Codesmith

Codesmith was an excellent experience and for me it was definitely worth it. I attended the full time immersive and it was a lot of long hours and tough work, but ultimately absolutely worth it and truly rewarding. I had already done some self studying when I enrolled and it really took my engineering skills to the next level. The most valuable parts of the program for me were the community and network you find, the project focus, and the hiring portion. I chose Codesmith because of the CIRR outcomes and the sense of community. I highly recommend checking out one of their free workshops if you want to get a sense of the teaching style. 

I got a job fairly quickly and have been extremely happy with my choice to make a career change. I'm able to do more satisfying work for more pay, and Codesmith really helped me get there.  Read less

Two things make Codesmith stand out: the open source product and the community. 

The OSP grants a critical advantage in the job search that is unattainable through self study alone or by writing CRUD toy apps. Codesmith's curriculum doesn't teach GraphQL, Electron, TypeScript, microservices architectures etc., but depending on the OSP you choose (and the work you put in both during and after Codesmith), you'll come away with the ability to a) talk knowledgeably about a selection of such highly marketable skill-sets at a level of understanding that will make seasoned engineers see you as prospective peers rather than blank slates, and b) acquire genuine narratives about technical/organizational/interpersonal challenges, breakthroughs, milestones, failures, lessons learned that will demonstrate a level of experience clearly beyond that of entry-level candidates who have only worked on course assignments and scratch projects in small groups. Grinding leetcode will only get you so far in prepping for mid-level big tech interviews, because they will also delve deep into your experiences in engineering, collaboration, and leadership. While there's no replacement there for real world work experience, the Codesmith OSP provides a close approximation. 

As for community, Codesmith doesn't kick you out for falling behind. On the contrary, if you fail assessments you get supplementary sessions. I've also personally never heard of anyone dropping out of the program. On the other hand, decisive action is taken against rare cases of egregiously problematic behavior. Time is set aside every week for shoutouts, game nights, and mingling. All this sets the tone for a safe and warm environment where everyone is "in it together," and residents see each other as collaborators and friends rather than competitors or rivals. Codesmith sets a grueling pace and the material is demanding, so it's helpful and motivating beyond words to have a group of highly competent, driven, and caring people with whom to exchange assistance and emotional support and to unwind. This atmosphere of goodwill extends to the alumni community as well, where I've received extraordinary help and advice freely and readily given from so many awesome people already. I'd gone the self-study route for a while and made good progress before joining Codesmith, but I can say with certainty that it would have taken me years to get to the point I am now had I not sought out a community of like-minded people. 

After months on the job search, I've signed on with an exciting early-stage startup for a senior-level base salary far outside the max range shown in the CIRR reports, and favorable compensation compared to a competing big N L4 offer. While I've been particularly fortunate, there is also no shortage of alumni I know who are now working in highly desirable positions and earning above the reported median wage. Some of them had prior academic or professional experience in STEM, but many more, including me, hail from a completely unrelated background. In short, if you're ready to put in the work for a career in tech, you'll be in the best possible company at Codesmith. 

# Curriculum
I loved that the "JS Hard Parts" approach of deep-diving into the fundamentals of any given concept very much carried over into the immersive. Some subjective nitpicks:

- React unit: Fully switch to functional components and hooks and maybe discuss strategies for avoiding unnecessary re-renders. Should better equip residents to tackle common React takehomes/onsites using up-to-date practices. 
- Node unit: More detail on REST API design constraints and conventions, as well as practical differences between Node.js vs. browser environments.
- Database unit: More practice for composing SQL queries (with CTEs, parameterization), drawing out ER diagrams, and especially avoiding common pitfalls when designing relational data models (i.e. general rules-of-thumb for normalization, enforcing referential integrity).
- Pick a responsive CSS framework and use in every module so the code examples can serve as reference material. 

# Instructors
Michael and Caitlin gave clear, tightly-paced, and engaging lectures, and were always able to provide more in-depth context, detail, and direction as necessary. Codesmith's picks for fellowship in my cohort sandwich also made it clear that they choose the best. 

# Job Support
- Somehow spacing out the OSP and hiring portions would be great so that residents aren't completely burnt out for the latter, the pace isn't so hectic, and residents can get some supervised practice in more areas e.g. sending out a Codesmith-style app, optimizing resumes for ATS while still following Codesmith guidelines, countering negotiation tactics employed by recruiters from the very first email/call, understanding perks and equity packages etc.
- Post-grad hiring and negotiation support quite literally pays for the tuition. Shoutout to Eric and Cassandra and the team for being wonderful. 

# Overall: 
Lifechanging experience. 10/10 would do again. Read less

I joined the Codesmith community through CSX, then CSPrep, then the full-time LA immersive, attending virtually from NY.  It was evident from the beginning that Codesmith's secret to success was their built-in community.  By the time I was done with CSPrep I had a community to struggle through the technical interview process with which was key to my ability to pass the technical interview.  I'd agree with other Course Report reviews that say "persistence is key."  Once I started the full-time immersive it was incredibly helpful to be a part of a nobody-left-behind mentality in such a rigorous program.

One of the things I, personally, wasn't excited about was still how little experience I had with CSS after the immersive, as someone who came in with zero prior experience.  Be sure to get into that because it will likely prove important during the interview process for frontend roles.

The hiring portion gives you the opportunity to ask any and all the questions you need and an answer is always close by.  You'll continue to feel fully supported like this until you land your first job!  Shout out to the hiring team and Eric for helping me navigate my way to a well-paid internship in 3 months, and a full-time role in 6 months. Read less

Very similar experiences with other reviews. I had a great experience here. People are very nice and supportive. Please don't come in expecting you'll get a job without working very hard. It requires a lot of dedication but if you're determined, you'll pull it through.

I got a job 3 weeks after I graduated without the CS degree, but I do have an engineering degree from UC Berkeley though, and I'm not sure that'd be relevant in my job search. It's a very rewarding career.

Good luck and I wish you all the best! Read less

I considered many other bootcamps like fullstack academy, general assembly, etc. but then codesmith hiring outcome came to my attention as codesmith's hiring outcome was the best among bootcamps out there. After going through 12-weeks of program and now getting a job, I can see why codesmith has the best hiring outcome and I am really glad that I decided to go with codesmith. It provides the best curriculum for people who want to be engineers and how to think and code like mid to senior-level software engineers. I got a job offer that is well above the median of codesmith graduate outcomes, so I can say that it actually works!

And the best part for this program is open-source product and how it helps you with job search! Read less

Codesmith was such a great experience for me. I was stuck at a deadend job for way too long and needed to make a change. I found codesmith through a friend of mine who did the program in 2019. This help make my decision to make the leap of faith alot easier because I saw he completed the program and got a great job. Knowing someone first hand helped me put me at ease.

To practice to get into Codesmith they have great free workshops call Javascript the easy parts (intro free classes) and Javascript the hard parts(more challenging concept classes on closures, recursion and callbacks). This is where it was solidified that I want to do the program because they had great instructor and really dug deep under the hood on what was actually happening in the code which I loved. Having a deeper knowledge builds a super strong foundation for everything you learn forward. Afterwards, it took me two tries to do pass the interviews and the rest was history! 

The 3 month program was intense. It's 6 days a week and about 12 hour days. I will say the days go back so quick because you are learning so much and they have cool units to work on with a partner for section. At the end of the program we create a production project for a month with a team of engineer that will impress senior engineers. This is great for your resume in many ways. It helps you learn how to work on an engineering team as well as building an app from scratch using everything you learned. This is where you do the most learning I would say, because you are practicing by doing. It was amazing to see our team's concept go from a drawing to a real electron app that developers can use.

Lastly, codesmith has an amazing hiring program. They help you from everything from your resume, narrative, interview white boarding, system design interviews and algos! Even after you graduate you have lifetime help which is an amazing perk in itself as I saw other bootcamp only offer like 6 months after graduating. 

I got a job at a company I love now with better hours and pay and I definitely couldn't have done it without codesmith and most importantly all the close friends I made along the way. They help you get through the tough parts in the program and even if it was virtual you became close quick. We were all able to meet in person for different events at bars and traveling and it's been a blast and the funny thing is everyone was the same as they were on zoom. In the end, this experience literally changed the trajectory of my life and can't thank codesmith enough! Let's gooo  Read less

I’ve waited to make this review because I wanted to be in the right mindset. That being said, I’ve obtained more value from Codesmith than my years as an engineer in college. Sad.. but very true. I am sitting here almost 3 months into my job with an income 3x more than what it was before I joined Codesmith. 

They will give you the skills to be successful and competitive in the job market. I’ve taken everything they have taught me - especially the nontechnical stuff such as communication, collaboration, vibe, job interviewing and applied it. I think these are the most important skill sets that a Codesmith has to offer. Any school is going to teach how to code, but no school is going to teach how to be an ethical, responsible, driven, and most importantly..... caring engineer. Oh, and by the way, their curriculum is amazing - They always push you to try technologies that are not taught in the program. I came out learning GraphQL, DENO, Redis, Svelte, React native (mobile) + so much more on top of your typical MERN stack. 

I strongly recommend you try their 2-week courses, especially if you are an experienced engineer. I promise you will learn more about how code works under the hood in those two weeks than you would have anywhere else. 

Geo

git commit -m “My Codesmith Review" Read less

I had the opportunity to attend the full-time immersive remotely and also work as a fellow. Overall - Codesmith does a good job of setting up great conditions prior to enrollment (JS Fundamentals) & reinforces good developer practices and mindsets that leads to incredible outcomes. The process, overall, did work out as we were taught!  Read less

I graduated from Codesmith in June, was hired on as an Engineering Fellow by Codesmith for a three-month contract and am now preparing to end my Fellowship and move on to a full-time job as a GraphQL Full Stack Engineer with LexisNexis. From the first time I set foot into one of Codesmith's free public online workshops, I was impressed with their teaching style, pedagogy and above all empathy. They built a positive, ego-free environment where people worked hard at a difficult thing to better themselves, and always with an eye towards enthusiastically helping one another to understand the technology on a deep level. Other Bootcamps gave me the impression that I'd be going through the motions and simply 'making the code work' but Codesmith taught me to think deeply about my mental models and the language that I use to communicate what is happening technically so that I could share that mental model. 

I found interviewing for jobs after Codesmith to not only be un-intimidating but often a real pleasure - it was fun to share my understanding with others and describe what I knew! And because Codesmith encouraged me to always consider other engineers, I leave now feeling that I can continue to grow as a mentor as well as an engineer and human being. Codesmith is a really special place that is kept running by some really dedicated people and I admire them and am proud to have counted myself among them, even for a brief while! 

I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Nancy Kousholt, Katrina Villanueva and Grisha Levine-Rozenvayn, all of them former or current Fellows, Lead Technical Mentors and Engineering Instructors who showed me what it means to be an empathetic engineer! Read less

After working on Codesmith's free JavaScript lessons through CSX and attending a few free workshops, I was ecstatic to win a free weekend intensive of "JavaScript for Beginners" (JSB). My instructor was Sophie, and I can't say enough about the whole experience. Sophie was kind, patient, and knowledgable. As an educator with 23 years of experience, I appreciate the methodical way Codesmith breaks concepts down and gives you ample opportunities to practice and apply what you learned before moving on. The main thing that sets Codesmith's approach apart from other workshops I have attended is their emphasis on technical communication. Both during interactive lectures and through pair-programming, you learn to communicate clearly and concisely about your code, which not only helps you communicate, but helps solidify the information so that you own it. The course culminated with a group project, which I was nervous about. Despite being a teacher and knowing the value of group projects, I have traditionally not enjoyed doing them myself. I couldn't wrap my head around how "coding by committee" could possibly work. I am happy to say the group project was one of my favorite parts, and Codesmith made it easy through their pair-programming system. I can't believe I actually enjoyed a group project and built a product with my awesome team-member classmates. I can't wait for more! Thank you, Sophie and Codesmith! Read less

Codesmith is a tier above many other bootcamps for one simple reason: They don’t just show you what to learn. They show you how. They encourage hard-learning and how to overcome  the very same roadblocks software engineers face on a day-to-day basis. Their fellowship program offers residents a way to connect with recent grads who understand the struggle / learning process.
 
Also, the culture of the program is truly special. Let’s be honest-doing the kind of mental gymnastics a bootcamp requires can be overwhelming and exhausting. Even in the current remote setting, Codesmith scheduled moments to socialize and unwind. These kinds of connections with your cohort-mates and emphasis on community are in many ways just as important  skills to learn as the technical ones. 
 
The career program is an added bonus most bootcamps overlook. Codesmith gives you an opportunity to hone your resume, practice system design and general interview technique, as well as connect you with recent grads at large companies for networking days. I actually got my current job from my cohort’s networking day, so I’m proof the system does in fact work. Before joining Codesmith, I was naturally skeptical of their numbers, but I quickly saw that they back up their talk. The 3 other members of my cohort’s project group all snagged six-figure jobs well-within the first 3 months post-grad. 

There aren’t enough good things I can say about the entire program. This time last year, I had lost my job, had zero technical background, and was just starting to apply to various bootcamps. A year later, I snagged a dream salary at a major national company.  The technical elements, commitment to diversity and inclusion, community, and median salary for grads sets Codesmith apart from the rest.  Read less

The CS Prep class has been invaluable in preparing me to pass the technical interview for the Codesmith immersive program. It was a great opportunity to experience the teaching style of Codesmith programs as well. Big shout out to my instructor, Matt for being so helpful. Read less

If you're looking for a career change over to software engineering, then definitely consider Codesmith. After attending, I gained the confidence and competence to build a full stack application, understand dev ops, and system design.

There are two main components that make Codesmith work: the production project and career support. Of course, the lectures, exercises, algorithm practice all matter in terms of building the foundation of your competence as an engineer, but the meat of the value lies in those two earlier things I mention.

The production project is about a one month long open source project that you work on with a team of 3 other people. Its main objective is to produce a some sort of tool that bring real-utility to the developer community. It not only showcases that you can solve hard problems with code, but that you think deeply about problems that matter to real engineers. This is what sets this project apart from just any final project from a bootcamp. Just go to the Codesmith website to see that many of the open source projects made by its students are being used by actual developers.

The career support is the other piece that is so important to landing mid- to senior-level roles. They prepare us for the job search very thoroughly from resumes, job profiles, applications, phone screens, technical interviews, etc. This itself is an entirely separate skill that warrants its own focus, and Codesmith works very hard on this part of it. They will continue to provide support after graduation and into your job search. But make no mistake, you have to put in the work both during Codesmith as you learn and also during your own job search. It took me about 2.5 months before I landed my senior software engineering role. Others have landed their roles sooner, but it all depends on the individual's self-discipline to keep at it. If you've got that and really want to break into software engineering, then you'll be ok.

And as a side note, the CIRR reports are accurate.

Codesmith has made a world of difference in my career, and I could not have done it without them.   UPDATE: I finished Codesmith in 2021, but it is still helping with my career long afterward.

Even though one might think that having professional experience should make getting the next job easier, I had completely forgotten all the lessons learned from career support 2 years ago. Nearly all of my applications were rejected, and I was having trouble getting through the 2nd round of the few interviews I did get. I needed to go through 9+ revisions of my resume, overhaul my interview narrative and responses, and practice systems design thinking all over again before I finally started getting to the later rounds.

The only way I was able to steadily improve my interviewing results was through the help of the Codesmith support engineers. They are Codesmith alumni who now work as part-time support engineers, giving advice and feedback to anyone in their job search. The 1 on 1 sessions are so helpful, since it's personalized to my situation and sometimes to the job that I am trying to interview for. And they are highly experienced professionals. They conduct interviews in their companies and have helped many other alumni over the years. So they are  skilled, well-practiced, and experienced in knowing how to handle these nuances of the interview.

And of course, there is Eric, the secret weapon. If you want to know more, just read all the other reviews that mention him.

Given the current state of the market, I took much longer to land a position this year than I did in 2021. But with the help of the support engineers, I kept learning what I needed to handle the next interview and the next and the next. I not only gained the confidence to comfortably go through the interviewing process, but I became more optimistic that I would eventually find something, regardless of what else is going on around me. Read less

Choosing to learn a new skill was the best decision I made in 2020. It got me through a lot, and I got a great job. I have Codesmith to thank for that. The program taught me things I didn't even know that I needed to know. They pursue hard learning with empathy and all the understanding and open-mindedness in the world.  For the program, I applied myself vigorously, and I got back so much more confidence in my knowledge because of that.  They teach you an entire stack, so focusing and dedicating your energy to learning what they are teaching you is the key, but there is a great wealth of knowledge to be learned and applied here. More importantly, they care that I did a good job. They were just as keyed into my education as I was, and they helped me every step of the way - with helpful guidance that changed my understanding of software development, and sharpened my skills as a technical communicator and a teammember. With the confidence I gained from Codesmith, I got a job in 4 months. I applied myself, and focused, and filled out applications just like Codesmith told me to.   Read less

(Disclaimer: As far as I know, the program is virtual-only at this point. I was in an on-site program pre-pandemic so some of this might not apply)

A big reason I decided to invest my time, energy, and money (lots of money) into Codesmith was because I subscribed to the same philosophy of hard learning. Everyone is going to have a different experience in this bootcamp, and some of those experiences might have negative aspects. But for better or worse, Codesmith pushes you to be detail-oriented. This is the program for you if you're into seeing how the sausage is really made, as in knowing how your code is ACTUALLY working behind the scenes. You're not just learning languages and frameworks. You're being exposed to all the adjacent tooling surrounding them, like version control, containerization, state management, etc. That being said, Codesmith does hire people who only recently finished the program, to support and teach other students full-time. While some of these mentors are awesome, you obviously can't expect 100% accuracy from them all the time.

Codesmith works because it's somewhere between a college course and a 9-5 job, in that it simulates a real world environment with your peers who are all in the same situation as you. You have meetings, projects, deadlines, happy hours, etc. Once you finish the program though, the hard part is actually putting all that knowledge and experience together in a cohesive package and selling it to an employer. Codesmith provides excellent support in this area too, especially in the salary negotiation stage, but in my opinion you need to do a lot of this work yourself. Nobody knows how to market your best qualities like you do, so you need to fine-tune the narrative you're presenting in interviews, see what works and what doesn't. It's an iterative process.

While the course is always evolving (even as I was midway through the program), the team of engineers behind the curriculum are brilliant, and can be trusted to keep the material fresh and relevant to employer needs. There are some times where you will finish a lecture and be absolutely lost, but I believe the people most likely to succeed in this program are the ones who are persistent. Show up to Codesmith's events consistently, learn on your own consistently, ask questions consistently, don't be afraid to break things, and be ready to work a full day (and sometimes nights) for months straight. This is absolutely not for everybody, but if you are committed to putting in the work to make this your career, it's definitely attainable.

If you're an aspiring dev, good luck on the path, and keep learning. Read less

As someone who has never worked a full time job in the US, I have to say that going to Codesmith is the best decision I have ever made in my life. I got a freelance offer of $55/hr within 2.5 months of graduation, which I left in a month after because the codebase had way too much technical debt. Within another 2-3 months, I landed 2 other offers - 1 from an acquired start-up with TC at around 120-130k and 1 from a tech unicorn with TC around 140-180k - and I ended up taking the latter because of the technology they are using.

Codesmith has a huge emphasis on technical communication, deep understanding of Javascript and helping students to become what the industry called a T-shape engineer, where you develop a strong domain knowledge in one technology. That is the real reason why Codesmith grads were able to land Senior Engineer roles straight out of the program. The best part about Codesmith teaching philosophy is that it makes every graduate of the program less of a cookie-cutter than their peers and I believe that is also what makes the placement rate and salary of Codesmith grads much higher than every other programs (according to cirr.org third-party-audited data) because everybody ended up with different strong domain knowledge in the end - some become expert in testing, some in React, some in Vue, some in GraphQL, some in gRPC, some in Deno, some in databases and some in microservices.  

In this 12-week program, the portion with a curriculum (we call it the junior portion) really only spans 6-7 weeks and the rest of the remaining weeks (senior portion) are spent on tech-talks and projects where students have the time to learn certain technologies really deeply in groups. Curriculum-wise, I honestly wouldn't say this is a 5 star curriculum program, its more like 3.5-4 in my book. Within the first 6 weeks, lectures are very short and are around an hour each day, and we spent the most time mastering our skills by "hard-learning" and doing exercises that are very difficult but achievable through pair-programming. However, what makes Codesmith's teaching really stand out is its teaching philosophy and that REALLY justifies the 5 stars I give to the curriculum here. The curriculum is more about teaching you how to learn and be curious with new technologies so that you know what to learn and can learn them really fast and really deeply all by yourself without going through numerous tutorials. Almost all of us ended up implementing different technologies by ourselves that weren't taught in the curriculum at some point for half of our projects. The teaching philosophy of Codesmith is so solid that I think the quality of the curriculum is probably purposely designed to be not too perfect so we can fill in the gaps by ourselves, which I am surprised by how well things just magically worked out in the end. 

Before we graduate from the program, Codesmith allocated a week for the hiring portion, which I personally think is the best career advice I have ever had. That portion alone is worth at least half the tuition. We learned how to job-search, negotiate salary, write resumes and cover letters, reach out to recruiters and network effectively on LinkedIn with other working engineers. We also have an alumni channel where alumni would throw job posting and give referral to those who reach out to them and have the right skills set. 

Overall, I would say this is an imperfect program that gets everything worked out perfectly and Codesmith will forever have a place in my heart.  Read less

I attended CS Prep to help level up ahead of my technical interview for the Full-time immersive course at Codesmith. Honestly, I was quite blown away by how much I managed to learn in those two weeks. Self-teaching JavaScript is a slow process but with the help of Matt and Greg ( the course leaders), I was able to get my head around some concepts that I was having a hard time committing to permanent memory like Closure and Recursion.  For the money, I think it's good value and is really helpful if you were to apply to any boot camp afterwards, not just Codesmith. The only con I can think of is that the hours were quite long but that's primarily because I'm based in the UK and so I had to shift my body clock to attend the course that takes place after work PST and late evening EST. Read less

My experience at Codesmith was a solid 3.5/5, but I would definitely round up to a 4. The community is probably one of the best parts. Everyone is super friendly and supportive. The staff are probably a bit overworked, but you can tell that they genuinely want the best for all of the students. I was a happy student and I ended up finding employment.

I will be separating my review into pros and cons, as follows:

Pros:

• Strong, supportive community. Readily available and friendly staff. I made some pretty good friends during my time here.
• The production project is a great opportunity to work on something that will, without a doubt, deepen your understanding of the technologies that you choose to work with.
• Very solid curriculum. The technologies that you learn are very relevant and high-demand. They also teach systems design and machine learning, although the latter is just a very short introductory unit.
• Remote stipend for office setup.
• There is a pretty solid network of alumni. 

Cons:

• Needs-blind admission. At the time of admission, I was a low income applicant and I received zero financial assistance. While there are scholarships, the vast majority of them are diversity scholarships and were not applicable to me.
• No job guarantee. This is something that other well-established (and even newly established) bootcamps offer.
• The instructors are mostly former Codesmith alum. While this is not exactly necessarily a bad thing, I noticed none of the instructors have a computer science degree or any real-world experience as a software engineer. Does that mean they're bad problem-solvers? No. It does, however, mean your instructor or fellow will most likely not utilize or understand best practices when writing code and designing lessons/codebases.
• Despite the great curriculum, the React unit is in sore need of a revamp. Codesmith does not teach Hooks, which is a must-have for any React developer.
• The job searching unit was pretty good overall, but I wish Codesmith was more specific about listing the production project as experience. A lot of job searchers are kind of left to figure things out on their own as far as that goes. I also think it would be nice if Codesmith made themselves available as an educational institute on LinkedIn. Being a bootcamp grad is not a shameful thing and giving alumni the option to list Codesmith on LinkedIn would be great.

Overall, the experience was great, but there is still much room for improvement. I look forward to seeing how Codesmith evolves in the years to come. Read less

A quick overview of my experience: I attended Codesmith from Febuary-May 2020, worked as a fellow until August, and started my first engineering role at the end of August, after applying to jobs for 1-2 months.

(If you don't feel like reading the whole thing, scroll down to the Conclusion section at the very bottom)

I was drawn to Codesmith because I already had a little under a year of self-taught experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and I wanted to attend a bootcamp that had a higher level of entry for its students. After narrowing my choices down to Fullstack Academy and Codesmith, I ultimately chose Codesmith due to the appeal and quality of its in-person workshops. In particular, the Hard Parts series elevated my understanding of JavaScript to a new level — even after I thought I already had a decent understanding of the basics!

I had high expectations coming into Codesmith, and generally speaking those expectations were met. However, I should point out that our cohort switched from on-site to remote instruction halfway through the program due to the pandemic, which affected the cohort's experience for the second half of the program.

Codesmith's curriculum was divided into two halves when I attended (and I assume it's still fairly similar):

• Full-stack instruction: an intensive series of lectures, pair programming exercises, and projects teaching essential full-stack technologies like React, Redux, Node, and SQL/NoSQL databases.
• Production Project & Hiring: students build a developer tool over six weeks, and they also attend a series of lectures and workshops preparing them for the job search. They'll also put together a resume with the guidance of a fellow. Some supplemental lectures and exercises are also included here, touching on topics like AWS basics and CI/CD fundamentals.

In addition, we also had an assessment or algorithm exercise each morning.
Curriculum & Lectures
Overall, the first half of the program was by far the most engaging and fulfilling for me. I came into the program with some frontend experience, and after the first half I felt confident building basic applications with servers and databases. Our lead instructors knew what they were talking about and gave their lectures in an engaging manner.

At some points I did feel that the curriculum could be updated a bit (particularly in the second half - there was an AWS update that wasn't covered in the instructions, and we lost several hours as the instructors worked to find a solution), but I understand that the curriculum was updated during the latter half of 2020 and possibly later. It would also have been helpful to cover modern practices such as React hooks, linting, best practices for codebase architecture, etc. before going into the production project — these would make good quick additions to the curriculum if they aren't already included.

Projects
Possibly the biggest part of Codesmith's appeal is the "production project" - a development tool that a group of residents work on (4 or 5, for my cohort) over a span of 6 weeks. Before tackling the production project, we also completed a handful of other projects, ranging from a Chrome extension to several fullstack apps, which did a lot to prepare us for this project.

While the production project our group built from scratch wasn't exactly what we'd call "production-ready," we did have the opportunity to iterate on several past projects and refine the codebase while adding extra features, which in retrospect might have been the better option, since it's closer to what most engineers do at their jobs!

One aspect of the production project that was a little less than ideal was the group dynamics. In my group as well as others, there were conflicts where some members "led" the project and created a less equal learning environment for others, or in other instances some members were unwilling to make meaningful contributions and instead preferred to chat. I expect that this is always a risk when forming groups (not to mention in the actual workplace), but this did detract at times from the experience. To future students, I highly recommend getting in touch with your group's assigned fellow if any conflicts or issues occur - I don't believe it's worthwhile trying to solve them on your own when the experience is something you're paying a significant amount of money for.

Hiring Portion
Without a doubt, the best part of the hiring portion for me was the resume. I came out of the program with a dense, polished resume that I didn't feel embarrassed sending to employers - in contrast, the resume I wrote before CS might as well have been written by a child.

I had high expectations for the hiring program because I had heard past grads praise it, with some even say that it was worth the cost of tuition on its own. I was 30 when I attended the program and had worked a number of non-technical jobs previously, and I didn't feel that the instruction regarding the job application or interview process broke any new ground for me. I've spoken to some other grads who are around my age and felt the same — I suspect that the people who get the most out of the hiring program are in their late teens to mid-20s.

For me, one thing I would have changed about the hiring program would have been to include some engineers in the workshops and lectures who had experience interviewing and working outside of Codesmith. While our instructors did make a solid effort to cover the standard materials for these lectures, sections like the system design portion would have been more engaging if they were led by an experienced engineer who had gone through or given SD interviews, rather than a fellow who had only completed this same unit weeks earlier. Likewise, I would have gone into the interview process a bit better prepared if I had been given more concrete details about the typical interview process, common exercises, etc. This is something that I had to do on my own time, through speaking to other grads and going through interviews.

Disclaimer: since we had just switched to a remote format at that point, there were issues with timing that caused several hiring lectures to be rescheduled, and unfortunately Will wasn't available to give his usual lectures. I'm assuming this isn't the current experience.

While it's true that you only get better at interviewing by interviewing, some more concrete guidance would have helped immensely, as some lectures felt a little vague. When I attended the program, we were able to interact with full-time engineers at three different points: during an alum Q&A session, during an hour-long mock interview with an alum, and during a 15-minute (I believe) phone call where we went over our narrative with an alum. When I began applying to jobs, I was uncomfortable about reaching out to the hiring support fellow for advice — while they were doing their job to the best of their ability, I felt more comfortable reaching out to someone who had gone through the hiring process themselves. I'm aware that Codesmith now gives graduates the opportunity to book time to speak to past graduates who are now employed as engineers, which is great. I think bringing engineers with this type of lived experience into the hiring program would also be a huge win for everyone involved in it.

Conclusion
Based on my experience, I'd definitely recommend Codesmith to anyone who has decided that a bootcamp is the right choice for them. Codesmith helped fill in the gaps in my engineering knowledge, and it also gave me the chance to work on an in-depth project with a group of other developers. My production project was likely a big reason why I was considered for the first role that I got hired for — I built a GraphQL tool, and GraphQL was a big feature of the stack I ended up working on.

Overall, I'd say the hiring portion was the only part of the program that didn't meet the expectations I had coming in, for the reasons I mentioned above.

Still, a hiring program alone won't help you get a job. After the initial lectures, Codesmith provided me with an environment to push myself to improve, and a community of graduates that supported me as I moved on to the job search and beyond. Without Codesmith, I definitely wouldn't be at the engineering level I am today. Read less

I want to start off my review with a quick preface. If you are looking for an easy way into the world of software or web development then this most likely won't be a good fit for you. It takes a tremendous amount of work throughout. Before the program, during the program, and after the program (where some would say that this is where the real work starts). Your mileage may vary depending on your initial experience and innate affinity for coding and problem solving, but there is simply no way to avoid the effort that is required for this transformative experience. 

I started off with absolutely zero prior experience in coding and began with first learning what a variable is and what we use them for. After a period of self-studying, I wanted to take my learning process to the next level and came across Codesmith by pure chance. What immediately stood out to me was the great sense of care that they had for their applicants and the Codesmith community. What really sealed the deal for me was going through all the free resources that Codesmith provides that I felt were a great benefit in helping to solidify my understanding of the basics. After watching some of the javascript hard parts videos led by CEO Will Sentance, previously obscure and confusing concepts started to click. I was hooked and knew that this was what I was searching for. 

From that point forward my learning process and exposure to coding took off. Everything was geared around getting through the technical interview, which for me was quite difficult. The technical interview IS difficult, but it's not without reason. If applicants aren't able to demonstrate the level needed to enter the immersive programs then it really isn't in anyone's benefit for that applicant to be accepted as once the immersive starts, the brakes are few and far between, and the level of difficulty increases exponentially. Believe me when I say that Codesmith is not trying to trick anyone during the technical interview nor does it require any esoteric knowledge. It's simply testing if the applicant has a good understanding (not mastery) of a lot of the fundamental concepts in javascript that serve as the building blocks for what is to come in the immersive. If you are struggling with the technical interview, reach out to people in the Codesmith community. They truly do care and want to see you succeed, but the effort and dedication from your end HAS to be apparent.

As challenging and exhausting as the full-time immersive was, it was an incredible experience that I wish I could do all over again. Never before have I been with a group of people so focused and passionately working towards a goal for such an extended period of time. The struggle and pain that we went through as we were hit with wave after wave of difficult concepts and frameworks/libraries really helped us to bond and form a close connection (they are still my friends to this day that I confide in). You really do start to get a sense of working as an engineer when going through different group projects, especially when you get to the production project phase and start mapping out your workflow with your team members. The sense of pride that you feel when you create something from scratch at the end was such a rewarding feeling as you work under a deadline with your team members. The anxiety that I felt when going through the program and not understanding everything was subsided by the constant support from the staff and fellows. 

When you wrap up the technical side of things, you start getting into the job hunt phase where you learn how to finally work towards leveraging the skills that you've acquired towards a full-time job as an engineer. Most people would say that this part is actually harder than the technical portion as the job search process is quite volatile. There will be a lengthy trial and error process and no matter what there IS a level of luck involved as well. But those that prepare WILL be able to capitalize on the opportunity when they eventually come across it. You will be able to go through the entire application process at Codesmith, from developing your profile and resume, to how to optimize your LinkedIn profile,  to how to write cover letters and sell yourself as a credible engineer. Codesmith also has advisors like Eric K, who have been in the industry and are a tremendous benefit to helping you navigate scenarios that you will encounter like negotiating your salary and benefits, discussing your narrative and background, and how to portray yourself as a competent engineer so that when you do come across these situations you are able to recall to the experience provided to you!

To wrap up....
I have been on both sides at Codesmith.  As someone that went through the full-time program, and as someone that works for Codesmith. I can truly say that there is no subterfuge, Codesmith genuinely cares about this process and helping people to achieve their goals and to fulfill their motivations for going through this rigorous program, whatever they may be. The effort required is tremendous but all in all, I can say without hesitation that it's worth it. The community that Codesmith has developed here is second to none, and it's why I wanted to work for Codesmith. I wanted to be able to give back to other applicants going through this process just like how when I was applying to Codesmith there were so many people that reached out and helped me to get through everything. Life as an engineer/developer is one of continuous learning and improvement, and if that's what you're looking for I truly believe that Codesmith is a great way to get started. The outcomes and salaries may seem very enticing, and rightly so. But more than that, it's this valuable skill that you are acquiring that will be in demand and dominate our society for years and years to come.  Read less