Le Wagon

In a nutshell – Le Wagon, London is a fantastic coding bootcamp - I highly recommend it.

Prior to joining the January 2018 batch, I had been working in sustainability consulting for several years. But I needed a change and having an interest in tech startups and an ambition to launch a business, I went part time to pursue an idea. Soon I had launched a Wordpress site to gauge market interest and start solving the problem. The feedback was OK but ultimately it brushed over the pain and didn’t adequately offer a solution. It needed more, I needed to iterate the site but where next? I didn’t know a great deal about any of the tech stacks and even if I had the money to spend how was I meant to brief developers? How would I know I was getting value for money? It soon became clear that my lack of knowledge here was a barrier. So, I researched resources and started some lessons on freecodecamp. Don’t get me wrong, their resources are good but it was slow-going for me and I didn’t feel I had enough direction. I felt I needed to properly dive-in to jump start progress!

So I checked out a few bootcamps. After attending a couple of events from Le Wagon, including attending the previous batch’s demo day and having a conversation with Ed (the guy who runs things in London), I felt this was the right bootcamp for me.

I wasn’t wrong – it was a challenging 9 weeks but it was definitely worth it. Structured lessons every morning and lots of practice for the rest of the day – tiring stuff. But the teachers and teaching assistants really do help and are there for you if you are seriously stuck (it will happen)! The structure of the course was great and even though things in the tech industry change quickly the teaching team clearly adapts lessons to accommodate for them. In the last three weeks you put it all in to practice with your own projects - for the creative and entrepreneurial this is fantastic!

In those final 2 weeks, with the help of two great classmates, my site was rebuilt (www.oscapes.tech). Rebuilt is the wrong word … it’s more than that, it’s dynamic and is built on a Ruby on Rails tech stack that I understand, know how it works and can change myself! I met great people (teachers and classmates included), learnt a lot and had a great time! I couldn’t ask more from the course and look forward to the journey ahead!

This time last year I was a ski instructor.

In some ways it was exactly the dream I had imagined, I loved the town I lived in, I loved the people I met and I loved the vast mountain scenery. What I didn’t love so much were the uncertain hours, the ridiculously low pay and the repetitive work. After a couple of years in Canada I resolved to start a real career and turned to something I had always had an interest in, tech.

I started my journey alone, doing online coding courses via resources like CodeCademy and Udemy, but I soon found that I wasn’t really absorbing the knowledge. I felt like I was following instructions and copying code rather than understanding the reasons behind what I was doing. As a result, I took the decision to fast-track my learning by applying to a coding bootcamp. Finding Le Wagon wasn’t hard, googling “best coding bootcamp in London” brought up a number of ranking and comparison sites and they all ranked Le Wagon #1, having just finished the nine week course myself, it’s easy to see why.

The first week is a bit of a culture shock, you come to realise the magnitude of what you don’t know and start to think that there is no way you can gain any meaningful understanding in the nine weeks you have here. Then, slowly, things begin to fall into place, you start to understand how Ruby works and the potential power it has. This understanding builds day on day, week on week until all of a sudden you find yourself with an extensive knowledge, and more importantly, understanding, of Ruby’s inner workings. After this you start to learn about front-end development, with HTML, CSS and Javascript before jumping into the rails framework and seeing everything you have learned come together into a cohesive end result.

The final two weeks were the most enjoyable of the nine, pitching ideas and splitting into teams to build your own apps was an awesome experience. I was part of a team of four which built a facebook chatbot and associated rails app called Voyagr which provides tailored travel inspiration. In week one I would never have believed it possible that I could create something so complex, but by week seven I was itching to put my hard earned knowledge to the test and my confidence was sky high.

Throughout the nine weeks you are surrounded by teachers and teaching assistants ready to further explain the finer points of the days topic as well as provide a helping hand debugging your code. These are the people who make Le Wagon truly special, their ability to confer understanding is second to none and is the reason why I have learned in nine weeks what would have taken my years to learn by myself.

Having finished batch #123 I have started learning Node and ReactJS at a pace which far outsrips my first forays into the coding world. This is something which Le Wagon teaches almost as a byproduct; the knowledge and mindset which allows you to go on from the course and further your understanding in whatever direction you choose. The resources Le Wagon supplies after the course has finished coupled with an very active 2000+ alumni network means that even though I have finished the nine week bootcamp I don’t feel like I’ve finished with Le Wagon, quite the opposite in fact, I feel like I’m just starting.

After finishing at Cambridge University and getting job offers I was not particularly keen on, I decided to take a year to just  do all the things I had put off and at the top was learning how to code because I wanted the ability to build my ideas for cool products and services.
 
Before I jumped on Le Wagon 9-week intensive coding bootcamp, I researched all the coding resources. I came across free sites such Codecademy and sites like Udemy that have top quality content at an affordable price.

I also checked out loads of youtube tutorials and got to grips with the jargon but came to the conclusion that for me, I needed to throw myself in the deep end and JUST DO IT if I ever wanted to jumpstart my goal because I learn best when there is pressure and lots of things to get done. Otherwise, I would waste precious time and energy trudging along. This is why I ultimately decided to go the coding bootcamp-route and London is amazing for this as there are so many options for various goals.

I came across General Assembly and attended their events, I liked their weekend courses (you can do front end and back end separate at a slow pace) and the intensive option ('come at me bro'- pace) which I leaned towards. Then I got in touch with Makers Academy and they did the intense approach while hooking you up to a paid gig at the end of it which I thought was pretty cool. However, it was when I came across Le Wagon and saw these fun-loving people with pure passion going after their unique goals that I knew this is where I was going to learn the best because I loved the vibe and the genuine camaraderie of the people. Most places are very transactional, which is fair enough because it's a business but that's not Le Wagon. It genuinely is a community and people gravitate towards like-minded peers/instructors to further their goals. Yeah, you pay for the course but you quickly realize that it's so much more than just a course, it is a way of approaching the tech sector from problem solving to networking to exploring cool ideas to figuring out where you want to be and how best to get there as so many experienced devs, product managers, founders/cofounders are regularly invited to talk about their experiences and field questions at Le Wagon's working space. Seriously, how cool is Le Wagon that you can code all day getting, getting stuck, fixing the bug(s) and in the evening you are sat in front of legends asking all your serious/silly questions to someone that has done what you want to do or think you want to do? I absolutely loved it and learned so much that would have taken me months if not a few years to cover through simply asking the right questions to the right people. It's priceless (it's 6.5 but you know what I mean).
I am currently done with bootcamp and got to work on one of my ideas to solve a problem that has been nagging at me for years. I will have a market of one so things are already looking up!
If you want to just learn how to code, build a business, meet cool people who chase their goals proactively and have deep meaningful conversations over lunch/drinks…. I recommend Le Wagon London without hesitation. 

Le Wagon Bali is the best place to learn programming! I attended the bootcamp without any prior coding experience and after only 2 months of the bootcamp, my team and I successfully built a working prototype of RunDB (https://www.run-db.com). I never thought this would be possible before coming to Bali!
A little bit about myself…
After 4 years of working in sales and business development, I wanted to be an entrepreneur and launched my own startup Atletude. Without any coding knowledge, I could only count on my developer friends to help me code my web app. But after a while I felt I was limited from contributing to my project and could not properly communicate my ideas with my developers. So, I decided to quit my job and learn to code.
What can you expect from the bootcamp?
You will find that the first few weeks of the bootcamp are built to be very challenging as it is a series of days of fast paced and intensive learning of new concepts. However, don't be worried because there is more than enough resources to see that you pull through. The teaching community will provide one-to-one time if you need and the unique pedagogy encourages you to learn with the fellow students and you are never left alone. Then slowly, you will start to see how all the concepts you learn come together and as if by magic you will start coding! By the final 2 weeks of the camp, you will be able to design and develop a working web app and work as a team like developers do. This rapid progress completely exceeded my expectation of what the bootcamp can deliver in such a short time! In the end, I learnt five new languages and understood how developers think, design, work together and create web apps which was exactly what I came to to Bali to learn.
And why did I choose Le Wagon Bali of all places?
I was trying to decide which city of Le Wagon would help my learning experience the most. In the end, I chose Bali and brought along my wife and my 2 month old baby. And so far, it was the best decision of my life! Imagine surfing in the morning, coding in the day and enjoying beautiful sunsets on the beach or in one of the many cool restaurants in Canggu with your new friends at the bootcamp - this is just regular life at Le Wagon Bali and not an exaggeration of what you can expect. On top of the relaxing environment to help me learn to code, the extremely well organised camp and the extra activities also enriched my experience. We were even brought on a boat trip to nearby islands and given interesting talks and workshops about the tech world. And did I mention the amazing morning coffee?!? The whole experience was so amazing that, and I know it doesn’t really make sense, I would love to do the same bootcamp all over again 

I don't think that sharing my story is quite relevant. However, I will make a little summary of what I liked during the bootcamp and what I didn't so that if you didn't apply for Le Wagon yet you can have a precise idea of how things works there.

So, Le Wagon is composed of two main parts: the Kitt platform and the Teachers. Kitt gather the courses, the exercises and some resources. Your access to Kitt start the first day of the bootcamp and never ends, which means that when Kitt is updated with for example new courses, you will be able to get them even if your bootcamp session is finished, which is GREAT. 
Then there are the Teachers. They are going to help you learn coding all the while having fun. Every morning, you're going to have a 2-hour course on something new with one of them. 
During the afternoon, you're going to work on a bunch of exercises that correspond to the lesson you got earlier. If you have some difficulties you can get help by asking to your buddy of the day or by sending a message to the teacher through Kitt. At the end of the day, the Teacher is going to do the correction of the exercises. Also, if during the day there is something that you still didn't understood you can re-watch the course on Kitt.

Personally, I loved this organization. The only thing I was disappointed about was that if you killed all the exercises of the day, there is nothing to do until the correction.
Nevertheless, the exercises are interesting and the courses are very clear. I learned much more than I expected. It was a great experience.

Le Wagon program fullstack: 100% approved.

Nine weeks seems like such a short time. But nine weeks is all you need when you are at Le Wagon. You will learn how to build a website, make it look pretty and be proud of what you’ve achieved.

Personally it’s more than I can say from my degree and I spent much more time and money on it. If you are considering a change in career or the start of a new one I think this is the way to go.

I didn’t try other bootcamps but I find it difficult to believe I could have found one better. I was working in a career unsuited for my personality and this fit like a glove and gave my a taste for a totally new field.

Don’t miss out!

Prior to starting my MBA at INSEAD i wanted to learn computer programming in order to start a business. I tried for 6-8 weeks to learn ruby and JavaScript with a book and various online programmes without much success. Fed up with my lack of progress, I applied to LeWagon and started two weeks later in Rio de Janeiro. The course exceeded my expectations by far. This is for the following reasons: 1.) incredibly well though out curriculum that is constantly updated and that has a very good logical progression, 2.) daily classes consisting of 90 min lectures, hours and hours of exercises with the help of the teacher and mentors and 90 minutes of live coding at the end of the day, 3.) incredibly attentive teachers with an unlimited level of patience, 4.) a final project that allows you to apply your coding skills in real life. My team built a web app for a social enterprise called troveko, which we pitched at the demo day. The course thus combines both coding and business skills.      I would wholeheartedly recommend the course. 

Le Wagon Tokyo in one word: great. I learned a tremendous amount and it was made fully evident on demo day with so much positive feedback. People were genuinely impressed with what we could do. It’s the type of program where you really get what you put in: if you are serious about becoming a developer, you can definitely become one. I am now working as a Rails developer and continuing my projects from Le Wagon, so evidently I am very pleased with everything that came from the experience. 
Our drivers Sylvain and Paul were also consistently great. They provided lots of great resources, events and networking opportunities which really made a big difference. They are clearly well immersed in the tech community in Tokyo.
I feel a strong sense of community, and I look forward to contribute to it in every way I can.

Before I joined the Le Wagon Tokyo I worked for eight years for a number of Fortune 500 companies in a Corporate Finance environment. I never coded or had any programming experience before, and to come away at the end of camp with the ability to understand how to build an application from product design and conception to full-working production online was unbelievable and invigorating!

All of the Tokyo staff were so impressive and accomplished, it inspires you to want to do more for yourself.

Having continued access to Le Wagon resources as an alumni afterwards is so beneficial. Through the Le Wagon Tokyo experience, I was able to land a new job as Chief Operating Officer of an established startup overseeing development. I am now on a course to a new life and career path in Japan and this was much more than I ever imagined to happen!

Entrepreneur for almost a decade prior to attending Le Wagon, I' had been wanting to code for years, until I sold and closed both projects I was busy with, clearing up the precious 9 weeks I needed for the bootcamp.

It was a blast.

I loved the experience, the people, the new opportunities.

I now freelance as a full stack web developer and I teach coding at Le Wagon and other communities in Copenhagen where I'm located, but also in Paris, Berlin etc.

Le Wagon truly changed my life.

 

My name is Cassiano Mangini da Costa, I'm 31 years old, from Santos, São Paulo, Brazil, graduated in Information Systems from the Catholic University of Santos (2008 - 2012).  I have experience in IT as a Cobol programmer, systems analyst and IT architecture analyst at Bank Bradesco and Bank Itau. At the end of 2014, I decided to leave aside my career as a systems analyst to realize the dream of going abroad to learn English and to be in contact with a different culture.The destination chosen was the city of Cork in Ireland. In the beginning of 2016 after completed my English course and my IELTS certification, I got a job in Apple's as a third party, responsible for supporting Apple Maps users, as well as data analysis and other activities. In 2017 I decided it was time to go back to something more related to my degree and experience, but 3 years had passed since my last experience as a systems analyst.  I was not feeling prepared to apply to any IT job position, I felt that I needed to recycle my CV and update my knowledge. I started researching about boot camps, as well as chatting with many friends about possibilities.  One of my friends was attending the Le Wagon course in Barcelona and he was really enjoying what he was learning. I have decided to read a little more about the boot camp, the content taught and the roles of a full stack developer. I was considering attending the course in Europe, but to my surprise one of the cities from the next batch would be São Paulo. That was all I wanted! To be studying and being close to my family and friends again. I have made my registration and the interview with Mathieu motivated me even more to attend the course. Time to pack all my stuff, go back to Brazil and face this challenge! Le Wagon's teaching approach really surprised me, I was motivated and challenged from the first to the last day of the course. The first few weeks were very difficult for everyone, but with the support of teachers and classmates, I knew the end result would be worthwhile.  And in the blink of an eye, it was time to develop our final project. Despite having some personal ideas of final projects, I decided to accept the invitation from a colleague to develop an intelligent platform (Advalori) to bring together clients (startups and small/medium companies) who needed to improve and control their cash flow with investors (factorings). It was incredible what we were able to develop in just 10 days! After having finalized the course in December, I took a break, so that in 2018 I could start the hunt for my first work as a Full Stack Developer.  And the reward and dedication came in less than a month of searching. After some tests and interviews, I got my first job as Full Stack Developer in GigaServices. GigaServices is an IT consulting firm, founded in 2009, based in Sao Paulo and in Curitiba, SP, Brazil.  They have clients as GO Eyewear, Mundial S.A, Softfilm, Dermiwil, Trident and Livraria Saraiva. I am part of the team responsible for developing all the demand (bugs fix and systems innovation) and data integration. The mainly product of GigaServices is MOBBIZ (www.mobbiz.com.br), a web platform that can do many activities such as: sales force automation, digital catalog, accountability, agenda of appointments, news and notifications, trainings via tablets, check list, action plan and summary of performance. The excitement and search for more knowledge are just beginning! Thank you Le Wagon for everything!  

Hi, i'm Corentin i was student at Le Wagon Bordeaux batch 127 in January 2018. I used to be an optician. I wanted to change my life because it was bored and had a passion for computer science. So I decided to learn to code to become Web Developer. I choose Le Wagon and i'm not disappointed because in two month i have learnt a lot of technical skills, languages and tips with qualify teachers. Our final project was amazing for very young developers like us. It's one of the best experience of my life, it's the best bootcamp and it's accessible to all.

IN A NUTSHELL:
The 8 weeks of the bootcamp will be tough and fast-paced, but when you look back at the end of the course, you truly feel empowered with the skills and knowledge to build a fully functional web-based app/ website. The course is originally designed for entrepreneurs who would like to learn how to build a website/ app for their business, yet it is very relevant for people who want to work as freelance developers, or who want to quickly learn what programming is about (like myself, I’m an independent management and strategy consultant with a now good knowledge in data analysis/ visualisation to offer to my clients). The course in Bali is very well staffed, students come from various walks of life and create a truly immersive community during the whole course. This was clearly one of the best learning experience in my life so far!
 

FULL STORY:
I decided to learn coding for two main reasons. Firstly, I had a few times some ideas for apps or websites, but never knew where and how to start to build a proof of concept; I was using this lack of skill as an excuse not to go any step further. Secondly, I believe that coding (any language or any context) will become a crucial skill in most of jobs - as important as knowing how to use a computer, excel… - especially when dealing with an ever-growing amount of data on a daily basis.

I tried without success to learn coding by myself, but I lacked the structure to help me getting started on what was important and to deliver step by step an extensive and demanding knowledge. So I decided to look into coding bootcamps available, and the one that caught my attention was Le Wagon. I had a couple of ex-colleagues who did the bootcamp recently and contacted them to hear more about their experience. They easily convinced me.
Just like me, they were working in Management and Strategy consulting for ~5 years, helping venerable industries to improve their businesses, but always far from the new Tech scene. Yet, they all learned invaluable skills that they are now using on a daily basis (they now fully switched to the tech industry).

Before I dive into the content of the bootcamp, I must say that the 8 weeks the course last are extremely fast paced and demanding. The hours can be long, but mostly our brains were mobilised and learning new skills almost 24/7! This is not for the faint-hearted! But all the pain endured is quickly forgotten when we saw the first results.
The first three weeks are dedicated to the core of programming. Basically, you will learn how Ruby (and most computer language) is built and how to quickly build back-end software. This part can be frustrating as you basically learn the first year of computer sciences in 3 weeks. But this is invaluable as you learn how to progressively think like a programmer and understand the logic of any computer language. Then you have about 2 weeks of front end (HTML, CSS, JS) and database management where you learn all the best practice, and because it’s front-end, you quickly feel empowered as you can see you are actually building beautiful webpages. The last 3 weeks are the most interesting: they are the projects weeks. On the first of these weeks, each team rebuilds a copycat of Airbnb from scratch (that’s really amazing – everyone after only 6 weeks is able to build such a site, with fully functional back and front ends!), then the last two weeks are for the projects pitched by students. On top of connecting all the dots (back and front ends), this is an excellent exercise to learn extra features (depending on the project needs) and to learn how to collaborate within a team of developers.

What does Le Wagon give you in the end? The results are pretty self-explanatory: every student is capable of building a fully functional website/ app that they present at the end of the bootcamp. On top of this, Le Wagon gives you access to a huge library of resources, classes, videos… that you can access for life. Very useful when you want to review a specific point of the course, or when a new module is added to the course. Last, but not least, it gives you access to an extensive network of teachers and alumni to help and support you.

Following Le Wagon in Bali is a unique experience: yes it can be frustrating to spend whole sunny days in front of your laptop, but the experiences are awesome. Students come from across the globe and all have different walks of life, creating an immense sense of cohesion within all classmates. No need to sell the charms of Bali, but did you know that it is also the number one destination for digital nomads (source nomadslist.com)? This means lots of freelancers who can give you advice if the digital nomad’s lifestyle appeals to you.

As for myself, I am back home where although I am back to working as a freelance Management and Strategy consultant, I feel sharper than ever as I know I could effectively build a proof of concept for any app that would come to my mind (and I’m still working in my free time on my Le Wagon’s project), but also as a consultant, I can bring to the table real skills in data analysis, visualisation etc… that only few other professionals have. So that’s what I’m building now, the bridge between business people and data geeks!

You will learn a lot of thing in so little time it’s just amazing but it’s difficult so be prepare because you can be overwhelmed easily with the amount of information you’ll receive.
I had a high school diploma in IT networking but that was not exactly what I wanted to do in my life so I decided to join Le Wagon to learn how to become a web developer.
I was in Le Wagon Bordeaux #127 the teachers and everyone else are nice and more than helpful they will push you to be better.
To be honest, before to participate to Le Wagon Program, I wasn’t convince that it was that good… but since I’ve finished the program I can say it’s worth it ! I am 100% satisfied with my experience.
Don’t be scared, if you take it seriously, you will not waste your time !

My review is kind of long so I’ll start of with a summary- if you are thinking about a career in web development or just want to learn a new set of marketable skills, do the Le Wagon bootcamp. I couldn’t believe that it could live up to all the positive reviews I found before starting the course, but it did and then some.

 

Right from the get go Le Wagon does two things amazingly well- teaching you how to code and making you feel part of a community. They send you an extensive list of prepwork to do so that you have a bit of foundation and can hit the ground running on Day 1. Frequent drinks are organized to encourage everyone to hang out. This is really effective- by the end you will have made some really good friends and an extensive contact list of established and budding developers.

If you like a challenge you will love the daily routine at Le Wagon. Attend a 60-90 minute lecture in the morning covering a particular topic, after which you spend the next 6-7 hours tackling tasks based around this material. It is not all smooth sailing- there are tonnes of moments where you feel like tearing your hair out in frustration. But there are an equal amount of “eureka!” moments when you finally lock down a concept. And there are always a group of extremely capable TA’s to help out- if you put in a ticket they will generally be with you in a couple of minutes. It is crazy how good some of these guys are at reading your mess of code and figuring out what you’re actually trying to do. They are all genuine guys who are really easy to get along with and who you will also count as friends by the end of the course.

 

By week 4 or 5 you really start to see how all the skills you are learning are coming together and then this is all consolidated by the two projects you do in the last 3 weeks of the course. THese projects give you invaluable experience in creating a project from scratch and learning how to code a product with your partners.

 

The office itself is amazing. Such a great workspace to learn in. It really starts to feel like home by the end of it and we were genuinely sad to leave. Ed, who manages Le Wagon London, is an amazing guy who is always willing to have a chat and give you encouragement.

They set up some really good talks to help guide you through the post-bootcamp-find-a-job phase. I left knowing what needed to be done in order to both continue developing my skills and to conduct a successful job search.

Other great perks:

Coffee anytime you want it

Yogas Tuesdays and Thursdays

 

Final Summary:

Teaching- great

TA’s- super-skilled and friendly

Workspace- top-notch

Tasks- challenging and fun to work on

Fellow students- varied bunch in terms of origin, age and experience which makes it a delight to get to know everyone.

Top tips:

Prepwork- do it! And maybe re-do the ruby section just before the bootcamp starts to really hit the ground running. If you have time, revisit a bit of the Javascript prep before you start the JS section.

Flashcards- find time to do these. It will really help with consolidating material. Also make use of the bookmark function for important or tricky cards. This is both useful during the course and afterwards.

Be on time for lecture and pay attention- showing up even a bit late will make it tricky to get the material

Do not get disheartened if you don’t completely get a concept. You will often find that after a bit of time it will become second nature to you. I’m looking at you iterators.

Don’t get a chromebook! I tried and struggled throughout the course

Try and do yoga, if you’re so inclined. The instructor is excellent and it really helps to clear your mind.

Go to drinks on Fridays- it really helps you to unwind and build friendships

Relax on the weekends- your brain needs time to process material. Speaking of which, have fun with dreaming about coding.

My goals in pursuing a code bootcamp were to relearn to code, to build a recruitment app to boost my business, and hopefully attract others to the project.


After a thorough research, I decided to enroll in Le Wagon Bali. The course itself has already been described in many of the other reviews so I won’t go into detail here. But I really want to highlight four differentiators:


First, how organized, structured and thoughtfully-composed the program is. The amount of information to take in can be overwhelming but the platform Le Wagon has built is unique and greatly facilitates learning.

Second, how hands-on the program is. You actually spend the majority of the day solving exercises and applying your new knowledge.


Third, the last two weeks of the bootcamp you get to build a live, functional app with a team of others. In my case, we built the very project I was dreaming of for Find My Flock. I thought I would only be starting it after the bootcamp! The tireless camp instructors not only helped solve our daily coding problems, they coached our team on the presentation for Demo Day so we’d have a boost later when seeking investment.

And lastly, the staff’s commitment to reducing stress before and throughout the learning process. Examples include pre-course prep work, yoga breaks, accommodation tips and more. One time I needed an electronics charger and they ordered it online for me in Indonesian and gave it to me in class.


So, what are the results? I left with a fully functioning recruitment web app. We’re already sending it to users to join. In addition, I hired two classmates to continue to develop. We code with the aid of a highly-active 2,500-members-strong Le Wagon alumni network. Multiple times already, I’ve posted a technical question on their Slack and gotten quick tips/help/feedback. I have never heard of these kinds of outcomes from another bootcamp.

Thank you so much Le Wagon Bali— I fully intend to sing your praises to everyone who asks!

After dropping out of college I stumbled across programming online and immediately fell in love with it. I got my feet wet with Codecademy and tried to teach myself how to code via tutorials and online mini-courses. Even though I made good progress and was able to make very simple mobile apps I always felt like I lacked the fundamentals and the structure to really be a competent developer and that’s when I realised I needed more than a simple online course, at the same time I found out about the concept of coding bootcamps, which promised very good results over a short period of time and Le Wagon ranked number one in every review site I visited, so after reading countless 5 star reviews I enrolled in Lisbon.
Everyone warned me about the pace of the bootcamp and how intense it was, but I remember being in shock with the rest of my classmates in the first week. We all felt like this was just too much to grasp in 9 weeks, but we were so wrong ! Don’t get me wrong, this is indeed A LOT to grasp in 9 weeks, but what makes Le Wagon different from every other learning experience I’ve had is the people that are apart of it - from the lead teachers, teacher assistants, the driver and even the intern! Everyone made sure we had the best guidance and support over the course, and displayed a level a of patience that I was not used to. In college, if you keep asking the teacher question after question, after a while they will just find a nice way to tell you to fuck off, whereas in Le Wagon they welcomed your questions and were always there to help you solve your challenges.
Besides the intense and rewarding learning part, which is obviously the reason why everyone decides to enroll on a bootcamp, the experience itself was great. In what other school/bootcamp are you drinking, having fun, meeting interesting people, all while learning such a overwhelming skill like web development! So much so that I looked forward to going to Le Wagon everyday, even when I knew I was going to work my ass off and be really tired by 7PM, I still wanted to go, and that can only happen if you are enjoying the journey.
The climax of this journey are the last 10 days where you and your group get to build a project from scratch to present it on Demo Day. This is the defining moment where you put to work all the skills you've been acquiring the previous 7 weeks, and by skills I’m not only talking about the hard skills ( HTML, CSS, Javascript, Ruby on rails) but also the collaboration, agile development methodology and design tips you've been taught in the bootcamp. I really enjoyed this last part of the course because it was so rewarding to create something out of nothing with skills you didn't have just a couple of months before!
At the end of the day, this was by far the best learning experience I've ever had and I would recommended to anyone, now I see why they have all of those 5 star reviews 

I graduated from Business Administration a few months ago and over the last few years, I got more and more interested in entrepreneurship, especially in the tech industry.

After an internship in a start-up in Montreal, I decided that it was time for me to build on some tech skills. I wanted to acquire the skills that will allow me to join a start-up with a product that resonates with my interest or to build my own product/projects.

As soon as I began Le Wagon batch #125, I felt that I was at the right place to build on those new skills.

As a matter of fact, Le Wagon's program was perfect for me as I had no previous experience in web development. Therefore, I needed a supportive environment to make my first steps in this challenging world.

The 9 weeks were challenging, but with the incredible support of the teachers I made the most out of it and learned full stack web development. The project weeks were incredible as all the learnings from the past weeks finally aligned in my head and suddenly I realized that I was capable of doing much more than I would have thought.

In only 2 weeks we built a functional web-app that I can use as the first major piece of my portfolio, but more importantly, I now have a clear vision of the process and challenges associated with building a web product.

I now have the keys to grow as a web-developer or product manager and I am already working on side projects while searching for a job where I will put to use my recently acquired tech skills.

Last but not least, Le Wagon is a wonderful human adventure and as a member of the family I have not only made great friends but I also have access to a strong network of mentors/business partners.

I had finished university and was unsure what to do with myself, when someone recommended trying out coding. After doing lots of online research, I decided to sign up to Le Wagon because all the reviews were very positive. I was quite nervous because it seemed like a big commitment considering I was still a bit unsure.

 

It was in fact a great decision! The teaching and the resources were amazing, and after 9 weeks I feel confident going in looking for a job in coding. Each day we were taught a new concept and then given tasks to complete to reinforce the learning, a style that really worked for me. The teachers are helpful, and the community itself is strong and supportive. I feel that even now I have finished I could always reach out and ask for help and someone would very happily give me that help.

 

I was suspicious about the lack of bad reviews of Le Wagon, but it is just because it is a really good coding boot camp. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.