UCLA Extension Boot Camps

I recently graduated from the Trilogy/UCLA program. UCLA, and other schools, are partnering with a company called Trilogy. The owner is a former educator now capitalizing on the boot camp hype. He knows nothing about programming himself.

I was originally sold on the program because it was part time over 6 months rather than full time over 3 months. This seemed to me a better way to really absorb the material, because it's not realistic to code 12+ hours a day for 3 months and retain much, like many of the other boot camps try to do. The brain just doens't work that way. I was also sold on the UCLA name thinking it would hold more weight than many of these code schools, which are all incredibly new and don't have much of a reputation in the real world.

Ultimately, I made a poor decision. While the program started off reasonably well, towards the end, the last third of the program (2 out of 6 months), it pretty much fell apart, for the following reasons:

1) The curriculum kept changing. Originally we were to learn Angular, PhP/Laravel. But sometime through this was changed to React, React Native, and Java. Ok, no problem you might say. Except that each of those complicated topics got no more than 3 days of attention. So the time used to cover these topics at a very introductory level was pretty much wasted.

2) Overall the curriculum tries to cover too many topics. You cover a lot of topics but at a very introductory level. And the time weighting for topics is distorted. For example, you spend the first couple of months doing basic HTML/CSS/jQuery/JavaScript, but then breeze through topics like Node, Express, databases, React, etc. Sure, you have to set the foundation in the beginning, but you can't breeze through complex topics and claim they've been taught.

3) There is a big gap between teaching and learning, meaning that the typical process for any given topic goes something like this... "Here are steps 1-3...now go do the homework/projects incorporating steps 8-10. Figure out steps 4-7 on your own."

4) Instructors are hit and miss. Some instructors are incredibly involved, both in class and outside of class, other instructors show up for class and that's the only time you hear from them. So outside of class it's up to you and the other students to figure everything out. There are "office hours" before and after most classes, but when there are 30 or so students in each class, there is only so much attention you're going to get.

5) Project work can be hit and miss and it completely depends on which people you are teamed up with. I ultimately had a very poor project experience because on two of three projects half of my teams decided they just had no interest in making an effort. There are no negative ramifications for students not participating other than they don't learn. So of three projects I was supposed to have I ended up with a single project to present. That's not very impressive to employers when over a 6 month period you were able to pull together one project, a project that was done over a single two week period.

6) Project work is very, very rushed. You typically get no more than 2 weeks to develop a full project, and while you are working on your project you are bombarded with new material that you are expected to fully digest and in some cases were expected to incorporate into your in-process project. This was just ridiculous. As such, most of the material taught during project weeks was competely ignored by most students.

7) Demo day, which is the day you get in front of "partner" companies, was less than impressive. Less than half of the students (out of 60 or so total) participated and of those only a couple got offers from those partners. Other than that, I don't know of anyone that has even had an interview with those companies.

8) Career services consist of the boot camp making sure you're sending out a bunch of resumes and some guy in another state sending you daily emails of job links, even though he knows nothing about your market, what you're looking for, etc. Some people have gotten jobs, but many others have sent out well over 100 resumes and gotten little to no response. Some people already had jobs and aren't looking. You have a mix of experiences. But overall the program, even the UCLA name, appears to carry no weight in the market. This could vary by market and school.

One helpful thing Trilogy has implemented is weekly continuing training sessions for graduates and current students alike. The topics include both new topics not covered during the program as we all job search tips, like how to write a resume, cover letter, how to focus your project portfolio, etc. But ultimately it comes down to sending out a ton of resumes and networking on your own, as you would expect for any job. Don't expect direct job placement from the program.

Overall, what the program provides is some structure around learning. But just keep in mind that you're only getting a very high level introduction to a bunch of topics and will not come out of the program being well-versed in any one topic, unless you can become so on your own time. The students that did well are those that had some experience coming into the program. Most of those with no experience struggled a great deal or rode on the coattails of the more experienced folks. Even the experienced folks sometimes had problems.

I'm sure the program continues to improve because my cohort complained quite a bit in the weekly surveys and during class. And hopefully Trilogy is listening. But personally, based on my experience, I can't recommend the program.

PS: You'll notice all of the glowing reviews of the program (I know all of these people) and you'll notice the wonderful response from the program. Remember, they are trying to sell you to enroll. And honestly, the program doesn't do well with negative feedback. Much of the response during the program was to push the blame back onto the students. I don't know any other business that works this way.

This class was excellent! Definitely helped me in both my skillset and my career. One great thing about this program is that it cultivates a support system within the cohorts. We were encouraged to seek help not only from our teachers but from other students as well. Another good thing about this bootcamp is that teachers and career advisors were amazing at hearing our concerns. Help is certainly there when a student would need it. All in all I would definitely recommend this bootcamp and is a great way to enter the technical field! 

Definitely loved everything about this bootcamp. It was a great experience for someone who had no idea how to code in any sort of language. They taught the fundamental and developed a base of strong foundation to the "newbies" and the patience that the TA's and instructor had with all the students was quite commendable. The staff were always encouraging and pushing all the students to higher heights while also creating great relationships that helped with "awkward imposter syndrome" that normally occurs in the beginning of a program. I was hired to my engineering department near the end of the program and I/m applying a lot of foundational knowledge I learned from this bootcamp at my current job. They work with those who are workign full-time as well so if you're dedicated then you'll definitely be able to change careers! 

The UCLA Full Stack Part time boot camp has been both a challenging and rewarding experience.   The intstructional and support staff are extremely supportive and helpful and genuinely interested in helping you succeed.  The added benefit is the career services and extensive help developing  resumes and online credentials to really prepare you for the job search.  The curriculum is covered relatively quick but it give you an excellent foundation to be able to continue your growth as a develper.