Le Wagon

In Le Wagon I’ve found myself in an exciting community full of people that share with me a passion for creating, learning and coding. This sense of community and friendship was really important during the bootcamp to keep me motivated and excited for each day, sharing all our doubts, difficulties and personal knowledge was a special key element of Le Wagon, as well as all the dinners and events we shared together! All the teachers were caring and made sure we were taking full advantage of what the bootcamp had to offer. As well as an awesome curriculum full of coding technologies, we were taught important soft skills that really helped me getting my career started in the tech world right after the bootcamp finished. Even now my batch is over, I was left with direct contact to all Le Wagon’s online groups and communities filled with experienced teachers, alumni and new learning content to keep expanding my knowledge and stay in touch with all the great people I got to meet. I’m very happy I was able to be part of such an awesome experience, and I’m so excited to go into my new job and put to practice everything I learned in Le Wagon!

Le wagon has been an incredible experience in an uncountable amount of ways. If you’re considering doing a coding bootcamp, choose Le wagon.

Where did it start?

My interest in coding started when I experienced some limitations at work; I really wanted to create something and I knew how it should work or look but I didn’t know how to tell the computer exactly what I wanted. I researched coding and web development and used many free online tutorials, and I felt like I had made some progress, I could really write some lines of code and manipulate things on a website (felt pretty cool), but I didn’t know where to go from there, I could write some lines, knew some syntax, but there was no way I could create a full product, where would I start? After drowning myself in all the resources out there, I felt more and more confused and decided it was time to get some guidance.

Before choosing...

After researching coding bootcamps, it was clear that Le wagon was going to be a great choice. Although, I was a little skeptical at first because they seemed to just have endlessly positive reviews and I thought that can’t be right? Are these reviews real? (I can of course confirm that they are, now that i’m here writing one myself). Le wagon appeared to offer many interesting technical skills, but also seemed focused on teaching students to create a product as a whole, and focused on supporting entrepreneurship too. I watched a bunch of their demo day videos* from many cities and I was beyond impressed. I remember thinking “Wow, some of these ideas seem absolutely genius, and the presentation of the final products are really inspiring”. I wanted to be able to create something like that!

Which city should I choose?

Le wagon offers their course in heaps of cities, and although I was choosing between several cities, Barcelona was a clear winner for me. I wanted to stay in Europe, and after researching, Barcelona had one of the lower costs of living. Not only is it home to many start-ups and makes a regular appearance on lists about tech hubs in Europe, but it is also located on the lovely Mediterranean, and who would turn down a city with sunny beaches and beautiful mountains all in one.

After applying…

After I filled out the form on the Le Wagon website to apply for the bootcamp in Barcelona, I got an e-mail from Gus, the driver, offering to book a chat on skype. We had a great chat that resulted in getting the offer to do the technical tests. I was given some material to learn in a few days along with some tasks and then I was given a test which should be completed more or less in an evening. I was very glad to know that I passed the tests and had been offered a place at the bootcamp. The time between my admission and the first day of the bootcamp I was given some prep work to complete.

Before the Bootcamp…

I cannot stress enough just how helpful it was that I had completed the prep work given to me**. There are several videos to watch with some questions afterward, loads of useful resources linked in the descriptions. I really suggest you read/complete the info in the links. One thing that is great about the prep work is that it gets you into the mindset of how the bootcamp will be, consistently getting fed knowledge and new information. Lastly, DO NOT underestimate the javascript part, this will take you more time than you might expect.

Before the bootcamp started I also received a few really helpful email from the campus manager, Avalon, who gave me loads of information about the city and also helpful tips about finding places to stay during the bootcamp. She was really helpful and answered all the questions I had.

During the bootcamp..

From Day one I was so happy to meet so many interesting new people with so much of their own culture to share and stories to tell and I knew that I was going to really enjoy the 9 weeks to come.

First third of the bootcamp

The first week we learnt about the Ruby basics which was really helpful because they’re the fundamentals to learn any programming language, the important part was understanding the concepts as opposed to just learning syntax of by heart. It was intense, just as I had expected! On the friday we all went out for some beers to reflect on the first week and despite being tired and our brains overflowing with not only new information but also a new way of thinking and learning, everyone was in a great mood and we had a lovely time getting to know each other.

Something that really impressed me was the learning platform that the creators of Le Wagon have developed. You can’t even imagine how well structured, engaging and useful this platform it, it really was the key to being able to learn so much in just 9 short weeks. They have video lectures, slideshows, daily challenges, flashcards, and a super impressive “search” function where you can just look up any keyword you remember from a lecture and it will give you all of the content related to that word - I really relied on that!

The second week we learnt about more advanced programming concepts and we actually created some pretty cool mini programs which was the first time I started to feel like a developer.The third week we focused on Databases which was really interesting and it was really useful to learn how to communicate with Databases. So the first three weeks really focused on understanding the back-end.

Second third of the bootcamp

The next two weeks were focused on the front-end, we learnt HTML, CSS and Javascript, and also discovered libraries such as Bootstrap. We were able to build a profile page, learn how to build web components, good UI and UX practices. It was interesting to learn just how much logic is behind design, and it was actually really different from the back-end. It was refreshing to touch a new topic but it was just as challenging.

During this middle part of the bootcamp when we were focusing on  front-end and design, we were also taught about how to pitch a product, and we had a practice night pitching all the ideas we had to our fellow wagoners. This is a really valuable skill to learn, as they really taught us the ins and outs of a good product pitch.

The next week we learnt about Rails and oh my god - the magic behind Rails was mind-blowing. Rails is fantastic and seeing everything come together was really rewarding, it was great to finally understand why we were learning everything we had been learning.

Last third of the bootcamp

Now that we had acquired all the necessary skills to build our own app it was finally time to build one! We had one week (5 days) to build a clone of AirBnb in teams of 3, 4 or 5. This was really good practice to learn how to efficiently collaborate both in person and on GitHub, we learnt how to organise ourselves as a team and also how to deal with problems that we would run into. This practice week was so exciting because we had the opportunity to present what we had created to our classmates which was a great taster for when we would be presenting the actual product we were going to develop.

The final two weeks were intense, exciting, nerve-wracking but amazing. We worked in sprints and we were able to build an MVP in just 10 days. It was incredible to be working on a project building an actualt real-life app just 6 weeks after not knowing how to write a single line of code. God that was an amazing feeling.

On the Demo day, the day we would present our products to not only our classmates but also a general public audience who had signed up to join the event. We had a great day practicing our presentations and spending time with our fellow campmates, though it was a sad day saying goodbye to all my new friends, it was also a great day as everyone had a genuine sense of achievement and we were  all really proud to present what we had been working so hard on.

So that was it, after 9 weeks, I could now call myself a Junior Full-stack developer.

About the Teachers

Le wagon Drivers are great at choosing teachers who fit very well into the culture. Oftentimes the teachers have done the bootcamp themselves and so they are really able to relate to the students and understand which sections of the course tend to be more challenging and how students react to the content in the course. All the teachers in my batch were super friendly, we got along so well and it really made it a fantastic learning environment. There wasn't a strong sense of authority and superiority coming from the teachers which made the atmosphere more comfortable knowing that the teachers are really just there to support, help and guide you through the course. They help you learn how to solve problems by yourself so that you’re ready for the real world of developing and so that you don’t become dependent on them. (although I do sometimes miss having them around)

After the bootcamp

Earlier I spoke about the incredible platform built by the Le Wagon founders, and the best part about the resources is that they’re available to you for the rest of your life. They are not only aimed at students who are currently in the bootcamp but there is a massive active community (4000+ students) contributing to the resource part to help you continue to learn after the bootcamp.

They have channels to help you find a job, work as a freelance, help you if you get stuck while coding (fixing any errors you can’t seem to fix yourself). Everyone who has been a Le Wagon student is very supportive of other wagoners, and the worldwide community is great. If you attended the bootcamp in Tokyo but you are looking for a Job in Barcelona, the wagoners from Barcelona will be sure to help you. This is something that I am infinitely grateful to be a part of.

Why should you choose Le Wagon Barcelona?

Looking for a career change? Le wagon.

Want to become a Full-stack Developer in no time? Le wagon.

Looking to build your own start-up? Le wagon.

Want to learn how to communicate effectively with the devs in your company? Le wagon.  

Looking to become a Project Manager with Coding knowledge? Le Wagon.

Want to become a freelance developer? Le wagon.

Seriously...the list is endless in the number of ways Le Wagon will benefit you. You can learn so much and in such a beautiful city with so many international people. I highly recommend Barcelona.

What did I personally learn?

Apart from the obvious coding part, Le wagon actually taught me many useful life skills. I got to meet a bunch of awesome people from many different cultures and get insights into their lives, I learnt about how to approach …, I learnt how to tackle problems along the way, I learnt about teamwork in a technical environment, and I overcame my fear of public speaking from the support of the driver and teachers, which I will always be thankful for.

*anyone who is considering Le Wagon as their bootcamp choice, I would really recommend watching the demo day videos.

** All aspiring students should really take the prep work seriously.

After being graduated from Top French Business School, I had various professional experiences where i was in contact with programmers. Fastly, I realised that I had no legitimacy to run my project correctly because I was not able to talk their language properly. My conclusion : I needed to understand them to be more efficient in my work.

I heard about Le Wagon when I was in Business School while they organised a workshop and I really loved their methodology: learn by doing. So I decided to get in touch Le Wagon Barcelona and few interviews after, I was on board.

On my first day, I have directly been amazed by the variety of profiles in my batch : engineers, medical students … I probably couldn't have the opportunity to work with so many different people in one place. And it had been a real chance because this is what makes this experience so unique - people with totally different backgrounds, different points of view, different skills - but with the same purpose: learn to code and change life.

Those differences had been the engine of our success: we were combining our soft and hard skills to reach a common goal: create a product that we were believing in.

To any applicants: I highly recommend you to follow this bootcamp. This is a really challenging moment that requires a lot a work and involvement.  And at the end you'll learn so much more than code.

I did a bachelor's degree in business administration and engineering a few years ago. Since then I have been working in Ecommerce Startups in Berlin.
I work a lot with data and have already been able to teach myself SQL. I wanted to develop my skills more towards IT and was introduced to LeWagon by a friend.
LeWagon really has a great program. But what really exceeded my expectations were the people. They all had completely different backgrounds. This made the learning experience all the more exciting. Especially the connection with the great city of Lisbon was perfect. The teachers are always helpful and friendly on all topics. In a short time, the batch becomes a small family in which everyone supports each other. The Alumni Network is also extraordinary and probably also with the greatest added value.
I really think everyone should learn to code. The Bootcamp is one of the best investments you can make for yourself.

Le Wagon Bali was one of the most intensive educational & fun months of my life! Dirk & the other staff made sure traveling across the world was easy by providing us accommodation recommendations and a fun environment to always have something to do. The structure of the course was extremely cool and allowed for both beginner and slightly more advanced students have a filled day. If you really understood a lesson one day you still have bonus exercises that introduce new topics and offer fun challenges to push your learning to the next level. For me - I already knew how to build Wordpress & ClickFunnels sites but those don’t require much, if any coding experience. Since the batch - I have been able to build custom mapping estimating software and more importantly for me - hire someone to build the base code and have the ability to manage a workforce of programmers, because now I understand their workflow and structure. Being able to quickly understand and edit code saved you $1,000’s of dollars in development costs vs someone without a coding background. I thank Le Wagon Bali for all of this education and the time of a lifetime. Definitely an experience I recommend.

I did batch 205 of Le Wagon in Lisbon, finishing in December 2018. It was a great learning experience, very rewarding and challenging!
I have a business background, and was working in the retail industry for a few years. I've always been curious about how products are built and how to develop products tailored to consumers' needs. I didn't have any previous knowledge of programming but thought it could be interesting to learn how to code. A friend of mine told me about Le Wagon, and after checking the program and reviews from previous students, it seemed like a great option, so I quit my job and joined the bootcamp.
The bootcamp was very intensive and demanding. It really pushed me forward and made me step out of my comfort zone but it was totally worth it. I now know that anyone can learn how to code, it just takes commitment, effort, passion, and being surrounded by the right people and environment. And Le Wagon provided just that.
For me, a crucial part of my experience were the amazing teachers and TAs. They are very supportive, understanding your problems and helping you, adapting to your reasoning and own way of solving the challenges instead of just giving you their solution. This really helped me to feel more confident and understand things better.
Another great aspect are your fellow students. They know what you're going through, everyone supports each other, and the environment is really collaborative and friendly. This makes it so much easier to go through those days when you feel more lost or insecure about learning how to code. Pair programming is also a great feature of the bootcamp, allowing you to work with someone different each day, and helping each other. There's also time to relax and have fun together.
The last two weeks are very challenging and rewarding since you develop a real product in a team of 3 or 4 students. After prototyping our web app during demo day, I felt proud and amazed with what everyone achieved in 9 weeks!
Overall, I recommend Le Wagon to anyone who wants to learn how to code! You will be amazed by what you can do in 9 weeks and challenge yourself!

Before I took the jump and booked onto batch #190 in London I was a full time swim coach with no prior coding experience. Now, having graduated two months ago, I am Junior front-end engineer at an awesome sales start up in London. The course at Le Wagon can genuinely change your career path and your life as it gives you the technical knowledge and team work experience that employees are looking for from their next Junior Developer. On the course the teachers (most are past students) will happily help you with any problem, ranging from a small typo to a error that takes half the day to fix. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Le Wagon and encourage anyone who wants to gain the technical knowledge to become a Junior Developer or set up their own business to apply and get on with it!

I graduated from Le Wagon at the end of Nov 2018, and now I’m working at a FinTech startup as a full-stack developer in Japan. Looking back, I’m sure Le Wagon is the best choice if you really want to change your life.

Here are the things I liked:

- Extremely well-organized learning materials and resources, which you’ll think of like a bible even after

- Well balanced challenges given every day, keeping you concentrated regardless of your initial skill-level

- Great teachers and TAs, all of them are friendly and taught us that coding is fun

- Great classmates, and community where graduates and teachers all over the world are actively communicating

I was a banker in investment bank before joining Le Wagon. Though I didn’t have any coding skill, I really wanted to change my career and my life, and Le Wagon made it.

Please let me tell finally that the most important thing is… your heart!
9 weeks go really fast with intensive experiences!!

I’ve always been interested in learning programming, and after finishing my bachelor with a business major, it seemed to be just the perfect time to actually start.
I pretty quickly found out that I would prefer a full-time bootcamp over self-learning, and that’s how I ended up in Milan starting the 9-week LeWagon full stack bootcamp.

Your usual day at LeWagon begins with lectures in the morning, where new concepts are introduced along comprehensive examples. In the afternoon you then have to solve related problem sets, in order to deepen that knowledge.

From the first day on, Francesco and his team were doing their best to make this experience as nice as possible. Every concept was taught thoroughly and during the problem session, no question remained unanswered. 
This is where I also see the biggest benefit of bootcamps over self-learning in general. With the 1:1 on-demand help of the teaching assistants, you are able to learn way faster.

The highlight of the bootcamp though was the last three weeks, where the 16-people course was split up into 4 groups. After only 6 weeks, we were already able to program an Airbnb clone within one week. The great thing about this project was also, that you had to combine all your prior learnings and connect them in order to make your first "full-stack” project successful. 
In the following two weeks, we took that even further, with the individual groups coding their own apps, so completely independent of any lecture script. That’s where I also learned the most and the assistance of the experienced teachers is very valuable.

In general, LeWagon was a huge boost for my career. I started coding in a professional working environment right away after the course, without any problems. 
Thanks again to you Francesco and the whole LeWagon Milan team!

I must confess that my expectations were incredibly high before I start the bootcamp, but in reality the course was even better than I was expecting. It starts hard, and that's necessary for you to embrace the complexity of the program, but once you understand how things work, you can do anything you can without much effort. The reality is that every one of us build super amazing applications within 2 weeks, much faster than many professional web developers. I was even able to build my personal website in 2 days, after finish the bootcamp: https://hugoabreu.pt 
So, if you're looking to become a web developer, or like me, to embrace a career of technical project manager, Le Wagon is your place. I did my course in Tokyo and I can only recommend the staff from there! 

Le Wagon has officially changed my life.

I hadn’t done too much research before I applied to Le Wagon. I had read some reviews online and everyone had amazing things to say. Honestly, there were soo many good reviews that I started fearing that it was too good to be true. But now, having finished the course I can say I was not disappointed. In all honesty, I wish I could wake up every day and head to class. The 9 weeks are tough, I mean if you are learning something that could be taught in a span of 2 years in 9 weeks, can you expect anything less. Some days went by so fast while other days I was so overwhelmed with the coding language. There were also times of stress and exhausting, but nothing that I couldn’t overcome at the end of the day.

The reason  why I believe Le Wagon works and would highly recommend it is:
1 - Students become teachers
    Le wagon has built up a family of alumni who are so passionate and believe in the lesson that ex-students come back to class and become your TAs. From day one, you meet people that can relate and understand everything you are going through. In addition, it is super encouraging to know that soon you could also be teaching the next batch.

2- The Setup
    It’s like waking up every morning to take part of a startup. Tables are communal, there are plants on every desk, there is an open floor plan, everyone can talk to everyone, and people work at their own pace. Want to take a 2-hour lunch break? No one is going to say anything, as long as your work is done by live code. Also, free beers at the end of a day is always a plus

3- The Final Project
    The opportunity to be able to pitch an idea, and have the idea chosen to be built is amazing. I was so lucky to have a fantastic team to work with. During these 2 weeks, you learn so much about yourself, coding, working in teams, and what the future can hold.

If you are reading this review it means that you at least have some interest in learning to code. Good! It is amazing!

Le Wagon made me realise a couple of things. The first thing is: knowing how to code and how developers think and work is indispensable if you want to start you own startup and/or manage developers.

The second thing is: if you put in the time you can become a developer. Before the bootcamp I was a Teacher/Freelance filmmaker and I never really saw programming as something I could do even though I have done some coding during middle school and university. Then I joined batch 173 of the Le Wagon bootcamp and felt right at home. It was such a diverse, friendly and motivated group that it felt like hanging out with friends. Don't get me wrong. You have to work hard. But you are working hard together and supporting each other during the bootcamp.

The teachers and TA's are a great plus as well. The teachers know the industry and the programs you will work with inside and out and the TA's are just like you but with a couple months more experience. They did the same bootcamp and can relate with the problems you might run into.

They teach you not just how to work with Ruby and Ruby on Rails but also the knowledge and skills you need to learn other programming languages. They give you a solid base to develop yourself from.

Le Wagon starts as a bootcamp but becomes a supportive and positive community. It has been a couple of months and I am still in contact with a lot of people from my batch.

I have made some lifelong friends and have a sound foundation in coding. I would recommend this bootcamp to anyone!

本人出国党，坐标成都。明年将于伦斯勒理工就读计算机科学专业。 
为了让我的申请更出彩并提前准备大学的学习，我高二暑假在升学顾问建议下参加了Le Wagon编程训练营。 
虽然在内地，但我们那一届的学员百分之八十都来自世界各地，学习环境当然是英文。 
课程的内容主要是全栈开发，使用的框架是Ruby on Rails。 
即使我之前有一定的编程基础，这个课程对我来说也是有挑战的。每天学习的强度固然大，但老师和助教都会很热心地帮助你。学员也都相当认真，在这种环境下你能很高效的学习。勤苦一天下来，想一想当天的进步和收获，劳累就只是过眼云烟。 
排除掉所有硬核的知识或技术不说，Le Wagon最重要的是让我增强了团队合作的能力。在来Le Wagon之前，我一直是个独狼程序员，从来没有和他人一起写过代码。在Le Wagon学习的两个月内，我发现自己团队合作的能力与日俱增。 
我们每天下午都会和另一位同学两人一组，完成某些程序。与同学讨论的过程非常锻炼表达想法的能力。除了最后的产品，我们有定期需要团队合作的项目。在合作中，每个人都可以负责他想做的部分，从而专注于他认为更有价值更有意义的事。同样，我们的团队都会很开放，每个人都有一技之长，并且可以从团队成员里学到知识技术。而在一些比如用户界面，用户体验设计等主观性较强的问题上，这样一个多样化的团队则能给予关键的意见和建议。 
对才入坑的新手来说，虽然编程的学习肯定不是一蹴而就的，但Le Wagon绝对能为你夯实一个非常牢固的基础。而对已有经验的程序猿，Le Wagon提供了一个非常强大的校友网络。你可以了解编程方面最新的资讯，甚至找到一份工作或合作伙伴。

As UX designer who owns a startup in online education with a background in industrial engineering, I wanted to enhance my knowledge of coding in order to understand my product better and strengthen our developing manpower. The reviews of Le Wagon were great but what convinced me to go there was the testimony of Le Wagon alumna. The structure is very well organized so that you learn in the best conditions with the support of tutors and the community. Once the boot camp is done, you have access to all the material that was given to you including the videos of the lessons that were given to you. But what truly makes it amazing is that you then belong to an international community of game changers in the web industry and else. This has been a life changing experience for me and many others.

The lack of negative reviews I found online gave me very high expectations about the bootcamp. Le Wagon managed to surpass them all. Learning new languages? Coding a fully functional website? All of that in just 9 weeks? Believe it or not, it is possible at le Wagon.

From writing your first line of code to building your final project and see it come to life, the amount of knowledge you get during these 9 weeks is truly impressive. You would be amazed by how much you can learn and build in such a short period of time.

More than just a school, when you join Le Wagon you become part of a community, a family some would say. It’s not all about coding. Le Wagon organizes bi-weekly yoga sessions, events and meet-ups with entrepreneurs to name a few. The working environment is so great that I decided to become a teaching assistant and pass on the knowledge I had just acquired. Leaving Le Wagon was just not an option for me.

All in all, joining Le Wagon is one of the best decision I’ve ever made. Make most out of everyday you spend there because it will be over before you know it..

A life-changing experience, I still can’t believe what I’ve learned in such short of time. I can honestly say my expectation was overly exceeded. When I applied, I was just expecting to gain coding skills which obviously makes sense since it’s a code Bootcamp, what other can you expect right? I mean that’s all I was looking for, but then Le Wagon happened! On top of coding skills, I gained two other very important skills, which are problem-solving skill and can do attitude and I can confidently say these two skills have had a positive impact in my life since then.

So, it all began when I was working on my final project at university which was also my business idea. It involved making a business plan for an application, though it annoyed me that I didn’t understand the technical part of my idea and that I wasn’t going to contribute much on this side. But then the idea came in my mind, what if I can learn it? That’s how I started searching and exploring my options. I found Le Wagon and at first I was very sceptical and thought it was too good to be true, mainly because all reviews were positive, I mean ritually Le Wagon’s every public appearance is positive but then I took my chances and went for it, after having a Skype call with Guillaume (who is Bootcamp Manager at Le Wagon Montreal). That was one of the best decision I ever took!

During Bootcamp, I loved the entrepreneurial StartUp mood environment we studied in, every day was different and unique, and the most exciting part was our final project where we had to come up with an idea and actually implement it in just ten days. My three teammates and I came up with an idea to build a chatbot that can recommend the perfect gift in just a few minutes and within the user’s budget (Regalo that was the name of the app). The journey to build the app was breathtaking, mainly because we couldn’t believe that we were able to do it and we were! We did it! I mean I can go on and go on. And Yes, I would definitely recommend anyone to attend Le wagon Bootcamp. It’s an intense nine weeks, It’s not meant to be easy but it’s definitely doable. My advice to you is to have a positive attitude and don’t give up on yourself, I can do it, You can do it!

I spent many late nights and weekends trying to teach myself how to code, over many months, with very little results. I was sure that if I quit my job and dedicated myself full time to learning how to code that I could teach myself properly, and certainly not pay money for a bootcamp when there were so many online resources. After quitting my job and spending a couple of weeks of long days in a library teaching myself, I had spent most of that time stuck on tiny coding problems, and I knew that the only way I could progress quickly was by having a teacher. After doing research on what the top bootcamp in Melbourne was, I settled on Le Wagon.

I’m so happy that I did!! Le Wagon surpassed my expectations, I had expected non-communicative teachers who would lecture in the morning and bail during exercises. Instead, I experienced some of the best teaching in my adult life, and the ratio of students to teachers/teacher’s assistants was so good that I had as much face to face time for help with exercises that I needed - in fact, asking for help was encouraged. While the bootcamp moved quickly, the teachers provided all the foundational tools I would need to explore complex topics further in my own time, and even sometimes provided additional after-hours support. I am so impressed with Le Wagon and recommend it to everyone that I meet!

I would not hesitate to recommend LeWagon to someone who is looking to get into coding for any reason. TThe course is designed to provide students with the tech skills necessary to enter the job market for tech-related roles, while being sufficiently product focused to allow them to build their own product for those looking to kick-start their business. It’s not easy and very intense, but if you are dedicated and committed to learning anyone can complete it and come out the other side a developer!

I was an IT & account manager for different companies based in Morocco, I have always been a tech hobbyist & a self-taught person inquisitive to learn more about new technologies & programming languages, coding in particular was something I truly love to do, but I needed an intensive program or courses allowing me to practice through pair programming instead of learning it solo. 

For a time I have been dealing with this energetic determination to change my career and embrace the tech industry, I was carrying it too far until i began to search all over the internet for a coding school, there were so many bootcamps all over the world with plenty of challenges & resourceful courses online but only one hindrance ... there wasn’t any coding bootcamp back then in Morocco. 

Until one day, while visiting the official website of Le Wagon, I was already informed about how the reviews regarding this school were positive, I also watched some of their demo-day videos from different batches all over the world and it was really motivating. Boy was I surprised to find out that Le Wagon was in Casablanca, no doubt that this would be the perfect place where I could be part of a coding bootcamp such as Le Wagon, since there is an emerging & growing tech industry at a tremendous speed in my city and I felt so bad that I didn’t had all the necessary skills or experience to be part of this. 

Le Wagon was already one of the top schools I surely considered, the whole program was extensive & structured with essential programming languages to learn, it is the only coding bootcamp that describes fairly well the skills you would acquire only in 9 weeks, my thought at this time was “what are you waiting for ? “ ... and then the red van adventure started ! My first day at Le Wagon was even more surprising when I noticed the diversity of the students & teachers, it was even more impressive to notice that 60% of my batch were women who wanted to change their life, learn how to code & build their own web apps, that was even more inspiring when I got the chance to know how everyone was motivated, not only change their career, but also to build their actual ideas & products regardless of their culture or gender. 

It was beyond my expectations, a school that is first a community with people from different background & culture sharing the same passion as I do with one single similarity, they’re all coders (or students willing to become one). 

I’ll never forget the first thing I heard from our driver that recommended us to get out of our comfort zone, to know each others because the 9 weeks isn’t just about learning how to code but to learn & work together, Le Wagon isn’t just about lectures, pair programming was the cornerstone to improve our technical skills on a daily basis and to truly adopt the real mindset of a competent developer by working as a team. At first you learn Ruby, a powerful object-oriented programming language easy to write & understand for anyone who never ever did any code before, then you start with the basics from HTML, CSS, Javascript , SQL and finally the Ruby On Rails framework allowing you to build a complete & powerful web application in no time from a beginner standpoint until a more advanced one. 

7 weeks of pure code with lectures first in the morning & challenges during the whole day with the optional advanced challenges for the enthusiasts, not to forget to mention the livecode where teachers & assistants gather us by the end of the day, so that everyone solve one complex challenge together as one team. 

With the help of a dedicated staff of Teachers & Teachers Assistants, they did an amazing job to be here for us students, throughout our daily struggle of learning, practicing , completing the challenges & filling us with even more resourceful information to guide us through this journey of becoming a fullfledged developer. 

The two last weeks of the bootcamp are truly intense because it is the perfect time to really build something with all the skills you learned in such a short amount of time, and that is when you realize how “getting out of your comfort zone” feels like during project weeks, you get to face this new challenge to work with your classmates as a formed team, researching & developing together the final project with an amazing technical workflow, communication and synergy throughout the development. We ended up communicating with each other like we were already a team of experienced developers thanks to these intense 7 weeks of pure coding & challenges. 

After Le Wagon, I became a freelance web developer, I learned to be a real problem-solver during my batch and craving to face more challenges that will help me throughout my career, also to develop furthermore all the acquired technical skills with the right methodology on-hand, thanks to this amazing experience. I realized that anyone can learn to code, anyone can change their career if they are truly willing to & also, anyone can share their ideas & experiences to build their own project by meeting new people, and it is never too late for that. 

So my question for anyone who wants to learn how to code & build their ideas : “What are you waiting for to get in the red van too ? :) “

Hi, my name is Otávio and I am a Le Wagon alumni from batch-#204, taken in Rio de Janeiro between October 15th and December 14th, 2018. 
Some background about myself: I used to be a logistics project coordinator for a telecomm top 3 company. Worked for the US Government also, in a diplomatic mission. My career focused on international logistics, supply chain management, contract and process management mostly. I can honestly say I had no prior experience in programming before the course. Setting up Macros in Excel would be the closest thing. 
In the years I worked in the telecomm industry I was lucky to see technologies being developed and had a glimpse to where things are going to. IOT (internet of things), small cells, smart cars, startups... and none of that happens without a good amount of programming. 
How did I come to find Le Wagon? Talking to a friend who's been in Europe's IT industry for a long time I asked how one could insert him/herself in the IT realm without having to go through the classic computer science graduation path. That is when I learned about this growing trend of coding bootcamps. The first on the list he gave me was Le Wagon, to which he included a "best bang for the buck" tag. On a quick search in the net I found many Le Wagon alumni and their experiences (which at first sounded too good to be true). And they were considered the #1 coding bootcamp. Further in the search found some posts about this growing trend on bootcamps and how they were being considered the next MBAs but for the IT industry. And what really drew the line for me was when I reached out to Pedro, one of Le Wagons partners in Brazil & Latin America. He said that he was a photographer before starting to code at Le Wagon in Paris 2014. He liked it and believes in it so much that he brought Le Wagon to Brazil and LatAm as a matter of fact. 
It is a 9 week program. The first weeks are brutal. It's like getting home after running a triathlon (but for the brain) knowing it will happen the same thing on the next day, for the next several weeks. What kept me sane were a couple of lines Pedro told us on the very first day: "Guys, you will get desperate! You will get frustrated! STAY WITH US !! It will all fall into place at one time..." Every time I got desperate, and it wasn't only once, I remembered myself of that. They also have good TAs (teaching assistants) and lecturers who also went through the program and know our pain. It all fell into place for me during the second half of the bootcamp. 
The bootcamp is orientated not only to those who wish to become a developer, but to those entrepreneurs who wish to begin their own startups, future product owners and digital nomads. We had people from 24 to 48 years of age. I wasn't the oldest with my 42 summers in the bag. The environment is amazing. A collaborative pair programming learning process where we sit every day with someone different than the previous day. I felt lucky that in my batch I had no case of "ah no, that one again, bummer!" Everyone got along. A lot of coffee! Every Thursday there was an event with outsiders from Venture Capital owners to startups pitching for a CTO and people sharing their story of hard work, pivoting and success. Oh, and after these talks Le Wagon offered free beer. On Wednesdays there were Yoga classes to help sooth the body. Even though it was a lot of hard work, we knew there would be some yoga, talks to insert us more and more into this IT environment, and the beer to help us relax a bit. 
In the end we leave as junior developers with a good amount of skills to help us keep improving. The Le Wagon platform is also really well thought of with video lectures and information on every class with have during the bootcamp. We are given full access to it for life as well as to the Le Wagon Slack channels. In Slack we have access not only to our batch but also to job postings, all of the wagon alumni, teachers, mentors and many others. 
The whole experience changed my life. Met really interesting people. Made good friends. Learned awesome skills. And left with two projects as portfolio. 
When I was in school as a young kid, knowing another language or two would count a lot. Today it's default. The equivalent to that right now is coding.