My experience at Coding Dojo has been stellar and everything I was hoping for in a coding bootcamp. The combination of  engaged Teachers, and TA's, plus the excellent material and teaching style has given me the solid foundation of tools and confidence that I was looking for and that I will take forward to tackle any challenge I meet down the road.  Add to that a super informed and helpful career services advisor who reached out on day one and made it known that I was not in this alone - and I knew that I had made the right choice by going with Coding Dojo!  

As a successful student at Coding Dojo here are a few strategies that I have helped me excel in a sometimes tough and isolated on-line learning environment. 

1. I actively reach out and ask questions (a lot) and take nothing for granted: The teaching staff at coding dojo is super responsive and always there to help when I didn't understand something or was feeling behind in the course work. I noticed that a lot of other students would say they were behind but then not ask for help or clarification. It is up to us to be responsible for our learning experience and the more I hold myself accountable, the more I get things done. In an online learning environment, ultimately there is no one holding your hand and you have to have an amount of self-starter attitude to succeed. That being said, Coding Dojo does a great job of creating a learning community through the messaging platform Mattermost and through live lectures and code reviews via Zoom video conferencing. With those tools, even though you are many miles apart form fellow student and teachers, you have the opportunity to connect and learn from each other.  

2.  Helping other students: One of the best way for me to learn is to actively engage and help out my fellow students. Any time I had the chance to help someone that was behind I jumped to try and assist. There is a great amount of material covered in a bootcamp and sometimes it can feel overwhelming trying to retain all that material.  One great way to keep and solidify that foundation that you are building is to help someone else. You learn what you really know and what you need to work more on when you are trying to explain it to someone else. On top of that, you just helped someone else, made a stronger connection and built your own confidence up a notch.  Win win win!

3. Code reviews are not optional in my mind:  Each class offered an optional code review each week (sometimes more) and I found this to be one of the most valuable learning platforms. Again, most students in the program only seemed to do the required work, but my mindset was that I was going to get the most out of Coding Dojo and take advantage of every opportunity to learn. During code review I had the chance to get comfortable and confident coding in front of my peers. I was able to ask in depth questions, and explore more advanced topics at points because I was one of only a handful of students to regularly show up and actively share what I was working on.

4. Optional algorithm studies: I made a habit and commitment to take on optional material in algorithm studies. The problem solving skills I developed/gained taught me recognize what was being asked of me and how to break a problem into small steps to achieve that bigger goal. I think anyone looking to excel in a coding boot camp should incorporate regular algorithms into their daily practice. I'm thankful that Coding Dojo had great TA's to help inspire this practice in me.

Can anyone learn to code? I honestly think so. But I also know the reality is that you have to want to learn. Anyone that decides and chooses that they want to can succeed. By setting ourselves up for success, allotting the time needed, and holding ourselves accountable I firmly believe anyone can thrive. Coding Dojo has provided an excellent platform and community for me to get to where I wanted to be in a relatively short time and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a chance to level themselves up!