UC Irvine Boot Camps

There were red flags all over, but I failed to reconize them till it was too late. Now, I find myself obligated to WARN others before they fall victim to this shady business scam. So many false promises made. First big warning flag was the easy test they give and make you feel like you have the skillset to be successfull in the bootcamp. Secondly, on the first day they have you sign a waiver, exempting you from getting any refund. Now think back when you first started college, did they make you sign a waiver? Please be aware that this is a scam and not a ligit learning center. They are not interested in your ability to finish this bootcamp, only to get your hard earned money and string you along as far as possible. The career services is a joke...nothing you couldnt do on on your own. I found it very odd how both lead instructors ended up leaving after our class wrapped up and they relocated for new jobs. Like I suggested to a potential student a few months ago, if you really are interested in persuing coding I would recomend online learning such as team treehouse that is a fraction of the cost or any other way. They are over charging for a false promise and I dont know how they are able to continue this in our community and especially abusing the system by hiding their name under UCI and other big universities, such a shame our leaders are allowing this to go on. 

If you decide to enroll, please don't be fooled by their marketing strategy where they will have you look up all these job postings and salary range for the Full Stack Web Developer. They are just trying to get you to enroll. Even though they said that they have a test and interview process before they accept you into the program, they are doing it as a due diligence. Even if you can't answer any of the question they asked you during the interview, they will still let you enroll. All they wanted is your 12K tuition. The curriculumn is all over the place. Don't expect to be job ready by the time you're done with the program. Career services is also a disappointment. They don't really help you connect with any employers. They just make you write your resume and apply online. When you start questioning them about job placement rate, they will divert the question. They know that the job placement rate is very low, so they don't want to talk about it. Instead, they will make it sounds like you are not trying hard enough yourself and that is the reason why you could not find a job. DO NOT WASTE YOUR $12K ON THIS. It is not worth it. 

The Good:

The curriculum was heavy and fast-paced - definitely the hardest schooling I've ever done. It grinded me in JavaScript which produced some pretty awesome projects. The instructors and TAs where pretty good and were always available to help for the most part.

The Bad:

Concentrated way too much on Node.js and ignored core web development languages like .Net, Python, PHP and more. The job assistance portion of the post program is lame. Help with resume and cover letter but after that it's all about you becoming a socialite and doing free work. Lots of canned responses that don't really help answer specific questions.

The Ugly:

Irvine is flooded with qualified Web Developers. Employers don't seem to care that you've attended a UCI bootcamp. They want 3-5 years of development experience with proven growth because they can get it - even for Junior Web Dev positions. The very few responses you'll receive back from applications will ask you about your experience in some technology you don't have - and it's different every time.

Result:

Save your money by learning HTML, CSS and JavaScript through all the free certificate courses out there. Start a website of your own to practice with and become better and fight to get someone to give you a chance as an intern or junior developer. Bootcamps are a dime a dozen these days and employers know it. If you feel you need to spend $10K+ to crunch out a few nice projects in short timeframes, then bootcamp is for you.

I recently enrolled for the Coding Boot Camp at UC Irvine Continuing Ed in partnership with Trilogy Education Services. The enrollment process has been smooth so far and everyone has answered all the questions I have asked at both UCI-CE and Trilogy. I was at first skeptical about it since technically this is a Trilogy Education Service program that is run at UC Irvine along with many other Extension and Continuing Ed programs across the country. I did a lot of research and looked up reviews at all the other schools to see what the feedback was and almost all of it is good. The UCI program only started this year so there hasn't been a cohort to finish yet but UCLA has had good sucess so I would look at that program as I imagine it will be very similar to UCI's. There are also some good reviews and feedback on Reddit too if you want to look them up. The current instructors they have are getting great feedback from the current students from what I have heard.

Like everything in life you get what you put into it, so if you aren't willing to do the work outside of the classroom I would look elsewhere. What really sold me on the program was the part-time 24 week program. I work full-time and the class schedule will work well with my schedule and family. There isn't any other part-time programs in the area that cover the Full-Stack, I only saw one other one that was a 10-week course and only covered the Front-End. I also like that spread out over 6 months instead of cramming it all in 12 weeks which is much better suited to my learning style.

I'm looking forward to getting started on the pre-course work and diving in head first come September. I'll update my review a few weeks into the course.

Make no mistake. This is an extremely intensive course (speaking of the full time course). You will work and study like crazy in and out of class.

I believe the rewards are well worth it. I came to this class as an experienced non-web developer and learned a lot. I can't wait to apply it but first I'm going to spend a solid week or two reviewing everything I've learned. 

The instruction team is top notch as is career support. The question is do you really want to do this? I suggest you visit Scratch,  a site that teaches kids to program. Get an account and try to create something simple. This is a UCI Coding Bootcamp pre-class assignment. If this frustrates you DON'T ENROLL. But if you keep at it and enjoy it, consider taking the next step.