BrainStation

Insane.

That was the only word I could think of as I learned more about the school. I thought to myself that there is no way that a person like myself would ever learn so much information in such a short amount of time. Sure, I had a background in Computer Networking, but I did not feel that having such a background would help me as much. Fast-forward 3 months later, I am now confident in building a web application from scratch. From creating the look I was going for on the front-end to the overall functionality and communication on the back-end.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for the entire BrainStation team and I cannot thank them enough for the most amazing educational experience I’ve ever had. The one thing that I valued the most was that I felt like an actual human-being as opposed to just some other student with a number attached to my profile. You are surrounded by people that are there to help you grow, whether it be the instructor, classmates or even people from a different program. During school I would always feel challenged and frustrated at a certain concept that I just would not understand, but as time passed, that feeling turned more into a sense of accomplishment.

If you are someone who is looking for a quick career change (and I really mean quick), BrainStation is the place to go.

Recently finished up the 10-week part-time digital marketing course at Brainstation's Toronto location from January to March 2019, on Mondays from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm.

I currently work full-time in the hospitality industry however have a bachelor's degree in Marketing and Communications and am looking to pursue an opportunity in digital marketing and advertising. I have worked in the industry before as a content creator and social media manager, but up until now all of my digital marketing techniques have been self taught which is why I chose to enroll in my first brainstation course.

My favourite thing about the part-time digital marketing course is that it is not too intensive... if you approach it the right way. Review the course content each week before class, complete your homework and you will be fine. Every week is focused on a different digital marketing technique and then you are sent home with a mini assignment that is extremely relevant to the final project (which is a hypothetical digital marketing campaign). Completing these assignments allows you to chisel away at the final project, week by week.

The course instructors contributed to my overall experience as well. Both Jenna Kellner and Hailey Smith are extremely knowledgeable and have a lot of experience in the digital marketing industry. Their own expertise combined with the course content made it extremely easy to grasp each weekly concept. They also stuck around after class each week to answer any questions which was extremely helpful.

As mentioned earlier, the course curriculum revolves around different digital marketing techniques including content & SEO, paid advertising & SEM, analytics and measurements, social media management, paid social media advertising and e-mail marketing. These techniques were extremely helpful as it is information that is not traditionally taught in university. I find that a university degree paired with a couple Brainstation certificates is what will set you up for success in the industry that you're looking to grow in or break into.

Although I've only been done my course for a couple weeks, I've noticed that being associated with the Brainstation brand has already increased my value to potential employers. I'm currently interviewing at a firm and the opportunity arose because the hiring manager knew about Brainstation and was impressed with my enrollment in the digital marketing course. Furthermore, I feel like being in the Brainstation network is extremely beneficial as you are introduced to so many students and industry professionals who are always available for guidance and even collaboration.

In conclusion, I recommend this course for anyone who is looking for an intro into the digital marketing industry. Thankfully, Brainstation offers more tailored courses if you're looking to master the techniques introduced in this course. A couple things that I would recommend to anyone looking to enroll:
1) Be prepared to use Slack as your main method of communication with students and instructors. It can be a bit confusing at first.
2) Don't skip class unless you really have to. Everything is covered in the slides however instructors provide a lot of personal insight that is very useful.
3) The final project is completed in groups. Don't be alarmed if some group members don't pull their weight. Use it as an opportunity to master your craft instead.

Took the 5-week Part Time in-class course at the Vancouver location. February - March 2019, and it was Mondays and Wednesday nights 6:30 - 9:30 pm. 

I work full-time at a fin-tech startup in a relatively new role in customer analytics. I chose to take this course to upgrade my skillset. Prior to the course, all of my analytics were completed in excel, and in a fashion I describe as "scotch tape and glue". It worked, but it wasn't pretty. Going into this course, I had nowhere but up to go. At my organization, I had the benefit of coming from a Support role, so I know the product and customer configuration very well. This was also a reason my company chose to "promote from within" instead of hiring an experienced data analyst. 

I found the pace of this course VERY fast. The course content covered a wide breadth of material, and each individual class had a lot of content. A class would go from introducing a concept and move into intermediate to advanced application of it by the end. I spent 6 hours in class during the course, and just as much time or more outside of the class solidifying the concepts. I did wish there had been more practical examples to take away as practice. I made do by bringing in datasets from my workplace to practice new learnings. 

I found the content of this course VERY relevant and I felt that I could show up to work the next day and implement a brand new skill into my workday. In fact, week one we covered advanced excel. I was asked to do a new customer analyses on the Thursday after my class, and I was able to bring in new Excel functions I had learned the night prior. Week two we learned about database structure, week 3 SQL -- during this exact timeframe, I was being onboarded with access to our own company's database analytics tool. It was excellent timing to be able to learn theory about structure and querying, and then to turn around and practice with a real, live database. 

The instructor was my least favourite part about this course. I did not get the impression she was overly comfortable and fluent with the slide deck. I wish she had brought in more personal / case study examples or provided extra practice work like I mentioned above. If she was demonstating a new function or query, she made it up on the spot instead of having thought of an interesting example, with an interesting mock dataset. All in all, it seemed to be a lack of motivation to go above and beyond as an instructor for this course. 

What I really liked about BrainStation in particular was the community aspect - there were numerous interesting events going on in their shared space in the building throughout the course. I attended their Graduate Demo Day event, and a Women in Tech panel, both were quite enjoyable and were great spaces for engaging discussion. 

Lastly, the BrainStation name is very well respected. As soon as I put up the course on my LinkedIn, I started appearing in more searches weekly by recruiters and have had a greater amount of cold reach outs by recruiters than ever before. Sweet! 

All in all, this course kick started an exciting learning path in data analytics. It set some really good foundations that I can now go and develop the tools that will be most meaningful for me. Personally, I will be furthering my development in the following areas: SQL querying and better general knowledge of my own company's database (need to know what I need to pull, how to find it, how to pull it, how to aggregate it), visualizing data in clear and meaningful ways which can be delivered to key stakeholders internally and with customers. 

Coming to Wyncode is one of the best decisions I have ever made. As a prior military man, I can truly say that Wyncode Academy is a boot camp, and if you are not prepared you will not make it through the course.

The Full-Stack Web Developer course is a 10-week program that teaches you Git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Ruby, and Rails. The course is very intensive and not everyone will make it.

I highly recommend, and  I can not state this enough, taking as many courses, on HTML, CSS, and Javascript, prior to starting the Wyncode. Codecademy is a good source for Wyncode prework, and it is free. I did just that, and I struggle a bit less than my peers. With that said, I still dedicated 12-16 hours a day, including weekends, to the program. 

The course difficulty for Wyncode functions like a slope with the difficulty peaking in the middle, before starting to ease back down. Once you get back week 5, it starts to get easier, with the final 2 weeks being the easiest. 

Overall, the course was great. The instructors were awesome. The level of difficulty is very high. The sense of comradery and social networking was priceless.

Final Advice: Imposter syndrome is very real and there will be times you feel you are not good enough or perhaps you do not belong there. Just remember everyone starts at different levels. There were students who had Computer science and web development degrees. And to a lesser extent, we had a few students who were already web developers. Remember, the course is geared towards beginners, so rather than worry about everyone else, focus on improving your knowledge and skills. Believe me, even the people you may think are having an easy time with the course are also struggling.

I took the Digital Marketing Course at BrainStation from January 2019 to March 2019. This 10 week course was awesome!

I learned so much in three months - the material covered was very detailed and we were placed in groups of 3-4 and given a client to complete a full marketing plan for as the final project.

The instructors gave detailed feedback and were always open to answer any questions! Both instructors were highly educated and provided real life examples when it came to case studies and/or examples.

As someone who has been extremely interested in Digital Marketing, I would definitely recommend taking this course as an introduction.

The SEM and SEO chapters of the course were the most difficult content to grasp, but our instructors made sure to go over them in extreme detail and allow us to practice using a test account.

The course itself is a little pricey, so make sure you are 100% committed to attending the classes before you register. Missing a week can be critical in your success in the course.

Thanks BrainStation!

I decided to come to Wyncode on December 28th, for a cohort that started January 22nd. To say this was an impulsive move is an understatement. The community, teachers, assistants, and classmates have been an invaluable addition to my life. I truly feel that I am making a positive move forward in my life. I'd recommend Wyncode to anyone, it was an amazing experience. The friends you'll make here will truly last a lifetime. 

Thank you Andy, Don, Izzy, Angel, Bria, and finally Jo and Juha for putting together an amazing program. 

Wyncode was everything I expected plus MORE. Andy is the best coding instructor I have ever had. I learned more in my 10 weeks at Wyncode than I did as an undergraduate who completed a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering. I'm excited to share that I am 100% confident I will be an asset to any company from here on out. Wyncode was life transforming. Before coming here, I really considered not pursuing a field in tech because of how difficult the tech interviews were. Wyncode has given me a new family, lifelong friends, a lifelong network and invaluable skills that I hope to repay to future Wyncoders by lending them a hand when they need mentoring and job references.

When I tell people that I'm a programmer, I often tell them that they could be programmers, too. And their response is typically some variation of "Nah, I'm not cut out for that stuff. I couldn’t do it."

This perception of programming as some esoteric craft, inaccessible to the common folk— a self-defeating outlook —is a notion that Wyncode actively works to destroy.

Wyncode’s teaching philosophy posits that the only limits that exist on your ability to learn, grow, and achieve, are the limits that you place there yourself.

I attended Wyncode as a business student and former journalist. Programming and computer science were the furthest things from my established skillset, I promise.

But I learned. I learned from Auston, an instructor who was entirely self-taught and yet is an absolute master in his own right.

I learned from an incredible group of teaching assistants who knew the subject matter thoroughly and would never leave you without imparting some new, valuable piece of knowledge. And when needed, the non-technical staff provided motivation, moral support, and structural comfort.

I learned how to build full-stack applications and to write and speak code, the language of computers and the World Wide Web, the language of all the miracles of the modern age that we take for granted. These are very valuable skills.

If it were up to me, I’d put a Wyncode in every neighborhood.

A few things:

• It’s not easy. It’s called a boot camp for a reason. Expect to completely lose ten weeks of your life – and expect a few very long nights. Weekends are fair game, too. “Wynbase” may become your home away from home for a bit (just try to keep your clothes on).
• You should prepare. Visit codeacademy.com. Do the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Ruby courses. And then go ahead and do them again. Also, learn how to use your command line. All of this stuff is taught at Wyncode, but it would behoove you to become somewhat comfortable with your terminal, data types and basic syntax beforehand – I promise it’s pretty straightforward stuff.
• You’ll note that some people pick it up faster than others. That’s okay. Just practice.
• Career services are offered in perpetuity after graduation. Fun fact: you paid for that, whether you take advantage or not.
• Scholarships and financing are available.
• You’ll learn a few non-technical skills. Public speaking, modern (Agile) project management practices, interviewing, resume/portfolio building, social media.

One last thing - if you think you're "not cut out" for programming, please understand that life is a constant stream of new experiences and new information. Learning is not an objective, it is a fundamental necessity of your humanity. 

I believe that some of the most successful people in this world have actively chosen what they want to learn and experience. I believe we all make these choices, whether we’re aware of them or not.

I implore you to choose wisely.

I decided to become a developer in 2018 to further my career in music and technology.  I did a lot of research and found Wyncode Academy to be the friendlist, most community oriented coding bootcamp in Miami.  The education I recieved at Wyncode to become a full stack developer was amazing.  I took the 10 week full time course, and found a job as a developer within a few months of graduating.  The best part for me was the job support that I got after I graduated.  They helped me become prepared for the job search and interviews, and helped find a job for me.  I highly reoccoemend joining the Wyncode family and feel like they have a lot of support from the education side to the job placement side.  There were plenty of teachers and TA's to help, as well as the alumni of Wyncode which I am now proudly a part of.  If you want to become a developer, even with no previous experience, Wyncode can prepare you for that journey.  

I recently finished the Part-Time Web Development course at BrainStation's Toronto campus, and I was pleasantly surprised by my experience. Going into the 10-week course, I had been dabbling in programming languages as a hobby for several months prior. I had begun to consider web development as a career, but was becoming quite lost and overwhelmed in my attempts to educate myself, despite the vast amount of online resources. I realized that if I wanted to take web dev seriously, I would learn best in a classroom setting with industry professionals, and BrainStation certainly met my expectations.

I spent several weeks researching the different coding "bootcamps" around Toronto, before ultimately deciding on BrainStation. After expressing interest through the BrainStation website, a learning advisor very quickly reached out to me by phone, and answered every and any question I had about the course. That, and the combination of a beautiful, centrally located campus with ample amenities, to the professional and prompt communication between myself and the campus staff, I knew I was making a good decision. 

Going into the course I knew the basics of HTML and CSS, which are the two programming languages the course covers, but the course is designed for people who are absolute beginners and know nothing about web development. I still think that if you are familiar with the basics of web development, you would still benefit from the course as the foundational concepts of HTML and CSS are taught in a very approachable way and I found it to be a good refresher for myself before moving onto the more advanced concepts.

The class was relatively small, about 20 people or so, and as a result we had a lot of opportunity to ask questions and seek help. Our instructor, Dan, and our TA, Ishan, were absolutely amazing. Dan is clearly an experienced professional in the industry, and explained and showed us concepts in a really thoughtful way and at no point did I feel overwhelmed by the content. He was quick to explain why each thing we were learning was relevant, and I did not feel that we were being taught any "fluff" content or things that weren't relevant to my learning goals. 

Ultimately, I went from knowing the bare minimum about web development, to being able to make a website that not only worked, but also looked good. I felt very accomplished by what I was able to do by the end of the course and I feel confident in saying that taking this course is one of the best, if not the absolute best way to get your foot in the door for a career in web development, or if you are just looking to expand your skills portfolio or simply to learn something new. I am planning on returning to BrainStation to take the full time web development course, and I am both excited and eager to learn more from this amazing academy. 

This course was extremely insightful. Our instructors Laura and Fran made the course very hands on, interesting and collaborative. Although it was online course, the instructors and BrainStation did an amazing job at making it as close to an in-class learning experience as possible. We worked in groups in almost every class to apply the skills and knowledge we were learning to real life examples and went through them as a class with realtime feedback from instructors. We also had a final project, for which we were put into groups early on. At the end of each class, we had time to apply the piece we learned in class that day, to our final project. This helped kdeepen the understanding of thet material further and also keep on top of the lessons.

Would highly recommend this course if you are looking to enhance your skills in all sorts of paid social media. The instructors are experts in the industry, extremely helpful, full of energy and passionate about what they do.

Before coming to Wyncode, I worked at a non-profit. I chose Wyncode because I felt welcome at events such as Pitch Night, workshops, and Portfolio Night. At these events, it was very easy to strike up a conversation with someone and talk to them about their experience. They always had such positive things to say about Wyncode and even let me know about scholarship opportunities. After completing the application process, I joined Cohort 5 of Wyncode's UX/UI Immersive Boot Camp this January. My colleagues are very supportive and our instructor Gessica Tortolano is nothing short of amazing. Furthermore, the Wyncode commnity is extremely supportive, especially the instructors and teaching staff. It is hard work but there is assitance available throughout the process.