CareerFoundry

For the most part, I enjoyed the Web Developer course. It was challenging at times -- mostly toward the end. The curriculum was decent. The part that really made this course stand out was/is the community of not only helpful alumni, but how students helped/help other students. Having that in a real-time environment was/is great. As an alumnus, I still help students whenever possible. Additionally, having both an assigned tutor and mentor was great. Mine were very helpful and offered great suggestions as well as being able to point me the right direction to resolve issues for which I just could not find the answers. Having that kind of support system really made the course less frustrating.

Although the course was good, there is definitely room for improvement. First of all, I would not recommend this course to a complete beginner. If you have even basic HTML and CSS knowledge, then go for it. However, if you only know HTML and CSS because you heard a geeky friend talk about it, then I would go elsewhere to learn the basics. I, and many others, have helped too many struggling and inexperienced students get through the first few lessons because they were confused about what they needed to do.

Secondly, I believe there should have been more practice with Javascript and an introduction to a newer framwork like Angular, React, or Node as opposed to jQuery. I say that because when I went job-hunting after the course, all of the job postings wanted experience in more, some several more, languages and/or frameworks and the three that I listed seem to be the most popular. Adding at least one of them to the course would give students something more in-demand to add to their resume and portfolio.

Thirdly, I don't think Ruby and Ruby on Rails are good choices for students to learn right now simply because most of the jobs out there want a lot of experience and most are for senior positions. Students are hoping to take the course and get in the field as fast as possible and I don't believe the short amount of time to learn Ruby and Ruby on Rails is sufficient -- especially if the student has little to no programming experience.

Finally, there are parts of the course where the wording was just outright confusing. However, that is not all bad since the student has the ability to notify the staff and let them know about things like that, which they are pretty good about resolving quickly.

With all that said, I still had a good experience and made some friends and acquaintances. There is also the added benefit that the course lessons are still available even after you have graduated as well as continued access to the community. Also, they do offer resume assistance and try to help you find a job. Still, I believe with the right combination of web development languages and frameworks, more students may find positions as a web developer faster.

CF team has developed a great tool online, defiant most of the time and designed to increase difficulty lesson after lesson. System provide you a great feed back and a big picture of your progress.

Tutor and mentor system works good, answers comes fast enough (could be better) and in a clearly way. They use links to useful resources and some times use video answers, showing you where and how you can improve you work.

One of the most valuables things is the community (I did not take it as it should, to be honest) but allways you find useful info, support and a friendly network of people, a really important aspect of being web developer!

...that my course is over. I mean it. 

I did the Web Dev course and finished it in 2 1/2 month. That's pretty fast and although I hadn't much free time (let's say none) I definitely can say every minute was worth it. Here's why:

• Course content

Before I joined the course I did some free courses on codecademy which was great. At least most of the time. You get an exercise, write your code in the given editor and get your review right away. So far so good. BUT: Did you really learn something? I'm not sure about that. You don't have to install your own text editor. You don't have to install Ruby, Rails and so on. Yes, it might feel a lot easier but what for? I think, IF you really want to learn a language you have to fail and you have to read and google and make stackoverflow to your new facebook. That doesn't mean you shouldn't use free sources in addition. ;) 

I liked it a lot how the content of CareerFoundry is written. And whenever I thought something was wrong (like I didn't get an expected output) there's a review at the end of each task where you can submit your notes. I only used it once and they reached back to me nearly immediately. Plus there's a lot of advice where to find further information. All you have to do is to read and try. Sure though, in three months it can be really, really tough. But it can be done. 

• Mentor Video Reviews

The first review felt strange to me. Someone else - a human being I actually saw on my screen - went through my code and checked my assignment. That's even like sitting in school and the teacher corrects your work. Scary but oh so helpful. And I was really happy with my mentor who gave me a lot of advice and who had a passion for good-looking code. 

• Community

I can hardly imagine a life without Slack. And how was it possible to communicate without? You have channels for all kind of stuff. For Web Development in general, for taskhelp, for feedback, for UX, UI, for everything. And the best of it? You'll get an answer. Sure, sometimes you have to wait for an answer but keep in mind - there are 24 different time zones. Not everyone is awake when you are. 

I'm so glad that I've "met" another student I could learn with. We struggled at the same tasks and it felt like sitting next to each although we studied in different cities. Tip: Say hello at the beginning of your course and find someone you can interchange with! Sometimes you just need a second look to find a missing semicolon. 

• Course Access

I did the course in this short time period because I had to. Circumstances forced me to do so and although I wish there would have been more time for the tasks I feel confident with HTML, CSS, Ruby, Rails, ... I did an internship after the course (Web Development, Ruby on Rails) and I can tell you that although there's a lot I still have to learn, I felt good. Yes I needed way more time compared to the Web Devs in the company but I never felt lost. And regarding the bullet point above this paragraph "Course Access", you have it (the content) the rest of your life. So whenever I struggled, I not only used google and forums, I used my course and asked the community for help. 

Conclusion

I would do it again. And I can recommend it allover! 

This is my first time I do a bootcamp in order to learn programming and I have to admit that it is quite intense and challenging to finish the course in only 3 months, but I am confident that I will be able to do it. I think that, because I am receiving great support not only from my tutor and my mentor, but also from the other students and the people, who are working at Career Foundry. There are different communication channels where I can reach out for help, if I get stuck somewhere with a lesson. The curriculum is packed full with both front-end and back-end, which I find really awesome to learn so much and especially different topics. Only I am glad that I have seen some lines of code before, otherwise I would probably be lost a lot of times. So I am excited and hopeful to land a job as a junior developer after finishing the course :D

CareerFoundry has exceeded my expectations in every way.  I’ve just finished up the UI Design course and am much more confident about my skills than when I tried to learn on my own.

While I was researching various different online schools, I ended up choosing CF because it was actually a course I could afford. I’ll admit, I was a bit skeptical of the quality of the lessons at their price point, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was paired with an amazing mentor that challenged my designs and pushed me to keep working past projects that were just “good enough”. That combined with a very supportive staff and fellow students really helped me to succeed in the course. 

After six months, I’ve gone from having little to no information about how to design an app to having several full prototypes to add to my portfolio. I highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in building their UI and UX skills in a fun and supportive environment!

Throughout my experience with CareerFoundry, the support from advisors and instructors has exceeded expectations. They’re really attentive to individual student needs, whether its questions about coursework, scheduling issues, or career assistance. Even months after completing the course, I still feel like part of the online community, as they continue to check-in and provide helpful resources.

I was completely new to coding when I started and found the curriculum challenging, but I never felt stranded. The quality of instruction is fantastic, and I'm really happy with the experience and skills I've gained through CF.  I definitely recommend the course to anyone considering a career in web development!

When I joined CareerFoundry, I didn't even know what a code was. I was a true defination of the word "beginner". What made me enrol with them was the desire to learn. Anxious as I was about the course, the fact that I will have a tutor and a mentor put a bit of ease. 

And true to their words, my tutor was heaven sent. He was there for me every step of the way. He would always remind me that it was his job to help me so I must always ask if I need help. As for my mentor, he understood that I was a beginner and he really encouraged me to work hard to achieve my career goals. 

The Curriculum is detailed with additional material to educate yourself even further than the given tasks. It is hard work but at the end of each task, there is joy that comes with it. You are never alone when learning with CF, the community is always there for you. Be it the support team, student advisors or other students, the support is just ovewhelming.

It's a pity I couldn't finish the course due to personal reasons but I am definitely going back. I can recommend CF to anyone without thinking twice. keep ut the good work guys:)

Online education is not for everyone, and it can be very hard to find an organization that can effectively convey useful information and help establish a skill set. That said, Career Foundry does an excellent job at taking someone (such as myself) with little, to no UI design background and points them in the right direction. Career Foundry helps establish a knowledge base that makes that "where do I even start?" feeling, much more manageable.

A word of warning, if you are new to UI, this course will not be easy. The first few months I was able to keep up and even get considerably ahead of my scheduled end date. However, you have to keep pressing throughout the whole course because it gets particularly demanding towards the end. You will likely spend around 7-10 hours a week for the first couple of months. Towards the end of the course, however, I was logging 20 hours or more a week. So you will definitely do a good amount of work. 

The staff is professional and excellent to work with. Responses come quick considering different time-zones and the fact you depend a lot on emailing. Cicely was particularly great to work with. You can tell she takes her job very seriously and she always responds in a timely manner.

My mentor Eric was also awesome! We had around 8 or so conversations and he was always able to spot mistakes I hadn't noticed, or he brought things to my attention that could be improved upon. Initially, I may have had some pushback to some of his suggestions, but far more often than not they ended up improving upon what I had originally built. He was also very quick about getting back to me and offering feedback.

If you are looking to become a certified pro on Sketch and are even remotely interested in the awesome world of UI, this course is well worth your time.