Bloc

I have been at Bloc for a year and have waited to write a review but I am at my wits end. Since my first day, I had a mentor who was a former Bloc student. They gave me very little support and always cancelled our meetings. Looking back they really offerend any "mentoring" and was not qualified in my opinion to be a mentor yet. Luckily now I have a great mentor but honestly he is the only positive part of my Bloc expierence. The hours they say it takes to complete are not feasable. I work full time and it takes hours to finish projects, not to mention the revisions. Hey I totally get that things need revisions but its not realistic to say 1 project takes 4 hours! try more 10-15 hours realistically from start to finish. Now the grading....we are being timed to complete the program. Again, some of us have full time jobs and they are suppose to take 48 hours to grade. Well it actually takes 4-5 days...and you have to wait to continue to the next project depending on the material. I have also asked for someone to call me from the support team multiple times and yet nobody has.....luckily I have UX designers who are friends & they have taught me more than Bloc. Do not waste your money. I regret it in hindsight. I am sure there are better programs out there with more supportive staff.

I'm a design student with Bloc and I'm very glad I decided to take this course.  They've taught me things that I wouldn't have thought to learn myself, like tons of design software, color psychology, step-by-step coding, logo design, and so much more. The feedback I get on my assignments and the online technical coach assistance has been a huge help for me, along with weekly mentor appointments. I'm only about halfway through and I feel like I've learned so much! Plus, there's a scholarship for women so let's get coding ladies!

I have already wasted so much time and energy with this useless program.  For prospective students, please do not waste your money!  I can not even begin to explain how awful this program is.  The content is made up of links to free programs.  If you are lucky enough to get the "mentor" who actually cares.  You might be told, "just give it a bit longer" or "wait until you reach Blocs original content".  Long story short.  I am not the only person who was strung along.  I do wish more people would share these experiences.  Not sure what happens to negative reviews on these sites?

I was enrolled in their Software Developer Track for 3.5 months, and I completed the entire frontend programming portion, including the projects.  My experience was the the actual course material that bloc was providing was hardly professional or thorough.  Each "checkpoint" consists of a small section of information, which covers maybe 10% of what you need to know.  Additionally, they link you to external resources that are all free (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/).  All of the actual "educational" material that bloc provides are also just links to Code School, which you can do for free on your own.  The entire 1st module uses Code School's material: https://www.codeschool.com/learn/html-css

As for my mentor, they were really cool and eager to help me, but I honestly felt like I didn't need them.

Additionally, bloc's student advisors/student success team is extremely disorganized and unhelpful.  It actually took 3 weeks for them to respond to one of my emails.

I've been in Design Track about two months, and it's been alternately challenging and rewarding. The year before Bloc, I took related college courses but could tell that that route would take years because I work full-time and can only manage two courses at once. The Bloc program is very focused on exactly what a designer needs. I also talked with a lot of people before making the commitment.

One friend of mine graduated from the UX/UI course (one half the length and content of Design Track) and quickly found work at a startup. After a year, she began working on a UX team at a well-established company. I also spoke with students who graduated from academic online masters degree programs but didn't have much of a portfolio to show and seemed less directed.

The two things I value most about Bloc are that

• Students finish the program with a solid portfolio to show to potential employers.
• Each student is paired with an experienced mentor to meet with at regular intervals for one-on-one sessions.

It's been great having a mentor who works in the field. My mentor Zach is encouraging, gives great, detailed feedback, and answers my many questions. Bloc members also have access to a Slack channel, which is where I go when I'm stuck on technical questions. The mentors hang out there, and I get answers quickly.

They don't hold your hand. Be prepared to work, maybe more than the program estimates you see on their site. (It does takes me longer to get through the modules.) As other reviewers have stated, you'll get out of it what you put into it. My advice: If you're considering the program, get a copy of the syllabus and look at the tools you'll be using; the more you can prepare in advance, the better off you'll be.

I have been enrolled in Bloc's Full-Time Designer Track for about a month and I am really loving my experience. Everything is online, which makes the course really flexible and has allowed me to continue working part-time as a result. What makes Bloc stand out to me, is the fact that I get one-on-one mentor meetings three times a week. My first mentor was awesome and I just got introduced to my second mentor. Additionally, I have met and chatted with mentors who aren't even assigned to me. The mentors really seem to care a lot about the success of the students and are so encouraging while still pushing you to become the best designer you can be.

Bloc also is continuously making improvements to their curriculum which I think illustrates that you can trust they are always up-to-date with industry standards.

Before enrolling, I did a lot of research and I am so happy I chose Bloc. It is more affordable and more flexible than most other Bootcamps, and their curriculum is more comprehensive.

I highly recommend Bloc to anyone thinking about enrolling in a Bootcamp!

At first I was really skeptical when joining an online coding Boot Camp. I think the one on one mentor ship is what gravitated me towards Bloc. My mentor helped me gain the confidence and skills needed to become a web developer. 

while the curriculum can be kind of difficult, I found that using slack and my mentor as a resource went a long way. 

this program is not for people who like handholding, you really have to put in the work and remain dedicated. 

that being said, I was able to find a developer job 2 weeks after I finished the program, so I do credit bloc for my success. 

So far, the course has had me wanting to pull my hair out at some points, but the people within the actual program are SO helpful. There's a community, a vast amount of web programs that help you take care of things, there's the vast amount of tools, and everything is virtually free. Even with the tuition reimbursement. A few links havent worked for the tutorials, and the language is sometimes hard to understand, but they have a guarantee system that motivates you to push yourself to make the most of the money AND opportunity.

I am roughly half way through the Part Time Web Developer track and could not be happier with Bloc. My mentor has proven to be invaluble in my learning.

I can from a backgorund of mobile development but zero web deveolpment knowledge. Even without being complely through my program, I have used skills from the course for real (and deployed) web soultions. This is the great program for anyone who cannot commit to not working or taking projects for a span of months for an in person boot camp.

Hello, before I choose Bloc, I had really done my research as to the schools both on ground and online that would give me the necessary skills to be more competitive in my field. My background is in print - graphic design and I felt that I was lacking in the skills that are required in todays market. 

7 Weeks in I am glad I took the plunge and learning new things every day, whether its sharpening my skills in Illustrator, Photoshop or research. I have a passion for learning and can say I'm pretty strict on the hours I spend on bloc. I am currently freelancing and taking bloc classes on a part time basis, which is great, because I have the flexibility to accelerate or de-accelerate depending on my freelance projects.

My mentor is great, has a wealth of knowledge in graphic, web design and coding that I can always lean on for support.

To summarize, know what you want, work hard and you will be rewarded.