Software Engineering

I am a student in the Practicum Software Engineer course.  In this course I have learned HTML and CSS, JavaScript, and I am currently learning React.  The course also includes Backend programming, which I will get to soon.I am extremely pleased to have chosen Practicum to learn web development.   From day 1 the Practicum team has been very supportive, and their learning environment is excellent.  The course is web based, and Practicum has a very well designed and implemented environment.  After completing theory sessions in each section or sprint, you will use the Practicum IDE to complete exercises that are included with most theory lessons.  After completing the section you will complete a project designed to put your new skills to use.  It is extremely satisfying to see the web pages come to life!One other exciting skill I have picked up is using GitHub.  All of the Practicum projects are done using GitHub, and this is a very valuable skill for web developers/software engineers to learn.The lessons and projects are extremely well done, and the people are even better.  Practicum has global students, and they have a global team of community managers, code reviewers and tutors.  The Practicum team really is top notch and they do show a lot of care about my progress, and there is always someone to help me when I need help.

I started with the program a few months ago. So far I can say that I'm a CSS/HTML developer and I'm starting to understand javascript (it's hard!).I started with the course because I wanted to keep building my side digital business without the need to hire developers.Practicum interactive platform is really amazing, the small exercises that allow me to learn new stuff step by step give me the confidence to keep working on it. The format of real sprints where you must deliver project code on your own is perfect to keep learning how the real life of an engineer works.Also, there is a very responsive community on slack that supports any question in minutes (no matter the day of the week you have an issue, always there is someone who helps).Overall a super good experience so far. Hopefully, I will be able to pass the JS path. I recommend you to check some online free introductory videos to understand the logic behind JS before starting with the Practicum BootCamp. I'm sure it will help you.Go for it!

Software Engineering Bootcamp with Practicum-Yandex
Here are some of my thoughts about the P-Y Software Engineering Bootcamp.  I’ve been involved for about five months since the beginning of 2022.  That’s almost half-way through the nine-month, part-time program.  I find this bootcamp to be a very powerful learning platform. The course is a combination of online course material, interaction with an experienced tutor, online coding videos, projects with rigorous reviews and interaction with other students.  All of this provides an opportunity to learn and prepare to enter the job market.  The program is comprised of sprints with two- to three-week duration, with enough flexibility to allow self-pacing.   Twenty hours per week is the minimum effort; more if you want to dive deeper.  
Since my goal is to work remotely, the day-to-day experience of this bootcamp has been a good model for what lies ahead.  Often, it’s too easy to keep my head down working.  I’ve learned how important it is to recharge by stepping away. It’s true that short breaks bring solutions by letting your brain work in the background. Longer breaks help with maintaining balance.  When entering a bootcamp, it’s important to keep this in mind!  
Another aspect is the enormous body of knowledge.  My guess is that I’ll have acquired ten-percent of the available knowledge when I’m done with the bootcamp.  Together with an attitude of continuous learning, I believe that ten-percent will be the right amount to get started.  With so much information, so many different programming languages, and so many different specialties, I think it’s important to think of the bootcamp as a launching pad.  
You must be willing to search out information on your own.  The course will take you only so far and then it’s expected that you will be creative and inquisitive to find answers on your own.  Use internet search to find not only solutions for the project in front of you, but also to learn how to promote yourself in the job market, and to learn what your future path might be.
Finally, a hats-off to both our Community Manager who helps to keep everything afloat from making sure we know deadlines, online workshop schedules and upcoming seminars about networking and finding jobs, and our Tutor who goes out of his way to explain how your code may be great but what you did in twenty lines of code could be done in two.
 
 

My name Is Reg I started studying with Practicum because I am looking for a career change. That can truly allow me to work with a flexible schedule. And work from home so I don't have to relocate my family. My experience with Practicum has been excellent. though their program is still relatively new so there are some hiccups with in the program. But nothing major that cant be worked around. The curriculum is top notch and the Community managers and tutors are excellent. They are very hands on and involved with their students. And are very accommodating as well. I work a more than full time job where the term weekend does not apply and over exhaustion is a real pain to deal with. And piling the workload from the program on top of that has not been easy. And because of this they have been really accommodating for my tuff schedule and that is something I highly value about their program.  They truly want you to succeed.

I've been learning software development on my own for some time, however, after about 4 months on the Practicum bootcamp I've realised that doing a few courses and practice projects is no substitute for a well thought out, rigorous course of study with progressively more challenging projects and detailed feedback - which is exactly what Practicum provides.The course is longer than other bootcamps I've seen (10 months) so I expected a pretty leisurely pace, but this is not the case at all. There is a lot of study material (with practice problems) to cover in each sprint, and then onto a project. At first I thought 2-3 weeks per sprint would be too long, and I'd be left waiting for new material to be released, but now I know I need to be on the ball, finish the studying and get onto the project ASAP. Some of these projects are very challenging, and I've taken up to 40 hours to complete one of them. In short - this bootcamp is no joke! You need to commit hard to it. The upshot of that is I have learned an amazing amount. By the end of the first 3 months, I realised that given designs and assets for a website, I can build it out. I'm only one month into the JS portion of the bootcamp, but I can already see a similar fluency beginning to develop. This bootcamp is designed to turn you into a job-ready developer and I absolutely believe that's exactly what it does - this is reinforced by the fact that I regularly see posts from recent graduates announcing getting jobs in the industry.Practicum is awesome, basically. Great value for what it provides, great (and super helpful) tutors. I'm learning new skills that I can actually use, and getting a 'lot' of practice of writing real code in real projects. I would 100% recommend.

"I was hesitate joining an online software coding course but Practicum provided a free introduction course. This trial course was beneficial with preparing my final decision. Three days into the course it was clear, Practicum is an excellent solution to become a successful software engineer. They take pride in their product by providing accessible information, support system and attention to detail. You can see that there is a great deal of passion behind this company."

I was blessed to attend Practicum by Yandex with sponsorship from Women Who Code and I'm so glad I joined. I was looking for a program that was affordable, beginner-friendly and allowed me to keep my full-time job and that would be hands-on. There is a trial period where you get to try out the program and create a project to see if it's for you before making a commitment. I love how Practicum's program is project-based and how just a couple of months in I had 2 beautiful projects to add to my portfolio. The curriculum is current, and only teaches / enforces the best practices, preparing you for success from the very beginning. The cohorts are small and diverse. A major plus is there is always someone available to help and answer questions if you need it. The staff/teachers/tutors/leads are great. I would recommend this program to anyone who wants to get started in tech.  

I've passed the introductory course so far and my experience with Yandex is great! I know the company Yandex itself as good and trustful company.I was looking for boot camps for a while and found Yandex as a good choice for me. I found their interactive platform good for me. I don't like a long lasting boring lectures and practicing is perfect for me. The platform is really good for learning and seems like they made a huge job to create it as it's now. The community and tutors need extra mentioning. Community is very good and friendly. Tutors and Community manager are really funny and helpful guys and respond to your messages in a minutes! Also the price is lower than in other platform, which is good and, honestly, too cheap for this product, especially with guaranteed job assistance!I really liked my first experience with Yandex Practicum so far and will probably add a review in the end of the course!

The free intro course by Practicum fulfills it's purpose well. It introduces you to the learning platform with a very light introduction to HTML & CSS. It also gives you direct access to  Practicum personnel that are able to answer your questions about the program. At the end of the course it gives you an idea if Web Development is something you may choose to pursue. The sales rep is helpful and not pushy. From my limited experience the people at Practicum want to provide a quality learning experience that is mutually beneficial.

Practicum took me from knowing the basics of html and CSS to an MERN stack developer in 10 months.Along the way I had a ton of fun, participated in group projects and hackathons, went to talks, worked in sprints, and learned a TON.their tutors treat you like family. their community managers and tech support treat you like family.the classmates that are actually active in chat also treat you like family.don't be afraid to expand your horizons, if you have the time to commit, you'll come out a STAR.

Well, the first 2 weeks seemed great at Yandex-Practicum, then I discovered that their program is full of bugs which hinders understanding of the practical exercises. You have to message customer support who, in some cases, just give you the answer, and unlock the next lesson for you. So you may not understand the practical tasks because you didn't even get a chance, but you'll need them later, for the project they ask you to submit every 2 weeks.
 
Lessons are locked, even though they say in their guidelines that they won't prevent you from learning while they review your projects. For example, you can't actually study any of the lessons in a chapter unless you complete today's lesson. Even if you don't understand it and want to tackle a different lesson to not waste time, all other lessons are locked so you're forced to complete today's lesson. In a book, if you have 5 chapters to study and are having a hard time with one of them, you can always study another, so you don't waste time, and get back to the hard one when your mind is clearer or can get some help understanding it. That brings me to another issue: you can't afford to wait or do extra research to understand confusing concepts in any one lesson because the entire course has very strict deadlines so you have to complete the lesson even if you didn't understand any of it.
 
The time pressure is enourmous and even though they advertise the course as a 20-hour per week course, it's actually not like that. It requires way more time, expecially for beginners who have no prior or very little experience with coding. I spent almost double the time in some instances and seriously thought of hiring someone outside of the course to help me. That while actually paying Yandex to help me learn.
 
One huge problem is the discrepancy between the level of the lessons and practice (which is very basic, for beginners) and the level of the project required at the end of each sprint (at least intermediate level to advanced). I told one of their reps once: the way you're doing this is like giving me the alfabet of a new, foreign language then asking me to write an award-winning novel. That's how big the discrepancy is. The level of expertise and perfection required for the project exceeds anything taught in the lessons. Not to mention that if you had a lesson with bugs, and customer support just fed you the answer without you even having to figure out the task, you're basically in the dark when you have to incorporate that in the project.
 
This brings me to another issue: the way they tell you that you need to ask for help for your projects. You're supposed to exhaust all possibilities on your own, then ask your fellow students, and only then contact a tutor. You could spend hours and hours scouring the internet for answers, before you can ask your fellow students. But your fellow students are not allowed to give you the answer either, only to direct you to other resources. If those resources don't work or are incomplete, only then you should contact your tutor. And the tutor doesn't give you the answer, but usually directs you to yet more resources, which then you have to decipher yet again. Every once in a while, you might get the right answer because someone takes pity on you, but very rarely, even when it's obvious you've been running into a wall and tried everything you could think of. This system only promotes waste of time and energy when you could just get straighforward help for some things.
 
Another huge issue: we're supposed to complete a project every 2-3 weeks, but the instructions contain confusing, inconsistent information, and once you submit the project, it can get rejected at least 4 times, and the next sprint/module starts immediately, in some cases. But the lessons in that next module are not available because Yandex-Practicum keeps them locked until your project gets approved. They have 4 official rejections for your project but they may reject it for some mistakes in the beginning, which doesn't count towards the 4 official rejections. The reviewer almost never gives you a straight answer about what you've done wrong, just that you need to correct '[insert issue]'. He/she only respond once every 24 hours so if your project gets rejected one or two times (without review) because of some mistake, which doesn't count towards the 4 official rejections, then 3 times with review, before your final rejection, that means you've wasted 1-5 days. That's a whole week during which all you can do is wait for the reviewer to decide what else is wrong with your project. In the meantime, you have no acees to the next lessons. And the next sprint starts per the schedule, for which you're not eligible and you can't access because , again, they haven't approved your project. Even though their guidelines say lessons will not be locked while you're waiting for review (as I've mentioned).
 
The whole review process is messed up. It's almost like a mind game, like a relationship with a toxic partner who tells you that they're upset with you, but they won't tell you what it is. But they're upset so you have to figure out what's wrong and fix it. This is the strategy Practicum employs for projects, which is just not healthy, and it's constantly demoralizing. For every project submission (I've done two), you see your project getting rejected again and again with barely any indication as to why. Then you submit it for the third of 4th time, after trying to figure out what's wrong, knowing that if it doesn't get approved, you'll have to leave your current class and wait to join the next one. Which puts you behind your class and your own deadlines to finish the course. It's in their guidelines: after the 4th rejection, you have to wait for and transfer to the class that started after you until they catch up, while your current class continues advancing.
 
I'm not a stupid person, but they make it so hard to get your project approved and actually help you feel satisfied that you did a good job. My last project got rejected 3 times, 2 of them because I didn't remove comments in the code, even after I manually removed them all and checked every single line at least twice. No instructions as to how to find all of them or where the elusive comment might be hiding. In the meantime, my code is solid, the website works, but there's one comment or a minuscule character that was part of a comment somewhere, and I'm on the verge of the fourth and final rejection because of that. Which means I'll fall behind again because I'll be demoted to the next class.
 
They make you have a constant feeling that you're on the verge of falling behind after every sprint, and it makes you miserable. And you have many sprints before the end of the course so living with that all the time, every 2-3 weeks, is just not right. And definitely not necessary. Negative reinforcement much?
 
They advertise this as a 20-hour per week course, for 10 months. This is grossly misrepresenting the time you have to dedicate to this. It says it's beginner-friendly but it's not. It requires perfection from the students but the organization of the course is a mess, their software has many bugs and the support you receive seems minimal, with very few exceptions, and definitely doesn't bolster confidence in the process. I've never felt so discouraged in my life, after working like crazy and ignoring everything else in my life. Even when I tried to start early, so I get a head start, I still fell behind because of the way the course is structured. When I tried to study harder every day to finish the lessons early, so I can start on the project early, I still fell behind, again because of the way the course is structured. Psychologically, my last 2 months with Yandex-Practicum have put me off learning to code. This is like the worst possible situation to be in when you're learning something. Your growth and development as a student is stunted.
 
I'm done with the course and I can't actually recommend it to anyone. I feel like it employs some bad teaching techniques which seem akin to toxic mind games, and which make the learning process torturous. Which is not how it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be hard work but not to break you mentally after every sprint. And this was just the beginning sprints, with many saying: it'll get harder. If they make it this hard now, what am I supposed to expect over the next months?
 
Obviously, this is my opinion, and maybe other students are having an easier time. But like I said, I'm not a stupid person, and I like math and logical thinking so if it's this hard for me, I can't imagine what it's like for others who come from other backgrounds. I guess I'm not willing to put up with the unhealthy system they have. Maybe others are.
 
Yandex-Practicum has notified me that they're giving me a partial refund.

Practicum by Yandex's Web Development Curriculum is quite comprehensive and very well structured and updated according to the current technology stack in the market. I have been learning Web development by myself but this bootcamp has given me a proper structure and time-line to my journey. The learning platform does a great job in laying out the theory and hands on. The bootcamp not only trains you on technical stuffs but also supports you with mentors who are professional Web developers themselves and always ready to help you out in projects and even side projects. The bootcamp also have community managers who are like our shock absorbers and a great emotional help. Apart from everything else, I like that the bootcamp promotes healthy learning environment and gives us many opportunities to work in real-world like scenarios through its various initiatives. Pros 1. Very supportive community of students, mentors and community managers. 2. The curriculum is comprehensive and always getting updated. 3. The bootcamp's vision to provide students an exposure to the real world situation, is commendable. 

I have graduated from Practicum by Yandex in web development program. I had basic front-end skills. One day a friend of mine suggested to me Practicum for their advanced web development course. After seeing what skills I can obtain from the course I immediately signed up. I wanted to become an expert in the front-end/web development field, that's why I decided to start learning with Practicum. I was really amazed by the learning process they used for students. All the lessons are made of the most important and useful contents along with a good amount of coding-test sections where I was able to apply the knowledge I obtained from specific lessons. Most amazing part was, after every sprint/topic I got a real life project which was reviewed by an expert to determine if I was doing it properly or not. Reviewer's were really helpful to improve my code efficiency and quality. Going through all the sprints and challenges I was able to gain confidence in my skills. One more thing about Practicum worth mentioning is their support system. Tutors, community manager, and learning support team they all were really helpful. With them I always got my issues solved almost immediately. I really recommend this course to everyone, especially those who want to build a career in web development.

The intro course was very clear, very well made, and even fun. I only encountered one issue with while completing the intro course and the help chat was able to get me set correctly within minutes. 

All around an amazing class! Highly recommend taking it and taking full advantage of your resources, including the tutor access, hosted events, and network. Practicum's long-form, flexible class structure allows for a work-class-life balance unheard of in most other bootcamps, in person or remote, at least based on the research I've done. While I was taking this course, I was able to land a full time job at a software company which has been amazing so far! My experiences learned from Practicum helped me tremendously with getting that job.During the interview, I was able to answer many questions I wouldn't have known the answers to. My job uses a lot of the same systems, programs, and conventions as Practicum and so the course gave me a great introduction to these topics. I was also able to do a mock interview (with a detailed review, and questions answered about software interviews!) with a Practicum employee that gave me a lot of great tips on what to focus on learning. There have been so many good things that I've been able to participate in and learn from because of this course, I recommend it very highly. 100% worth the cost!! 
PROS: 
Excellent learning platform, curriculum, and pointers to many helpful resources
Teaches up-to-date and relevant technologies
Responsive, kind, and helpful tutors, admin, and support staff who really care about their students success
Extremely flexible scheduling, extremely accommodating when "life stuff happens" (this has been a HUGE plus for many students from what I've seen)
Many live group and 1 on 1 discussions with tutors on various topics, and opportunities for Q & A
Project-based course keeps the student working on new and useful features consistently
Encourages and facilitates networking, group-ups, group events, pair and mob programming, personal and class project review, portfolio review
Honest about total cost; no extra material charges or subscriptions were required after initial up-front payment
Code review for each submitted project (there are 17 projects including the final project)

CONS:

Interactive lesson platform was sometimes down or buggy (though it worked the majority of the time)
Lecture-style teaching and live QA with tutor was only once for an hour every two weeks (not even a con for most people!)

I was looking for an online bootcamp to further improve my skillset as a visual communicator (a.k.a. a graphic designer but more) and stumbled upon Practicum. Previously, I was looking at another potential online program which charged a crazy amount of money to learn what I'm planning to learn through Practicum--web development. I ultimately went with Practicum because it offers the opportunity to try it out for two weeks (for less than $100) to see if it was the right fit and the price was more reasonable.I decided to try it out for the two weeks and absolutely enjoyed the lessons. The majority of it is self-taught with opportunities to ask either your mentor or classmates for help on a social networking site called Slack (which is arranged like Facebook groups for businesses). The curriculum doesn't bog you down with lengthy descriptions and is easy to understand. The lessons get straight to the point without unnecessary fluff and then immerses you straight into a lesson which you have the chance to apply what you've learnt.The mentors are very personable and are there for you for any questions you have about the program and lessons. It is emphasized that you're not alone in this journey through the program and there are people that want to help.I really love the program so far and it allows me to improve my problem-solving skills when beginning to code. I honestly find it hard to stop going through lessons because I'm having so much fun. I'm looking forward to starting the full program in a couple of weeks!

I already had some basic web development experience before deciding to enroll with Practicum, so I knew I was interested in the field and wanted to pursue a career as a developer.I picked up some beginner level web development skills over the years through self-study and online courses and got into to doing some freelance work, mostly on WordPress sites. However, I knew there were still significant gaps in my knowledge that were holding me back from progressing further as a professional developer. A bootcamp seemed like it would be the most effective way to build my skills quickly and get up to speed.  I ended up coming across Practicum by Yandex through a Facebook ad, which I wouldn’t normally pay much attention to, but I checked it out and took the free 20-hour intro course and was impressed with the quality. It was a solid introductory course and gave a good feel for what the learning platform offered. The full curriculum fit what I was looking for, so I went ahead and committed to doing the entire 10-month program.  The course is definitely challenging even if you have previous experience. But that challenge is part of what makes it so effective – it requires you to get hands-on and get a good understanding of the material in order to complete the projects. Code review can seem daunting, but it’s actually become one of my favorite aspects of the program and sets it apart from other platforms I’ve tried previously.  Practicum has taught me more in the past year than I’ve learned in over a decade of self-study. Just the exposure to other developers and being introduced to so many helpful tools and resources has been life changing. I finally feel that I’m becoming a competent and capable developer. I highly recommend the program if you’re able to the spend the time on it. Pros:The course is thorough, they work to maintain up-to-date information throughout the course, so it’s often being updated as you progress through the program. The project-based approach, code reviews, and sprint scheduling immerse you in a real-world working environment rather than a traditional classroom. Cons:The platform is almost entirely text with some interactive coding exercises, so if you’re used to video lectures or other teaching styles, this can be challenging. The material is really good, it just might not be a good fit for every learning style. (I found using text-to-speech helped me personally). Depending on the group you’re with, the slack channels and webinars may not be very active. 

I started Practicum's free introductory web developer course as part of the Women Who Code X Practicum by Yandex scholarship and I absolutely loved it! The platform is highly engaging and simulates a real work setting. I like how the theory part is followed immediately by a hands-on coding task as practice. I also like how the platform is linear - you cannot proceed to the next section/topic unless you finish all previous sections. This addressed my problem of unstructured self-study and puts me in a structured roadmap with the correct order of learning.I also like the fact that the official program is organized in two-week sprints spanning a total of 10 months, with a  final project at the end of each sprint. I haven't gotten far enough to do any project yet, but knowing that I will be able to receive customized feedback from professional reviewers on my projects further motivates me to treat each project seriously. The best part of my experience is the supportive Slack community and the live coding sessions/webinars hosted by tutors. This complements the self-paced study on the platform. Everyone I have interacted with so far - community managers Ramil and Iuliia, our tutor Nadya, and my fellow cohort-mates -  are absolutely amazing. I am looking forward to learning and becoming friends with everybody :)  

After looking at a wide variety of online courses, I settled on Practicum, as it's one of the most comprehensive, with great value for money, and also has the option of a 20 hour free introductory course: super helpful for deciding if this is the course or area for you. You can also attend a webinar with tutors and staff from the course to ask questions, and sign up for a one-on-one with an advisor, so there's a lot available to help you decide, but at no point did I feel pressured to make a decision. It felt like the staff really wanted me to make the best choice for me.The course definitely has a focus on real-world preparation for working as a software developer rather than just focusing solely on hard skill learning. You have sprints, deadlines, pair programming, code reviews by industry professionals, and the tutors are experienced developers. The fact that it's a 10 month course means you are able to cover a lot of ground. Learning starts with front-end (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Git, REACT etc) moves to back-end (Node.js, REST API etc), and then brings it all together for the final project. There is optional career coaching and support, with things like mock interviews, application help, and building a LinkedIn and CV.The platform that you learn on is really easy to use and very interactive. I've found some previous self-study guides to be a bit more dry than I would prefer, but I find the way Practicum presents the material to be quite enjoyable, as they try to keep things light-hearted, with real-world scenarios.One issue I had with some other courses I tried is that you can feel a bit isolated. Not so with Practicum, the support is phenomenal. There are community managers who oversee all non-academic concerns and are super helpful, friendly, and quick with replies. Tutors are also on hand to help. The community on Slack is great too; there's a lot of opportunity for communication and networking, and it's encouraged to reach out to your community for help and advice. The fact that it's an online 20 hr/wk course means it's flexible, and although there are set times for webinars etc, they are always recorded so you can watch them later. The only (small) issue I've had is with code reviewing. Sometimes the review isn't clear, or is saying something that contradicts what you may have been taught, but you can't contact the reviewer. However, you can contact your tutor, who will be able to help.Through all the research I've done, it was definitely an informed decision to sign up for the web dev course with Practicum, and overall I'm super happy with my experience so far.

Before joining Practicum I tried various other platforms for web development and Came to know that entirely video based tutorials are not for me where I was just following along and get a little opportunity to learn. While the Practicum has it's own platform where you can learn and apply. later on you need to make the projects using the information you learned. The platform they are using is user friendly and very well maintained. I am currently a student and it looks promising so far. Their career support and community support is excellent throughout and I like the continuous feedback from members of the team, not to forget the code review process is quick and detailed so you can improve your work. I definitely Practicum recommend to anyone who wants to learn Development from scratch.