Bloc

I'm about a quarter of the way through my part-time web dev program with Bloc. It's been awesome! I'm a massage therapist with no prior background in coding, so it's definitely been challenging me to use my brain in new ways - but the pacing and flexibility of the program along with the personal support from my mentor has helped me to feel confident in my ability to learn the material at every step along the way. My favorite aspect of the program has got to be the personal mentorship - my mentor is GREAT at helping me to understand difficult concepts and giving me pointers when I get stuck. Bloc does a really good job of presenting the  material in a straightforward way, and the pacing of the program feels pretty spot on to me.

I am currently 9 weeks in and almost done with the second module.

The Bloc Software Developer Track so far has done not only what I had expected but more so. It encourages you to do research on your own as well as side learning which helps you in the long run to solve ideas on your own. Not to mention it allows learning within Bloc much more easy because you're used to researching what you don't know.

It has its own methods of teaching as well as outside teaching. It has a great way to start with fundamentals, going to hands-on, and you doing it mostly on your own.

Each checkpoint and assignment you do; allows you to get a review of it. I think this is great because it means they are always looking for ways to improve.

Bloc seems to be able to keep it entertaining because I have yet to get bored, I feel confident in what I am learning so it keeps me hungry to do more.

In addition to the curriculum, you get a mentor. Now, you may not always need the mentor for the coding but your mentor will be an invaluable tool through out your learning journey. My mentor has told me much more about how life will be during your job as well as hiring and even looking for a job. Keeps me confident in what I'm doing and motivated to learn more.

As your doing the checkpoints and assignments, if you happen to get stuck, the mentors will always do their best to reply to you in a timely fashion to get you un-stuck. It usually doesn't take long and you can use that time to either keep on trying different ideas and researching or using that time to learn up from other websites. 

In conclusion, in my search for a coding bootcamp (as well as trying some such as coursera), I decided upon Bloc and have not been disappointed. I have done other certificate courses such as for personal training through NASM but have never been so sure of myself as I am now doing Bloc. Great opportunity.

At this point, I have completed the first two modules of the Software Developer Program, which consisted mainly of Front-end material.  So far I have been extremely pleased with the content, the program, and especially my mentor.  This is not my first experience with front-end material so how the material was delivered to aid in my learning experience was extremely important to me.  Before Bloc, I tried to learn on my own, as well as took some basic classes provided from other sites.  Unfortunately, I was not satisfied with my progress or the content and felt that I would not be prepared to not only look for a job, but to be successful in the field.  Bloc has completely changed that for me in the few months that I have been in the program.  I now feel that I am being prepared to be able to successfully find a job and be successful in that job, once I complete the program.  If I could have had this experience a few years ago, I believe that I would already by in the profession.  However, the Software Developer Program is a newer program that is offered by Bloc, so I am lucky to get that kind of experience that will increase my skills for the job market.  Also, I have felt that Bloc actually cares about my progress, that I am not on my own, and provides skilled mentors that also care about my progress.  This program is not like others that I have looked into or taken, it is truly an apprenticeship and I completely have the confidence that the program will prepare me to enter the world of software engineering.  If you are looking for a program, more than a just bootcamp (that just crams all the information in a short time), then I completely recommend Bloc.  

I am about 8 weeks into the Software Engineering Track and I have nothing but good things to say about Bloc.  I have a technical background with 5+ yrs experience in System Administration and I have also tried other bootcamp style courses (Udacity, Coursera, Udemy, Safari Learning Paths, etc.).

I can say without hesitation that Bloc blows them out of the water.  The curriculum is effective and challenging but also extremely well thought out so as not to overwhelm students.  Building on that foundation is a fantastic mentor experience which is what really sets this program apart.

If you are thinking about a career change (or starting a career) in software development, consider Bloc. It is worth every penny!

After a successful career in print production, I decided to completely change my track and become a Full Stack Web Developer. I spent weeks researching different boot camps and made the decision to enrollin BLOC. I'm really happy with my decision, the curriculum is very thorough and makes you work. Like anyone learning something new, I have had some struggles, but my mentor Tessa is amazing and helping me through any of the tough spots. I am halfway through and now working on some really cool projects that will build a great portfolio. I'm confident that when I am finished with the course, and with Bloc's help with career planning and interviewing I'll have an amazing new career. If you're dedicated, and willing to put in the time and effort, you will be successful at Bloc!

I joined the bloc.io UI/UX path in 2020. Personally, I would not recommend this specific program. I would highly suggest you try your best to learn on your own if you can. Spoiler Alert: I did NOT complete the program. During my time in the program, they apparently were making a lot of changes and updates due to recent feedback. Apparently I got stuck in a block that had to deal with all of the errors that eventually (hopefully) were getting addressed in the next group. I feel like I was duped out of my money, and I had a really bad first experience with a bootcamp.

1. The mentor aspect: My mentor was very nice and knowledgeable in UX/UI. However, in the program you do have a good chunk of coding involved (which I was very interested in). Unfortunately, my mentor did not know ANY coding and could not help me at all anytime I was stuck (which was a lot). It is an accelerated program so you have a limited amount of time to work on each module before you end up behind. At that time, they only had people helping with problems on their slack channel and most of the time the people were overwhelmed with questions and it would take a very long time, and back and forth in a comment thread, to get any real significant help. It would have completely changed things for me if I had a mentor that was proficient in coding. This factor alone sent me way behind (and was very frustrating). My Mentor had tried to pass me along to a coding mentor just for the coding modules, but they would not let her. She said this was an issue they were all dealing with, as with UX/UI in the real world they don't do a lot of coding so it was a problem a lot of other mentors had. Most did not know enough code to help a student get through a problem. My Mentor told me later that Bloc was addressing those concerns and in the following cohort the next year, they were going to change things so that during the coding modules, the students can have a mentor proficient in coding, and then go back to their normal mentor in the UX/UI modules. I would have absolutely LOVED to have that option. But since I signed up the year prior, I was basically cheated out of that option.
2. The grading was very all over the place. If you submitted an assignment, you would have several different graders giving feedback and approving, or denying the passing of an assignment. On one hand, it was nice to get feedback from different people, but it became very frustrating to be get feedback from one, correct the feedback, but then be graded by another on the re-submit, and then that grader had a different idea on what was missing/needed to be done. It was all very relative to the graders preference on design aesthetic.
3. I mentioned above, the questions we had were address on slack, and it was very disorganized because of the back and forth you would have on a comment thread. They would have different shifts, so if you caught someone on a shift change, you would have to re explain to the new person all of the issues you were having (despite the comment thread still being available to view). Another great thing for future cohorts, but no good for me, is that towards the end of the program they changed this so that you can ask the questions directly from the website in the exact module you were having issues with. I really loved this, but honestly, it came too late.

Another downside, is that I had an advisor that I would message on slack about my concerns/deadlines. During that time, she apparently quit, which is why I was never getting a response. Someone eventually reached out to me weeks later, and rectified that issue so I was happy how they handled that.


All in all, I am still paying back on a skillsfund loan, on a program I never completed. I take responsibility for my actions, however, I would be lying if I said I wish I had waited a year so that I can actually benefit from these changes. I feel really let down that I was part of the experimental phase.


If Bloc/Thinkful gave me another chance to complete the program with all of the new updates, I totally would (since I have already paid them). I doubt that would happen. 


I can't say if any of these changes have actually been implemented yet, but this is what my mentors told me when I was exiting the program.


Hope this helps anyone :)

The program was very rich and well planned out. I specially enjoyed the links to extra resources for further information. I was able to create an awesome portfolio with the assignments I completed throughout the program. I received so many compliments from recruiters and hiring managers regarding the case studies in my portfolio. I had an amazing mentor who was available and flexible to answer my questions and help out with my course work and assignments. The only comment I have to improve the program is to increase the 30 min weekly mentor meetings to an hour, especially towards the end of the program as students work on their portfolios and their projects. The best part of all, I accepted a job offer 2 weeks after graduation. Thank you Thinkful/Bloc team!!

My experience with Bloc's Web Developer Track was outstanding. The curriculum focused on learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Node, Express, and more. 

On top of that, the support is what I believe really makes this program shine. From day one I was assigned a mentor that I had weekly meetings with. If needed I could reach out to my mentor between our weekly meetings as well. Mentor meetings were one on one and the discussion was always led by me and what I wanted to discuss. In addition to my mentor, there is also a chat service that I could access directly from the curriculum. If I was confused about a certain area I could open a chat session and receive assistance immediately. There were also workshops throughout the week where I could meet with an instructor as well as other students to get help.

Mock interviews throughout the course was another reason I picked this program.  I feel that seeing how interviews involving technical questions and live coding challenges was vital.  The more practice the better.

I've just graduated and am now receiving assistance from a career coach to find employment with my new skills. I would recommend this program to anybody. 

My overall experience at Bloc was good! I really enjoyed my mentor and thought she was super helpful as I navigated through the course. The only complaint I had throughout my time was the grading system. I often got inconsistent feedback from the graders in my projects. But again, my mentor was a great help in figuring out which pieces of feedback I should take, and which were not necessarily accurate. I thought the curriculum was easy to understand and keep up with. I also enjoyed that assessments are mock interviews meant to prepare you for the job world. I have not started my job search yet but I imagine that is going to be very helpful as I start interviewing. 

Bottom line: I picked Bloc because I needed a flexible program that I could do on my own time that didn’t require ALL of my time. This ended up being a great option for me. The program pushed me to learn a lot more than I would have if I were just learning things on my own using free or cheaper resources, and the support is great. They have chat-based technical coaches who are available most of the day in mainland US timezones, they have video-based Q&A sessions scheduled at various times just about every day of the week, and you’re assigned an industry veteran mentor, possibly an academic success manager, and a career coach upon graduation.
A few words on the curriculum: So, yes, the vast majority of the curriculum is text-based, not video lectures or in-browser IDEs. You will need to read documentation as part of the assignments and also when you are trying to figure things out on your own. Keep in mind that once you graduate, you will also need to read documentation to learn new things, either in a work setting or trying to complete side projects on your own. In my opinion, the Bloc/Thinkful bootcamps are helping you by keeping the curriculum simple.
A couple of tips:
Tip #1: Learn beforehand if you want to get the most value for your money. You can go into the program knowing pretty much nothing beforehand, but you will face a much steeper learning curve and it will take you longer to understand the material. There are a ton of free resources out there that you can start with, even if you are absolutely certain that you want to do a coding bootcamp. Committing 10-15 hours a week for 3+ months to study will likely be an immense help to you during the program because 1. You’ll have seen a lot more things and the material won’t feel so unfamiliar and 2. You’ll already have the discipline to sit down and learn. Also, if you end up finishing earlier than they expect, you’ll get money back/pay less tuition. Again, totally optional, but I wish someone had given me this advice 18 months ago.
Tip #2: Make a plan for finishing, and a contingency plan in case you don’t finish on time. They offer a pacing plan so you know where you should be in the curriculum in order to graduate on time, but I don’t think it takes the extra pause time that you’re given into account. Make goals for yourself, and try to get ahead on the early assignments, before things start getting difficult. If you get 1-2 months behind and don’t finish by the end date (which is fine, you’re not stupid for taking longer to learn, I promise), what’s the plan? Can you afford to pay for an extension or two? One way or the other, be realistic going into the program, and I think that will greatly increase your chances of being successful.
Overall, I’m happy I picked Bloc and while it got tough and there were times I totally wanted to quit or I wondered why I didn’t pick a different program, I’m so glad that I didn’t.

Great platform but the material is too dated to be chosen as a bootcamp in 2020. Bloc was bought by Thinkful and you should just apply there. Thinkful has more name cache and more up to date material. During my time at Bloc in 2019, I ran into numerous issues where there was outdated code particularly in the " WDT Server-Side JS with Node.js " section but also old-school ways of using React. This is slightly cheaper than most online courses but it's not worth it. The instructors are knowledgeable and the help staff is active but 40% of the time the issue involved outdated course content, particularly in the final sections. Also, there were more than a few times where they were short staffed and getting cleared to the next section took days and the success team email was silent. This bootcamp would be worth it if all they did was update the course material. 

I came into this course with experience in software engineering already and, through this course, was primarily aiming to flesh out my front-end development skills, having done very little of this in the past. What I found was an amazingly structured curriculum with a focus on best practices and industry standards, great testing methods and lots of support, both during and after the course. I was also surprised by how approachable it was, both for people with prior coding experience, and those without it. I completed the track in about 3.5 months and ended up with a six-figure front-end software engineering job at my dream company about 5 weeks after graduating! What's more, I got in touch with this company directly through Bloc/Thinkful's careers team who gave us our initial introduction. I can whole-heartedly say that I would not have landed this job had it not been for the amazing careers team and all of their hard work, as well as everything the course taught me. The curriculum's in-depth review of many different relevant topics and technologies, as well as the continuous mock interviews, had me well prepared and well equipped for my job search after graduation. Before signing up with Bloc, I did a lot of research into schools (including Flatiron and General Assembly) and have zero regrets about my decision. Bloc/Thinkful is a top-notch school with a fantastic curriculum and I could not recommend this course more highly for anyone, regardless of coding experience.

I just graduated from the Bloc Web Developer Track and must say I really loved it!  I really feel like I learned and a lot and I had lots of encouraging people along the way.  The program has mini-interviews to take that test your knowledge and the people who interview them are very helpful and knowledgeable about the material.  I got very lucky and had an awesome mentor named Tom who was really encouraging along the way.  He was also very smart and knowledgeable and he was the master at debugging!  He was also very patient and spent extra time as needed at times.  I do have some background on programming and must say if you have no experience this will be challenging.  I do recommend perhaps taking other side lessons to enhance what you are learning if you have no experience at all.  Also, the curriculum does contain a lot of reading which sometimes does get boring at times, but if you are more of the reading type and follow along and pay attention to detail (good developer qualities) you should do fine in this program.  I really feel the curriculum does have a lot of best practices and does provide better techniques than searching for solutions on Google or stack overflow.  The backend stuff was towards the end of the program and I felt was more rushed but great to learn!  There were office hours that are great for troubleshooting or just asking questions when the material gets tough but sometimes they were crowded and it was hard to get some time in.  I found my mentor to be the best source of help so if you feel you do not have a good one, I would perhaps ask to change mentors.  They created a new chat system towards the end of my time there and I think it's a great idea if it works well, I cannot say because I, unfortunately, did not get a chance to use it before graduating.  They already have a slack group which is great and has many peers that follow and help. There are a few career/job finding tasks along the way, and you develop your portfolio on the way (which is great!).   After finishing all the coursework, and graduating you meet with career services.  I am waiting to take the next step with career services so will see how that goes.  So far, it seems the response is a bit slower than at the beginning of the program.  From my experience, they would respond immediately at the beginning, sometimes within a few hours or the next day, but towards the end, it has been 2 or 3 days, but that could also be because they are getting a bit busier due to the pandemic.  Overall I learned a lot from this program and loved the experience, would highly recommend if you are the type that wants to learn new skills, hardworking, detail-oriented, and are looking for some encouragement!  

I had a great overall experience with Bloc. I completed the Designer Track from. May 2019- February 2020. I loved the structure of the curriculum - first learn about something, then practice doing it. The practice reinforced concepts and having checkpoints graded without pressure to get it right the first time made it easier to take risks. My only complaint would be that toward the end of my time it seemed like Bloc was under-staffed and sometimes grading took a while. I also underestimated how long the course would take me - it took me 9 months working at it full time and I thought it would take half that. Don't get me wrong, I loved that it was self-paced. My mentor was extremely helpful and empowered me to improve my design skills throughout the course. After graduation, my career coach gave me the confidence to embrace going into the working world as a junior designer. I am proud to say that I got a job after four months of looking (and COVID probably lengthened this). Just 13 months after starting Bloc, I officially became a UX Designer!

• I learned industry best practices and practical software development standards during an intense 8 month program while juggling my full-time job
• I created and deployed mobile-first applications while learning new languages and frameworks
• The program helped me evolve my career to a senior program manager dream job that leverages my prior work experience as a digital marketer and the full stack foundation I acquired
• This is a very, very challenging program that requires tenacity but the outcome is incredibly rewarding. The Bloc team is passionate about student success and provides a robust range of resources to support students beyond the online curriculum: this includes a dedicated mentor, online technical support, numerous live Q&A session options with instructors, meticulous assignment grading and feedback and highly effective career coaching 

I just finished my 8 month experience on the designer track at Bloc. I took this course while being a full time teacher and I had a wonderful experience. The best thing about this course for me was that I really could make it work with my schedule. I currently have a job as a designer and my process through the Bloc program prepared me very well for it. Past reviews may mention issues with the grading team not getting feedback to you early enough which I could tell Bloc worked hard to address as it was not an issue for me. The technical coaching was also always very prompt in helping me and my mentors were awesome, kind, and really wanted me to succeed. Every person is different in what they need from a bootcamp but as a person who needs to be ablet o juggle a career and courses, this is a great choice.