Code Chrysalis

I don’t know if my review will do justice. This coding boot camp isn’t just a school. They’ve become my family, and it has changed my life dramatically. I had done a little bit of JavaScript before, but I was lacking knowledge. I also had no idea where to start. There’s so much information online but it made absolutely no sense to me.

Joining Code Chrysalis was the best investment I’ve ever made in my entire life. I borrowed money to get in and to pay off bills because I was dirt poor. But it was more than worth the money.

 

So let me tell you the procedure in order to get in.

First, you have to pass the coding challenge online to apply for the course. Then you go through a technical interview. I failed once, but they give you all the resources and feedback to pass the interview. I studied based on that and I passed it the second time. Barely, though. My interviewer told me that I’m not at the same level as others, so I really need to study but told me that I can do it. She was very encouraging from the very beginning.

I then was given a material for the pre-course. This is where you work on your Javascript skills so you’ll be prepared for the actual course. This is done at home, and you have to complete this before you start the course. It was a lot of material and I quit my job so I can concentrate on it. I really struggled through callbacks and recursion, and never fully understood it. But they were always checking in on us and they would invite you to work at their coworking space to help you. The support starts as soon as you join, and I had no idea at that time that they help you so much even after you graduate, and pretty much forever.

The immersive course (the actual course) was super hard. I was clueless most of the time. Everyone else in the class was asking relevant questions during the lectures and I was still trying to understand the first slide. I never finished the recursion assignments and most of the code coffees (algorithm practice that you do everyday in the morning as practice) and I felt miserable. But they offer to help A LOT. They really want you to succeed. They would gladly sit next to you and explain things in detail. They are happy to do it, too. You can tell that they really care and want to help you. Even today after graduating, they volunteer to help you when you say you’re struggling with something.

What I really liked about this school is that they prepare you for a full stack. You cover so much and at a very fast pace. You cover computer science, database, frontend libraries like redux and react, vue and vuex, backend like express, TDD, CI/CD, job hunting techniques, building your professional profile, tech talks and presentation skills, communication skills, etc etc etc .. the list goes on forever. You also visit prestigious companies and do presentations using their technology, go to workshops, etc. I don’t want to spoil it to you too much, but there’s so much that you learn, and sometimes I didn’t understand why we had to do some of them- but it turns out that those skills really helped during the interviews, and that usually got me through the first interviews. So everything you do at Code Chrysalis is important, even if you don’t understand the purpose sometimes. And you’ll use that skill and be thankful for it. I guarantee it.

After graduating, we checked in every week to share our job hunting process. This is also very helpful and I got a ton of guidance and encouragement during this process. I don’t think I could’ve gone through this job hunting hell without their guidance and support. I was also super broke and they let me teach their foundations course part time, which saved me. They take care of you beyond programming and job hunting. They become your family. They’re always so excited to share you great job opportunities and encouraging you and giving you great advice.

With their help, I was able to receive several offers, and even negotiated the salary! I am at a company now that pays more than twice the salary at my last company!!! Even now they still ask how my job is going and check in with me often. They don't just "run a business" - they will be your best friend, someone that you can always trust and rely on for anything. 

If you're thinking about joining, you should do it ASAP. It's such a wonderful program that everyone wants to get in. The acceptance rate is around 20% (I think?), so if you get in, you should be very proud of yourself. You should also really be prepared to work really really hard. It's a hard course, and definitely not for beginners. Although if you're a beginner, they also offer a foundations course which is 4 weeks, 3 times a week. I taught foundations after graduating the immersive course, and I learned so much from that course too. So if money is not an issue, it's probably best to take both.

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(Note: My company supported me during the program and I'm still working at the same company, that explains why I set the "Job support" to not applicable.)

Before going through this program, I had already been working as an DevOps engineer on a totally different technology stack. 
And this program gave me a new set of skills that I'm pretty sure I'll benefit a lot in my career. 

Here are some good points.
- A decent understanding of JavaScript and a good exposure to its eco-system, especially on front end frameworks/libraries.
- An opportunity to learn something I always wanted to learn, and build some projects I always wanted to build.
- Some very good practice in modern software engineering industry and some good habitat of communication. Pair programming, giving feedback are the ones I personally value the most.

And there are some low-level topics(like operating system, TCP/IP and etc) not covered very well. 
But I think the staff team have made the hard trade off since the time is quite limited, and it's unrealistic to expect that you can learn everything about computer science and software engineering during three months. 
Make the right expectation and I believe one can learn enough skills to prepare oneself as a software engineer.

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Code Chrysalis provided us with much more than a regular full-stack bootcamp will probably do. I was able to acquire all the backend skills (I was a frontend developer) that I was hoping to learn, but also there were great opportunities that I didn't expect to have before the course. I'll mention 3 of them.

(1) Learn how to learn - You get to learn how to learn new things and how to solve problems by yourself. Asking others for answers is easy but it doesn't help you to grow as an engineer. 

(2) TDD & CI・CD - You get to learn TDD throughout the course, and CI/CD using Heroku pipeline in team projects. Experience these modern development technics was pretty amazing for me. 

(3) Real world activities - We were so lucky to have so many activities including a lean startup methodology workshop at Pivotal Japan, an interview with a foodbank NPO, guest talks about UX, the cultural differences between Japanese and American in a business setting etc, a collaboration project with RakutenMap. Can't name all...

If you like challenges, want to learn modern technics and enjoy to expand your knowledge outside of the technology, this course is highly recommended:)

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I came into this program with a strong computer science background but weak web development experience.  This course as purported goes back-to-front covering all the messy details of creating a modern web app framework to completion.  The second half of the course is dedicated to creating individual and collaborative full stack projects in an Agile workflow.  Instructor quality is high and selected students are friendly and passionate.  Worth every penny.

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Intense but rewarding course. Not for beginners. I was a backend engineer and I joined because I wanted to be a full-stack developer. Learned a lot and really appreicate all the help and opportunities the company and the instructors offered us. The location of the classroom is in downtown Tokyo, so very convenient. The course is taught in English. Outside of tech the personal branding and carer planning parts of the course was also extremely useful. If you're looking to go hard and acrquire advanced skillsets, consider taking this course.

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Before taking the leap to change careers, I was self-studying programming for about a year and a half. During that time I was working as an English teacher in Tokyo and I realized I wanted to transition into an industry with greater professional growth opportunities.The course was challenging, and while some concepts were covered quickly, it encouraged me to continue to learn on my own and fill in the gaps after the course was finished.I graduated in 2021, when the borders were closed due to the pandemic. After working with the career support team every other week via zoom, I gained insight into how to improve my resume and approaches to job applications. In the end, I received a few job offers and have been working as a full-time software engineer ever since. Taking the immersive course has truly been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Read less

Code Chrysalis is a bootcamp that has gained a reputation for producing skilled and well-rounded developers. As someone who recently completed the course, I can attest to the fact that it is an intense and fast-paced program that requires a significant amount of dedication and hard work. However, despite the challenging nature of the course, I found the experience and network to be well worth it.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was the confidence that I gained in my ability to learn difficult things quickly. The pace of the course is quite fast, but I found that I was able to keep up and get my assignments done. This was a valuable lesson for me and has given me the confidence to tackle other challenging projects in the future.
Another benefit of the program is the open-endedness of the Polyglottal project. This project allowed us to explore a variety of technologies and to apply what we had learned to a real-world problem. This was an excellent opportunity to put our skills into practice and to gain experience working in a team.
However, one of the tough realizations I had during the course was when I was paired with a group that didn't have the same interests or career goals as me. This meant that we were stuck with a project that didn't benefit my portfolio in the long term. This is something to keep in mind when negotiating with your groupmates, but I still learned a lot from the experience.
Overall, I would say that the course is more likely to prepare you for molding into a company than venturing off to be an entrepreneur or a freelancer. If your goal is to get a higher paying job in Japan, then it is likely that you will succeed if you are able to succeed at Code Chrysalis's course. The network and connections that you make during the program are invaluable and will help you to land a great job in the industry. While the course is fast-paced, it is a worthwhile investment for anyone looking to take their coding skills to the next level. Read less

 It was crucial for me. 
I moved to Japan with my wife without a detailed plan. I was just going to "figure things out" as my previous career was not for me and I wanted a serious change in life... 
I made "it" happen and C.C. was a big part of me getting a job in Tokyo.

It took me three months of studying to pass the interview to be accepted to the course. The precourse lasted two months. The course itself was a full time of three months... and I mean FULL TIME ;)
The C.C. assisted me in finding a job. They put a lot of effort into that. 

The staff has done a great job. I'm impressed. ;)  Read less

I have experience with the Foundations course, and have also sat in on the Immersive and worked with the graduates of that program. Code Chrysalis is an amazing bootcamp -- they do a fantastic job of preparing students for professional work in software engineering -- and they provide both the Foundations and Immersive courses, so people of all entry levels can achieve that career transformation.

 

The staff is kind and helpful too, with students and the community. Tons of free public events for the Tokyo tech scene too. Love it.

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code chrysalis was a very good experiance for me , instead of learning coding and other things i really liked learning about important skills that a computer engineer should know about it

if you are confuse or you thing your skills aren't enough i think is a good idea to try it

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Very immersive course ( with a lot of homework ) and enough fundamentals and practical skills you can achieve to be a professional software engineer. Instructors and curriculum provide not just programming skills but soft skills such as presentation, communication and team building which are very important to be a great engineer.

In my case, I didn't have any professional background and that is why every day is so challenging. But thanks to their intensive support, I could manage to get through it and I had got very confident as an engineer at the end.

They also provide curriculum and support for career planning and job searching. That helped me get a very good job opportunity even though I did not have any professional background. I really appreciate all the help they gave us.

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