The Firehose Project

Signing up with Firehose Project program was the best decision I could have ever made regarding a step into a new career. Why The Firehose Project?

• A structured online platform. Website is clear and easy to follow. 
• Dive in method. Didn't spend a whole two weeks on explaining syntax, arrays, Boolean. Instead jumped right in and started coding with explanations along the way. 
• Mentor. Held my hand when needed and also pushed me forward with challenges. The mentor part of program was priceless. I'm a shy person but I really bonded with Mike. Meetings with mentor via videochat are weekly for an hour along with email communication in between whenever needed.
• Office Hours. Weekly the two owners have a video chat with students and help by explaining concepts in further detail.  Its was also a chance for a quiet student, as me, to hear other students struggle (like myself) and listen to them provide assistance, explanations and pointing us to other resources. Such a hands on approach by the owners demonstrates that you acquiring the knowledge and skills is important to them.
• Team Project. Wow I learned a lot about how to really use github and interact with others on a project. 
• Affordability compared to other online bootcamp schools, The Firehose Project was very affordable AND the mentor sessions alone were priceless !

I have a degree in biomedical engineering and as such have had some programing experience in c, c++ and MATLAB.  

This program is filling in some much needed gaps in my computer programing knowledge.  The code critiques/mentor sessions are invaluable and offer something that I didn't get in my coding classes at the University which were only concerned with the end result of the programs and offered no feedback on how to improve my code.

The weekly office hours are also very beneficial even if you don’t have a question yourself. Ken and Marco are extremely knowledgeable and I often gain additional insight into topics I am already comfortable with or get answers to questions I didn’t know I had until they were asked by someone else.

Overall I am very satisfied with my experience.

While on Facebook one day I stumbled across a Fire Hose Project ad that I could not resist clicking on and checking out to see what all the hype was about. With previous knowledge and attempts at jumping into the software development world using other online tactics, I had a notion that this Ad would seemingly be taking me through a similar route. Boy was I wrong! The Fire Hose Project is a very unique and advantageous website for teaching yourself about coding online and being introduced to the software engineering world. They are the very best website for all beginner and novice computer programmers. There is just not another website that compares to the practicality that they are offering. I can literally see my future outcome, goal, and career from the beginning of The Fire Hose Project and its sources. The creators behind this website are absolutely Genius! Since joining Ben and The Fire Hose Project team only 1 day ago, I have already created my first mock website portfolio! This will be the beginning of my software development career without a doubt! http://joshuasilva.getforge.io/

I first learnt of The Firehose Project when I joined a course provided by Refugees on Rails Munich in April 2016. In the space of 5 months I covered basics on Ruby, HTML,CSS and a bit of Javascript. I also used there material for getting "Job ready". During this time I was a delivery driver for a food delivery service company. Using what I learn't from The Firehose Project and the mentors at Refugees on Rails, I was able to get an internship that later turned into a full time position at CLIQZ, a Munich based startup.

The way concepts are introduced and explained on the site made it very easy to learn general programming concepts that could be used to learn other programming languages.

The mentors always provided support when it was required and also left room for me to discover and learn on my own. This has helped me to always push myself to grow but also realize that I need help from others.

I didnt know what the "coding" link was on facebook but clicked any to do some exploring, and after following incredibly simple steps I found that I was half way through desiging an online portfolio.

I didnt relise how simple it could be and how much I actually enjoyed this which has created a new interest and new possabilities for me. Unfortunatly it is a hobby for me and I cannot afford to join the Firehose Project however I would highly recomend anyone who is looking to do a career in this field to join these guys.

The online support in incredible and not over bearing where they are annoying you. They are just there, friendly and ready to help.

10/10

I have been organizer and volunteer for the Refugees On Rails project in Munich, a coding school for refugees. Thanks to a partnership we have used solely the content in the Firehose project to teach our students Ruby and Ruby On Rails. We have been impressed by the quality of the different tracks and lessons and it has given us a lot of ideas to suggest extra exercises to our students. Moreover, we have been able to set a structured course to teach software development and provide the students with the right content at each step of the learning path. 

I would strongly suggest the Firehose project to anybody willing to start the Web Development career path :) 

I attended The Firehose Project from September 2016 up and until February 2017. I actually had to cut the course short because I got a job offer at a financial technology start-up almost two months before the course finished. 

The training was great, and the reason I know that is because I was able to handle the programming challenge I was given by my eventual employer without too much difficulty. I had to create a small application in about three days, and TFHP was able to training me well enough that I could do it. I'm thrilled with the results.

As far as any downsides, I don't see any obvious ones. TFHP may be one of the few bootcamps that actually has an advanced track (Angular, React, SQL, APIs, to name a few) that helps you continue learning on your own. 

I highly recommend the Firehose Project.

I just recently finished the 2 week prep course at Firehose having already taken some Ruby courses on Treehouse. I really appreciated that there was feedback on some of the coding excercises.  I am only a day into the actual bootcamp at this point but I already feel like I am learning more than if I had been left to my own devices.  There are alot of people out there that will say why pay for a bootcamp when there are so many free resources out there.  Granted there are probably some that could effectively learn that way, I feel like alot of bad habits could be developed learning to code without regular feedback.  I am excited for this journey and I will write another review after I have completed the bootcamp.

I have just spent two months comparing all available online bootcamps. In the end I selected two that involved a deeper approach that would include more computer science than traditional bootcamps. My preferences went to The Firehose Project but  I was still hesitating a bit until I followed their free prep course, which convinced me to go for the full program.  Everything is lively, well organized and presented, the challenges are interesting and rewarding, and the comunity forums active. I highly recommand it as a great introduction to html/css and Ruby.

I am almost half way through The Firehose Project Bootcamp Prep Course. I just recently created and uploaded my first website to the Internet and it was a lot of fun doing it. There were a couple of times I became frustrated and stressed when I could not figure something out, but before reaching out for help I used troubleshooting skills I have developed over the years and either found a workaround or finally figured it out. I am more than willing to reach out for help when I am stuck, but I find that I learn a lot more when I try and find a solution by myself. Ken, Marco, Brita, and a couple of software engineers that work with Firehose have been a great support to me during the prep course thus far. It is nice having industry professionals evaluate my code and website (gregcorrigan.getforge.io) and their feedback is very helpful. I am hoping to be accepted in the full course in the next month or so and am looking forward to a change in careers.

      I've started my course in June this year, so somewhere in a middle of the programm now. It's amazingly well structured. From the very first lesson you deploy your web apps and make them not only functional but a good looking also. This is great. You can tell that curriculum is a very well thought and the Firehose Team are very responsive and attentive. When I got stuck with something and posted a question Ken Mazaika responded literraly in the next couple of minutes. Deffinetely recomend! 

I had reached a turning point in my previous career when I came across a lifehacker article on boot camps. I found the concept appealing, and in-person bootcamps like Hack Reactor sounded awesome. However, the logistics (ie moving there for the duration of the program) and cost put that kind of program out of my reach.

While researching alternatives, I came across The Firehose Project. I exchanged quite a few emails with them and eventually gave their 2 Week intro a shot. This was free of charge. This went well and after only a little hesitation I started the full-time program. The program consists of 3-4 Full-Stack web apps, separate coding challenges throughout, plus a group project at the end. You can look up the program details elsewhere, so I won’t repeat them here.

A big positive is that that the team is always working on the program. Some are minor tweeks, other a big section additions or overhauls. They don’t just sit on something that works, they are constantly working to make it better.

It is an online bootcamp, but I still felt well connected. Every time a had a concern and emailed Ken or Marco, I received a reply very quickly. The online office hours were always worth my time, even if I didn’t have a question.

In regards to mentorship: I’m not going out on a limb when I say that all the mentors really know there stuff. Once a week, you will get 1 hour of quality time to pair program or talk about code with a very competent developer. How much they care about you beyond that will vary.

You will have a seperate mentor who will act as the project manager for your group project. For me, the group project was mostly positive, although the end of the project was during the December holidays which made completing the project difficult. You do have the alternative of doing your own project as an alternative to the group project. Talk to the staff to figure out what’s right for you.

Today, I’m working as a developer and Firehose played a major role in that. But don’t think that paying for a bootcamp and just going through the motions will get you a job. Personal initiative and continous learning is critical.

In closing, if an in-person bootcamp is feasible for you, give it serious consideration. But even if it is, take a look at Firehose. Above all, do your research and ask a lot of questions.