Coder Camps

     When I first contacted Coder Camps I was immediately impressed with Jason Jones who broke down the course in a concise and clear manner with the utmost zest!  Since I joined the program he has consistently reached out to me on a regular basis to make sure everything is going well and darn well makes things happen if they are not!!!

     I joined the Full Stack .NET C# course and since have been introduced to the latest C# .NET CORE technology as well as many of the other most popular web technologies out there.  They are constantly evolving with the latest technologies which is a must in today's rapidly changing programming world.
     I would like to give special props to a few other individuals:  Nick Suwyn who is one of the most knowledgeable programmers I have met over the years and who is ALWAYS there when I need him for anything and get's back to me in a timely fashion.  His lectures are also second to none.
Next is Jason Tennant who gave me special attention despite his busy schedule and helped me with many important things including but not limited to getting me linked up with Linked in and other programming related chat forums that have helped me out tremendously.
Finally Chris Coleman (CEO) who reached out to me personally to make sure my journey has been a good one and everything is going in the right direction.

Not too many Cons:
There is not anything particularity bad I can say however I will say that the course is very condensed and requires a very very serious approach and a lot of time dedicated to learning.  You also have to be on the ball and ask the right questions to the right people to stay on top of things.  I will follow up again when the course is completed.

Rick C.

I attended the Phoenix Full Stack .Net course last fall, and I graduated in Febuary. The class was very intense to say the least! This is a course for people who serious about really making a change in their lives, and  wanting to break into the Tech industry. The Curiculum is very fast paced, and there is ZERO room for any sort of laziness. I personally had made the decision to do this knowing that my dedication and attitude were going to be everything in how successful I was going to be. During the instructional phase a few of my classmates and I would spend sometimes upwards of 5 hours after class working on our homework, and helping each other stay up to speed with the pace of the class. There were also seveal times on the weekends where we would meet up to work on the coursework. It was a very good thing that we bacame so close with each other because once we got into the group project phase, we spent even more time working together than when we were in the instructional phase of the Camp. The instruction was very fast paced and thorough, and the Instructor was very knowledgable and always on point. As for the class Mentor, I can't say enough positive things. Given that we put all of our frustrations and emotions on him, he might be the most patient person that I've ever known. He always had an answer for us and knew how to relate in a way that made us feel calm. Our Group Project phase was also very intense, as we had to create and complete a difficult project in only 5 weeks time. At the end it was a huge relief to be finnished and Demo our project to a sizeable audience.  The Coder Camps Career Services team was also amazing in every regard. They helped us put togather our resumes, and build our LinkedIn profiles to be appropriate with the industry that we would then be entering into. It did not end at graduation either, as they worked tirelessly to connect us to different opportunities and trying to get us in front of potential employers. To say that there is a job waiting for you when you exit this Boot Camp would not be accurate.  As with any employment getting the job is ALWAYS up to you to make it happen! I personally interviewed about 6 times before I was finally offered a position, but The Coder Camps people were always there to support me and suggest new interview tactics, and find new opportunities for me to persue. Commiting yourself to this school and what they offer is a huge undertaking, and your success is all in your own hands, and how you seriously you take the challenge.

I'll admit I was nervous about such an accelerated program but the staff at coder camps helped me every step of the way.  The course was challenging and there were moments I wasn't sure it would click with me but the instructional team kept encouraging me. The moment the light bulb came on was such a rewarding experience.  I've been interviewing with several employers post graduation and I'm confident I will land a job shortly.  I would highly recommend Coder Camps and I've already referred several friends and family!

I'll preface this with saying I decided against attending the camp, however the enticement alone was enough of a hard sell to put me off.

While I expected an information session, what I got was a fuller hard sale pitch. I'll say this; if everything they said was true, CC sounds like a good deal. 11K-13K is a good price for the continual training and support you'd get after completeing and getting a jr. programmer job. The people were affable as well, almost to a fault; they pursued me rather than I pursuing them. HOWEVER

Rather than a straight information session, with some time to consider and signing up after a campus tour (which would have been preferable,) the call became overwhelming fast. Much of the interview (which the recruiter didn't inform me it was until well into the conversation) was hyping up not only the program, but building the expectation of you not letting them down, something I was reminded of at several points. Despite telling them I'd have to talk it over, I was transfered over to the recruter's supervisor who immediatly waved the application fee and reminded me of the high expectations they had for me, since I'd signed up without being given a chance to think about it. They didn't shoehorn you in all the way (thus the extra star) as they gave me the online prerequisite course free, but they did "save" me a seat with the premptive tuition charge suspiciously on the forms that they had me sign as well as personal information like my SSN. In short, they rushed me through the process and none of it felt kosher.

Maybe it is a good experience, maybe it isn't. All the reviews have either been negative or repeated the talking points from the phone "interview," so I'm weary of if they can be trusted. Just saying, I was not impressed with the way they sold me their product.

I'm going to keep this blunt and honest, for the sake of those interested in attending this course. If you want to take this course, prepare yourself mentally and physically. I have absolutely no background in coding, but i studied hard with the materials provided and managed to master everything in the course - while my other classmates at a similar disadvantage decided to coast through the course assuming they would get help later. Not only did they not learn the material, they are now retaking the course because of their complete inneptitude. Make no mistake, boot-camps are not for everyone.

Lastly, be honest with yourself and expectations. Coder Camps had a very loose cirriculum - and as soon as the instructional section ended, we were stuffed into a group project in a seperate room by ourselves unless we deemed it necessary to go bother a intructor for help (instructor began teaching a different class). Not only was I basically paying to rent a room to write code in, but my groupmates were absolutely no help, and the end product of our project was absolute garbage that i didnt even want to put on my resume. Their Career Services was a absolute joke as well, Im fairly sure i incited the scheduling of a career day just by emailing the camp director and complaining. They continually forgot to respond to my emails, never followed through on weekly checkups, and best of all (seriously made me laugh) emailed me asking if id like resume help - which i obliged with my resume - and then immediately told me the career services leader would be taking a honeymoon in hawaii for 2 weeks.

If you have got this far, you might ask yourself, why should i attend coder camps then? Well the answer is that - a coding camps outcome is universally dependent on the work you put in. Regardless of everything that i wrote about above, I put in the work to learn the material, contact my instructor when i was confused, and go above and beyond to make sure the work i did was spectacular. I have joined a friends startup company to work on mobile apps, and within 2 months of job searching have landed a position as a Junior Software Engineer. Bottom line: if you want it bad, you will make it happen.

“Through accelerated and immersive courses led by expert instructors, our students become accustomed to thinking like a developer and adapting to the dynamics of working on an Agile software team.” - a quote from CoderCamps own website….

Our instructor was a brand new T.A. The teacher that was suppose to teach (Ron) left the company without any disclosure from Coder Camps. We found out from David Weems he left and that is the reason our emails for help went unanswered. So expert is 1 and a half months after graduating from BootCamp? It does get better, wait until you read how we were dismissed from the Camp and our loan “Divvied Up” amongst them. Best part, we were never notified of our dismissal, my wife who received loan and co-signed for my loan NEVER received any communications until Jan. 15th. They left a VM and then proceeded to tell their V.P. they spoke with my wife. We have an attorney, contacted BBB,CFPB,AZAG and will not stop until they pay for damages to credit and our mental and emotional stress. By the way, our T.A. tried his best and is an all around good person.... person is key, not expert.

What an experience!  I chose Coder Camps after about as much research as one could possibly do on a coding bootcamp.  After moving from Charlotte, NC to Phoenix, AZ all I can say is that I made the right decision.  From the get go the Admissions Manager Jamie was wonderful, she truly cares about your success and is there every step of the way to make sure you are getting the most out of the program.  Even though the class can be tough you always have the support you need with top notch instructional staff that is always willing to help and answer any questions you may have.  With John Thomas leading the way to continually update the curriculum as the industry changes I can tell it will only get better.  I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the Coder For Life benefit that Coder Camps offers!

Coder Camps is a great place if you want to learn how to program. Everyone from the instructors, to the fellow students are friendly and help. The Full Stack JavaScript instructor, Ron Bravo is a programming wizard when it comes to JavaScript. Often times in class he fixes students problems without even seeing them. He is a great guy and an amazing instructor.

The backend of Coder Camps is wonderful as well. My admission rep, Jason Jones was always checking on me to see how I was doing, and if there was a problem he was always there to help me. He generally cares and it not just there to fill seats and collect a paycheck.

Chris Coleman, the COO is a great all around person. He is the main reason I signed up for the course, and the reason I'll continue to use the Coder for Life benefit. He is always available for the students, even though he is a busy guy up in the ranks. He cares about us little people. 

I am excited to see the new direction the curriculum and the website is taking. John Thomas, the Director of Education is extremely knowledgable and can defintely do nothing but improve the current content. I would encourage anyone and everyone to join this program, it is going nowhere but up.

I went into the course excited, and also left pretty much the same...

Then reality struck and it turned out the material wasn't thorough enough, we didn't do enough algorithms, and the job help was so minimal, I don't even consider it "help".

We only had 1 instructor in Oakland, he knew what he was doing, but it came with a blasé attitude and a lot of things were skimmed over. When I asked a question, he would say that we already went over it like it was covered throughly. Otherwise, he was good.

The level of projects at which my peers in the Bay Area were coming out of camps with was noticeably different.

Coder Camps was my first choice because it offered both an online option and a .NET option.  My background is as a technical trainer (amongst other things) and having taught mixed online/in-person classes myself, I was well aware that it's difficult to pull mixed classes off.  So I was a little surprised to learn that online students are taught alongside the in-person class.  I have to say they did pretty well, but sometimes it was impossible to hear what students actually there in the class were saying, and it was harder to stay engaged with those who were physically there.  And there were the inevitable technical glitches, but not as many as I thought there would be and they were usually quickly resolved.

Overall the instructors (Dan Do and Stephen Walther) did an excellent job.  There were a couple of sessions where I felt the instructor didn't have the sufficiently deep knowledge required in a topic to excel in teaching it, but  overall the quality of the instruction was high.  The lecture notes were reasonably comprehensive and there are many, many resources available online if you needed a deeper/different explanation. Be aware that it's very hard to keep documentation perfectly updated when, for example, AngularJS is releasing a new version every month or two.  So the lecture notes weren't always perfectly up-to-date, nor, frankly, can they be.

Before going to any coding camp you should be prepared for a few things.

First, you must work really, really hard.  There is no getting around this.  The less you know going in, the more hours you will have to put in to keep up.  I was fortunate in that I already had a lot of the basics and have taken classes here and there for 10 years (mostly in the last 3 years).  I did anywhere from 60 - 80 hours a week with the occasional 90 hour week.  There were one or two in my class who lacked basic knowledge and who struggled to keep up.  There were also one or two who I guess just had money to burn as they didn't seem to actually DO anything except show up (sometimes) when they felt like it.  

Second, you will likely do best if you already have some coding experience/classes under your belt.  Get familiar with the basics from some of the many free online courses out there, and you will find it so much easier than going in with zero knowledge.

Third, If you are online you will need to advocate for yourself more so than if you are there in person.  Get the contact information for the instructor and the TA and the best students in the class and ping them remorselessly.  Set up an appointment early in the day for after-hours if need be for a shared-screen online session, and even if you solve the problem you originally needed help with, keep the appointment because you will almost certainly run into some other problem you need help with.  If you are not comfortable being assertive you may feel you are being overlooked.  As a former trainer I can tell you this isn't deliberate - it's just if I can't see you I have no idea if you need my help unless you TELL me.

Fourth, only YOU can get yourself a job.  Sure, Coder Camps may provide you with a few leads, resume advice, and a session on common coding questions, but frankly it's YOU and YOUR skills that will get you a job.  I was networking throughout the class and in my last week I already had interviews set up with local recruiters and companies.  I did not expect Coder Camps to arrange interviews for me with recruiters or "hiring partners" and nor should you.  I know it's part of their sales pitch but frankly it will be down to you, and I'm okay with that.  I'm a grown-up.  I didn't need or want their help with getting a job (although the interview question session and the provided materials were useful).  If you need or want that support, then maybe this isn't the camp for you, although they do seem to be very focused on stepping up their career support.

Speaking of getting a job: I am a very non-traditional candidate.  I'm solidly middle-aged, a woman, no computer science degree, nor have I been coding since age 9.  Sure, I had some technical work experience, but nothing remotely resembling coding.  I figured that if I hustled I'd have a job in maybe 6 months.  It actually took me a little over two months.  Note that the first month of that was taken up with some personal matters, so really I was only seriously job-hunting for 5 weeks.

Lastly, there is both an indiividual project and a group project.  The success of the group project is determined by how hard your group is prepared to work and their overall skill level.  If you have unmotivated people in your group project, be prepared to either do most of the group work yourself, and/or make your individual project shine.

To sum up: this was a positive experience for me, but I went in with realistic expectations (I have changed career before by doing an intensive course in this way).  I also was prepared with a good amount of self-study prior to doing the course.  And, of course, I worked my butt off and was proactive in getting the help I needed.  You will come out of this with a good grasp of how to set up a full-stack .NET project using cutting edge technology and frameworks.  You may not have a solid grasp of the why, but how to do things should be enough to get you your first job.

You are welcome to look me up on LinkedIn and send me a message/invite.  I'm happy to expand on my rather lengthy review.

TL;DR:

Pros:
Knowledgable instructors.  
Cutting edge technologies are taught.  
Full-stack - you can always specialize later if you want.
Fairly reasonable price.
Fully online option if you like coding in your PJ's

Cons:
Online / in-class mixed instruction is very hard to pull off well and didn't always work.  
Career support was not quite as promised (didn't matter to me), but is clearly being worked on.
Not everyone in the class had the aptitude or work ethic to succeed and sometimes dragged down the rest of the class.

Comments:
You will get out of this what you put into it. 

Coder Camps turned out to be one of the best decisions that I've ever made. I was nervous about a major career change, walking away from a steady paycheck, and pushing 50 yrs old with no coding background whatsoever. The instructors and TA's were very helpful explaining the material and the student to teacher ratio made sure that I had the one-on-one attention that I needed. The career services program really sets Coder Camps apart from the competition. They guide you through a customized strategy to get you hired and help improve your existing resume. I was offered a great job with a 22% raise before I even graduated and have been with the same employer ever since! Thank you Codercamps.com 

INTRO:

I left a career in sales to make the transition into a development career. I knew going into this, that it was going to be a difficult transition, especially with bootcamps still being quite new within the industry. However, after a good amount of online research, I felt that Coder Camps was going to be a great fit for what I was looking for in development.

THE COURSE:

Learning even just 1 technical language in 12 weeks is a daunting task, let alone Full-Stack .NET. Overall the course is extremely difficult, and as other reviews have stated, will require above and beyond time dedication to stay up to speed with the course. The great thing about Coder Camps is that the instructors and resources that you have available during the course, are eager and willing to help get you up to speed if you feel that you are slipping behind. My Instructor Dan, continuously made himself available - even during the weekends, so if you have him as an instructor - you're in for a treat.

The languages they teach are top notch within the industry. I was constantly praised on my school of choice when people saw that they taught both Typescript AND AngularJS, in addition to the typical JavaScript/ C# languages. One recommendation that I would give to the school (at least from my interview experience down here in Irvine, CA) is to teach a bit more SQL. Nearly every interview I have been on has been SQL,SQL and more SQL, which I had to go additionally learn on my own to feel comfortable being able to speak to it. 

Overall the course material WILL prepare you for the real world. The CRUD style applications that are built throughout the class, are exactly what companies will have you build in interviews - and to my experience, was comfortable doing it. 

ONLINE vs. OFFLINE:

I'll keep this short and to the point - I took the course online. Coder Camps did a fantastic job of making the online students feel included and ask us questions and it did not hinder my learning experience. There were occasional audio issues, but nothing too serious. That being said - If you have the opportunity to do so, I would still take the course IN-PERSON if you can. Being able to speak to the instructors in person, and have code reviews in person - rather than having a screen share session - is invaluable. Although I must say waking up in the comfort of my own home and learning, was amazing.

JOB ASSISTANCE:

This is where I feel that the experience lacked a bit. Toward the end of the course - specifically during our final presentations, I felt that everything ended very abruptly. We spent 1 day (actually only 2 hours) reviewing "interview" type questions - including "Fizz Buzz", etc. (if you don't know what that is - you will eventually), and we never re-visited it after.

Following our final presentations, which you dedicate three FULL weeks to, everything ended with an "OK, thanks - bye" type of feeling, which myself and other campers felt was a bit strange - especially those of us that were online students. 

I did receive assistance with my resume, which ended up helping a great bit - but this was only AFTER speaking to a fellow camper friend having mentioned he got help with his. I would have really appreciated some additional assistance for the first few interviews and to guide us a bit better and help us better understand what to expect in the weeks to come. Now before I just make it seem like I am ranting on, I'm sure Dan and other instructors would have helped me if I had any specific questions, but having felt like a lost puppy after the course was over, I had no idea what to ask or even expect. 

CONCLUSION:

This school is a fantastic school. If you're thinking about joining a bootcamp that is specific to the .NET framework - Coder Camps is a top notch choice and will prepare you technically for this industry. I know this because 8 weeks after completion of the course, I was offered a position as a Jr .NET Developer in the Irvine area for an unbelievable company that works with the NFL and major retailers like McDonalds and Walmart to code and build interactive LED color video displays, and I am extremely excited to start my new life. 

 

My time at Coder Camps was nothing short of life changing. I walked into the camp with minimal coding experience and left as a full-stack .NET developer. Not as a coding genius, but with enough knowledge and experience to build full-stack applications using a variety of the latest and greatest web technologies, and get a software developer position at a local company only 6 weeks after graduating.

I have nothing but good things to say about the instructors. Dan, Stephen and Lindsey (Teaching Assistant). They were completely approachable and knowledgeable at all times. They always went the extra mile to make sure we were getting better and helped us debug, so that we could continue to move forward and keep improving.

Job assistance needs to be more involved, but I was given lots of helpful advice and interview practice, and I'm positive that job placement improvements are in the works.

Coder Camps is going through many radical changes including a constantly evolving .NET curriculum written by a Microsoft MVP, and author of many best selling .NET books. They're ensuring that instructors are available throughout the group project phase so that students always have someone to consult. As far as I know, the troops do not overlap anymore, which is great! I also highly recommend staying behind longer for the optional free masters programme.

A word of advice. If you join a coding bootcamp, put in the minimum 9-5 effort 5 days a week and then expect to leave with the knowledge you came for, you'll be disappointed. And then you'll leave a bad review, which is unfair to the bootcamp. I've seen students like this first hand. You get what you put in, that's it. If you want to change your life in only 12 weeks, be prepared to work up to 16 hours a day, 7 days a week for the entire duration. If you don't commit 100%, you're wasting your time. All the help and resources you need are avaliable here, but it's what you do with them.

 

We were just finishing up our work for the last week of camp and guy drops in to tell us about his company.  He was with a relatively small start up and was still getting his name out there.

The class heard about his plans and at the end of the discussion, he asked if any of us were interested in working at a place like his.  I raised my hand and we setup an interview time for after I graduated.

At my interview, the owner of the company was there again and had a couple of developers in the room with him.  It was a project based on node.js and React, the latter of which is a framework that I wasn't super familiar with, but I knew it had simliar features to Angular, which we had learned in class.

They asked some hard questions and let me look up answers as we went if I didn't know the answer off of the top of my head.  It was all practical stuff about how I would handle situations X, Y, and Z.

At the end of the interview, we were all laughing and hanging out and the owner said that he thought I would make a wonderful addition to the team and gave me an offer letter. I didn't accept the offer right away as I was going to another interview that afternoon.

As I was walking to my car, I realized that I let out a long breath that I had been holding in for quite a while (before I started camp).  What dawned on me was the fact that this was real and it was definitely going to happen.

Those people who say that these programs don't work are just complaining and scared.  If you do what they ask, work your ass off, and graduate, you will get that job.  I did and I could not have done it without Coder Camps.

I left a career making about 80k a year to take what I thought would be a small paycut to about 70k a year.  This was according to Chris Lipari who said they had a 98% industry placement with an average salary of 75k a year.  Over time, I found out this is not true.  I watched his number change from 98%, 92%, 95%.  He just makes it up.  In addition to that, I talked to past students that were still attending and had been without a job for over a year, most over 6 months.  All bright individuals.  Don't buy into this program unless you are going to code.  The career prospects are crap.  The teachers are great, and I was told I would be able to sit in on the next camp once, free of charge.  This too, changed during enrollment.  They were "no longer doing that"  however, I signed a contract.  Welcome lawsuit.  I did learn how to code, I did not get a job, I spent too much money on something I could have learned myself on my own over time.  Great.  The pace is super fast and many of the people spent over 100 hours a week and still did not pick up everything because of the fast pace.  Thank god for the instructors who were more than willing to help. 

I have no idea what these other guys are complaining about.  Numerous people went through the course and then got jobs, but only give 3 stars?  Seems like they are nit-picking to me.

My experience was everything that I wanted it to be.  In short, I could have had a few things better here and there, but the teachers were amazing, the staff was very helpful, the financing worked perfectly, and the outcome was what I wanted - I got hired at $90k per year (as did more than half of my class).

No camp is perfect.  Coder Camps comes as close as you can get.

The teacher was very knowledgeable, cared about student learning and progress and definitely took time to answer questions. I was online, but our class was delivered with in person students. The teaching method made sure everyone was included, during class time... Unfortunately, there was no offline office hours given. I know that the in person people were able to ask questions of the teacher and other staff members, but, knowing the value of expert advice and feedback, I'd think the program would find a way to create a similar experience for offline students. I graduated from the program, I learned much and am very confident in my skills. I think I can do most things I need to and am equipped to quickly learn other skills and languages in the future. However, for me, I'm not sure the 9 weeks was long enough (my top choice and similar programs are 12 weeks, and don't be fooled by the inclusion of coding from scratch, other schools do similar pre-work and are still at least 12 weeks). It definitely seemed like they were trying to build the plane and fly at the same time. Week six was very light on lessons, it was supposed to be on mobile development but there was only 1/2 day of teaching. We self taught the rest of the time that week. They mentioned several times that they were working on the lesson plan, but we never saw it come to fruition. The absolute worst was the after graduation student support. Their career advisor missed out appointment twice and never acknowledge his error. The advice he gave was very generic input one could find anywhere on the Internet. Overall his demeanor was that of a used car salesman. After our 30 min talk I never heard from anyone in their office. I will say this school was my third option, but my family situation made it so I had to go with their online program. If my other schools had the option, I would have chose them. Doing my research beforehand, I had serious misgivings about this program. I used LinkedIn to chat with previous CoderCamps grads and heard some very lackluster reviews. But they were the best option for me at the time. That said, and being a man of faith, I will say that was were was supposed to be. They were available during the time I needed them, they had an online option, the teacher was an expert and good at actual instruction. Finally, I was able to land a job and the knowledge and skills I received will make it easier for me to add on the necessary skills to become an expert in the field in the next few years. I am happy that I went there, but I want you to think long and hard and definitely do your research. This program has its eye on expansion, and while the teachers are concerned with student success, the leadership and rest of the staff don't appear to be.

Executive summary: first week is HARD but it gets easier. Facility is great, instructor is great, job assitance is mediocre, 75% of my troop was employed by the end. 

 

I was in the pilot troop for Coder Camps in Redmond. There wasn't even a classroom set up when I moved into the apartment the week before. There were 4 people in my troop: myself with a BA in computer science and tube performance, an ex-chef, a downsized Microsoft engineer, and college grad who majored in Arabic. With two advanced students and two novice ones, It was a great atmosphere and made it easy to reinforce the concept through pair programming. 

The Course:

The course as it was when I attended was: 1 week C#, 2 weeks building a website ASP.NET, 1 week Javascript, 2 weeks AngularJS, and 3 weeks working on a group project.

The first week is HARD. As a person with Java experience, I felt C# week was a good clip but manageable. For the students with no object oriented language experience, it was brisk to the point of unreasonable, since not only are you learning a new language, you're learning a whole new paradigm. But hey, it's a boot camp after all. After that things relax slightly. I reminded me of taking intensive study courses in college.

The facility:

Coder Camps is at the location of a former bank. The main lobby had been converted into a classroom, with a smaller group project room. There are 3 study rooms, as well as a full kitchen. It's a great environment, and I stayed late most nights (you get 24/hr access). Coder Camps has troops in 6 week intervals, so while we were working on tha group project in the side room, the new troop (also 4) was in the mian classroom. This was also handy because if you need a review or a refresher, the class was literally be taught again in the room next to you.

The company housing is accross the street and very convenient, but EXPENSIVE (it is in Redmond after all). You'll probably pay living literally anywhere else. Parking is plentiful and free, which can be an issue given the location. 

Job Hunting:

The Camp unfortunately didn't hand me a job with my certificate. They had people who were willing to mock interview you and offer suggestions, but you were on your own to fill out the job apps, work with recruiters, and try to get interviews. I feel like they could have been a bit more involved.

I chose to stay for the addition 3 week "master course" which was actually just me sitting in the side office and filling out applications all day and helping the new students. I had hoped for better outreach and connections to jobs in the area, but I found that exceedingly lacking. Still, at the end of the 12 weeks, 3 of the 4 of us had jobs.

The Staff:

The main instructor, Steven Walther was very well qualified, formerly an instructor at Microsoft himself (Look him up!. He taught well enough to make sure the new students were successful and has quality projects, while being knowlegable enough to answer the two advanced students' questions about compilers and data structures. 

Among the other staff was the camp director and two TAs. The director did a great job making sure everyone was comfortable and handing the logistics of the camp. One of the TAs taught a beginning JS course during the day and was very helpful. The other was more of a distraction than anything, and left halfway through my time at the camp, happily announcing that he was submitting endless applications to other jobs instead of helping us do the same. 

A little about me:

I earned my BA in computer science in 2013. After having a few tenured profs who didn't understand the job market, and splitting my time between a double major in music, I didn't leave that 4 year institution with much of a hope of getting a job. After sitting on my unemployed ass for two years, I decided it was time for a change. 

I chose Coder Camps was local to me and convenient, there weren't really other factors.

In addition to adding a ton of skills and technologies to my resume, the camp taught me confidence and surrounded me a support group that helped me be successful. For me that's what I knew I needed. I had about a dozen interviews while there, each better than the last. The skills I picked up in web development definitely helped me become a better developer, and I use them at my job, though since I had a degree I was able to work at a larger company than the startups that Coder Camps targets.

 

I'd be happy to answer any specific questions and give out as much information as I can, though I may be a little biased. I'm working full time as an engineer and am in the process of buying a house, and it's because of Coder Camps. 

Pros: My instructor was amazing. Stephen Walther is a professional developer who worked at Microsoft on the ASP .NET team, has written books, and knows his stuff. I learned a lot. I had almost no experience with code development. It was intense, and frustrating but very rewarding.  The other students were great. It was a very supportive class and a positive atmosphere. 

Cons: My first complaint was having a class with both in person students and remote students. The flow of the class was....strange....and often very distracting with students who were joining the class via the internet.  We wasted a lot of time fixing technical difficulties and dealing with communication challenges. 

Secondly, after the first few weeks when the class works on the team project, there was little to no help. Our group struggled with the project and it took a week for someone to look at our code and tell us how to fix it. Even then it was minimal. You can only Google and use StackOverflow so much. So the last three weeks we were basically on our own with no guidance other than a very short weekly check in. This is because they piggy-back the troops on top of one another so the instructor is on to a new class and doesn't have time to assist the former class. I don't fault Stephen with this. He's just doing his job. 

The website claims Coder Camps has "Hiring Partners". Apparently they don't have any in Seattle. We were not introduced to any of these partners, not one employer came to Demo Day, which they claim is a job fair (not even close), and the only reason I got any help with my resume was I consistently emailed the corporate office for some help. Then I was told that it's a bad time of year for hiring (I get that...the holidays and all) and was giving a list of employment agencies. I could have (and did) done that on my own. 

While we learned a lot of great skills, there was absolutely no job interview preparation or resume advice/help. I didn't know what a technical interview was until I started researching the interview process on my own. White-boarding? What is that? 

Honestly, if you have the discipline to learn development on your own, do it. Or find a program that has an internship or a job placement guarantee or at the least a REAL job fair and connections with employers and plenty of preparation for real world job interviews.