Le Wagon

I've joined Le Wagon fullstack program from January 4th to March 4th 2016.

The program is solid and proven. Each brick of the web stack is carefully taught, and it's a pleasure to see along the program why you've been struggling so much to respect coding conventions and rules. Learning platforms and support are top level and very easy to use.

Lots of teacher assistant are former student from Le Wagon and are somehow the best people to help us, as they used to be at the same place by the past and understand perfectly the problems one might be struggling with. It's also very cool to have their feedback and experience from "after Le Wagon" and see what they've achieved!

The overall atmosphere during the camp is unbelievable, and you truly feel you're being part of a big united team. The staff is awesome and always seeking to improve the overall experience at Le Wagon. 

I deeply recommend Le Wagon to anyone wanting to learn how to code, and how to code well!

here are my take aways of this bootcamp: 

- teachers are amazing > passionate about teaching, impressive skills

- the program is very well balanced between front & back end > you really get a 360 deg tour of what's needed to know to bootstrap your company and/or work with developers efficiently and/or start to work as a junior developer.

- the community of previous students impressed me > people are nice, always eager to help out / advise le Wagon students. I really feel i joined an ecosystem with people working in all fields within the internet industry, rather that a simple collection of people. I hope i'll take the best out of it.

- learn how to learn & think as a developer > the program has a great focus on providing you with all the best practices. I feel i can now be an independant learner & keep a steep learning curve.

next steps for me:

1. bootstrap my own web project (ecommerce)

2. coming back to my previous company as a product manager (big US startup) // i was a biz dev previously

In just 9 weeks, Le Wagon manages what would have probably taken me years to learn. With a complete education, it allowed me to learn the skills needed to program my own websites, with the ability to take this knowledge to other languages.

With a style mostly focused on exercises, backed by fantastic teachers and TAs, it makes sure that everyone gets the best education they can, no matter what their level is. The emphasis on project work and the use of Github is also a massive plus, because it allows for a seamless integration to a professional dev team.

I have had 2 big steps during my education which opens me opportunities. The first one was my scientific high-school degree and the second one was my engineering school. Recently, i had one more step : Le Wagon. Participate to this bootcamp brought me new skills but mostly tonnes of opportunities.  

In my opinion, to learn how to code is something mandatory today. Le Wagon gave us  more than just learn how to code, they gave us a bag-pack full of tips to be ready to brave new challenges, deepen the skills, learn new ones, ...

On top of that, after the 9 weeks you can rely on the alumni network which open even more possibilities (jobs, teaching, tips, ...). Le Wagon was the best experience I had since a long time ... Do it eyes closed it's awesome !

I always wanted to learn programming but never had the time. I have been a photographer for more then 10 years and had a few ideas for apps and online platforms but didn't know where to start. I looked for CTO's everywhere but couldn't afford one for each project. I found out about lewagon and researched about the curriculum they we're offering. I learned everything I needed to learn and way more. Only nine weeks after I understand coding very well and I see doors of knowledge, work and projects opening up everywhere for me. It gave me the tools that I needed to walk to my future. Awesome staff, great location, and an amazing learning platform that is accessible even when you finished the course. Resources, contacts, everything you need to either find a job as a developper or start your own start-ups! I would really recommend to everyone, it changed my life. The dream of becoming a developper actually came true with their help.

Just before finishing my business school degree I felt a real lack of technical knowledge. "Le Wagon" was a real rebirth!

At first I just wanted to have enough knowledge in order to exchange with developers, find out what is doable and know how to build a basic project. 
But the staff will learn you much more; how to organise yourself, make you travel in the startup world, how to pitch your project, etc. 
Now I want to know even more about coding. The staff is really amazing!!!! 
If every school had the same way of learning stuff to people we would probably all be geniuses.

I can only recommend this program!

I worked in the digital industry (agency and product) for the 4 past years but was still really frustrated because I could not code my own idea and couldn't understand how the code works. I found le Wagon because they organized surf & code trip but i did not go. One year later i decided to join the 9wk program.

This was obsiously the best educational experience of my life.

A typical day at le Wagon starts by a course of 2h then you practice the rest of the day through many exercises (even some hardcore ones if you rock enough !). Practice makes perfect applies here. You can get help from the assistants who are for the most part former students so they really understand beginners. At the end you are able to learn new languages and frameworks by your own. That's just the beginning of your journey :-)

This experience has changed my life in every aspects.

Overall, I learnt more than I could ever imagine in 9 weeks, I desgined, encoded and Pitch a full MVP, became enthusiastic and thrilled about my day to day job and I made a lot a friend that I'll keep for the rest of my life.

I'm now developping my own start-up and encoding new apps with confidence thanks to the vast and comprehensive program that I followed at Le Wagon and with the help of their powerful Alumni network and powerful intranet with exceptionally current & accurate resources I can access for the rest life anytime, anywhere!

Thank you for what you do and especially how you do it!

(not like a business but like a real organisation that has a duty to work towards the common good!)

Having absolutely no technical background (I formerly worked as a content editor), I was amazed by the level I reached in such a short period of time. Of course, this is an intensive program : the pace is fast, the schedule tight, you have to be hardworking from day one to the very last days. But courses are very well structured and thought out, teachers are helpful and dedicated to their students, and you can count on your wonderful buddies since you are strongly encouraged to work as a team. Le Wagon is not only a unique learning experience it is also a great rewarding human experience. 

Just have a look at the project we developed in ten days : it is a data-visualization tool to analyze Twitter accounts (we chose to focus on politicians) http://the-impact.herokuapp.com/

Thanks to Le Wagon, I am now able to build my own web app and currently work as a freelancer :)