Coding Bootcamp Praha

Are you looking for a lifetime journey? Are you looking for a new lifestyle? Are you looking for a challenges and new opportunities? Coding Bootcamp Praha is right place for you! As a Graduate of the spring 2021 program, I can say I really love the time I spend with Coding Bootcamp Praha, and I was very upset that it’s over. Great Team, with great patience and understanding to them who can ask stupid question and maybe the same question more than 2 times :). Syllabus is built very fairly as for totally beginners as for people who have more knowledge in this field.Challenges and Hackathons were the great way to sum up passing materials. And overall, the program gives you knowledge how to learn, because for rising as a developer is very important to know how to learn even after graduating the bootcamp.The job-hunting workshops and feedbacks from recruitment professionals was great opportunity to understanding general market situation and your real advantages and rooms for improvement. No matter which bootcamp u will choose, it is very important spend as much as possible time on prebootcamp studies, which for example was provided by Coding Bootcamp Praha. Especially deep dive on programming languages, choose at list one with beginner level, because as much as you are prepared as much you will gain from bootcamp. Prebootcamp studies are offered with strong reason to help you go through the new way much easier and as I mentioned above gain maximum from the program.Don't be shy to ask the questions - you should go through this pain :) and during the program look through the topics in advance. I hope short story of my coding journey will be helpful for you.Wish you good luck rising developer. Sincerely Inga Read less

If I compare myself from 12 weeks with myself from today I could only say woow! The amount of information, exercises and project that you do during this bootcmap is unbelievable. You are really cosing from day one.
The best part for me where the four hackatons, and the final project. You feel like a programmer that needs to develop an app, and you must do it with their respective deadline.
Amazing teachers and classmates!
Now the bootcmap is online (I was based in Poland), but I had the chance to attend to the Demo day (final project day) to the school in Prague and the experience is 10 times better. If you have the chance to move to Prague for 12 weeks, will be totally worthy! Read less

• Highly knowledgable instructors who are truly dedicated to their students.
• Very friendly environment, great classmates and patient mentors
• Great structure of the teachings, great to see how your knowledge ads up and ads up in a logical manner.
• Very practical so each student gets tons of practice. Further exercises always available when you need more practice for specific topics or even if you are more advanced and ahead of the class.
• The experience of developing the final project is valuable. Helped me learn and also helped me get a job. It is really useful to be able to talk about your code and show your progress.
• Staff always there to cheer you up or answer any questions you might have. Also super caring - free food for hackathons, free drinks from time to time - all really helped to create a nice atmosphere.
• Had two job offers already in the last week of the bootcamp from smaller companies but decided in the end to wait one more week to interview little more. Within two weeks of the bootcamp I started working in an awesome office with great colleagues, awesome equipment and trainings - couldn’t be happier!
• Would definitely recommend to anyone interested in learning web development

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I joined the coding bootcamp in Prague around Autumn 2018. I started learning the basics of programming, as a hobby, in python from online tutorials but mostly I was not sure how to move beyond the basics of coding.  Thereafter, I started looking for full-time courses. My main aim was to get guidance from professionals as the programming field is vast and chances of getting lost are high. 
I enrolled myself in Coding Bootcamp Praha. It was a three months long, full-stack web development course. They introduced me to various front end technologies like Html, CSS, Bootstrap, Javascript and React whereas in back end technologies we covered Php, Laravel, and SQL. During the boot camp, in a group of 4, we were also required to put together a comprehensive site/app as a final project. This project was built in the Laravel framework using the different technologies learnt (PHP, MySQL and react). 
The bootcamp itself is quite intensive but really good if you are a beginner looking to get into the web development industry. This course requires full time dedication, five days a week of classes along with plenty of assignments outside of class hours. The instructors are senior developers in the industry and are quite knowledgeable as well as helpful. They were also approachable over online chat outside class hours.  There were also plenty of events to connect with the alumni and other people from the professional scene which is useful for job hunting if you intend to continue staying in Prague after the bootcamp.
I learned a lot of new skills and made some really good friends. Overall, the bootcamp fulfilled my goal of advancing me from a complete beginner to having a more focused path towards getting a job in web development. I would strongly recommend the bootcamp to those interested in web development however make sure you have the time and attention to dedicate yourself fully to this for the whole three month duration as it is quite intensive.

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I just finished Coding Bootcamp Praha (CBP) yesterday and would like to share my overall experience. Please note that everything below is just my opinion and many people feel differently, especially concerning the tech stack taught at CBP.

First, some information that I consider important:

• My previous background: lawyer.
• I will be working as a full-stack JavaScript developer, mainly focusing on the frontend (React) with a little bit of backend (Node.js).
• Why did I choose to enroll in CBP: I live in Prague, it seemed to have a good price/quality ratio. I also reached out to some of the graduates before enrolling and they had a mostly good experience.
• Was I able to find a job after the Bootcamp? Yes, I was even able to be a little picky. It is however important to note that I was interested in programming for some time before actually enrolling in the Bootcamp and had at least basic understanding of the core programming concepts before I even started at the Bootcamp. I also think it is easier for Czech speakers to find a job as most of my interviews were in Czech, but there’s a lot of jobs available in the Czech market. Not sure how hard it is to find a job abroad after graduating.
• I have found my job completely on my own. It will be mainly up to you to find a job. CBP does not seem to have many contacts with jobs available. They provide you with some HR sessions but if you already have some professional experience (regardless of your field), the odds are that you will already know most of what is said in the sessions.
• I think 4 out of 20 people have found their jobs during the Bootcamp, but most of the people are just starting to look for a job now or they won’t be looking for a job in the tech field at all.
• The age of the participants varies largely, most of the participants (including myself) were in mid to late 20s. 8 Czechs, 12 people from abroad (mainly from English-speaking countries).
• The motivation of the participants also varied, some of them were enthusiastic about programming and very well prepared from the beginning, some of them just wanted to try something new and see where it goes.
• To my knowledge, 1 person has left the Bootcamp before it ended.

Pros:

• The community is one of the greatest assets of CBP. Most of the people will be going through the same struggle as you and will be as motivated to learn to code as you.
• During the program, there is a hackathon every other week, focusing on one particular field (HTML/CSS, vanilla JS, PHP/Laravel, React, small full-stack application). I found the hackathons to be the most helpful days during which I’ve learned the most.
• CBP teaches React which is in huge demand right now. I would appreciate to learn even more React during the 12 weeks as those classes were the most useful ones.

Cons:

• We were taught very little logic during the program. Although I understand it is difficult, I think it is important to know a little bit more than just a simple if/else statement or a for loop to actually become a developer. If you go through FreeCodeCamp JS certification, you will actually know more logic than what is taught at CBP.
• Let’s face it, PHP is in decline. If you will be creating a new project right now, the backend will most probably not be in PHP.  Unfortunately, both of the backend instructors code mainly PHP/Laravel so that’s what they decided to teach. I would really like to see Node.js/Express instead. On the other hand, the only thing you need is to understand how MVC backend frameworks work and you will be able to understand that after learning Laravel. It would just be better to learn it using more relevant technology.
• We spent too much time learning the specifics of Laravel (e.g. sending email notifications). In my opinion, there will be 0 or 1 person that will be coding in Laravel after finishing the Bootcamp, there are more important things we could’ve learned (e.g. more React, Docker).
• The classes sometimes got really theoretical without coding anything ourselves for the whole day. Learning by doing is in my opinion very important and CBP should focus more on that.
• CBP should really start teaching Docker since it’s everywhere and it will be the first thing everybody will have to learn after they start their jobs.
• There are currently 20 people in the class and the instructors get sometimes really busy during hackathons/final project mentoring so it might be difficult to actually get their help.

Conclusion

• CBP gave me structure and allowed me to escape the “tutorial hell”. I would go again.
• Parts of the curriculum should be improved and PHP should be abandoned. Some instructors should focus more on learning by doing.
• I highly recommend preparing yourself well and see if you actually like programming. Go through some basic JavaScript courses at least.

If you have any specific questions, get in touch with me and I will be happy to answer them.

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Hi everyone, I will try to sum up my experience at the Coding Bootcamp Praha, how I chose it, and how it went for me during and after the programme. I did a lot of research before choosing this particular bootcamp and chose it based on the great reviews and because no other bootcamp was so friendly and helpful when asking them tons of questions about their programme. They even gave me a personal tour through the campus because unfortunately I was not able to attend any scheduled info session. The staff is really nice and took the time to thoroughly go through what I was signing up for.

Before enrolling I tried to learn on my own a lot of the front end aspects of coding and while I made some progress I definitely struggled to put it properly into anything project-wise. I realised I needed more structure and guidance if I wanted to succeed at a career change. Before the bootcamp I worked in back office job in a bank and despite it was decently paid and a stable job I knew I could not do this for the rest of my life – I was missing the opportunity to create and to be intellectually challenged. 

Coding Bootcamp Praha was truly one of the best decisions I have made for myself and my career. The programme emphasizes community, collaboration and persistence over competition and natural-born talent and that’s exactly the type of environment I feel good at – doing my best, pushing myself as much as I can but not feeling bad when others are faster.

Each day at the bootcamp starts with a programming exercise to warm up your brain and I loved doing something practical right from the morning. It follows with the demo of the new materials and after lunch you have time to do exercises, sometimes individually and mostly in pairs or teams. 

In terms of the level of challenge, I suppose that this is really individual, so I can only speak for myself - for me, it was challenging, but manageable. All of the instructors are knowledgeable and are helpful throughout the 12 weeks. Considering that they know so much, it is pretty awesome that they are all really humble and down to earth. 

The final piece of puzzle was finding a job and I found one after meeting an HR person from my current employer at the Demo Day, which is the final event of the bootcamp. From my batch it was bit more than half students going into frontend (mostly JavaScript / React), and the rest into fullstack / backend (mostly PHP/Laravel or other PHP frameworks such as Symfony or different other backend languages, eg. Python). I didn’t keep track of everyone after the bootcamp, so this is just a rough number. Cause it;s definitely true what they tell you during the bootcamp – the bootcamp is intense but the first few months in your new job even more so! 

Overall, my experience at the Coding Bootcamp Praha was awesome, I highly recommend this bootcamp to all the people who want to learn web development!

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To all who are considering taking this course:
I started the Bootcamp and didn't finish it, because i got offered a job full time 2 weeks before the demo day. I had to choose, stay till the end or take the job. And i don't regret my decision . I currently work with Java for BackEnd and Javascript for FrontEnd.

CONS:
- What they teach there is mostly JavaScript and PHP+Laravel. While Javascript is a really good subject to learn, php and laravel is completely useless, the only useful thing was GET, POST methods there and also VMC model in laravel. That is it. In my opinion spending on PHP and Laravel that much time is just a poor program planing, but the main teacher is a PHP developer which explains it.
- Only 1 Week on React.JS, which again, doesn't make sense if this Bootcamp is targeting to make a "ready to work" person. 
- Group projects are good, but, it lacks project management. What i mean by that is, i really had troubles because i was always in a group where the person just wants to do things his way. Sure you can change the group, but who can guarantee that this will not repeat again in the next one?
- They dont help you find a job at all. They just pretend that they do, but in the end, it's all up to you.
- No one cares if you passed this bootcamp,  got a certificate or both.
- The main teaches is the only one who actually teaches and helps. Others are just giving an assignment or pretending to explain.
- Exams are to easy. 

PROS:
- The overall experience is really good. You learn, struggle and try with people like you.
- When working on a group project, If you get a good group, where you can work together as a team, then the knowledge and experience you gain.
- Besides PHP and Laravel, the program is really good.

Conclusion:
If you are the type of person who can't learn by himself(like me) then definitely try it. But be aware, they don't teach you like in school, they just help you learn. Don't get me wrong, they do present with information and topics, but it's not even close to enough. Its just basic things that you MUST know. In the end, if you will not practice or dig deeper into what you learned, then it's just a waste of time.

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I attended the Coding Bootcamp Praha last year after thinking about joining a coding bootcamp for about a year. I came across an article comparing various bootcamps & I went for this because they already have been on the market for a while, they have great reviews and their graduates work at cool tech companies. But that was just the start. 

I was excited to get accepted and resigned from my job the very same day. Afterwards I had about three free months before my batch started and I tried to learn as much as I could from the pre-bootcamp study materials as well as any resources I found myself. When the bootcamp started I was glad that I did this. 

I really enjoyed getting to know my classmates and we had a lot of fun together studying as well as just hanging out. We studied a lot together also during the weekends and it was great to spend an intense Saturday learning stuff and then going out together for dinner. 

My biggest thanks go to the instructors who were all extremely helpful, experienced, and knew how to help us efficiently. They all were creating a really nice positive atmosphere and cheering us up when we started being tired. 

My best advice to anyone who thinks about this journey is not to compare yourself to anyone else! I wasn’t the fastest at my batch to understand every new concept but that really didn’t matter in the bigger picture. It took me six weeks after the bootcamp to find the right job and start and Im really happy that I did this career switch.

I highly recommend Coding Bootcamp Praha to anyone interested in starting a career as a web developer.

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I had been teaching english in Prague for a few years but needed a career change. I met a graduate of the course randomly and she told me how she had found a job quickly after completing the course. I jumped at the opporunity to sign up as I was desperate to get into a carreer with room to grow. Following the course I was getting plenty of interviews and offers. My visa situation was the only barriar to many of them, although I was able to find a company that would sponser an employee card for me. I am now happily and gainfully employed in a job that will take me much further than anything I have done previously, I am very happy and grateful to have found Coding Bootcamp Prague. 

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Coding Bootcamp Praha's instructors are definitely what secures their program's reputation as a five-star coding bootcamp experience and sets them apart from other programs. The mentors are well educated, experienced software engineers and very good at teaching others. I had a fantastic time at the bootcamp, I learnt much more than I ever could imagine (partly because I had no idea how much is there to learn :) ) and I met a great crowd of people.

My advice for the bootcamp? Be disciplined, do the work, be on time and be courageous. Also, make sure you do the pre-bootcamp studies - they are there for a reason! Finally, it's easy to fall into the trap that the field is so vast and you might start feeling that if you know only 5% it's not ever enough. Also, if you are not 18 anymore, you might also think that you are too old to learn all this - at least that's how I felt few times. If you ever feel down, talk to the other students, talk to the staff - they are extremely nice and supportive and it might be a cliche but if you feel you are not the only one, it really helps.

Finding a job in Prague has proved to be much easier than in my home country so I stayed in the Czech Republic after the program. It's a lovely country and with so many opportunities in the tech environment right now, so it was an easy choice despite I never lived abroad before. Good luck whatever you decide to do!

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I have graduated from the Coding Bootcamp Praha in the last batch on 13/07/2018 and I can truly say that if you want to change your career and be a web developer this is your place.   I came from a business and economic background but I have always been interested in the technologic and the programming stuff. I think I never gave myself enough time to go further with that before this Bootcamp. I saw in the Coding Bootcamp Praha the opportunity to change my career and learn from scratch the coding skills. During these 12 weeks, you'll really learn how to think like a web developer.   My programming knowledge before the Bootcamp:   I just had very basic knowledge of HTML and CSS and I tried a bit of JavaScript. I did the recommended free online programming courses before the Bootcamp. Quite basic but enough to realize the most important concepts. And that I like programming! This is more important than the basic knowledge. During the Bootcamp you can learn it all (if you study a lot) even if you arrive just with a basic knowledge. But you need to make sure that you really like it! The hardest thing is dedicating more than 8 hours per day to something that you don't like it. So If you are sure that you enjoy it everything is gonna be alright.   The organization and the instructors:   The environment is very welcoming. From the beginning they organise some activities, like a welcome party, to try that everyone feels comfortable there. They really understand that almost everyone comes from a non-technological background and what we need is to learn as fast as possible. They have created a very good environment. It's awesome how people coming from different parts all over the world can work and learn together. In the Bootcamp, you start from the beginning with HTML, CSS and Git. But sooner than you expect you are learning JavaScript and PHP and the different frameworks and libraries. The instructors are all experts in the different areas but they also know how to teach the basics. Every instructor there is very willing to help. You can text them any time even if it's out of the class hours and they reply to you as soon as they can. An attitude that is precious to find these days.   The Jobs:   Something that surprised me before starting the Bootcamp is that their students hiring rate is 90%, once I have finished it doesn't surprise me any more. You have HR workshops during all Bootcamp. They give you advice about the tech market and how you can get a job. They also provide a workshop with an expert from a recruitment agency to help you with your CV and LinkedIn profile. In the Demo Day, one of the speakers said literally that he needs two backend developers asap. It's surprisingly easy to get a job after this Bootcamp.   The Hackathon and the Demo Day:   After every two weeks, you have the Friday Hackathon! That means in teams you'll great a new web project from scratch. Definitely, it's one of my favourite parts of the Bootcamp. You can try in a real project the things that you were learning during the previous 2 weeks. Also, we had a Hackathon hosting by Kiwi.com. That was awesome. We had experts from one of the most important Czech startup helping us and showing us how to create something similar to their website. In the Demo Day, we presented a big team project that we started to develop in the half of the Bootcamp. It's the perfect final for these 12 weeks, with some good talks and projects. But the Demo Day is also a great day to do networking and try to find a job if you don't have it yet. If you are thinking of going for a coding bootcamp, I strongly recommend the Coding Bootcamp Praha. Read less

Hey there, I have graduated from the Coding Bootcamp Praha about a half a year ago and have worked as a software developer since February 2018. I have been asked a number of times about my experience - by my new colleagues, by random encounters at events or even by strangers who found me on LinkedIn. So, I have decided to share my story here (to save myself a bit of time :-D ). What do I get asked mostly:

What did I do before and how much I knew?
I worked as a customer support manager in a corporate environment for several years. Before I studied communications and management at a university. I guess I have always likes computers and figuring out stuff on my own but being a girl I have never considered IT to be the path for me. None of my girlfriends were interested in this area so not really having anyone to share my passion with probably made me choose more generalist study fields. I liked that one third of my batch were girls because I finally felt more normal haha. In terms of my previous knowledge - I have studied on various online platforms on and off for about two years and learnt HTML and CSS and played with JavaScript. But since i had a fulltime job I sometimes managed to study every evening for a week and then I had a two month break. After this repeated few times I decided i need a more structured approach.

Why did I go for CBP and not another bootcamp?
Im from the Czech Rep and there arent any other coding bootcamps - just short courses on one topic, workshops or studying computer science at a uni. So i got pretty excited when i learnt that there is a coding bootcamp in my country too. I learnt about the coding bootcamps concept from an American friend, so i first actually researched there. I checked the taught languages, the instructors and i attended an intro workshop that the CBP organised - all that was great for me & ofc the location was perfect for me too. There were many foreign students in my batch - US and Europe mostly but also other countries, we had a lot of fun also outside the bootcamp.

Was it hard / how much did I study?
I studied a lot, almost every evening, on Wednesday afternoons, most of the weekends… i think that programming is hard, its a different way to think and its so easy to frustrate yourself when things dont work. But its also very rewarding once you start getting a grasp of things - i never had a feeling like that in any of my past jobs. I think that was the moment i realised this is really the right field for me. In general, i realised i have to try and try again, get help and try more - thats really the only way to learn anything at all i believe. I liked the instructors a lot, they are the reason why i managed to make it happen so big thanks to all of them!

How are the days organized?
On a normal day you start with a guided exercise, followed by a lecture on the new topics and in the afternoon you implement new concepts into exercises or projects. In the second half you work a lot of your final project, so the schedule is sometimes bit different. In the last two weeks you work fulltime on your project within your team - i felt the final project was where i learnt the most because it combined it all together.

Did I get any help with finding a job?
There are HR workshops and individual sessions or you can just ask Jana or Honza pretty much anytime for help. For the hackathons we also got extra mentors who are senior developers from the partner companies, so i also used that to ask about what they expect from juniors & how to get hired. I had a LOT of questions and I got help and guidance anytime I needed, many thanks for that.

 

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As a person from an economics and finance background, when I decided to venture into the IT world I was a bit skeptical about my own decision. I ended up deciding on Coding Bootcamp Praha and wow.. I haven't regretted that decision ever since. 

The course content is rich and the teachers are very professional and helpful in all situations. The course is designed to help you build confidence in every programming language listed. The bi-weekly hackathons also help simulate an actual working enviroment and gives students the opportunity to practice what they study. 

What makes this school special is the extra mile they go to provide students with HR support and advice with regards to future employment opportunities; trips to actual IT firms to see how it works in the real world etc. 

I am so happy I am a graduate of Coding Bootcamp Praha; I went there with zero knowledge of programming and I am now full of some good skills and knowledge and I have just launched my IT career. I look forward to the future and I urge anyone who's in doubt not to hesitate. 

 

 

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Why is Coding Bootcamp Praha the best value-for-money bootcamp you can get?

- It's 12 weeks rather than 9 or 10 weeks like most bootcamps. So you have 3 weeks longer to learn how to program and you spend more time working on your final project than other bootcamps. The final project is imo pretty important because it's the biggest project you're working on during the 12 weeks and you can use it as a visiting card for job interviews (you will work on the final project for 6 weeks, of which 4 weeks after class and 2 weeks fulltime).

- It teaches in-demand languages like Javascript and PHP.  When you don’t know anything about programming, it's difficult to know which bootcamp suits you best. A fair amount of bootcamps teach Ruby on Rails, but RoR is relatively specific, and after having talked to some developers it became clear that it’s better learn something other than Ruby.

- It's at least half the price of whatever other bootcamp you're comparing it to, anywhere in the world!

 

What I really liked about the bootcamp:

-  Great teachers: the teachers are really great at teaching. They are fun, and you can ask them anything (some of them even reply in weekends when you're stuck on an assignment…;)).

- Understanding the basics of front- and backend: every two weeks you get taught another subject. First HTML/CSS/Bootstrap, then Javascript/jquery, then PHP, then Laravel, then React, and then two more weeks on your final project. Before starting the bootcamp, I thought that everyone who takes a bootcamp comes out like a programming wizkid. This is not the case: the bootcamp is set up to teach you all the basics and show you what full stack web development is about. Going through these blocks allows you to better decide whether programming is really your thing and which aspects you like about it for a future job (more frontend, or more backend).

- Individual programming: From Monday to Friday you work on assignments by yourself as you go through the class content (no pair programming), which means you really get to understand how it works yourself. This at least worked well for me.

- Teamwork during hackathons: every two weeks there is a hackathon on one topic (eg Javascript, PHP, Laravel etc). This is the time to work in teams and a good moment to experience how programming works in the real world (because you’ll always have to work with others, one way or another)

- Exams force you to revise: every two weeks there is an exam. It's great to be forced to go through all the stuff you've learned from the two previous weeks, because if else you just forget immediately.

- Final project to deep dive: the final project allows you to focus on one topic, and if you really like what you're creating it helps tremendously in communicating your enthusiasm in job interviews.

 

Other remarks:

- I was really skeptical that anyone would hire me after just 3 months of a coding bootcamp, but I never had such an easy jobhunt (this is in Amsterdam, it took me 3 weeks). I only started applying once the bootcamp was done because I wanted to send along my portfolio projects with my applications. It's clear that there is a shortage of developers in the market, and if you give everything during these 3 months then it's pretty much guaranteed that you will be able to find a job.

- The bootcamp was really hard work. During the 12 weeks, I studied 7 days per week, for 9-10 hours per day (in the weekend it was 7-8 hours per day). I took max 3 Sundays off in 3 months. During the day from 9 to 5, you learn a lot of new concepts and do some exercises. However, the evenings are there to really digest what you’ve learned in class and apply it yourself. You won’t be able to make it until the end if you don’t study in the evenings. It was really intense, but looking at the outcome, very worth it.

- When picking a bootcamp, think about the group size that suits you. During my research I was looking at large bootcamps (40 students) because I thought it would be such a great team vibe. However, I chose for Coding Bootcamp Praha which only takes 16 students max. My batch had only 11 students, and I was really happy with the small size, as you get more attention. Also, it’s sometimes stressful when doing an assignment to see that others are already finished while you’re still stuck, so with less people you should be less stressed ;-).

 

Are there any negatives?

One of the reasons why I chose Coding Bootcamp Praha was its duration, 12 weeks instead of 9/10 weeks. The downside of this extended period is that it does get tiresome after around week 9. However, if you make sure that you pick a final project that really excites you, you will be able to keep yourself motivated until demo day!

 

All in all, Coding Bootcamp Praha is the best value for money bootcamp you can get: get taught full stack web development by great teachers, learn in-demand languages, and get more than enough exposure to all sorts of different programming challenges. And all of this for the fraction of the price of what you would pay for any other bootcamp. Don’t hesitate, just apply, you will not regret this!

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I applied for the bootcamp because I want to combine my finance background with tech and develop a new solution. I had only a little experience with HTML and CSS and when I searched the online options I felt overwhelmed - what is important? Where to start and what to spend time on? I learnt bits and pieces here and there but I needed more - I enjoy being around people and that's why I applied for the coding bootcamp. I was happy to find out that there is a high-ranked coding bootcamp right in my own city.

How was my experience? The curriculum is ambitious but if you follow the advice and are fully commited it is very much doable. All the new concepts start falling together like puzzle pieces. I found it great working with people from many different countries and doing the daily exercises or creating projects at the regular hackathons. Learning these concepts on my own would have taken me number of years or maybe forever because you simply hit a wall sooner than later if you don't learn from others who are more experienced. I loved the instructors who were really helpful anytime I needed guidance.

Already when I applied I knew that I want to develop my own startup project and it was awesome that I managed to find two other people who we worked with on it as a part of our final project. I pitched the result of our final project to an investor one week after the bootcamp and I got my first financing. 

I most certainly recommend this bootcamp to anyone who wants to learn programming!

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Dear future bootcampers, here is a summary of my experience at the Coding Bootcamp Praha.

A bit about me:
I have applied for the bootcamp after working in a corporate environment in marketing for a number of years and increasingly feeling stuck in that role. I always felt that I would like to automate many tasks / set up integrations for the work I have been doing/ simply make things more efficient. The thing was that every time I volunteered for such innovation to take place, I was congratulated but then the task got moved to the IT department, got chewed and then a version of it appeared. I found this frustrating that I cannot really create it myself or at least clearly explain what the feature should do and be able to discuss with the programming team. So I started learning on my own here and there and finally I decided to go for a fast-track education, a coding bootcamp.

About the bootcamp:
Simply impressive. Everything from before the bootcamp, throughout the bootcamp and also after the bootcamp was perfectly organised and efficient. I have never learnt so much in such a short period of time! I loved how the things started falling into places in my brain, how I could start developing on my own, how I understood how projects are developed… I enjoyed the hackathons,  the team work and getting mentored by experienced and friendly mentors. The tech stack that they teach is the hot on the market, I received several job offers and got contacted by many HR recruiters since my graduation. I moved to the US after the bootcamp and started working in web development 35 days after my bootcamp graduation.

I never thought that it is possible to change a life and go for a completely different career path when you have already worked for a number of years. I am very happy that I was wrong about that :-) If you are thinking of going for a coding bootcamp, I recommend Coding Bootcamp Praha.

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Hi everyone, I have graduated from the Coding Bootcamp Praha in 2017. My background is in law & finance and I was searching for a bootcamp because I wanted develop a startup idea I had in my mind for quite a while. I came across the coding bootcamp concept when I was at a startup conference in the US and got really excited. I have researched a number of bootcamps but unfortunately most of them were not affordable for me as a beginning entrepreneur. I got really happy when I finally came across a coding bootcamp (in my own country :-D ), which provided me with an excellent education at a reasonable price. So that’s a little background to how I got accepted to the Coding Bootcamp Praha and now about my experience there! 

The staff at the bootcamp is friendly and dedicated to helping students before, during and also after the programme. The instructors emphasize that their goal is not teaching syntax but making you think like a software engineer. I did not understand this at first but really appreciate this now - once you get the programming way of thinking under you skin, only then you can really start developing. I am now working on my own website app and keep going back to the bootcamp materials almost every day. The staff at the bootcamp is a mix of experienced programmers who teach you during the bootcamp hours and the managers who help you with getting a job and teaching you how to present yourself. There were many career workshops during my batch and I had the opportunity to meet a number of interesting companies. Many of my former colleagues are now working at one of these, however, myself I wanted to give it a shot and develop my product right after my graduation. I keep in touch with the founders who have provided me with a lot of startup advice, so I got an unexpected extra bonus out of the programme :-D

What would I recommend to anyone who thinks of applying? Stay focused, buy a lot of coffee and enjoy the best 12 weeks ever!

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Coding Bootcamp Praha is a 12-week fullstack web development programme, based in Prague, Czech Republic. I'm going to review my experience there in several sections, to describe my experience there for anyone interested in attending the bootcamp. I got contacted by many prospective students on LinkedIn that asked about my experience, so I decided to summarise it all here:

Why did I choose to study at a bootcamp?

I have worked as a business analyst for a number of years, which helped me build a solid foundation for understanding business development and the industry trends. I have always enjoyed continuing my studies in various areas using platforms such as Udemy. What I had realized in my job and through my studies is that rather sooner than later my skillset would become obsolete. The analytical tasks that I had been doing would become automated in a near future and because I have a finance background only, I started worrying about my employability. This was the trigger for me to start looking for ways of how to broaden my tech skills.

Secondly, I realized that what I missed most in my job was the ability to see a real result behind my work - to see any real improvement that I contributed to.

I took several online courses and started learning HTML, CSS and a bit of JavaScript and I truly enjoyed the feeling that I created something through solving problems step by step. After several months of self-study I felt that my progress is not so steep anymore and that I have not learnt enough to be actually able to build a web app on my own because I missed too many linkages. This was the time when I started looking for a coding bootcamp and found the Coding Bootcamp Praha.

Why did I go for the Coding Bootcamp Praha specifically?​

- The syllabus teaches fullstack, their learning is designed around project work and hackathons, which I felt would suit my way of learning.

- The class size of 16 people is smaller in comparison with most bootcamps, so I hoped for a lot of personal attention

- The bootcamp is run by a NGO, which enables the price to be kept at a very friendly level. As I financed the bootcamp myself, this was an important factor for me.

- I got in touch with a number of alumni on LinkedIn and they all got a job right after the programme and felt very happy with the bootcamp experience.

- I had a professional experience whenever I contacted the bootcamp and I liked the fact that I am in touch directly with the management team who could answer any technical questions - regarding the syllabus - that I had. I contacted several other bootcamps in the past and this was never the case.

What was my experience with the team?​

The bootcamp syllabus has been designed by a number of senior programmers and I have learnt so much from their experience. They are great at what they do and very friendly at the same time. I got help whenever I needed and I have become so much better at thinking about programming as a mindset rather than a skill only.

The syllabus is divided into three phases - Coder (the basics setup, frontend etc), Programmer (backend, frameworks, libraries) and Developer (developing a fullstack web app as a team project) and it was great to see how much has my knowledge grown day by day. At the beginning of the bootcamp I could never imagine that I would have developed a final project of such complexity that we have done in our team. The backend of our project was in Laravel and we combined it with React, so right after graduation I could showcase two of the top technologies to the employers and be reasonably competent in these.

I also had a lot of fun developing the smaller projects during the one day hackathons that are part of the programme as it just pushes you to create something real within one day only.

What was the career support?

I used to be a guy who believed that LinkedIn is not really necessary and in CV it is enough to include few titles in any order :) Ok, I might be exaggerating a little but I owe a big thanks to both Jana and Honza for all the help and advice. The founders organise a number of extra workshops to help you market yourself - career workshops, CV/LinkedIn checks, job application case studies, meetings with recruiters etc. The team was always there for me, even at a short notice. You could see that they really know how to advise people who are switching careers or those who wanted to set up startup projects. I do have a startup idea in mind that I would like to develop longterm (hopefully!) and I enjoyed discussing it with the founders who have worked in the startup environment for a long time.

What did I know before applying?

As for my coding experience, I did online courses - codeacademy, coursera, udemy and freecodecamp but always only the frontend. I learned a bit of JavaScript through that and that helped me a lot. I did some of this before applying and then after I got accepted I got the structured suggestions from the bootcamp regarding what I should study before joining the bootcamp. I spent about 80 hours on the pre-bootcamp preparation.

Can you get a job immediately after graduation?

Yes, I am the example of that. I work mostly using JavaScript and React and I am very happy so far. I have kept in touch with most of my class and all have found jobs quickly, many of them stayed in Prague. I find it pretty cool that the bootcamp offers career assistance also after you graduate, so you do not need to stress yourself with job application and just focus on your studies.

Should you go for it?

I do not think that anyone can answer this question for you. Think about why you are applying. Is it because you really want to learn web dev and are ready to give it your 100%? Then, definitely go for it!

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The teaching method is great, you spend about 20% time absorbing new concepts and 80% programming. Whatever new materials you learn, you are expected to put these into practice right away - through in-class daily exercises, weekly challenges, project work or hackathons. There were five hackathons in my batch, a full day coding events where we created a small project from scratch into a working product. It put together approximately the previous two weeks of new materials and it was great fun working on a project within constrained time limit in a team. In general, I appreciated all the team work because it helped learn how Git works and I am so grateful for that in my current job (JavaScript programmer).

The atmosphere in the bootcamp has been very motivating and that’s what I believe got me through the “valley of despair” (just google it if you haven’t heard this before ;) ). The bootcamp is small, it only accepted 16 students to each batch, which results in an almost family feeling. We studied together with the other students, we hanged out together, we helped each other out when we could. The founders of the bootcamp are present every day and take care of the HR side of the bootcamp intensely. You will go through a number of HR workshops and one-to-one sessions to smooth your career transition and land a job. I appreciated that the help does not end with the bootcamp but you can ask them anytime after the bootcamp too. That was great for me because I preferred to focus on my studies during the bootcamp and only searched for a job after I graduated.

I really enjoyed being taught by the bootcamp instructors. They are all senior programmers who dedicate part of their week to teach. I think it is important that they do not lose track of the current development and they can bring fresh examples and insights from their real world projects. All of them very helpful, they were happy to stay after the teaching hours when I needed extra help and I always felt that I can ask any question anytime.

The bootcamp has been running for 1.5 years now and the local market seems to be very hungry for new employees, which results in a great placement rate of the bootcamp graduates. None of the people who worked hard during the bootcamp had issues finding a relevant job afterwards. Here might be the caveat for some - do not think that programming is easy, do not come to the bootcamp thinking that you will study during the bootcamp hours only, do not underestimate the workload. But if you keep a positive attitude and work hard, you will make it and it will be a very rewarding feeling.

Before signing up I read the reviews and asked a number of questions to the admission team. I also contacted few alumni on LinkedIn. I got a really positive impression from all of these. Once I arrived in Prague I was surprised to see how many alumni still keep in close touch with the bootcamp - they show up for the Welcome Party, for drinks during the bootcamp, some mentored us as an extra practice in their free time... There was an Alumni Party and I found it very helpful to see the paths that the alumni took after their graduations. I guess this was one of the most important moments - that Im not just kidding myself but that I can actually become a programmer upon completing the bootcamp!

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I got curious about the programme when I was scrolling through meetups happening in Prague and I came across the open class that Coding Bootcamp Praha regularly organises. We tried several languages at the workshop and I got so excited that I decided to attend the next full-time bootcamp. I prefer to learn in an environment where I enjoy the people around me and that’s exactly what I got for the 12 weeks. 

I enjoyed learning a variety of technologies and decided to focus on the Javascript / React development. This is what I appreciated a lot that the instructors showed us a variety of languages, frameworks and libraries but we had certain space to specialise in whatever we preferred. For example, I know now how to connect React with Laravel, a php framework, but within my team project I focused on the React side. I believe however that knowing both frontend and backend development will be a great asset for my future career. 

I would like to thank all the instructors for dedicating their time and for patiently solving any problem I had (even when I made the same mistake several times :-) ) They are wonderful bunch of people, all very experienced and always willing to help. I also would like to thank the managers for all the help with my CV, LinkedIn, and tips how to do my job search and build a network. They went out of their way anytime I needed them and I enjoyed all the extra career workshops they organised for us with other companies.

I am now working part-time on a React project and part-time I am developing my own idea that I started already during the bootcamp. Good luck to everyone who is thinking on going on this path!

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