BeachCoders® Academy

This course was great since I was a beginner. I had signed up for online courses, but I wanted to get a solid foundation. It was nice to come in and have an instructor face-to-face instructor to learn the basics. It was a small class environment, and it was nice to be able to ask questions as the class was in progress. The class met everyday, except weekends, for four weeks. It was less daunting than I initially thought, and after taking this course I feel confident with moving forward with my coding skills. The instructor was great and knowledgeable. It was great to have him work through what we'd be learning, and then given an exercise to practice the new skills. The instructor would also provide third party resources that were invaluable, whether it was being able to practice our coding skills or areas to help us when we stumble. Great course.

Term: Winter 2015-2016 The instructor was friendly and asked me if I needed help. There's always water in the fridge and a new challenge to work on. If you actually participate, ask questions, and learn the syntax, you will learn to code and build beautiful websites. The instructor made the appropriate tools available and showed us the existence of many more. He was always available to answer a question, and he was honest with us. He investigated bugs in front of us and showed us how to fix annoying issues that pop up commonly when working with front end. I'm still working on a project I began work on there. With some time and care, this might be my first app. :) - S

We learned a large amount of information in a short amount of time. But this course really is the reason I might actually START in the software engineering/development industry, and I don't know what to say more than that. This was probably one of the top best decisions of my life outside of choosing college, choosing Software Development as the industry for me and moving to Los Angeles, CA. We learned how to do things from scratch and how to work through problems when they arouse, as well as how to create ACTUAL applications. I think we build like 5-10 applications in class. Pretty impressive. Some small apps we made we're: a currency convertor, weather application, movie website, game of Thrones character search website, a Donald Trump vs Lord Voldemort fighting game(Javascript/JSX), a calculator(React), as well as a ton of other really cool applications. If I had to redo anything, I would literally sign up again for this class without regret. One of the best investments I've made! 

I recently attended the Front End Web Development course from Beach Coders. I really didn’t know much about coding going in, but I knew I needed to learn. This course definitely helped me learn a LOT! We covered HTML, CSS, Javascript and went further into Bootstrap, jQuery, API’s and even React. I learned about best practices in today’s coding environments. The instructor was very friendly and patient. We did some team coding and I’m now building my first app. Beach Coders gave me the tools and the confidence to start job prospecting. Beach Coders also works with Launch Code who will help me get a tech job. I highly recommend this course!

I have been trying to learn web design and HTML, CSS & JavaScript for a year but never had someone to piece together the picture for me. I thought I could do it on my own but it just got me more confused. It's so different having a human to teach you rather than just learning from Codecademy and those self-learning sites.

The instructor was very knowledgeable and was able to point me in the right direction even after the course was finished.The curriculum was clearly outlined and it was a lot of work but so worth it in the end - I learned a ton! If you spend 1-2 hours outside of class to study then you should be fine - don't procrastinate!

All-in-all it was a great course that opened my eyes to what programming really is and where it could take me.

I just finished the August 2016 "bootcamp." 

If you have no experience with HTML, CSS, or Javascript, you may find this course to be useful (though I would still argue you'd find a better value going through the freecodecamp.com program). If you have any background at all, you'll find there's not much for you here.

The course provides a very surface-level overview of some of the technologies you need to learn to to get a job as a front end developer, but it is NOT the same caliber nor does it go to the same depth as some other coding bootcamps (such as Codesmith). Most importantly -- there is NO emphasis placed on learning how to solve problems, which is perhaps the most important skill a developer can have.

The program accepts everyone and has no prerequisites, which sounds nice and inclusive, but in retrospect should have been a red flag -- the class ends up teaching to the person in the room who knows the least. If that's you, you're in luck. If it's not, you are twiddling your thumbs.

I wouldn't characterize the program as a complete waste, but there are DEFINITELY better options out there in terms of value for what you'll learn. I would recommend exploring some of the free or affordable meetups available through Codesmith / Build With Code and Learn to Code LA. For the price, you definitely get more value for the money going through the programs offered online by Treehouse and others.

 

I went into this with zero web or tech skills which had prevented me in the past from moving forward with my curiosity about UX Design.  

With encouragement and an individualized program, I not only gained a good understanding of UX, but a solid start on my portfolio and some confidence to move forward after I graduated.  

Beach Coders cares about the future of its students.  How you apply what you learned there to your job, career, or any area of your life is taken into serious consideration and is something I especially appreciated.  For anyone out there looking for a program that cares about each person as an individual, I encourage him/her to enroll (and perhaps fullfill some curiosity and conquer some fears, like I did).