Flatiron School

Going to the Flatiron School (BK-000) was the best career move I've made. I graduated from college with a history degree, and then went directly into account management at a tech company where I realized I wanted to do what the product team was doing, so I quit to pursue that goal. Flatiron School helped me transition from an unemployed/contracted worker to a software engineer at a great NYC startup, and I've been going strong since.

Nevertheless if you're thinking of going to Flatiron/another dev school, note that it is a lot of hard work. For the five months I was at Flatiron, I basically dropped everything to devote all my energies to learning. So, be ready to work hard.

Overall, I'm incredibly grateful to what I learned and how I grew at The Flatiron School and would recommend to someone who was serious about learning web development.

I can't say enough about how fantastic my experience with Flatiron's Learn program was. The entire curriculum is well structured and extensive. And I truly mean extensive. Many online coding programs will focus on students building portfolio projects (twitter clones) but don't go into how things work under the hood. Not only does the program teach you how Active Record works in a practical sense, but they also have you build your own ORM framework so you understand in detail how Active Record works underneath all the Rails magic. Having this extensive knowledge of not only how things work, but also why was crucial to my success in my new career.

Secondly, in addition to the well thought out curriculum, I can't express how much everyone on the Learn team truly cares about the students. All the instructors, learn experts, career coaches and everyone on the dev team expressed such a sincere sense of compassion for all the students. The Learn team should be extremely proud of the community they have built and continue to grow. Additionally, the students are some of the most positive people I have had the pleasure to learn with. Like learning anything new there are times of frustration and having such a positive student community to connect with is one of the many things that sets Learn apart from the crowd.

Thanks to my fantastic career coach and the Learn curriculum, I was able to secure an engineering position at a fantastic company within a month of graduating. Learn is the best online program for anyone wanting to pursue a career as a software engineer. 

Flatiron School was probably the hardest thing, and the best thing, I ever did.

After dabbling in a few technical tasks at work, I knew I wanted to make programming my career.  Flatiron School helped me realize that dream.  The curriculum is designed to give you everything you need to make web applications and land a job as a Junior Developer, whether it is general programming concepts like MVC or data modeling, to learning web frameworks such as Sinatra and Rails.

I came to Flatiron School with no prior college education.  But what they expect from you is to work hard, collaborate with your fellow students, and give it all you've got.  It is 3 months of rigorous work, including nights and weekends, but the instructors are there to help you succeed. 

After graduation, you prepare for job interviews by going through a cultural and technical mock interivew. I was job seeking for several months, and had weekly check-ins which my Flatiron School career coach.  She  always made sure to keep me motivated and on the right track, and was always ready to proofread emails or answer any questions I had.  I received a back-end full-time position at a marketing agency, which was exactly what I was looking for.

Applying to Flatiron School was probably one of the best decisions I ever made!

Learning to program through the Flatiron School’s Learn Verified platform was one of the best choices I’ve made. The online program was a perfect fit for me as I learned how to program while still keeping my day job to support myself. Not only do they have a solid curriculum (Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, Angular, etc), but they have exceptional instructors, a supportive online community, and an amazing Career Services team. Learn Verified’s focus on learning in a community and building real world projects prepared me for my first job as a developer - it taught me how to ask good questions, how to approach problems, programming concepts that apply to various languages and frameworks, and how to present myself as a developer while making a career change. To anyone interested in learning how to program, I’d highly recommend the Flatiron School’s Learn Verified program; you won’t regret it.

I’ve been working in tech for a while on a design side (with light coding experience) and eventually wanted to make my own iOS app and make the switch to iOS development. FIS had awesome reviews, and going to their meetup to see the environment for myself and to talk to some of the folks there really got me excited and I knew that was the place I wanted to be! Going through the program was a LOT of hard work, but a very friendly and supportive environment , new friends and unlimited free coffee got us through the days (which flew by in a heartbeat). It’s true what everyone else is writing - you get out what you put in. Pre-work was super important to get everyone through the basics of the language and on the same page for Day 1. Durning the semester I worked from early morning until 1-2 am doing labs, projects, research, constantly learning - 6 days a week for 3 months. We had tremendous support from all the instructors, who took the time and care to teach us not only the code but problem solving for the future. The iOS program gave me all the knowledge and the resources to code an app by myself, which I’ve done after the semester was over. 

But you leave the school with much more than just knowledge, after it’s all over - you are still part of the community of like-minded people, sharing tips and helping each other out. I definitely recommend the program, if I have to learn another language down the road, I would go back.  

I attended the Flatiron immersive in NYC(07/16 cohort) - the experience exceeded my expectations in every way.  

Flatiron has fantastic instructors who are invested in students' success, a great lesson delivery platform called Learn, and most importantly an enormous sense of community within each cohort/school. I think it's important to emphasize that you can come from any background and make it as a software developer. If you're driven and enjoy challenges, you'll feel right at home here. While 60+ hour weeks were a pretty common occurence, the 3 months flew by in one giant ball of excitement and energy. There was definitely room for some non-coding fun along the way too.

Career services at Flatiron is top notch. Flatiron has a whole team of people working on developing relationships with companies interested in being introduced to Flatiron grads. I cannot stress enough how useful these introductions are to someone looking to transition into a new field. The team also provides general career coaching/support throughout the entire job seeking process. 

It's crazy to think that less than a year ago I was in your shoes reading coding bootcamp reviews online. Hindsight being 20/20, I wouldn't change a thing. Flatiron was one of the best decisions I've made. 

If not for Flatiron School, I would not have a meaningful career in software development. I am 4 years into my second career in which I get infinite more satisfaction from then my previous 5 years in sales.

As part of the first Flatiron School cohort, I did not know what to expect during or after completing the 13 week course. After many weeks of intense immersion, challenged beyond what I could imagine, I did not leave Flatiron School with the belief that I was a production ready engineer. I left with an opportunity to grow into a role and the confidence to learn my way out of any situation I encountered. Through several years of hard work since leaving Flatiron School in 2012, I find myself in a stable, flexible career that I get immense satisfaction from. It is because of the technical foundation, personal relationships, and guidance I received from my 3 months at the Flatiron School that I am able to say this.

I learned a tremendous amount in my web development course. The curriculum gave me the opportunity to learn many aspects of Ruby on Rails web development and build several web applications. In my class with Jeff we did a major project in the middle and at the end of the course, and that experience was invaluable. It made me confident that I could contribute my knowledge and skills to a team of developers. Having 2 projects meant I had plenty of ways to demonstrate my competencies and willingness to learn to potential employers. The Flatiron community is very supportive as well. Overall, my experience at Flatiron absolutely prepared my for my first role as a junior developer.

I was a member of the first class back in 2012. I had pretty limited experience, essentially what I was able to pick up from books in my free time. Flatiron was tremendously helpful in getting me from a complete beginner to a hireable developer. I learned a ton both in class and in the assignments worked on at home, and the students I worked with were passionate about learning and helping each other. 

More importantly that learning Ruby, Flatiron gave me skills to learn how to learn. In my current role I use a different programming language and had to learn a lot of new technologies. Everything I learned at Flatiron helped me get comfortable in the unknown, and I really feel like more than just a programmer who knows enough to write code, but really a developer who understands the ins and outs of the technology I use. I'm really grateful to Flatiron for the opportunity.

I was part of the first Flatiron School cohort back in 2012. Right from the beginning I was impressed by how good the teachers were. They understood different learning styles and patiently worked with everyone, in groups as well as one on one to ensure that everyone understood the material.

In addition to having exceptional teachers, at Flatiron you’re surrounded by an amazing group of students. When you enroll in Flatiron as a student, you’re there to learn as well as help others learn. Mentoring fellow students when you understand a concept and reaching out for help when you don’t, help create a safe and comfortable atmosphere to learn in. Flatiron’s high admissions standards ensure that you’re around a great group of people.

From the very beginning Flatiron has stressed the importance of quality teachers and great students. These values make Flatiron an amazing place to learn and start your career. I would highly recommend this course to anyone considering a bootcamp.

Regardless how much programming you know, if you want to jump on the app making bandwagon, I highly recommend taking this iOS course. It's worth spending the money on the course rather than trying to learn on your own through books or videos, because it's a lot more effective and fun to learn under an instructor, who you can fall on whenever you get stuck, and with other students, who are going through the same journey as you. Once you get through the course, your journey won't be over, if anything it would have just begun, but you will have the right skill set and connections to keep learning and honing your skills on your own. This skill set is specially handy with iOS because Apple comes up with new stuff every year, so it's more important to know how to learn than to know everything, because it's very possible that whatever it is being used now, it might get dumped tomorrow, like Objective-C being replaced eventually by Swift. Oh yeah, it's also nice that employers appreciate this skill set, and will be willing to invest on it, so if you are lucky you'll get to continue your journey to become a great programmer while getting paid!

Before starting at Flatiron I had dabbled in some of the free courses that are offered such as codeacademy. I was learning a lot but I didn't have enough direction on the skills I needed to actually work and be successful as a web developer. I considered going to an in-person bootcamp but there weren't any that were close to me at the Time(Tampa, FL). I looked at the online courses that were available and Flatiron was one of the cheapest and had a money back guarantee that I would get a job at the end of the program. I completed the program in just under 6 months and was employed less than 3 months after graduation. I know I would have been hired sooner if I was in a more saturated market (currently Athens, GA). The curriculum, chat support, and community at Flatiron drove me to learn and be better at what I do. I am now happily employed locally and know I wouldn't have been able to get this far without Flatiron School!

I was a student in the immersive Web Development program and graduated about a year back. Disclaimer - I have worked for the school as an instructor for the online program, which is a stellar, stellar course in it of itself -- But I will speak to my (perhaps less biased) experience as a student at the immersive:

The environment was one of collaboration and caring. From instructors to students there was an aura of support, which is a hugely important factor in so ambitious of a journey. The curriculum is thorough, challenging, and well-written, and has a sensational ground up building approach that gradually takes you through lower level steps building on each other to give you a much greater depth of understanding. 

I always felt that the instructors -senior and TAs- were there for us, and had insightful answers to difficult questions, and much patience!

The projects and application development throughout the course were immensely helpful in applying what we'd learned and collaborating and designing production software.

The careers team is superb. Devoted in a highly efficient manner, I definitely felt attended to, and had several intros and interviews directly through the school, before accepting their own offer for an instructor position.

All in all most highly recommended for anyone dedicated and passionate enough to put in the work and effort to capitalize on the program to the fullest extent. it's certainly not easy and truly requires a ton of work on your part, but a program like this offers the support, environment and academic tooling to really get it done right. Personally, getting a behind the scenes look at the idealism, pragmatic smarts, and passion of the team there has only added to my tremendous admiration for The Flatiron School.

I was a student early on in Flatiron's iOS immersive program back when it was still taught in Objective-C. Currently, I'm a mobile developer at a major lifestyle media corporation in Manhattan. While anyone can teach him/herself iOS development, this program is an opportunity to accelerate that development to an extent that seems almost impossible. While the prospect of devoting 3 months of your life and a fairly substantial sum of money to studying development is daunting, I'm in a position of responsibility only 2 years after having graduated. I was given the fundamentals I needed to prepare myself to enter the workforce and brought along my own enthusiasm. 

I trust the curriculum of this program completely, but the take away is that becoming a computer scientist in 3 months is not possible. What this program offers you is an awesome opportunity to break into the field and grants you the skills necessary to continue developing on your own after graduating. Flatiron will give you a basis to build your skills that normally takes years of effort and studying if done entirely on your own. Anyone who goes into this program resolved to work and study harder than they ever have before will come out a functional, employable junior developer. 

By the same token, things move quickly. If your motivation is flaky and you aren't entirely committed, you will certainly miss out. There is a lot of structure and discipline required to make the most of the time you're given, but if you are all-in on becoming a developer and fairly self-reliant, the tools you need are all available here along with a community to support you.

Regarding placement after the program, Flatiron in my experience is fairly successful at making introductions and giving you the opportunity to practice and prepare for interviews. That being said, being a junior without a degree offers very little leverage when it comes to job hunting. A lot of the placement process is going to come down to your own hard work and interview performance as well as your personality. Don't expect to be handed an $80k mid-level position on a platter upon graduating, but if you're realistic and doing the legwork (which they explicitly prescribe) you will find yourself in a position sooner rather than later. 

I recommend this program highly – to the extent that I have sent my best friend and boyfriend through it to study iOS as well. If you are an intelligent, motivated person who truly wants to learn to code, this is the way to go. 

Curriculum:
The training program they've designed is not only well structured in content, but also well realized inside of a digital interface that helps you keep track of your progress, automatically track errors and partial completions, get a sense of your progress in comparison to others (for the competitive types), and communicate with instructors remotely. I went from knowing little to nothing about programming, to being confident in building my own app.

Culture:
It's been nearly two years since I graduated, and I'm still friends with many of my cohort and instructors. Flatiron seems to screen for personality, passion, and kindness. So while my classmates came from all different backgrounds, from finance to jazz music, we all vibed together over the shared joy of learning to build meaningful ideas and just embracing geekiness.

Return on Investment:
You definitely get what you put into it. Flatiron does everything it can to provide resources and attention to anyone who needs help, but it also promotes autonomous self-help. Learn to Google problems yourself. Teach other classmates to cement your own learnings. And don't be afraid to ask questions. I came in with nearly zero coding knowledge and left with multiple offers from great companies. The job placement team is absolutely amazing (especially if Jackie is still there). They really care about each individual, and sometimes break rules to connect you with the right company. 

Going to Flatiron absolutely changed my life. I'm a freelance musician with basically no resume, and within a week of graduation I was offered my dream job. 

Any bootcamp will most likely give you the tools you need to become a good developer. There are two elements that I would say separate Flatiron from the rest. 

Firstly, the technologies they teach are the most applicable to most jobs you will apply for. I was in the first cohort that was taught React.js, and I am working full-time as a React developer now. You will also learn Ruby on Rails and SQL, from which you will be able to transition to any other backend language and framework. While no bootcamp will teach you how to be a master coder in three months, I can absolutely say that Flatiron will put any determined student in the right place to get a job as a full-time, full-stack web developer.

The other thing that sets them apart is their career team. To be clear, they don't get you a job, but they will work with you to make sure you present yourself in the best light to prospective companies. Without them, I would not have known where to start looking for work.

I recommend doing a few months of study before starting. There are several students who's first line of code was written at school, and many of them were successful. However, you will be glad that you took the time for self study prior to attending. 

I still go to Flatiron to do side-projects (and to drink their coffee and beer), and it's a great community. Their statistics are absolutely real, and you WILL get a job after attending.

Going to the Flatiron School was one of the best choices I have ever made. The curriculum is top-notch, the community diverse, and the philosophy sincere. This one is about education rather than profit. Though some students are quite advanced, coming in with CS degrees, the school is nurturing to newbies. Afterward, the job placement team prepared us pragmatically for the market and fielded me on many interviews. In my 180-degree career change, good structure and guidance as to where to put my hard work and energy was invaluable. After ten years in journalism, the school gave me the skills, confidence, and a roadmap to get started in this new field--and just as importantly, to love it.