Coding DojoReviews of codingdojo.com

I attended The Coding Dojo Jan-Apr of 2017. I enjoyed my experience at the dojo and would recommend this school to someone looking for a good bootcamp. Having been in the industry since shortly after I graduated I would like to see some changes at the dojo. I think the dojo should focus primarily on javascript frameworks like angular and react. I took the iOS stack while I was there and it is very unrealistic that anyone would find a job as an iOS developer after graduation. I would also like to see the program go from a 0-100 type bootcamp to a 20-120 bootcamp. Some students do not have a future as a developer and not everyone should be accepted to the program if they cannot complete some of the easier learning on their own. It would also be great to see some more events for alumni and students to network at.

Coding Dojo will give you as much as you're willing to put in to it. I attended the in-person bootcamp in Burbank having very little prior knowledge of web development (but some experience writing code), and came out of it feeling like a confident web developer. And yes, I was able to find a job as a result of the work I did at this boot camp. However, I dedicated nearly 12 hours a day to the curriculum and projects, and aggressively applied for jobs following the program. Coding Dojo offers a good variety of stacks for you to learn, so it helps to know what languages you are interested in learning or intend to use in your future career prior to attending. The curriculum is incredibly fast-paced, and the material for it is, for the most part, comprehensive (although there are some lessons that could be better-written). The instructors are attentive and make themselves available to answer questions. But if you are seeking more focused, one-on-one instruction at your own pace, Coding Dojo may not be the best fit. The instructors are flexible enough to accommodate to your own learning speed, but you will fall behind the rest of your cohort. The algorithm sessions and the way the lessons are taught encourages cohesion among cohort members, which makes learning the material easier overall as well in such a supportive group environment. I have to say I didn't have a perfect experience at Coding Dojo, though. During my cohort's attendance there, the institution was not entirely transparent with availability of some stacks, which led to some confusion in the planning of what stacks some of us wished to learn. Additionally, we lacked an on-site career adviser during the residency period when we were applying for jobs and building our resume, which added to some struggle transitioning into the career search portion of our experience. Overall, though, Coding Dojo offers comprehensive introductory curriculum that can make you a strong programmer, as long as you're willing to put in the work as well. I would still recommend this program to anyone hoping to learn web development.

I WAS APART OF THE ONLINE CLASSES. The low parts of coding dojo was the pacing/organization. As a student with zero experience, I found it hard to stay with the current flow.. I was behind on every stack. By the time I was getting a language, we were already on to different things. However, that is the atmosphere of coding boot camp. It also seemed like students who had prior coding experience were able to keep up or even get ahead. If possible, maybe allow a extra week between languages for review or catching up. Or just do two stacks spread over the same time period. HTML, CSS, Js and then Python, C# or MEAN... Good parts are the instructors. They often went out of there way to help and made themselves available throughout the day. Classes sometime weren’t the most organized and had some lulls due to errors but that’s coding! Great part was Susan and the career readiness week. She was very helpful, very intelligent and resourceful. I definitely will not hesitate to contact her if need be!

I joined the San Jose campus in 2017. Listen to the suggestions from the staff and the teachers. When they say you should put in 100 hours a week and you should DEFINITELY come to algos every morning they mean it. There is a lot of freedom in this program; they let you approach it at your own pace and don't hound you if you're not keeping up or not staying late (basically they treat you like adults). That also means you're expected to take FULL RESPONSIBILITY of your own learning experience. If you skip algos every morning and barely get red belts you shouldn't be surprised if you're struggling to find a job afterwards. I specifically chose this program because they emphasized academic freedom and responsibility but you still find that a lot of people struggle with that level of freedom. Teaching is top notch and the instructors are very dedicated and invested in helping you learn. They're also pretty serious about the 'strength through struggle' policy so don't try to look for shortcuts. It was an intense program but I learned a lot and definitely enjoyed the program as a whole. The program rewards initiative and curiosity and I really appreciated their whole teaching philosophy. By the end of the three months I really appreciated how much the teachers helped me, felt like I learned a lot, but still felt like I could've done more and still want to learn more about programming. Career services felt like the weak link at the program. The guidance and advice was very generic (resumes, LinkedIn profiles, networking and interview questions) and offered very little help specifically regarding tech roles or the journey/process for new boot camp grads. I asked a few friends in the tech space that gave me a lot of specific advice (managing your GitHub profile, the Cracking the Coding Interview book, the importance of big O notation in interviews, HackerRank challenges, navigating the market as a new Junior Developer) that wasn't really covered at Coding Dojo. People should still attend Career Week, especially if they don't have a lot of experience looking for jobs in general, but after an outstanding three-month learning experience it was a bit disappointing to have just a satisfactory Career Week. I'm still looking for a job 3 months after graduating and most of my best leads come from my existing network. Applying online is really difficult, especially because most places want at least two years experience or CS degrees. If you do get an interview they really are just like the questions from morning algos so again GO TO ALGOS. Understanding the technical interview process is just as important if not more important than all the actual coding you do. Overall it was a great program and I'm really happy I did it. Be ready to take responsibility for your own work and progress. The teachers are very friendly and helpful but they also expect a lot of you. It's basically a sandbox of resources and opportunity and it's up to you on how much you take advantage of that. Come in ready to work and go to algos!

Here's the thing. I took the online course and it cost me $6000. I did learn something but not much and certainly not $6000 worth. Save your money, read a couple books and buy a couple of Udemy courses. The pace was ridiculous. I had prior experience with Python, HTML and CSS otherwise i would have been completely sunk. There were large gaps in the curriculum. It is possible to go from writing basic "for loops" to creating a full stack site in a few weeks but only if you skip over everything in between. I found that the course really was not enough. I am not sure it would have been enough even if i had been able to keep up. I had to figure most of it out on my own using material outside of the program. It was frustrating and time consuming to find the answers on my own but I didn't know enough about the material to ask the right questions. Once you get just a little behind, you're finished...the pace is ridiculous. Here is an analogy....think of learning to go to the grocery store but only knowing one route to get there...what do you do if a road is closed or you need to figure out how to get to another store? If you have a good map and understanding of your surroundings you will find another way to get food, right? BUT if all you know is that one path, you will starve. Not a perfect analogy but i hope you get the idea. I liked the instructors...i think they were knowledgeable, nice people. They did the best with what they were given. It is just too much. Perhaps the Dojo would benefit from creating a program that teaches one stack REALLY well. I left the program feeling robbed and completely unprepared. I did not put Django, SQL, Angular, Mongo, Express or Node on my resume when i finished. I will make the most of it and circle back to re-learn all of it on my own, then someday I might have the skills to become viable in the developer market. I am not sure who the people are who found jobs after going to the Dojo. No one i know. Most likely folks who when to the brick and mortar schools ( which costs $13,000 by the way). If you think i am just some random lazy whiner, you don't have to listen to me. Don't be tempted by the siren song of landing a $70,000 gig after taking this course. Sorry for the long rant...i just can't warn you enough. Run...just run.

Coding Dojo isn't for everyone, plain and simple. If you need slow paced teaching to really solidify concepts and complete assignments, independent studying or online courses that let you go at your own speed should strongly be considered. The curriculum is accelerated which can create a lot of stress very soon. The expectations the instructors have with their students to grasp the material quickly is high. That being said, it isn't impossible to finish all three stacks knowing you put in good work, but that's just it, you need to put in the work. Keeping up is difficult, but if you're willing to invest your time in the platform, ask for help, work late and over the weekends, you'll see amazing results. The whole point of this bootcamp is to condense two to three years of a computer science degree into four months, to create self-sufficient, full stack developers. It’s not impossible, but it’s not easy. One thing I didn't completely agree on was the priority of belt exams over projects. At the end of every stack, you're required to take a belt exam to show you can create a fully functioning application with the material you learned in the prior three weeks. I understand the importance of grasping the concepts and being tested; however, encouraging projects and working in teams should have been the highest priority. Requiring projects is something the student(s) can look forward to because they can be creative and collaborative. Instead of needing to pass an exam before exploring project ideas, the projects should be the exams. I encourage anyone who knows a classic school environment isn’t for them, to explore Coding Dojo. The amount of information you learn in the very quick fourteen weeks is mind-boggling, and it’s amazing what different frameworks, languages, and databases you are exposed to in such a short amount of time. If you have a great app or website you want to see made, make it yourself with the help of Coding Dojo! Just remember, everyone’s journey is different and take one day at a time. It's the little moments that end up being the most rewarding.

Coding Dojo was a great experience. I ended up doing the online program since I am not near any of their campuses. If you are doing online, make sure you can make the time commitment. You can't slack or do just a few hours a week. The lecture schedule was good as they offered 2 lectures per week plus code reviews at the end of the week where we can review assignments or go over anything. The 2 lectures during the week they would offer 2 times, so if you missed one, you can catch the second one later, plus all lectures are recorded so you can access them anytime. The TAs are very helpful, you can message them or your instructor on the Mattermost channel and get help when needed. A few times even while getting help, we ended up starting up a Zoom video conference. The learning platform is nicely laid out. The programs themselves are good, you learn a lot but you also learn how to do things on your own. One of the main focuses of the dojo is to be a self sufficient developer, trying to problem solve and figure things out for yourself first. This definitely helps when you go out into the job market. When online you learn 2 full stacks where if you are on campus you learn 3 full stacks. As you start applying you'll see how much of a benefit this is knowing more than one stack as you can apply to more positions and companies are looking for candidates who know more than one language, framework, DB. There career services is awesome, they really set you up for entering the job market, from your LinkedIn profile to your resume to creating job alerts. Also with networking, how to present yourself, interviews, and when you graduate you are always able to reach out for advice. You can also get the alumni pass once you graduate which gives you access to the entire learning platform so if there any other stacks you would like to learn you have access. I would recommend Coding Dojo to anyone who is serious about starting a career in the web/software development field, but you must be committed. If you are near one of the campuses I would suggest to attend in class, nothing can beat that full immersion but if you can't then the online option is a great choice as well.

I've had a bit of coding experience before we started, not much though. I would say I was pretty excited to dive deeper into the world of development. As things progress in the dojo, you start to notice a more hands-off approach as things get more complex. Often found myself dealing with different issues/bugs for hours that I should have only spent minutes on. When these add up, time ends up not being on your side. Assuming this is by design, I felt at first frustrated that I was learning as much as I was on my own, but I will say that struggle prepared me to be an independent developer. Our instructor did a great job. Advice for newcomers, I would prepare somewhat before jumping into a boot camp because any headstart you can get will be needed. By the first day, I had quite a bit of time spent preparing. When things start moving fast, don't expect your cohort to slow down for you. If you are looking for someone to hold your hand 8 hours a day, this may not be for you. Also if you only have eight hours a day to learn, this will take wayy more than that so again may not be for ya. It will take a bit of grit to excel and get the most out of it. Be clear with yourself why you want to join. Define your expectations and be ready to work to achieve them. I did those two things and am now a software engineer for a local company. Also, the real work starts after the dojo. As you finish your time at the dojo, know that it's only the beginning. There is so much more to know in the stacks you will learn. Plus, new frameworks and different languages that you will encounter as a software engineer. Be prepared to continue learning more. Also, job opportunities will not magically show up at your front door. Be proactive and have projects available to show employers or potential clients. My opinion is it's not about what you learn but what you are capable of doing with that knowledge that will make you stand out.