Codify Academy

If you're looking for a coding bootcamp where teachers and group projects force you to be present and working for 90+ hours/week and/or if your motivation to learn and grow derives from external pressure then this might not be right experience for you.

Codify is all about what you make it. I personally spent every free minute eating, breathing and sleeping code and i got what i wanted: a job as a software engineer, with no prior coding experience. 

The mentors are incredibly nice and cool dudes that really, really care about your future, what your goals are and even help you with extra projects you wanna work on. You're not just another student in a big batch of people with a strict learning agenda. Every week they check in with you 1:1, try new things during class like getting us food and fruits while working and make sure you as a stundent are able to achieve anyting you want. 

"The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see." —If you have a clear goal, are ready to do whatever it takes and -- most importantly --believe you can do it, then there is no better coding bootcamp than this one. Promise. :)

This review will have three sections: 1) life before codify, 2) life during codify and 3) life after codify

Life Before

  I started my educational journey(college) at the University of California at Santa Cruz majoring in Sociology or as I like to call it "wizadry." Late in my program I discovered programming, however I did not know at that time I wanted to pursue this passion as a career until later on. I spent years(approximately 4) trying to learn on my own, spent not wasted, however I found Codify a few months ago and it changed my life. 

Life During

  Sept. 2015 I quit my job as a Software Salesman and joined Codify Academy and started driving Uber on the side as a part time gig to pay the bills. I have learned more in this stretch of time than any other point in my programming career. Codify taught me two very big lessons: 

• always value my work
• where theres a will, theres a way

I don't think I would have the job I do today if it weren't for these guys!

Life After

Mar. 2016 I am gainfully employed at a Software Company called Blue Rocket and am as happy as can be. I am a full stack developer utilizing Nodejs/Angular amongst a plethora of other wonderful tools. Codify Academy is like a gang, you can't quit haha. Its more like a family. I still visit once in a while and come to help a lot of the students out with current projects as well as give them some insight as to what they should expect walking into their first development job. I am planning on co-teaching a little later on to help expose future students to certain frameworks and testing tools. 

Love you guys!

This course was great. The delivered what they promised and much more. When I started I had been trying to teach my self coding for about 2 months. I learned more in the first week than I did the entire 2 months of trying to teach myself.  Now I can make full websites from scratch. In terms of the job search they were super helpful. They consulted me after every interview, phone or in person. They critiqued my resume several times, and helped me find all the best avenues to apply on. I now have an awesome job, and am making a pretty penny too. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn front end development.

There are a couple issues I have with what they promise, and what they actually deliver. 

1. They advertise this bootcamp as a 16 week course. It's actually a 12 week course, and 4 weeks of applying to jobs (basically by yourself).

2. They said they would teach us HTML5, CSS3, Javascript, jQuery, Twitter Bootstrap, AngularJs, AJAX, and API's. They did not cover Angular Js or AJAX. The API's we went over briefly one time, and I have no idea how to use them.

3. They also said they had a pool of recruiters and individual companies they work with to get us hired. This is not true. They didn't have a single recruiter.

I indeed learned a lot, but I feel like I deserve a partial refund. If the course lasted another 4 weeks there would've been enough time to actually learn Angular, AJAX and API's.

With all that said my instructor was really nice, and it is possible to get hired if you have enough self drive.

The class atmosphere is great. They make it fun while challenging you to rapidly advance your skills. What I found especially helpful is they provide in depth insight on how to investigate design or code issues and resolve the problem. With repetition you really understand how to solve challenges more and more on your own. Also I really like how they push you to develop your own online portfolio. Now with my portfolio and skills sharpened I have a great job and I am in high demand with recruiter calling and opportunities coming to me literally everyday. I would not be where I am now without this course and the way they approach learning. Thanks Codify Academy!

I've had two interviews so far and a recruiter contacted me to apply for a position... crazy!

Now, keep in mind I do not have a background in tech whatsoever. I wasn't even that great at Excel. This course will not make you love coding or even make you hire-able unless you put in the time and effort... lots of it!

For whatever reason, I keep reading people's complaints that you can learn all this information online... well, yes, you can, kinda like you can learn how to speak French from youtube videos if you try really hard.... I guess. What CA does is give you clear, achievable goals, projects and reading material concentrated in areas you need to learn. Also he helped us navigate through the application process which led me to my first interview. PRO-TIP: Apply alot!

If you do every project, some side projects and are proactive outside class (going to meetups, updating linkedIn, applying alot, meeting with other people, making a twitter, a github a codepen, etc.) kinda like any other developer in SF, then I'm sure you will be satisfied with this course and it should lead to gainful employment.

If you sit back, expect to be spoonfed and do not particularly like coding but are looking for "get-rich-quick" type of environment, then this will sorely disappoint. Good luck!

There are a few things I would like to review and talk about regarding this school

First who this is probably best suited for.

I work fulltime and live in the east bay, as interesting as it would be to have done a full time course, I still have car payments and rent. The weekend sessions and open office hours allowed me to mold my school schedule to my work schedule which was exactly what I was looking for.

The age of the students seems to be between mid twenties and mid thirties, as I am 29 I felt much more comfortable with this then with 22 year old prodigies that have no idea what TRL is.

There were one or two students that had a computer background, but most were coming from other fields. (I am/was in marketing)

Our day to day:

When you sign up for the class you are assigned pre-work, about 3-4 hours of work that gets you caught up enough to as my mentor said “hit the ground running” on the first day of class. You get access to the program that lists exactly what you do each week (reading, videos, projects ect) and go to work. Once per week we go into 3 hour sessions where we work together as a group on our projects. In the sessions you have your team, your mentor and 2 other TA’s that have completed the course helping everyone. So In comparison to what I went through in college I feel like this is a huge plus. They have open times during the week where you can come in after work to code as well.

During the week I spent about 90% of my time working from home, but noticed that certain students were pulling ahead of me, There was a study group using their open office hours where you can go in and program with other students after work that I was not aware of. I starting doing that and caught up pretty quickly. You can come in anytime from 10am to 9pm, but I think it worked better when I planned ahead with other students so we could pair code together.

During home study I made use of google hangouts very often with my mentor but that wound down a little with the study group time and as I became more comfortable in my coding skin.

The projects seem gargantuan when you start, I mean the whole coding thing seems like magic before you understand everything. I think my biggest mistake was not taking advantage of the study groups and waiting a bit too long to get ahold of my mentor when I ran into problems.

By the end of week 10 we had enough basics covered where I felt very comfortable actually building projects from scratch and then using git as my repository.

That covered the basic day to day of the first 10 weeks. The last 5 weeks were a little unorthodox but in the end I think what helped me get employed after the class ended.

Starting week 11 the program becomes very open. The two lead mentors sat down with me and we started reviewing the job options I would have depending on what type of programming I decided to go into. This is a fairly broad industry, there are a few blogs you should probably read before hand to get a better handle on what is available, angellist is a good one so you can view jobs and smashing magazine gives a nice overview of new technologies it makes sense to keep up with. I chose to focus on API’s, so we brainstormed projects in Google Calendar and Twilio. In the last 5 weeks there is a shift of focus, I was coming in regularly to study with other students so I chose to use my 3 hours a week in group to work in my interview skills and finish building out my API app.

My interviews were nerve racking, but in the end I was hired fairly quickly after class ended (I did start applying before class was done, which I 100% suggest to everyone). I went on 15 interviews total.

Advice for people thinking about this

1. Work on your portfolio, I made the mistake of waiting a bit long and I had to play catch up….they have lots of projects, complete as many as you can.

2. Join a study group, I know this sounds basic but it made a huge difference. I joined a women’s study group and am still friends with a few of my cohort.

3. I went on a few interviews with companies I did not care about in terms of employment, the practice calmed my nerves before I went on the important ones.

This will be my first review, followed by my final review after I graduate and hopefully, get hired right away.

I've been in the course for a while now, and have learned so much. The speed is a bit intense, but well worth the effort. I spent some time learning on my own, but I was moving like a snail compared to now.

The personal attention is exactly what I need, hope it keeps up. They told us that the course doesn't end until we're hired, and this has been true for the graduates I met during their weekday hours. 

The content so far has been in an order that makes a lot more sense than what I was doing before, so I applaud them for that. Hoping to see more of Matt's videos as the course goes on, I really prefer those over the reading.

I've read a couple of posts that complain all their material is online. Newsflash, this is a web development course. Everything is online. If you don't use all of these free materials that other developers publish, you're not going to be learning from the best. Additionally, these guys don't hide their material, it's all online for anyone to see, even if you're not a student. It's a big part of the web development culture that they've introduced me to. Take advantage of it.

Overall, definitely 5 out of 5. 

Keep up the good work gentlemen!

I finished the course last month, and can't say enough good things about these guys, specifically Matt and Sam. It was a wild ride that has improved my life in so many ways. 

I used to work at the Gap making a little over minimum wage. After this course, my salary has tripled. I'm only a month into my job, but the course has already almost paid for itself. 

What to expect: you need to put in at least 10-20 hours of work a week on your own. They're there as guides that lead you to the water, you need to drink it yourself. 

Tips: Listen to everything tha they say. Those of us who did learned faster and were hired during or immediately after the course. And call your mentor as much as possible. Matt was available almost 24/7, I seriously think he doesn't sleep. But was always professional and answered my questions quickly and thoroughly. 

Guys, I just want to say thank you again! I'm telling all of my friends about you constantly, so get ready for a rush of new students :)

I was in restaurant management and development for the past 8 years. I knew nothing about the tech industry and absolutely ZERO about coding. First time I heard about HTML and CSS was day 1 of the course. Fast forward 7 months later got my first independent contract position (that may lead to full time employee) to help redesign the website for an actual company!

I've read some of the bad reviews on Codify and I can understand why some people are upset. Yes the Craigslist add promised you'd be a developer in 16 weeks and that you'd making 87,000k/year. But if you really thought it was just going to be spoon fed to you, come on now. And to be honest $5000 might be a high investment but I know people that owe 50k in student loans and are still looking to land their first job in their selected field.

Bottom line, the course goes by fast. There's a lot of work every week. You get out what you put in. So study and work hard. And once you feel confident enough in your skills go out and apply. And I don't mean send a couple of resumes with the same cover letter. You have to aggressively push to get that interview.

The best part- mah man Matt. He's more than just a mentor. The course has been over since May and I'm still able to come in and sit in on lessons. Matt has taking time to prep me for interviews, walk me thru scenarios and just gave me that extra reassurance you need sometimes.

I would recommend Codify to anyone that wants to jumpstart their career but is also willing to hustle at it

The only thing I think I can kick this school over is that my admissions mentor didnt convince me to do this sooner, not that I didnt love serving people food, I mean hey, who cant say being a waiter is a calling.

I found out about this school on facebook, I did shift work so was too broke and had too much of an uneven schedule to go back to a four year school. The thought of part time made alot of sense and front end seemed more suited to a begginer then Java. sam convinced me to do this “two feet first” :) and I took the leap. Do not let part time fool you, this class is a ridiculouse amount of work, you will code your butt off, but after trying and failing at codeschool, team treehouse and codecademy I feel like have someone standing behind me and keeping me honest was what I needed.

You will freak out when your go to your first interviews, call your mentor, they are litterally there for when you freak out, I was on the phone breathing into a paper bag right up the point of my interview. But I got the job!!!!!!!! I can now safely say my destiny is not tied to the phrase “would you like to hear our specials this evening”

If you told me 6 months ago that I'd be working in tech, I'd probably laugh. But I just got hired and it's all thanks to Codify Academy!

The mentoring, 1 on 1 time, class lessons, and my classmates we're all wonderful. I wish all schools were like this.

Anyway, I'm working now as front end engineer, and still can't believe it. I've been a temp for  a while, and my salary just tripled. 

It's true what they say, anyone can do this. Believe me, if I can, then you can too. 

I would definitely recommend taking the course, it'll change your life. 

$5,000 for the same exact service I received for less than half that? Now you're just getting greedy guys.

I understand the concept of supply-and-demand but honestly how could the price inflate more than 100% since the time I was there (2015) ?

One of two things has happened; either codify has gotten better at teaching and getting jobs for their students or they're getting better at finding gullible idiots to swindle.

If you think u need to pay this ridiculous amount of money to learn only front-end development, you don't!

The good thing about learning how the web works is using the web to learn to do so.

The overall experience was good and thats just because it got me aquainted with the tech environment. However, there are more negatives than positives about this course. The instructor is a great guy and easy to talk to. In fact I only give him two stars because he really didn't help me as much as the course had promised (24/7 mentor - one on one). 

A regular day on site was as follows: (Once a week for 3 hours)

- Show up to a meeting room with couple other students. 

- Instructor would tell us what we we would be working on today with a brief and I mean brief instruction on some of the technologies. 

- We would then work on some projects that would remind you codeacademy.com or code.com. Step by step code just like web sites you can use for FREE. Anytime you needed help I was told to just "google it" because thats what most people do in the industry and we have to learn to figure out things on our own. I am okay with that approach here and there but again I can do this at home for FREE. What is the point of the instructor if I cant retrieve the answer on spot super fast? I had many questions that I had to figure out myself. Thats great but I paid for the course to get help fast and to understand the code from someone who works in the industry. 

- After 3 hours of working on a project and "googling" class was over. They had another class coming in so it was time to leave. The instructor would then give us something to work on for next class - another project. 

- This process would repeat itself for the remiander of the class. 

Whats crazy about this cycle is that even if you didn't finish the projects we would move on. You have to remember the class is full of novice programmers and to just move on without completion of projects does not set you up for success. 

I forgot to mention that once a week the instructor would set up a 30 minute phone call to see how you were doing. Now, I am assuming this was the one on one they talked about in the description of the course. Every week we had a specific time set up for this and everytime we talked it was just about what we were going to do next week. The 30 minutes should have been a screen sharing time that solved problems pertaining to my project. 30 minutes you can see is not going to be enough time - trust me. Also, most of the time there are people he has to contact in your class right after your phone call so there is no time to go over the 30 minutes. 

My problems with the class description posted to craigslist which is as follows: ( which can be seen at this link --> http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/web/5057015085.html )

By learning to code, you could be in-line for an impressive $87,000 per year! Because, in San Francisco, that's just the average entry-level pay for a front-end web developer, and -- thanks to increasing demand -- it's a figure that's rapidly on the rise. 
In just sixteen weeks, by embarking on one of Codify Academy's San Francisco bootcamps, you will learn all you need to apply for such a role -- from essential programming skills right through to the ideal interview approach. Before you even complete your training, Codify Academy will introduce you to recruitment agents, kit you out with a cut-thru portfolio, ensure you have relevant references and give you insider tips on how to wow the recruiters. 
If you want to succeed, with a super-hot job, you can trust that we're right behind you: our courses are even designed to fit around your commitments, so you can keep your current career whilst you prepare for the big switch.
We're taking new applicants now, so, what are you waiting for?! 
To apply, go to codifyacademy dot com and fill out our application.

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Okay a few things. I have completed the course and still am trying to find a job. Don't get all caught up in making $87,000 a year because for a novice thats not going to happen. From what I've seen for starters its around $50k if your lucky. If you are a code ninja then you could probably see around 60-70k beginning. Not exactly sure where that figure comes from. After completion of the course there was no talk of the "interview approach." I still don't know how to approach an interview in the web design field. Maybe they just forgot to talk about this - I am not sure. Recruitment agents? Still haven't been introduced to any recruitment agents and at this point won't hold my breath. Its better to just find a recruiter online by yourself that will help you land a job. Again, this can be done for FREE. 

My biggest problem of all - Code Academy is always assembling new classes. So during your class the instructor instead of focusing on your group is focusing more on recruiting new applicants for the new class that will take place right after your term comes to a close or for the new class that will start literally right after you leave on that specific day. You might be thinking well whats wrong with that? Couple things. First you don't recieve all of the attention that you need because they are to busy setting up interviews for new applicants. The other problem is that once you complete the course you are totally forgotten. With so many people coming through this course so rapidly and only one mentor you could imagine how this could happen. If you keep in contact you will always be told to come and hang out in the building with other people who have completed the course. Couple problems with that - is it the right thing to do to have a bunch of people that really don't know what they are doing showing up in a room together with no mentor or instructor. I could do this in my own home or the local library instead of wasting time and money to travel and park. I love the fact that they give us the option to hang out and code with other people from other classes but to me this is not going to help me achieve my goals. 

I believe you can get the same results by watching youtube videos or using the many online tools for FREE. 

Codify Academy is obviously a business; a business that would suffer if it didn't live up to its claims.

Be aware of the fact that most reviews here might be written by the same people who stand to lose if business falls.

For those who have the disposable income to pay for CodifyAcademy, go for it.

For those who are seeking a way out of the hamster-wheel of low-wage jobs, and living paycheck-to-paycheck, go to the library, find some books on programming, or better yet download free ebooks on programming launguages and frameworks, use reference sites (like w3schools.com), API's, codecademy.com, and youtube videos.

I gurantee you, you'll learn the exact same thing, but without having to shell out $5,000.

Intro to HTML/CSS- With infinite coding training materials online - what value could a course offer?  In the case of this course - lots.  The human element of an actual person, pushing you through the materials, pausing to ensure you're moving forward with a full understanding, and simply standing as a reminder that coders are first and foremost people - I saw all of this in my course.  Sam and his team were professional yet relaxed, and clearly loved what they did.  This ensures you will too.