Code Fellows

To learn coding, you need someone with years of actual coding experience at a software company so they can grade your code, and some experience presenting technical content.   I was told I would have an instructor with years of coding experience.  I got someone who not only didn’t have coding experience, but had never worked in the industry.  Homework was not truly reviewed nor were answer keys ever provided.  Due to that the TA’s had no idea what was going on.  Plus he was arrogant, foul-mouthed, rude, and defensive.  He wrote his demos and plans day by day, wouldn’t provide answer keys, and generally blamed students for any problems.  When an instructor for an advanced program came to talk about his class, he also became defensive about questions surrounding his experience from several students.  Questions about the software industry were never answered.  Don’t waste your money.

I really enjoyed my time at CF. I took the Web Dev Bootcamp (now the 201), Python F2 and Python 401 (which is now a combination of what was the DA and F2).

My favorite class by far was the Python 401. Cris Ewing is a master educator. He's one of the best teachers I've ever had. He knows when to push students and when to lay back, and he really knows how to break down concepts into small digestable pieces. The 401 was the most intense ten weeks I've ever experienced. I was at CF an average of 10 hours a day during the week, and 5-8 hours every Sunday for all ten weeks, but I loved every minute of it. For me, I learn best in an intense environment like that, mostly because I don't have a choice but to learn quickly. Cris even told us that the point of the class was not to learn Python, but to learn how to learn. It's the "Figure Stuff Out Class". Because of this class, I feel totally prepared to learn whatever technology I need to in a job.

I graduated in May and just got a job as a Software Dev Intern. Woot! And, I felt totally prepared for my interview because of the daily data structure assignemnts and weekly code challenges and whiteboard challenges.

I had an incredible experience taking 201 and 301 beginner and intermediate software development at Code Fellow's Portland campus. Our instructor was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and cognizant of our level of understanding. Our TAs went above and beyond to stay late with us and explain difficult concepts. And the administrative staff provided incredible support and made themselves available for one on one time whenever we needed it. My fellow students were wonderful as well; I learned so much from each and every one of them and they helped create a great community. I have spent years trying to teach myself programming on my own and now I finally feel like I can get a good job as a developer. I would recommend Code Fellows to anyone looking to enter the field.

I originally posted this review on yelp since I felt like CF's current yelp score was heavily negative, but yelp's automatic algorithm did not recommend it. So reposting here.

I was a student in the Ruby on Rails Accelerator back when the course was offered (Sept 2014). Since they've made so many changes to their program structure, this review may not be as applicable, but figured I'd leave my two cents.

The application process was what you would expect out of an actual interview. I was presented with several assignments that I had to complete within a given amount of time. Afterwards, I went through a phone/skype screening. This heavily mirrors my experiences with job interviews so far.

This actual program was only 8 weeks at the time. The first half was spent discussing the ends and outs of Ruby/Rails, and of those four weeks, each day was divided into lecture and co-working where we'd work on projects/discuss new topics among the other devs. As you can imagine given the time, there's only so much you can learn from lectures. Most of the education is actually done by yourself during co-working time. This makes it feel like you can just go to Khan Academy or any other free service, but Code Fellows provides soft skills like teamwork, public speaking, marketing, resume review and more that you can't learn by following online tutorials.

The last half of the program was spent going over more in-depth data structures and algorithms. Sure, you probably won't be using them at work, but I feel like learning how to implement these gives you a better understanding of how a certain problem can be solved and what is the best way to accomplish a solution through code.

Throughout the last half was job prep, which includes whiteboard challenges, common interview questions, how to follow up an interview, and the like. This is where I feel like Code Fellows really shined. If I went in blind to interviews, I feel like I would have blown a lot more than I would have going to CF. They prepare you with not only how to solve typical Fizzbuzz questions, but how to communicate with your interviewer, talk out your problems, ask for more information, body language, and more. This I found extremely valuable.

But what I found lacking, which isn't necessarily their fault, is how far having Code Fellows on your resume will take you. In my experience, it's normally been just a side conversation piece more than something that truly made my resume stand out. As many have pointed out, Code Fellows is (or was at the time) relatively new and doesn't have the network that other boot camps like The Iron Yard or Hack Reactor may have. I have looked for work outside of Seattle and Portland, and it's been harder than I'd imagine to get responses just based on my education. But as I have more experience since my initial job search years ago, it has been easier to net interviews.

I did manage to land a job within two months of graduating from Code Fellows though. Although technically I didn't receive a salary of $60k, cost of living is much cheaper where I am, so it balances out.

TL;DR, I feel like the soft skills were more valuable than the programming, which could honestly be learned online. But learning how to communicate during an interview and how to work well on a team aren't so easy to learn that way. If you need a place to do that plus more, Code Fellows may be right for you. As long as you're willing to take not only a time investment, but a monetary one.

UPDATE: I started a new position making at least $60k, so that's not too bad.

I graduated from Code Fellows' iOS Development Accelerator in September, 2015. I did all coursework and attended all lectures. The way they graded us was a mess, and it was really not clear the "weight balance" between homeworks, projects and whiteboard tests.

I submitted all homeworks and projects, and did not pass the whiteboard exam. Our instructor mentioned to us, that you would get the certificate if you passed the whiteboard exam. Great, so, he gave us a couple of minutes and a quick look on binary trees, linked lists and queues and told us to read Cracking the Coding Interview Book!

OH GREAT, right, so I read cracking the coding interview in one week and I am expected to know everything about data structures. This is ridiculous. I can proove that I am right, because after my complaint to the COO, they clearly created a weight balance for approving you at the end of the course for the next class, which came in October.

I came from overseas, to CF, delivered all homeworks and projects with excelent marks, and because of 5% of the course, the lecturer did not want to issue me the certificate. In every course in the world you have a minimum grade to pass. This was clearly a way to disqualify me off their old "Job-offer guarantee". And also, I spoke to all my classmates and they told me that my test was much harder than their tests.

I was asked to write exact Swift code for my whiteboard test, while they were only told to speak through their solutions and passed. My advice, clearly check if they have a solid way to grade you, and if you know data structures, I have applied for more than a hundred job opportunities after graduation, and have been studying data structures a lot.

I can see that I am nowhere near employable for the companies I applied for, as what we are asked during coding interviews are Computer Science standards. You will be able to code at the end of Code Fellows' course, but you can be nothing more than an intern, if you do not have any previous coding experience. Do a Computer Science degree instead.

Before you pay any money to attend any of Code Fellow's advanced courses in hopes of getting a programming job, do yourself a favor and have a look at this book first:

http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-6th-Programming/dp/0984782850/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464054008&sr=8-1&keywords=cracking+the+coding+interview

Are you able to work through the coding challenges competently already? Great! Then you don't need Code Fellows. Now go and start applying for jobs.

If you can't already work through the code challenges in this book, don't expect Code Fellows to get you much closer to being able to work through those problems.

Save yourself the trouble. If you're not already an experienced developer, your Code Fellows training isn't going to prepare you for a job. Go and get a CS degree instead. Or go ahead and take the Code Fellows courses and then plan to spend another 1 or 2 years after that not working a job and training yourself for 8 hours a day.

Code schools are bullshit. Sure, you might have a good time and make some friends, but will you get a job when it's all said and done? Based on our experience, not likely.

Attended Code Fellows starting from their 201 class, all the way up to 401. I came into the courses with little to no prior experience to coding. However, I didn't find that many difficulties completing through the curriculum, mainly thanks to the wonderful staff. Everyone who works there were nice, open, and very easy to talk to. They all seemed to genuinely care for your success in coding.
The curriculum is good. It's hard to judge how good it is as I have not experienced anything besides CF, however, I heard good things from people around me. As for ASP.NET Core, we were working with the newest technology. This is probably the strongest point for CF, as you are learning the new industry standards.
Job Support that CF offered was helpful for someone like me changing careers. Having dedicated time to learn how the tech industry works was nice. 

For someone like me, who was hesitant to make the shift into tech, Code Fellows was a nice introductory. Plenty of fabulous instructors and staff, that provide good education. The course is intensive but as someone who found passion in doing it, it was a great experience. 

I started my journey at Code Fellows back in August 2017.
I decided to enroll in the nights and weekends track and see how I liked it, I fell in love!
The environment at Code Fellows is great, everywhere you look you see passionate developers, instructors, TA's. Everyone there has a simple goal to help you become the best developer that you can be.
Now it's not easy, there are times where I felt like I was just not getting things and I would struggle to grasp things and the structure of the classes move fast. But if you put in the work and the time you will get it, I was fortunate to go through 201, 301, and 401 with the same core group of classmates people who were integral in my learning as much as the instructors and TA's if it was asking a classmate how they solved a bug or helping another get their testing going its all beneficial. I loved my time at Code Fellows and if anyone had questions about it I would be happy to answer them you can message me here https://www.linkedin.com/in/cody-green/

Code Fellows is really a great place to begin to launch your tech career. The staff and instructors work to provide you with the most up-to-date technologies and best practices. The course is rigorous but also accesible to anyone from any background. The staff works hard to ensure that you can enter the job market with skill and confidence. Also the instructors are just awesome!