Bloc

I'm just over 6 weeks into my Part time Web Developer course and thus far I'm enjoying it. My mentors and connects through Slack have been awesome in guiding and assisting me though some challenging code. This course is definitely stretching my brain muscle but I'm determined to push through and put in the time and focus so that I make the most of my time here. Since I'm not that far into the program yet I can't give a full review but I'm excited about what's in store in the coming weeks. 

Bloc is based on the mentor-mentee model where you work once to thrice a week with a mentor who is out there in the industry doing the exact things you are studying. This is the best thing about the program. Otherwise, I also like their projects and reading assignments which are all short and to the point. They also provide references to other sites with more information should you need help. The course is all online which could be a negative to some, but I find it liberating in terms of being able to plan my time as I want, finding mentors and other students to help out via their Slack community, as well as an awesome mentor who is able to help via messages outside of our meeting times. I haven't had job assistance yet from them but that will be later down the line, thus I can't comment on that aspect. In terms of curriculum, they are always updating it as technology progresses.

I had experience and education in designing and coding before jumping onboard, but even then, the amount of effort and time it takes to really hone in those skills and get better is not an easy task. Studying at Bloc requires a lot of self-motivation and drive, which they do tell you up-front. It is like be like being a full-time student and then some. Overall I highly recommend the program - the number of hours you spend on projects and working compares to a full year of study, and compared to college prices, it's a steal for what you get. 

Bloc is a great place to learn to code. If you put in the effort and time you can get a job in tech. Its not easy and it won’t work for complainers. Hopefully this review will help someone who is looking to join a bootcamp and get into tech. I am about 70% through the web developer track and already have a job as a software developer.

Being completely online, there is obviously a bit of flexibility in completing the course. Even though I am in the web developer, the software developer and web dev track are very similar. The only difference is where the web developer track ends, the software developer track goes on for quite a bit. The web developer, or WDT for short, can be done in 6 months or a year. I started doing the 6 month plan, but part way through I switched to the year plan. With the year plan, you get one meeting a week and only have half the weekly requirements. However, the best part is that there is no restriction on turning in work. You can work ahead as much as you and your mentor want.

Having a mentor is the biggest selling point. Most allow you to message throughout the week to a reasonable amount. Then you have your weekly meetings, 2 a week for the 6 month plan and 1 a week for the year plan. With that being said, there is a slack team that all students, regardless of track, are apart of. Mentors and other students are incredibly active on slack, making it a great place to get help or to help other students.

Coding in and of itself it tough. If you are new to programming, it won’t be easy to learn. Bootcamps kind of need to be treated like college courses. You need to be disciplined to get things done, study, and research.

Bloc’s materials are thorough and they are project oriented. Early on you build projects by following along course materials, very similar to following instructions in a textbook. But, the most fun comes out of the projects where there is no hand holding. This is the part that helps get you work. You build a portfolio of projects that you build from start to finish.

Overall, I highly recommend Bloc. If you have the dream and the drive, Bloc can help you get there.

I am 3 months into the Web-Development Track with Bloc.

​I considered many different 'bootcamp' courses and i'm so relieved i ended up with Bloc.

1. The flexibility - i live in London, i teach part-time, i have a family. Bloc allows me to manage all this as a human-being, yes i have to commit hours each day but i can work these within my schedule and get it done from anywhere in the world!

​2.The mentors - not only is my mentor highly skilled in coding, this would amount to nothing without the ability to break things down to me on my level and also help me to keep my energy and motivation levels up.

​3.The curriculum - i am learning and absoribing great stuff each day.

​Highly Recommended!!

I am a current student in the Software Developer track. I think coming in with some knowledge of coding, even if it's very basic, like one Codecademy course, will make things easier. My mentor is extremely knowledgeable and he's quick to answer any questions I have. I went into the program thinking the mentor meetings were going to be annoying or awkward, but they're neither. They're incredibly informative and it's the best part about Bloc. I can't recommend this program enough to anyone that's very serious about making Software Development a career.

Everyone will have a different experience, what you get out of the program strongly depends on what you put in and what your background is. For me, It had worked out as good as I was hoping for. I am over 40, a non-native speaker with a graphic design degree and 10+ years of print design experience. Adding desktop/mobile app design and coding knowledge to my skill set helped me to immediately nail a corporate contract-to-hire ux/ui position and doubled my salary from my last position as a senior graphic designer.

The design track curriculum is pretty good and constantly being updated based on student’s reviews and industry demands. Students get a lot of hands on experience and all the basics are well presented but diligent research in addition to all the provided materials helps understanding, since the curriculum can only cover so much. Significant time of the program is dedicated to working on projects and designing a portfolio. My mentor Chris Gillis was very knowledgable and supportive, I could not wish for a better mentor. Outside of the mentor sessions, there is a Slack group for all students to interact and experts in the field are fully dedicated to answer questions and help students “get unstuck”.

In conclusion, it is a great program and the more knowledge you have beforehand, the more successful you will be. To make things less overwhelming during the program, review intro courses to hml/css, javascript, github, basic design principles. It will not be easy but persistency is the key to overcoming obstacles. Things become easier and understandable if you give yourself the opportunity to reach this point in time.

I have finished five weeks of the 54-week part-time web developer track at Bloc, and so far it's been great. I'm learning a lot and enjoying what I'm doing. Here are some thoughts about the program so far. Things that I like about Bloc:

- The flexibility: I like that I have the choice of a faster (27wk) and slower pace (54wk). I chose the slower pace because it best fits my schedule. I also learn a lot better if the same material is spread over a longer amount of time.

- The fact that it's online: At first, I wasn't sure if this would be a good thing or bad thing, but so far, I haven't thought there's any downside. I like not having to commute to some classroom somewhere.

- The curriculum: so far, I trust that everything I'm learning is current and in demand in the industry. The assignments are challenging but doable. The oral assessments are a little stressful but are valuable because it helps you develop the skills necessary to do well in job interviews.

- The support, both from my mentor and the bloc community: Despite being on-line, you have a lot of resourses to help you get unstuck if necessary. Talking to my mentor every week is a great way to get inspired and motivated.

Thus far, I can't really think of anything that I don't like. I would definitely recommend Bloc to a friend. I'm really glad that I'm doing it.

I started the Bloc program a little less than two months ago and it's rigorous and a little overwhelming and fantastic. I was worried because I'm not a great student, I usually get really excited within the first two weeks or so and then completely burn out by the end, usually doing the bare minimum until the last big assignment and then self-sabotaging at the very end. I told my mentor this in the first email and she's been really great at keeping me on track. Aside from that, even before I officially started the program, the welcome packet offered a lot of important information that helped me switch from a way too accelerated (for me) course to a more manageable one before it was too late. 

One of the best things about Bloc is their transparency. They tell you from the start that this is going to be difficult, that you'll probably experience anger and hopelessness, and all kinds of not great emotions, but what makes the difference is that they don't leave you hanging. There's a full community of students, mentors, and directors ready to remind you that you can do this and give you little steps that make the impossible, possible. Bloc breaks down the gargantuan goal of becoming a web developer into manageable tasks and even on days where I'm beyond frustrated and want to give up (as I have many times in other post-secondary institutions), Bloc is the only program that I haven't given up on and actually cannot see myself leaving before I finish. It's an extraordinary program, especially if it's not reasonable to up and change your life for the possibility of something so different and new.  

You get a lot for what you pay here and I love that everything is up to date. In high school, we learned that by the time you get to the second year of your computer science degree, most of the information you've learned is obsolete or outdated. I know with Bloc, I'm constantly learning about the best, from the best, and that I will be able to step out of this program confident and accomplished. Not only are the educational tools accessible and useful, the community through Slack offers up-to-date information on a daily basis. It's all the best parts of learning and I highly recommend this program.  

I am in the second month of the PT web development program at Bloc and so far really loving it. They've curated quality content so that your learning is optimized, the checkpoints along the way are useful and challenging, and you have support every step of the way ehen you get stuck. I have never so far felt like I was lost - you always have a helping hand from your mentor or from other teachers via the slack chats. I feel super productive, and am excited to continue on this journey at a pace that I am comfortable with. Some weeks are easy, others are incredibly challenging - but the challenge is worth it. 

Hey reader, here's some quick review of the course.

I started the Designer Track program on 10th July, 2017 with the 25-30 hrs & 2 mentor meetings a week (Moderate pace) schedule. 

About to complete the first module ie. Design Foundations ( a bit behind on the pace since I was working full-time)

• Highly structured & curated content (more external resources can be added but then it can seem overwhelming to some, hence it's sufficient enough in the first module)
• My mentor does his job (mentoring, of course) so well that it makes the learning experience more fun and challenging (You get to choose your mentor prior to starting your course).
• The Bloc team is extremely helpful and cooperative in terms of payment procedure and adjusting your pace/ mentor sessions / any other difficulty you may face during the course. 
• Bloc Slack channel is where the real fun and cross learning happens (you can get feedback of your assignments, projects, clear your doubts, discuss topics etc with your fellow classmates & other mentors) (although it can get overwhelming and slow your pace if you spend too much time on it, use it wisely).
• The curriculum is regularly updated (even in between your time through your course).
• It's AWESOME and better than other coding bootcamps (I read a lot of reviews of all online course providers and thoroughly evaluated and compared them; BLOC seemed legit). 

Will post more reviews as and when it seems like posting one. Have a great day!

I was at a party a few weeks ago and something really amazing happened.  I got everyone’s least favorite opening question, “What do you do for a living?” and without thinking I said “I am a web developer.” I’d didn’t caveat it with “want to be” or tell them I was in school or give some long winded answer about changing careers.  I simply told them what I was, I’m a web developer.  And it was in that moment that I believed it for the first time.

I started my first week at Bloc with equal measure of hope and fear.  It’s a big crazy unknown and I had the same three questions as everyone else does. Am I smart enough? Will it be too hard? Will Bloc accept my carefully cultivated selection of cat gifs in lieu of payment? (FYI: No, they won’t.)  I quickly came to realize the best part of learning to be a developer in this day and age is that no matter what your problem is someone else has had it already. Google, Stackoverflow and Chrome Dev Tools became my new best friends.  And like human best friends I cry on them and tell them all my problems and they give me advice (unlike human best friends they don’t take my side and tell me that I’m too good for Ruby anyway and it's her loss and feed me cookies). Of all the things I’ve learned from Bloc the most important is to be a better problem solver.  How can I break down the problem? What can I do to isolate it? Test it? It is an absolute necessity to be able to critically evaluate the problem, though like most problems eating cookies really does help.

Take a penny, leave a penny.  That’s how I feel about Slack.  Since everyone starts at different times there is always someone ahead of you in the program and someone behind you. There is a beautiful symmetry in that. Both someone to ask for help when a checkpoint is tricky (I’m looking at you Bloc Chat!) and someone to offer a hand to. That is our responsibility as a community. It’s also a win win, it has also given me leagues of practice in parsing and debugging code that isn’t mine, an invaluable skill to have.

I was so excited to start my first projects and to make them my own, it made me realize really early on how passionate I am about crafting beautiful front ends. I’ve always been the teacher’s pet and am certainly no different as an adult. So I began digging into more front end principles like accessible design, responsiveness and playing with CSS preprocessors like Sass and LESS that aren’t covered in the curriculum. One of the many things I love about Bloc and my mentor, Caila Blanton, is the freedom and encouragement to explore interests that will only further my professional development and make me a more well rounded developer.

My capstone has been an amazing learning experience.  It’s the first time the training wheels really come off and it’s all you, steering into a parked car (true story, I definitely did that as a kid). With all the freedom in the world I settled on the challenge of taking on a real client for the first time. A local boutique owner here in Chicago I’ve known for ages was in desperate need of a new site.  The old one was outdated, bland and not nearly graphic enough to show off the 100+ artists that she carries.  We worked together to design a site that served her needs, not just in a final product but in terms of maintainability.  A real client comes with the added pressure of needing to get it right. This isn’t hypothetical anymore, a real person, a real business is now relying on you. I wanted to push myself so I decided on building a custom CMS with Ruby on Rails, postgres and AWS S3. Starting out I had more questions than answers, which was a great sign as far as I was concerned, that I would learn a lot. This was, after all, a chance to try as many new things as I could.  The finished project is beyond my expectations, clean, modern and easy to use and navigate.  And most importantly my client couldn’t be happier!

“Mommy, look! I am coding just like you!” my son sits on the floor next to me with a laptop he made out of cardboard, merrily tapping on the drawn on keys. I’m teaching him by example that intellectual curiosity never ends. And that no, I will not buy you a real laptop, you are five years old. There is a certainty we instill in children from such an early age that they can be anything they want to be.  If you ask my son he is a coder, an engineer and a paleontologist (and sometimes a tiger). At some point that certainty in who and what we are goes away and the nagging feeling of imposter syndrome becomes real. But when I look back at all progress I’ve made since starting Bloc, the skills I’ve developed and the fully fleshed out projects I’ve created I know in that moment who and what I am.  I’m a web developer and I’m ready for the next challenge.

I am two months into the Designer Track course at Bloc. I started Bloc on the 15 hours a week pace, but a month in I switched to 25-30 hours a week. I am currently working a full-time job while completing the Bloc course work. 

I graduated with a BFA in illustration in 2015 and two of the reasons I chose Bloc to study UX Design was because the curriculum seemed robust, structured, and intense. To become good at anything requires a significant amount of time and dedication. Committing to a thousand hours at Bloc is a great start. The fact that it is remote is a huge plus for me because I need to work full-time. One of the downsides of an online course is it can lack a sense of community, however, the designer slack channel has been great to resolve that. A huge part of any creative discipline is getting feedback and iterating. The slack channel is always active and the feedback you receive from fellow students and other mentors is great. In addition, the mentor sessions (1-3 depending on pace) are extremely useful. My mentor, Chris Gillis, has over fifteen years of experience in the field and has provided me with great advice and feedback each session along with directing me towards great UX content to help me grow.

With all that said, I think a common perception of any bootcamp is it's seen as a quick way to get hired. My college instructors used to tell us that you can learn a discipline/field on your own if you truly put in the work. They saw a lot of students go into debt to get their masters degree simply because they needed structure. With Bloc, I think the curriculum and price is a fantastic middle ground between learning on your own and having a formal education.

As far as the job guarantee, I see it this way. If you dedicated yourself, supplemented your learning, networked, gave 100% the entire course, and still can't find a job after six months you get the $9,800 tuition back and you keep the knowledge and connections. 

As I go through the course I'll update my review and give some real feedback on the job process. 

I highly recommend the Bloc virtual Rails Web Development program if you are interested in jumpstarting a career in web development. It was perfect for me, especially given that I live on a small island wherein access to high quality technical training programs are virtually unavailable. The curriculum was developed in such a way that each lesson builds upon the previous lesson, almost guaranteeing that each lesson's goals are attainable, provided you are willing to put in the effort. Along with the curriculum, one of the greatest strengths of the program is the mentorship. Take full advantage of the mentor that you've picked, and you can accelerate your learning. Just make sure that it's the right fit. Read the mentor reviews, that goes a long way. Hint, Brittany Martin!

It's a lot of work and requires a lot of discipline, things that every developer should have. 

I join Bloc in February 2017 & am at about the 1/3 mark of the longest track (Software Development).  I would assume like any other school or bootcamp, there is some risk associated with attending if you don't fully commit yourself, make the time, apply the concepts, and read supplementary material that furthers your learning (software development requires CONSTANT referencing to Google/Stack Overflow/language docs, etc.).

I came in with 3 goals in mind: to make a change in my career (move from sales to something more tech-savvy), to further my knowledge of coding & engineering that made me more attractive to employers no matter what position I landed in, and also to start my own business some day and not have to rely on others to build my website, etc.  With that said, my goals may be more ambiguous/flexible than most and I will probably still consider the program a success regardless of if I actually land a job as a developer, per se.

That leads me to what I've noticed from other students...the ones that have a great time and do very well are the ones that are flexible, understand that it takes a LOT of hard work to reach their goals, but also don't get disappointed if they don't see results immediately.  If you ONLY want to be a well-paid developer right out of school, you might be disappointed in Bloc...but that means you will probably be disappointed in any bootcamp and/or 4yr school.  It doesn't happen overnight, but I promise you will come out of this program with the skills necessary to be a developer some day soon.  Full disclosure: I have also seen people who only get about 1/5 through the program and land a job as a developer, but I think there are a lot of variables in play to make that happen and it isn't common.  But at the end of the day, if you had told me 6 months ago that I would know (reasonably well) HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, AngularJS, Ruby, Rails, Rspec, Git, Bash, SQL, & many other concepts or languages, I would have told you that you are insane.

As far as the curriculum goes, the "checkpoint" modules do a lot to introduce and reinforce knowledge, while keeping you on track to finishing apps in a reasonable amount of time.  A lot of bootcamp "haters" make it clear that there are a lot of free ways to learn out there, but there is no way I could have done it without somebody pointing me in the right direction like Bloc does. The early Javascript material leaves something to be desired at times, but is mostly ok & I've been told Bloc has updated a lot of the material as of late.  The Ruby material is fantastic and at that point in the program, I started to hit my stride and learn at a much faster pace.  I cannot speak for the later software engineering material yet, but I hear it is good.

I think Bloc's recommended "time commitments" per week are pretty aggressively stated bordering on unrealistic and if you did my track (software development) and aren't in a huge rush to graduate, I would highly recommend doing the slowest pace or the middle pace at most.  The fastest pace is grueling and I would only recommend if you don't work at all and have a huge amount of free time.

Mentor meetings are where Bloc really shines.  You meet 1-3 times/wk with mentors who specialize in whatever module you are currently in, and they walk you through processes to get you past your struggles.  Most of them also do a great job of pointing you to other materials to read and identifying weaknesses in your code that will help you learn faster.  I would definitely talk to other students about which mentors are most helpful for your style of learning, but in my experience Etan Berkowitz, Charlie Gaines, & Tim Barnes have been fantastic for me (Tim hasn't been my mentor, but has graciously taken time to help me many times).

Overall this has been a great program.  There have definitely been times where I wanted to bash my head against the computer, but if you are patient, clear about your goals to both yourself and Bloc, document and explain questions that you have, and remain active in the Slack groups, I think the program is well worth the money.  

Happy coding :)

I completed bloc wayyyyy back in 2015 before any of the recent (and substantial) curriculum changes. Even though I think the curriculum now is probably a lot more advanced and robust (as it's gone though several iterations - design, amirite?), it still pushed me to be successful in a lot of ways. Design is hard, and I'm by nature a both insecure and highly motivated person which makes for an odd combination. My mentor worked with me through my struggles, ups, downs, design blocks, etc., and ultimately propelled me toward landing a job in New York City about two months after I finished the 3 month full-time track. While I do not yet have my dream UX job, I''ve got my foot in the door in a fascinating and growing industry in a highly competitive city. It's up to me to grow and learn from here, but Bloc certainly put me at a good starting place. I only wish I had my mentor (Chris Courtney) to guide me through life at all times :) 

I decided for Bloc after trying the self-paced approach, and I have to say it was the key decision that transformed my coding from a hobby to a tool for building production-ready web applications and other kind of coding projects.

The content is of very high quality, it's constantly being updated and you get to access it even after the course is over.  The approach has the right level of demand and resources needed to get you going.

In particular, I had a project I wanted to built, and spent a couple of years trying to launch it with a self-paced learning approach.  Once I started with Bloc, I was able to build it from scratch, in parallel to the learning path and with my mentor's assistance, and finally launched it before my graduation. Since then, and with the confidence I gained, I have launched a number of other projects myself.  So for me this was the tool for taking my ideas to real things.

The course work covers a great breadth of languages and libraries, including some of the most relevant to the field currently: JavaScript, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, jQuery, Angular, and more. Part way through the program, I began to question the overall value of it, considering that much of the material is available online for free. But the fact is, without the structure of Bloc, I would have had no idea in what order to learn the endless amount of material out there, nor which topics are the most relevant to the field.

Bloc's curriculum updates regularly, which shows that they are keeping pace with the ever-changing industry. The great benefit of the online format (other than the obvious convenience of working from home) is the structured meetings with your personal mentor. Your mentor will help keep you accountable to do the work, as well as illuminating some of the more vague concepts and processes that don't come so easily by just reading material online.

The software engineering track lasts about 36 weeks, which gives time to cover a wide range of material. Ultimately, your portfolio, which by the end of the program will have at least 6-8 robust projects, is what will sell you as a potential employee. I still think the price is a bit high, but it is still comparable with most of the other bootcamps out there. I can recommend Bloc to the aspiring coder.