Covalence

I credit Depot/U with exposing me to programming concepts that allowed me to become a software engineer. While the course focused heavily on the front end, we were also exposed to back end and general programming concepts that could be applied across a variety of coding languages and platforms.

The coursework is demanding, especially if you're new to coding; I went in with no experience prior to completing the pre-course work, and the first few weeks in particular were very intense. However, those weeks were essential in my early formation as a coder. Without spending that time in a code-heavy environment with professional developers to assist me, I wouldn't have been prepared for the workplace in nearly as short a time.

Depot/U is an excellent investment for those looking for a career as a developer. Its focus on JavaScript as the primary programming language is apt, as JavaScript is everywhere now, and the focus on front end ensures a shorter amount of time before students are up and coding. The curriculum is still a bit raw--it's barely a year old--but has been refined, and will only get stronger as the program matures.

Also of great benefit to students is exposure to Innovation Depot, Birmingham's startup incubator. Depot/U does a good job of giving students access to several startup CEOs as well as representatives from other companies during the last few weeks of class. These professionals offer different perspectives on life as a developer, and several provide job opportunities.

As with any coding bootcamp, the benefits of Depot/U need to be weighed against the financial cost (reasonable compared to other bootcamps, though you are required to have a Mac), learning style of the potential student, and desire to spend an intensive amount of time immersed in code, both during and after the course. Depot/U teaches the basics of development very well, but the prospective student should also realize that additional time is needed after the course to specialize and master a particular language and platform, though s/he will be well prepared to enter the workplace upon graduation.

My own path through Depot/U was a successful one. This bootcamp gave me the tools to learn a new craft, and helped me discover a career that I love. If you decide to pursue a coding bootcamp, then I would give Depot/U my highest recommendation.

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I completed the Front End Development course during Summer 2016.  Everything related to the course was as advertised.  It was a very demanding, fast paced experience that allowed me to build my knowledge base and skillset at a much more accelerated pace, in a much more organized manner, and with a much more sound foundation than I could have pulled off learning on my own.

The instructor was extremely helpful throughout the process and always available to assist whenever needed. At the end of the class, Depot/U invited a number of potential employers to attend our final presentations.  After we presented, I was contacted by one of the CEOs at a software development company who had attended and ended up landing an internship with his company, which was exactly the kind of gig I was looking for when I enrolled in the program.

It took a lot of hard work, but if you are looking to make a change and get your foot in the door in tech, I would fully recommend Depot/U.  If you fully commit to the process and fully immerse yourself in the experience - completing with the required prework, showing up to class each day, staying up late night after night by yourself working on assignments, listening to the instructors and guest lecturers, etc. - the process works.

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I graduated with the first class of Depot/U and would highly recommend anyone that is interested in the developer world to give it a try. The agency that I work for found out about Depot/U and realized immediately that it is a great tool to have in any city. I was working in a different department when my agency offered me a chance to take the course and move over to the interactive department. I immediately jumped on the opportunity as I had been practicing front end development on my own for a couple years with no huge improvement. In just 10 weeks, I was able to learn everything I needed to jump directly into the intereactive department and hit the ground running. I recommend doing all the pre-work plus some and you should have a good grasp of the work in class, even though it might take a week or two to click.

I was able to make many connections that help my career progress and I could never say enough about the friends that I have made by taking the course.

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I was a student of the first Depot/U developer's boot camp class and highly recommend the course to anyone interested. The instructors were very knowledgeable, approachable, and were always willing to help one-on-one when needed. I learned a lot of new skills at an extremely quick pace during the course. The only warning I would give is about the pace. It is very fast and you might feel lost at first. This is normal. If you are prepared to focus, spend many hours per day coding, and if you enjoy hands-on learning, you will excel in this class. I'd recommend checking out the pre-course work assignments to get a feel for some of the course material.

 

I consider myself lucky to have participated in the first class for this program. I landed a significantly better job than I previously had, made lots of professional connections, and made lots of great friends that I still keep in touch with.

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I'm very happy with what I've gained from the Covalence so far. My hope was to go through a curriculum that would logically guide me through the concepts and skills relevant to building modern end-to-end applications. This curriculum definitely does that. However, as an atomic student, I've missed a lot that would easily come with direct help from instructors. I've supplemented the curriculum at times with paid courses by Mosh Hamedani. Between Covalence and Mosh, I'm well on my way.

The course has given me the confidence to continue teaching myself more technical business analysis concepts, which has helped me land a great job. I'm excited to continue learning about modern web/application development and eventually move into a product management role.

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The material in this program is very good. They go over it with an online video everyday during the lecture part of the day and you are given an assignment in the afternoon for a “lab”. That is the basic structure of the class. You are pretty much left to struggle through it unless you ask the TA or instructor for help. Everyone seems to go at a different pace. Some people get it easier than others of course, and once someone gets behind some people seem to stay that way. It is EXTREMELY fast paced. The week before our projects were due, our instructor missed the entire week and no-one knew why. Once he returned he explained why he was out, but also said that the students should not need an instructor this late in the course, that students have to build the app on their own. I disagree with this for the simple fact that students are PAYING for an instructor to be there in person, to a point when you all are coming to the same road block you need someone to guide you in a different direction. I understand to a point that the situation that occurred could not be helped. But there was poor communication all around on the part of the instructor and Covalence regarding this issue. That to me is poor business practice. I would take the course again, I learned a lot and enjoyed the material, but there probably needs to be some kind of policy implemented in case an instructor is going to miss a consecutive amount of time.

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I started the course a few weeks ago, and I'm pleasantly surprised. I've been through a bunch of different online options, and I learned some concepts. They were good teachers, but the structure of this online course makes you learn the material at a deeper level. You get labs that you have to complete before moving on, and they aren't guided. You actually create projects locally and push them to GitHub which I like since it builds my portfolio.

Also, the community is great. You are put in a channel with the other classes that are in person as well. There are several hundred people active and the conversations range from coding to cats.

I'm still going through the course, but it is working for me. I am learning at a level I never have before, and I highly recommend it.

I did the Molecular plan so that I get 1:1 support and career services.

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I had gone to Jeff State and majored in Web Technologies, but after I graduated, I still felt lost and wasn't comfortable with my skills. All of my textbooks were from the early 2000s and all of my classes were online so I didn't get the chance to make any connections with people in the field. Knowing how fast technology changes, I knew I wasn't ready to land a job in my dream field. I was so excited when I found out about Covalence, I'd be able to learn the most current and relevant techniques/languages and meet people who were interested in the same things I was. 

The lectures and instructors were great and helpful! There was a clear path of what all we were learning and what was expected of us. It was definitely hard work and extremely confusing at times, but they do that on purpose in order for it to really sink into your mind. One major downside, however, of my particular cohort was the size of the class. With 30 students and only 2 instructors there to help, it sometimes felt like we were all fighting over time with them and I know I definitely missed out on getting help sometimes. Some students had complaints throughout the course, and it really seemed like the Covalence team had a hard time accepting negative feedback. There was even a (very inappropriate) speech from the CEO delivered in front of our friends and family at graduation blaming the students for their problems with the course. 

However, I can't deny that Covalence jump started my career and allowed me to learn more than I could ever imagine in such a short time. I definitely have them to thank for my current and future success. I'd reccomend the course to anyone trying to break into the development field.

 

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Recently graduated from the Full-Stack program in Birmingham. I did most of the course pre-work and felt comfortable enough to follow through with it. Here's an honest review after some time to reflect on the experience:

** I had no coding experience prior to this course**

The course starts off with "easing into" coding with some simple styling labs. There's one lab a day after the morning lecture where students get to struggle through the exercises. I think Matt Landers (Covalence founder) has smartly used this "struggle through it until you get it" concept to maximize the efficiency of the program. 10 weeks is a very short time to get students quality time and exposure to coding and I do think that struggling through it is the best way (albeit very difficult) way to learn the material. By the time we reached the final projects, I felt like I had most of the tools to feel self-sufficient in creating a full-stack website. Feeling comfortable and feeling independent definitely took some more studying on my end, especially for the "final assessment," to feel like I really had a solid understanding of how everything worked together. 

My main frustration with the program came with the misleading job prospect promises. Throughout the program and beyond graduating, Covalence keeps a network of job opportunities and will provide students with job listings for entry-level development jobs. There is a student success coach looking over job listings on job-hunt websites (Indeed, Monster, etc.) and providing advice on resumes and cover letters. She was very helpful where she could be and these are great resources to have! However, they do not live up to the expectations that were set at the beginning of the course. If you're already a proactive person, these resources are what you as an aspiring developer would be using anyway so it really doesn't afford you much of an advantage in the job market. We were told about the great connections that Covalence has with employers, some of whom are actually your mentors in the course, although I literally saw my mentor once - the initial meet-and-greet day. You are also told how rapidly Birmingham is growing and how in-demand web developer skills are currently. These claims are still true! Just know that the bootcamp is your foot in the door to web development. It will require much more work on your part to really be marketable as an entry-level developer in the job market. In reality, you will be doing 95% of the work to get yourself hired so set your expectations accordingly and take the job promises guardedly. 

Final thoughts: The program is overall a great program for an accelerated jump into web development. The cost certainly beats the alternative (entirely self-directed learning or Computer Science degree), but the price tag is a bit high for the value IMO. If you already have job prospects, using these skills to supplement existing skills to make you more valuable, or your company is already sending you, it's a slam dunk and you have nothing to lose. If you're quitting your job to change direction and fully jump into web development, make sure you really take time to weigh the pro's and con's. It's literally an investment so make sure you feel like it's worth investing in. 

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The course content and instructor exceeded my expectations, and I feel well prepared to venture out into this career. This bootcamp style of learning might not be for everyone because of it's fast pace. It does demand a lot of time inside and outside of the class. I would recommend it to anyone who is wanting a career change into web dev without going through the time and money of traditional college. Read less

DepotU is in a fantastic location - look up Innovation Depot.  I had an excellent experience. My class was very, very happy with our instructor.  Be prepared to work hard!  DepotU certainly wants to give you your money's worth. We had a lecture every morning and a lab every afternoon.  The class size felt just right.

The DepotU director, Haley, was super helpful with getting students connected with potential employers.  Recruiters will stop by occasionally.  Try to make friends with your classmates - you will work alongside them throughout the process.  Know when to ask for help, but try to learn how to accurately search for a solution on the web. 

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I had done a fair amount of self teaching before Depot/U, but was looking for something more. I needed a real human there to answer my questions and give me the "why" from time to time. David Stapleton did a great job with his lectures, as well as 1 on 1 help throughout the course. I am glad I took the course, as it has advanced my career and helped me get into a field that can be very tough to break through.

This course teaches you the ins and outs of JavaScript, which will prove valuable no matter what programming language you go on to learn in the future. Depot/U teaches you how to learn, so you can enrich your programming experience on your own, forever.

This course is definitely worth it, but make sure you are ready to give 110% and you are totally invested in learning to code!

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TL;DR

Choosing to attend Depot/U has proven to be one of the most impactful decisions I have ever made. The course was not only tremendously useful in terms of learning specifics about front-end development in order to enter the workforce as a developer, but it also continues to pay professional dividends from the contacts I made while attending the bootcamp.

Full Version 

I was in the very first course in the Fall of 2015, and it took me a long time to determine whether or not it was something I should do. I was already learning web development on my own, but I wanted to get up to speed quickly in order to start a career as a software developer. It was around this time that I discovered Depot/U, and I vetted them as best as I could at the time (I didn't have the luxury of student reviews that all of you do!). After meeting with several prospective students and the instructor, I finally came to the conclusion to take the course, and I am very glad that I did as it has completely changed my life and its trajectory.

The coursework – while not extremely rigorous in nature – was very, very fast-paced, and so I will echo others that have left reviews and state that you may find yourself falling behind. That's to be expected. (It's a bootcamp, afterall. Treat it as such from the beginning, and you'll get much more out of the course.) Do your best, and focus on understanding what you're learning and why. There will be a moment where things start to click, and it becomes much easier thereafter. 

Since I was a part of the first course, there was a learning curve for both students and instructors, but there have been significant and beneficial changes to the curriculum infrastructure that make this bootcamp an even better investment in yourself. With that being said, that's how you should view the course. It's an investment in yourself - no one will be holding your hand through job interviews, so it's up to you to put the time, energy, and effort in to make the most of this opportunity while you're in the course. Moreover, use the opportunity to network with people as much as possible; you never know when a simple introduction will lead to a job offer or business venture.

I was very fortunate to secure a job as a front-end engineer soon after graduating, and the opportunities that have come from my involvement in Depot/U continue to astound me. I highly recommend this course, and I wish those involved nothing but the best. Happy coding, everyone.

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I'm currently a student, and at about 1/3 of the way through the curriculum, I'm already applying stuff I've learned to the 'real world', even automating some of the work at my office job. The instructors are knowledgeable and are quick to respond to code reviews, even though I'm in the self-paced bootcamp. 

The lectures themselves are very digestable and the info is presented in a very clear format. The labs are pretty fun exercises and they try to keep you engaged. Overall, I'm genuinely enjoying my experience programming through Covalence, and as this review stands, I haven't missed a single day in committing code for this whole month yet.

I can't speak for the job assistance yet because I still have a couple months to go until completetion but they still offer advice and webinars year-round for career assistance, so I'd imagine the direct career assistance as you come near the end of the program would be just as on-par as the rest of the course.

Excellent value, excellent product.

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