Coding Dojo Arvostelua 208

Coding Dojo was a great experience. The Instructors were easy to work with, knowledgeable and the platform contains a lot of content. Out of all the schooling I have done in the past this was the first time that I was waking up in the morning looking forward to going to class. Even though I was self taught in python and JavaScript I found that through the Coding Dojo I was filling in a lot of the gaps in my knowledge that I missed on my own. Coding Dojo also gave me a great overview of different technologies that I would not have, on my own, learned. I highly recommend to anyone looking to get into the field.

This was my third coding bootcamp but first full-time remote learning experience. With previous experience learning HTML, CSS, Javascript and SQL, I was humbled by their unique approach to each stack. The online platform was informative, concise and methodical. The assignments reiterated over lecture material while allowing creative freedom. The belt exams were challenging and engaging. Their Virtual Workplace made it easy to connect, ask questions and learn from the national community which was super cool and not possible at previous in-person bootcamps. I was a little skeptical at first but I learned, this was the type of environment for me.

Some of the resources they offered that set me up for success were video recordings of every lecture in each stack, demos for challenging assignments when we requested, unintimidating support system of teachers and TA's, just enough guidance to figure out what questions I needed to ask and the opportunity to succeed to live a life serving a greater purpose.

Looking forward to continue learning, sharing and building towards a brighter future!

This is the fastest method I found to learn web programming quickly. I had been studying on my own for months but making slow progress. The structure and support that the program provides makes it possible to cover a maximum amount of material in minimal time.

However, I strongly recommend that you first get comfortable with at least the programming languages python and javascript before attempting the program. If you come in with no programming at all, you will not be able to keep up with the material. I was already comfortable with programming, but had to work hard to keep up with the material.

I came into this bootcamp with absolutely no idea how to code in html and this course, at the stage I am now, has taught me the web fundamentals two full stacks(python and MERN). Its a fun, fast pace course with great instructors. Definitely recommend Coding dojo!

They offered 0 job placement support, didn't offer anyone in my cohort an interview or even an introduction to a position, and the instructors never worked in the industry; they were all former students with less knowledge than a college graduate.

Even their select page/feature doesn’t work. I had to sign up for the info they said I’d get by signing in. I asked: “DO NOT call me. Please remove me from all lists. I am not a future student or prospect.”
We shall see if they have any self respect or dignity.

A great way to get your foot in the door with tech.. YOU WILL NOT BE JOB READY AFTER 14-weeks.. This will only allow you to scratch the tip of the iceberg. You don't need to pay 15k to learn this stuff, and you don't even get to keep the course materials after you graduate. You can definitely find resources online with everything you need.... I was hoping that i'd have actual career mentoring, and maybe someone who would actually meet with me face to face... but pretty much once you graduate and they get their money... They don't care about you at all... and you are not going to be job ready... you will be able to code though, but a LONG way to go before you're hireable.

Its definitely an intensive course, and it is a lot of work, but it is doable and you do learn a lot. Honestly I wish i would have saved myself the money and did a Team Treehouse Track Degree or something from Udemy, or freecodecamp or one of the thousands of other, more affordable ways to learn.. hell, if you look at meetup there are weekly coders meeting up just to meet up

Overall, it was a fun, educational experience, and I learned a TON... But it is very misleading and they are definitely just pumping out boot camp grads and trying to meet quotas. the quality is declining as a result.

My brother enrolled in the program for $10,000. The caliber of students let into this program was very low. It seems like coding dojo is only interested in having people sign up so they can get paid.

When you let in students who are not serious about completing their course work, very few employers are going to be willing to hire students from there.

Their career services were not able to help my brother find a job.

My brother would let me know many students didn't finish their homework, didn't pass their exams, and the teachers there were not proactive in helping students.

I would stay away from this school. The top coding bootcamps will not require you to pay upfront, instead they will only charge you once you get a job.

That's the sign of a good school, where they need to follow through and get you a job, if you put in the work.

Please stay away from this school, look on career karma dot com for schools that have been vetted.

Go to a different Coding school!
Coding Dojo interviews you after you apply to make sure you'll be a good fit for the program but this is just a ploy to make you think you’re special by getting accepted. They accept everyone! They don’t care. They just want your money! I couldn’t believe the caliber of people they enrolled, just to get a cohort started. They are false advertising that they can teach anyone to code, that you’ll make $76k+ when you graduate and that the department of labor will provide several companies to interview you and an apprenticeship program. All lies. No one is going to hire a coder with zero experience for anywhere near that amount. The program will NOT make you stand out when applying for jobs. You can forget about passing technical interviews or algorithm screenings! You will fail entry-level tests even for new computer science graduates because Coding Dojo lacks foundation and does NOT replace a computer science degree. The Boise, ID campus was brand new when I started the program. It was so disorganized, there was a lot of late and mis-communication, we had seven different teachers come in from out-of-state to replace a couple of teachers for odd reasons, no teaching assistant, and the interviews we were promised by multiple companies were never set up. Coding Dojo was supposed to establish relationships with several local companies for interviews and apprenticeships, not the Department of Labor, they totally dropped the ball and they still haven't tried to make it right. It's all a lie.

Remote Experience only.

Instruction:
The instructor I have is inexperienced and unsure of a lot of basic concepts. She gets confused during her demos, and can not explain the "why" of certain deployments and says "just copy the code, is like magic" when she can not explain it.

Material:
The structure of the online material is good but, you could get the same material from Udemy and pay a lot less.

TAs
The TAs are rude and unwilling to help students. I only found 1 TA that actually made an effort to explain the material.

Overall I will not recommend them. I feel that anyone can save money and use freecodecamp.org or udemy courses and it will be just the same result.

To be honest the remote Coding Dojo Bootcamp program is NOT worth $6,000 or more. A year later, I'm left with NO job in the field and horrible debt! My review is based on the remote experience.

- The remote program value is NOT worth the money.

If I had known that free YouTube videos, free edx.org courses, affordable Udemy, Treehouse, and free Udacity courses were a STRONGER learning foundation than an entire expensive Bootcamp program, I would have SAVED so much money! I wasted both my time and money on this program.

I thought that having direct human interaction with an instructor would be a stronger learning experience. The remote program only includes two live lectures a week from instructors. There are daily online exercises that you complete by yourself. Initially, I was attracted to the remote program because I was working full-time and could do classes in the evening to hopefully transition to a new career change after graduation.

The pacing of the overall program is unrealistic for the working class and the instructors often RUSH the lecture material. The result is that you do NOT get a solid learning foundation but a rushed final product. My fellow Bootcamp classmates struggled to turn in assignments because they had jobs and the lectures didn't cover all assignments.

- The remote program quality is POOR.

The program gives this false perception that you will be fully trained and ready for the software workforce. The program doesn't teach best practices and sometimes the instructors even forgot the basics of setting up an app.

Although I respect and liked the instructors, they do not teach you the core features or basics of a programming framework or stack because they didn't have time. The curriculum rushes them. Something essential and simple like the Django Admin dashboard robust functionality. The MEAN portion also felt rushed and MongoDB lectures were very unclear.

Instead, they teach you the manual, from-scratch approach for login authentication that is dangerous and not secure! I was told I would never get a job using the code that they taught me! They completely rushed and skipped over what frameworks have built-in and the power of the technology.

It got to the point that I had to PAY outside experts to correct the code quality that the instructors taught me. I also had to pay outside experts to redo code samples that were taught in the program, just go get employers to look at me. So not only did I have to pay the Bootcamp monthly $1,000 installment payments but also additional costs for support that they lacked.

- The remote program lacks support.

AWS deployment was required to pass the final Django exam. No TA knew how to deploy on AWS at the time. With the instructors not available on weekends, I had no choice but to pay outside experts once again!

- The program post-graduation experience.

The remote program's learning quality will NOT make you stand out when applying for jobs. You can forget about passing technical interviews or algorithm screenings! You will fail entry-level tests even for new computer science graduates because Coding Dojo lacks foundation and does NOT replace a computer science degree.

For the remote program, algorithm training sessions are optional and not enforced or structured in a way to help you pass the most basic level algorithms. On the contrary, I was told the onsite program requires students to do algorithms every day and the learning quality is better. I was told by staff that the basic on HacerRank was too hard to do.

In conclusion, SAVE thousands of dollars please! Enjoy cheap Udemy courses, go to in-person meetup events, find a Code Mentor and watch free YouTube videos. You will learn so much more and have better code samples to show jobs. Seek certification from a program that uses best practices in programming stacks and does not rush the learning experience or quality.

I am a veteran that came to Coding Dojo to gain an in-depth understanding of web and mobile development in order to help me to become more marketable for technical positions and also out of personal interest. About my background, I served in the military for a little over five years then went to grad school where I earned an MBA. Afterward, I landed an operations job at a software technology startup in Silicon Valley where I oversaw all business operations. It is there that I found my passion for working with cutting-edge technology and began taking programming courses in the evenings. These classes were okay but never provided me with the skillset to actually build something useful. While between jobs, I decided that I would finally take the plunge and fully immerse myself in learning to code. I evaluated numerous different full stack developer programs/bootcamps that accepted the GI Bill and decided that the Seattle Coding Dojo was by far the best option I had available and is also located in the fastest growing tech hub in the United States. I was accepted into the program and moved to Bellevue, WA (actual location near Seattle). The manager of the Seattle Campus taught Web Fundamentals which is two weeks of primarily learning the latest versions of HTML and CSS. He is an excellent instructor and one of the most upstanding professionals I have met. The first full stack that all students are required to take first is Python primarily utilizing the Django Framework with an SQLite Database. I had taken Python courses online and at a local college previously but was already learning new things the second day of class. I spent 70+ hours per week coding and was impressed that after three weeks, I was capable of building a full website using the Django Framework and SQLite or MySQL Database. I chose JavaScript (using MongoDB, Node.js, Express.js) and C# (using ASP.NET Core) for my next two stacks. It was like drinking through a firehose. I continued spending 70+ hours per week and was challenged every single day. I learned as much or more in this 14-week period than at any other point in my life. I have now completed the program and have no regrets. I have acquired an invaluable set of skills that will help me in any tech-related position.

I was very impressed with the leadership, professionalism, and level of instruction at the Seattle Coding Dojo and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Veterans, it was great to see that the Seattle Area is very veteran friendly. Many places offer veteran discounts and many companies in the area have veteran hiring programs. The Seattle Coding Dojo treats veterans very well and you will meet many others there as well.

If you love puzzling together solutions logically and at the same time love letting your creative side flourish, then programming may be your calling--and Coding Dojo is an AMAZING way to immerse yourself into the software development world. Attending the on-site bootcamp was absolutely THE best decision I have ever made!

However, it was an experience riddled with so, so much struggle, and yet it was (maybe even paradoxically) one of the best times of my life.

Can you have zero programming experience and within 14 weeks become a full-stack developer? Absolutely. But, keep the following advice in mind for success:

My Own Personal Background:
I graduated U.W. with a degree in Linguistics, minor in Russian, afterwards I worked for 2 tech start-ups, however in non-technical, customer-facing roles (customer service and inside sales). AKA, zero coding experience.

1.) If you can, ABSOLUTELY self-study coding to prepare yourself for the intensity of the bootcamp. Preparation is like the bulwark to protect your sanity from the tsunami of information that is the Dojo's curriculum. I had only started and completed the pre-bootcamp coursework provided 1 week before starting, and I had to play an exhausting game of catch-up; yes, I completed the pre-coursework, but mentally I was still familiarizing myself with basic syntax--it's hard to focus on the higher level concepts they're trying to teach you, if you're stumbling on the smaller, lower level details. Do yourself a favor by familiarizing yourself with your basic building blocks and tools, so you see the bigger picture more easily

2.) Be prepared to put in A LOT of time. Again, for me personally, coming from a non-technical background, I had to put in 12 - 14 hr days and sustain this workload for 14 weeks, 0 absences, no excuses. It is not easy. But at the same time, nobody is forcing you to stay for half the day. You must be self-motivated, and ultimately PASSIONATE about coding to merely sustain said self-motivation for several months. Oh and also, don't work at the same time as schooling here (unless you're a robot and literally do not need sleep, because sleep is the only thing you're actually going to have time to do outside of studying).

3.) The Dojo's staff sincerely do their best to help you and have fantastic rapport with the students, however the curriculum is intentionally built to NOT give you all the answers. They aren't just teaching you to be programmers, but they are also teaching you to be self-sufficient as well.
As frustrating as it may seem, self-sufficiency is a huge part of learning at the Dojo, and it will make you a better, more adept learner in life.

4.) Break the ice with everybody in your cohort. Make them your best friends during these 14 weeks. Your classmates will be your #1 support system when you're all learning together. If you've hit a wall, seek help from others. Give back and teach in return, as you learn profoundly when you teach and help solidify the information for yourself. Ultimately my experience was so positive because of the strong bond between the entire community, students and Dojo staff alike.

Overall, you get what you put in. Put in the effort. Get the results.
Graduating as a triple black belt, I am confident in my ability to whip out a full MVP app and deploy it under 5 hrs. If you are ready to dedicate time and hardwork, then I would absolutely recommend Coding Dojo to you.

One of the best learning experiences of my life. Initially, I was skeptical of the bootcamp due to their seemingly fabricated logo: "Learn how to be a developer in 14 weeks". Upon completing a B.S degree from the University of Washington, I thought it would be impossible to learn such a broad topic in a short time. Thereafter, I was completely blown away by the amount of knowledge I have gained during the 14 weeks. With limited prior programming experience, I put in 60 + hours per week including weekends and was able to achieve not only 3 black belts from 3 full-stacks of technology, but I was also able to find a full-time Software Engineer opportunity a couple week prior to graduation.

Very poor program overall! Instructions, facility and staff are as bad as it gets. The materials online are ok but teaching 1 full stack in 3 weeks is ridiculous, I will not recommend this class to anyone! I am very disappointed and feel it was a waste of money and time.
4 months after graduation and having asked for my certificate several times I still do not have my certificate! No one seems to be responsible and responsive over there, it was so frustrating that I just gave up on them!

I had a wonderful experience going through the Coding Dojo onsite boot camp. The learning platform was well maintained and 99% of the time had everything I needed to help me learn. More importantly, the instructors I learned from were always helpful and focused on guiding me to figure things out for myself rather than giving me the narrow-scope answer I needed that second. The environment there was very positive, and they do a lot to get students to support each other. Going in to the program I had next to no experience in computer programming and that aspect of community really helped me not to get discouraged when I hit a road block.
While I usually spent about 45-55 hours a week to keep up with the schedule, there were a lot of people who put in between 60 and 80 hours a week. For me personally, I would have had trouble working a job while going through the program. It is a really difficult 14 weeks, and it helps to be a quick learner as you are moving through topics quite fast.
I would definitely recommend Coding Dojo to someone looking to become a full stack web developer. Before enrolling, make sure you're ready to put in a lot of effort sustained over 14 weeks dealing with some confusing topics. You also need to comfortable asking for help from peers and instructors because there will definitely be times when you need to. If all that sounds doable, I think Coding Dojo is a great place to rapidly develop the skills required to be a programmer.

I was new to programming, I had about 3-4 weeks of prior experience mostly just online courses. My expectation was that I would be able to get a job after bootcamp with the skills acquired at bootcamp. The bootcamp was good that it quickly taught us a lot of new concepts fast, however their strategy to cram 3 stacks in 14 weeks is definitely not a good idea, I think they either need to make this a bit longer or they need to focus on one or two stacks. After bootcamp I felt like I BARELY knew each stack and it was not really enough proficiency to get a job in either. Their platform is not very good, I spent most of my time self-researching on google or asking friends. After you graduate, there does not seem to be sufficient resources for help on projects that you are personally working on. Overall, it's one way to jump start your career in programming but don't expect to be ready to get a job after, I had to spend another 3 months on my own self-studying daily.

I've got to say, my time at Coding Dojo was really great. As a means to leverage a career change, I have no reservations recommending the company. The short version of this review is that the people and the curriculum combine to provide amazing support to the students during their studies, and prepare them well for finding a solid, entry-level job when they're done. I'm extremely happy with my decision to go to Coding Dojo.

For those interested in more detail, here are a few points I'd emphasize:

1) The curriculum: they teach three full stacks of software development over fourteen weeks, which can give you a great range of marketability. I was at the DC campus, where they only teach MEAN, Java, and Python (in addition to a two-week standard unit on HTML/CSS/JavaScript). This represented less selection than at other campuses, I know, but the languages were very well chosen for the area, and I felt like what I'd learned matched up really well with job offerings in DC when I was done. The learning platform itself is well curated, too, and they take the creation of useful materials very seriously, soliciting lots of feedback and responding to it well.
I also appreciated that Coding Dojo puts a healthy emphasis on learning core CS concepts like algorithms and data structures. You spend about an hour every day on this material, drawing from an in-house textbook that I'll be going back to for the rest of my life. The material I learned in these sessions, beyond being darned fascinating, was also extremely helpful when it came to job interviews in the tech field.
They approach the material well on a philosophical level, too. The company's founder is very big on the idea of helping you become a self-sufficient developer, which means you're learning how to learn while building coding projects. In practical terms, this means they're trying to strike a balance between making sure you feel supported in your learning but not holding your hand through every assignment or topic. This generally works great—they'll point you to a source of online documentation instead of just handing you sample code, and you get used to using the sorts of problem-solving tools developers have to use all the time.
On the other hand, that's a tough balance to strike consistently (like in MEAN stack, where the curriculum had a few hiccups stemming from the inclusion of some newer JavaScript material), which is where the next point comes in...

2) The staff. The instructors and administrators at Coding Dojo were all top notch. Constantly available, friendly and encouraging, and above all knowledgeable. When the Dojo's online learning materials leave you feeling at sea, and you've beaten your head for a standard twenty minutes (more on this in a second) against the docs online, the instructors are right there, endlessly patient and unfailingly helpful. I felt like I had a bunch of really good friends who also happened to be great coders. They were genuinely invested in my success, and it showed all the time.
Beyond which the administrative staff—the head of the DC campus and the community manager—were always friendly, kept the place running smoothly, occasionally issued gentle reminders for people to wash their dishes, and helped foster a great sense of purpose and community at the school.
Finally here, a word about Herman Pryor, who was our career services advisor. The Dojo runs a week of workshops at the end of the months of instruction, and at the DC location it was Herman's show. He has a palpably clear vision of how he wants to help you approach your job search, and the week was both highly informative and, not to be too corny about it, downright inspiring. I came out knowing the nuts and bolts of putting together a good resume, setting up a cogent LinkedIn profile, and how to conduct myself in an interview; beyond that, I felt that, in approaching the job hunt, I wasn't just going around begging for a job. Herman made sure we asked ourselves what we really wanted in a career, and showed us how the nuts-and-bolts tools of job hunting contribute to finding an employer and a career track that will be really satisfying for all concerned.

3) The people. Finally, I loved the Dojo's feel of upbeat camaraderie. The instructors have their role to play here, as I mentioned, but beyond that the school does a lot to encourage it among the students. There are sports outings now and then, where everybody gets to laugh about how athletically disinclined they are, there is plenty of space to eat and chat together.
Then there's the twenty-minute rule, which I alluded to above.This is solid Dojo policy: if you get stuck, take twenty minutes trying to resolve the bug in your code. Don't short-change yourself by taking less than that and just hitting someone up for an easy answer, but don't stay stuck on anything for longer than that. The brilliance of this policy is that, once the twenty minutes are up, you're not supposed to run to the instructor yet; find someone else in your class who might be able to help. Figure it out together. It's hard to overstate how much emphasis this received in the Dojo: if you're giving help to or getting help from other students, you're doing your best learning. This means everyone felt comfortable approaching everyone for help—it never felt like a burden. And it did help everyone to become more self-sufficient. You don't want to come to someone else and just say, "My code doesn't work. Fix it." That's a waste of everyone's time. You want to formulate targeted, useful questions, get the help you need, and get everyone on their way.

This culture of helpfulness and mutual encouragement, coupled with the quality of the learning materials, made my time at the Dojo a genuine joy. As hard as it was—I was putting in ten to twelve hours a day most of the time—it was still exciting and enjoyable because the material was well curated and I felt extremely well supported on all sides. On leaving I dove into a job hunt feeling like I knew what to expect and what to do, and after not quite two months landed a job offer I'm excited about. I wish I had more thumbs so I could give this place more than two thumbs up.

Coding Dojo was a great first step in getting my new career in Web Development to a great start. It's a program that allows you to learn full stack development as opposed to just one stack. While that has its pros and cons, the Dojo does a great job in setting you up for the future. The push for being a self-sufficient developer during your time attending the bootcamp, really is how you get through surviving much of a career in development. It's not just about getting the answers, but understanding the why and how behind it. Someone mentioned that you get out what you put in, and I definitely agree with that as well. If you put in 60+ hours a week, you will definitely see your growth.

While the dojo set a strong foundation, much of what you need in the development world has to come from you forcing yourself to learn and get an indepth knowledge of the language/frameworks you use.

Advantages: Really nice instructors with a lot of patience, willing to teach those who have very limited knowledge of the field, learn multiple tech stacks, onsite full time program, multiple assignments in each stack that force repetition to learn the language quicker, onsite career development advisor to help guide you if you're transitioning from another career

Disadvantages: not many TAs onsite to help out if instructors are busy, never really get expert knowledge of a tech stack or language since you learn 3 stacks in 14 weeks, they don't teach React yet but really should consider making the switch from Angular, don't have guaranteed job placements like some bootcamps, didn't have as many tech talks/onsite events during my time there but maybe this has changed

Overall, I enjoyed my time at the Dojo and would recommend it to others who are considering making the switch from another career. Being onsite really helps keep you focused, and having your cohort mates with you throughout the process helps make it feel more like fun than just lots of work. If you want to get the most out of it, put in your 100% and you will see your progress over the 14 weeks. After you're done, don't stop learning and keep pushing yourself.