The Best Bath Coding Bootcamps Of 2023

It took me about 2 years of planning to finally commit to making my career change into development, and after considerable research I desided to choose iO Academy. I have to say, it is without doubt the best educational experience I have ever had. The quality of teaching I recieved from my award winning trainer Rayna was incredible - she took real care with us as a class, and created a safe environment where I felt able to ask questions. We were a very eclectic mix of students, and she helped us all in the way that we needed individually.  The curriculum was incredibly interesting, and also completely relevent for the world of work. The job support offered by Rayna, Mike, and actually all of the trainers on site was absolutely fantastic - I was able to secure a job very quickly by following all of their advice. If you are thinking about going for it, just do it! Life changing, you won't regret it!

This course is intense, with 12 weeks of learning growing, and projects. However, the coaches and Talent team will make sure that you feel comfortable and provide any help you might need. The course will also be very rewarded the projects let you see how far you have come and what you can do. This entire course will make you feel very confident in joining the tech industry. Trust in the process, some times you will feel like you can't do this but it will dissipate when you start to see how much you have learned and the things you can build. The coaches and Talent team are always there to help you through anything. 

I found the course to be a great way to learn the foundations of Software Engineering. I think it's important to note that a lot of success depends on your own motivation and ability to seek help from peers/coaches if you need it, as a lot of the learning is hands off. Coaches are available to help with the course materials and run a few workshops/webinars. 

The structure for most of the course of 'solo work' in the mornings and then 'pairing' in the afternoons works well. You get assigned a pair that will either be behind you or ahead of you, and you work on the materials of whoever is behind. This way if you fall behind a bit, you can get guidance from someone that's further ahead of you, and if you steam ahead, you are somewhat forced to reinforce what you've already learned by helping others.

Careers support is pretty good, but again it's somewhat hands off. Lots of workshops to help with CV and cover letter writing, application tips, etc, and then ad hoc support when you need it. E.g. if you need a pep talk or technical advice before an interview you can schedule a call with a coach. Also students are allowed to book a (theoretically) unlimited number of 'code reviews' these are like mock technical interviews where you get really detailed feedback on your coding process and where you can make improvements, as well as a full recording of your review. These are done with an external partner so there's no bias. These are really useful so, if you do Makers, be sure to take advantage of these.

It's hard to give a fully thorough assessment of the careers support however, as the job market is really in a bad place right now, so the 'getting a job' bit is quite tough at the moment. The careers partnerships team seems, however, to have started bringing in a few nice hiring partners who agree to interview Makers grads, but for a while there was a real drought of any partnerships coming in so there's a bit of a backlog of job hunters in the alumni. General chatter is that the market is picking up again after the bloodbath of layoffs in the sector have started to stabilise, but it could still be a while.

Overall, I'm really glad I did Makers and I found a job 2 months after graduating, however some people have been less lucky and are still hunting quite a few months on. With that in mind just be aware of the fact that - given the current market - the job hunt requires a LOT of work to keep coding and keep your motivation up applying to jobs, and also requires a fair bit of luck too.. But if you have the logical mind for coding and the motivation to power through it I'm sure you'll be great.

I learnt so much in this course. As a career changer i wanted to learn full stack software development, get hands on experience and become career ready. This course helped me to achieve that. I am currently working as a junior software developer.

This course helped me to be prepare for work in the industry. I got experience in all parts of software development lifecycle. I got support with my CV and interview which helped me to land my first role. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone who is a career changer like myself or a career starter or looking to update their knowledge with the latest tech in software development. 

Important tips for new starters: 
- Make sure you read your course materials including the extra bits, 
- Prepare your questions before online classes (the teachers are very good with answering your questions and giving real life examples), 
- Learn how to research software issues (this course will teach you how to approach any error you could possibly have, basic principles, what steps to take, hugely important in career)
- Finally make sure you enrol!