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Code Fellows is a technical skills training academy in the Pacific Northwest that offers full- and part-time software development, ops and cybersecurity courses online and in-person from their Seattle, Washington location. Code Fellows guides people from all backgrounds to change their lives through fast-paced, career-focused education. Since their first cohort in 2013, Code Fellows has taught over 1,600 graduates and iterated on their curriculum and format to ensure students receive the most industry-relevant training as effectively and efficiently as possible. Code Fellows shapes passionate learners with immersive training to meet industry needs and improve diversity. Students are immersed in their learning with daily lectures, pair programming, weekly presentations from full-time instructional staff who are seasoned industry professionals, one-week project sprints, and more. Code Fellows graduates work at Amazon, Microsoft, Zillow, Expedia, XBOX, NIKE, Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, and over 800 other companies.
The modular style of the Code Fellows program allows students to test into the course level that is most appropriate for their current skill level. In addition, the modular class structure allows students to choose the schedule and timing that meets their needs.
Code Fellows believes everyone should have the opportunity to succeed. Code Fellows offers scholarships to help individuals who come from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds find rewarding careers in tech. They are committed to breaking down systemic barriers and ensuring all people are treated with respect and dignity. They are united with their staff, students, alumni, and partners in the fight against systemic racism and injustice.
Code Fellows supports both domestic and international licensing partners through its Powered by Code Fellows program. Code Fellows also offers a tutoring program and platform to both students and non-students, technical instructor certification, and corporate training.
Don't believe self-reported, manipulated job placement statistics published by a for-profit "educational" company.
I took three courses from Code Fellows in 2015, the last of which was an iOS "dev accelerator" (they have since changed their course names) which came with a "money back job guarantee" for a $60,000 a year dev job within 9 months of graduation. Only about 30% of our graduating class have gotten dev jobs. Those who had profe...
Don't believe self-reported, manipulated job placement statistics published by a for-profit "educational" company.
I took three courses from Code Fellows in 2015, the last of which was an iOS "dev accelerator" (they have since changed their course names) which came with a "money back job guarantee" for a $60,000 a year dev job within 9 months of graduation. Only about 30% of our graduating class have gotten dev jobs. Those who had professional programming experience prior to attending Code Fellows got jobs. No one else did. Don't believe anything these people tell you, and certainly don't buy the hype. Worse than spending $10-20k on tuition, you'll end up wasting a year of your life like most of us did. And in spite of having a "money back guarantee" on the tuition if you don't find a job, they very cunningly found numerous ways to "disqualify" the majority of the students who didn't find jobs from actually ever getting a refund of any sort! Don't trust these people. I deeply regret that I ever did.
Remember, in life, if sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This was a perfect example of that. I deeply regret my decision to attend Code Fellows. I would definitely not do it again.
Their "job placement assistance" consists of someone who reviews your resume for layout issues and typographical errors and sends you a weekly "let me google that for you" list of job ads found elsewhere on the Internet. Their "hiring partners" are companies they manage to rope into attend a meet and greet for students where representatives from companies will try to engage in polite conversations with noobs and career changers, explaining that they're really just looking for experienced devs (i.e. programmers with years--I repeat, YEARS--of experience).
Code Fellows instructors will also repeat various mantras in an attempt to lull you into a false sense of confidence. "How can anyone learn to code in less than a year of coursework?" you'll ask. They'll explain correctly that no one can possibly become an expert programmer in that short amount of time, but that doesn't matter, because what Code Fellows will do for you is get you an entry level job... some sort of "apprenticeship" where "you'll get paid to continue learning!" BS. Total BS. Start ups can't afford to hire someone who doesn't know what there doing and large companies most likely take a chance on you.
You'll end up paying a ton of money for someone to read PowerPoint slides to you and let you use their space to work on your own laptop. Many of Code Fellows' instructors are recent Code Fellows graduates with little or no actual full-time tech industry experience.
I was simply too naive. I even had friends who are experienced developers or grad students in computer science programs at schools like UC Berkeley try to dissuade me from attending any "code school". When I asked them what they thought of the whole code school trend they responded with one of two answers:
1) "They [any code school] will be glad to take your money."
or
2) "What the hell is a code school?"
Worse than wasting your money on a code school, you will waste a ton of time. You'd be better off investing that time and money in a traditional computer science degree. That's all these company want anyhow.
You may think you need a bullshit certificate on your resume to help you land a job. Trust me, graduating with a "Code Fellows" certificate will end up being more of an embarrassment and red flag for employers than an asset. Just don't do it. And if you don't believe me, read on:
http://www.salon.com/2016/09/17/hacker-house-blues-my-life-with-12-programmers-2-rooms-and-one-21st-century-dream/
https://www.wired.com/2016/01/in-2016-the-coding-bootcamp-bubble-is-bound-to-burst/
http://fusion.net/story/303385/coding-bootcamps/
Don't do it. Learn from our mistakes. Do anything else, including just teaching yourself or taking community college courses on the side. But whatever you do, DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB AND ATTEND A CODE SCHOOL. I wish I could have that time and money back.
Don't do it!
I recently went through their Code 301 course. Could have received the same education through Tree house or Code Academy though and saved a lot of $.
Brook Riggio of Code Fellows
VP of Education
Mar 09, 2016
I took the iOS Development Accelerator as it was called before the curriculum was changed to a different format. I completed the course at the end of September 2015 in good standing. I am still unemployed, and have had very few people look my way for interviews. I've had a couple of phone interviews, and not one in person interview.
I bought into the promise of "you can start from nearly no understanding of software development and become an attractive candidate for jobs within ...
I took the iOS Development Accelerator as it was called before the curriculum was changed to a different format. I completed the course at the end of September 2015 in good standing. I am still unemployed, and have had very few people look my way for interviews. I've had a couple of phone interviews, and not one in person interview.
I bought into the promise of "you can start from nearly no understanding of software development and become an attractive candidate for jobs within 2 months." Hoooo boy, let me tell you, that's just not how it works. I really wish it did. Maybe it does for front end web dev stuff, but not for actual app development like iOS. A two or three month course is not going to prepare you for that kind of work. I didn't want to believe it either. I thought I was different, that I could make it. Nope. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the truth. Very few companies will look your way. Why would they? There's so much established talent in Seattle, not to mention they have the resources to recruit candidates from around the country and in some cases from around the world.
If you want to do software development, I would highly recommend getting an actual CS degree. That's what I wish I would have done. You realllllly need to know in depth the way to think like a programmer, which these courses can't do for you. Not in that timeframe. Trust me. You will learn specific programming paradigms and frameworks specific to whatever you are studying, but not the deeper concepts that really need to be the foundations of that other stuff.
Our instructor was an iOS god, and even with that there was just no way to teach career changers how to be a developer companies want to hire. The only people from my cohort who got jobs were those who were switching stacks - they already knew how to write software and had worked for years in the industry.
I didn't really get any help applying for jobs besides a resume review and tips on how to prep your LinkedIn page. That's stuff you can find out how to do by googling around for 5 minutes.
I haven't taken a job since I "graduated" to spend most of my time working on becoming a better developer and applying for jobs. Still unemployed. I'm lucky, I have the luxury to do that, but I feel bad for people who can't. Lots of my peers had to go back to what they were doing before to pay the bills.
Please, take some time to think about doing a program like this. This isn't some magic pill, no matter what people say. I don't want people wasting time and money like I did; it set me back a lot. I also don't want to dissuade anyone from following their dreams, I'm just telling you that if your dream is to be a software developer like mine is, this is not the way to do it. Consider it a favor, take care and good luck.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at the email address below (no spaces):
e d r e a s e @ gmail . com
Brook Riggio of Code Fellows
VP of Education
Oct 14, 2016
Bootcamp for Front End Web Development. Taught HTML5, CSS3, CSS preprocessors, responsive web design/development, JavaScript and jQuery along with overall web design. Excellent course.
After 13 years at a big tech company, working on variations of the same thing over and over, I decided it was time for a drastic change. I spent ten weeks at Code Fellows learning about iOS development and had multiple job offers in hand 2-3 weeks after finishing. I even ended up getting about a 20% raise over what I walked away from.
The program isn't magical. You can't expect to pay your money, punch the clock, and get handed a cushy job making booku bucks on your way out the d...
After 13 years at a big tech company, working on variations of the same thing over and over, I decided it was time for a drastic change. I spent ten weeks at Code Fellows learning about iOS development and had multiple job offers in hand 2-3 weeks after finishing. I even ended up getting about a 20% raise over what I walked away from.
The program isn't magical. You can't expect to pay your money, punch the clock, and get handed a cushy job making booku bucks on your way out the door. It takes a passion and decication to learn. Beginners will have a more difficult time than experienced developers, but the program definitely works for both audiences. The more effort you put into it, the more benefit you'll get out of it.
The professional development was something I didn't think I needed but ended up being a huge help. I learned my interviewing weaknesses and felt so much more confident in interviews after addressing them. I also learned how to use the web to find jobs, as this was the first time I'd looked since college when the companies came to campus to recruit. I'd vastly underestimated how useful this component of the course would be.
Code Fellows as an organization highly values feedback and takes it very seriously. I've seen changes introduced as a result of feedback both during my course and in the course that followed it.
In the end, going to Code Fellows was an excellent choice for me and I'm extremely happy with how it all worked out.
I took three courses at Code Fellows Portland (201-401) and I enjoyed all three of them. Before the bootcamp, I didn't know how to use terminal. After the bootcamp, I got a great job at one of my dream companies.
Instructors and TAs: One of the nicest and knowledgable people that I know. Of course once in a while they may have to look up the answers to some of your questions. However, given that programming technology changes every single day, I find that understandable. They did...
I took three courses at Code Fellows Portland (201-401) and I enjoyed all three of them. Before the bootcamp, I didn't know how to use terminal. After the bootcamp, I got a great job at one of my dream companies.
Instructors and TAs: One of the nicest and knowledgable people that I know. Of course once in a while they may have to look up the answers to some of your questions. However, given that programming technology changes every single day, I find that understandable. They did their best to fully answer my questions and made sure I understand. They also went extra miles outside of the class room to help me with the class materials.
Environment and classmates: Everyone was friendly and overall, it's a very cooperative environment. Unlike back in university when my grade was determined on a curve and everyone had to compete to get the highest score compared to others, everyone here shared their solutions, discussed about new tools, and wasn't hesitate to help each other. I learned a lot of useful tools and coding styles from my classmates, and also learned a lot from explaining concepts and codes to them.
Job assistance: I got useful job searching and networking tips from them. They helped me tailor my resume, sent me job leads every week and introduced me to companies for informational interviews. Overall, I believe they did their best to find a job. However, you should be the one who actively seeks out opportunities, connections and job leads.
So far everything about Code Fellows has been great. However, it's not a magical place where everyone will graduate and be successful. You have to go the extra miles yourself to learn, since this is a bootcamp. Instructors are there to help you absorb as much knowledge as possible. You should try to read all of the readings before a class start and write down your questions. Then try to find the answers to the questions during the lecture, and ask instructors if you still can't find an answer. If you don't understand what a piece of code is doing, ask your classmates and instructors. So at the end of the day, you would know what every single line of code is doing. Also, google the parts of the readings that you don't understand. You need to understand that you have limited time to master many skills and you need to work hard for it. You could be taught by a Nobel winner and still be right where you were before if you didn't try the best to make the most out of it.
My experience was with the Python Dev Accelerator out of Seattle. Here are my thoughts.
Pros:
My experience was with the Python Dev Accelerator out of Seattle. Here are my thoughts.
Pros:
Cons:
Code Fellows is ok, but the evening courses are definitely not worth the cost. The material for the Python class is available through codecademy.
I've completed the 201 and 301 courses and if I did it over again I would have chosen somewhere else.
Code Fellows is the most expensive bootcamp out there - at least for Portland and Seattle. $20K for the 201, 301, and 401 classes which is far more than Dev bootcamp, Coder Camps, or any other bootcamp out there in Seattle. In fact, 5-8k more! There is no reason for this cost. Programming languages are programming languages and there are plenty of bootcamps out there who get y...
I've completed the 201 and 301 courses and if I did it over again I would have chosen somewhere else.
Code Fellows is the most expensive bootcamp out there - at least for Portland and Seattle. $20K for the 201, 301, and 401 classes which is far more than Dev bootcamp, Coder Camps, or any other bootcamp out there in Seattle. In fact, 5-8k more! There is no reason for this cost. Programming languages are programming languages and there are plenty of bootcamps out there who get you to work far faster and for MUCH cheaper. The results do not justify the costs. Also, their job placement rates are no better than any other bootcamp.
Personally, there is a lot of room out there for Code Fellows and any other bootcamp to fudge their placement rate numbers. Keep in mind that the attrition rates of their classes are not included in these numbers. There are A LOT of students in Code Fellows classes who do not make it through their classes. I recently heard that 40-50% of their students did not make it through a recent Seattle 201 class. Not sure what Code Fellows is planning on doing about that. Currently, the only prep work for their 201 course they put you through are a couple classes through Code Academy, which isn't enough. Unlike universities, bootcamps do not go through an accreditation process and thus are never audited.
The only bootcamp that actually publicizes their numbers and has them actually audited is Flat Iron school in New York. Again, why? Do these bootcamps have something to hide?
Finally, keep in mind that Code Fellows gives next to no job support unless you go through one of their 401 classes. Why their 301 class is $1000 more than their 201 class is beyond me. It is the same time duration and you use the exact same textbooks that you purchased for their 201 classes. So after you spend $8000, you are pretty much on your own to find any work with your intermediate coding skills.
You can go to a similar bootcamp and receive the foundational and intermediate aspects of programming for quite a lot less. Code Fellows may reply to my criticism by saying they care more or do a better job. Prove it.
Good luck.
Brook Riggio of Code Fellows
VP of Education
Apr 07, 2016
Job Assistance: the professional development page gives a much stronger impression of the support you will find during the ten week program. Instead of professional development for one hour during 6 of the ten weeks it is a 6 hour day on the sixth and eighth week. The six hour days only contains about two to three hours of actual content. The rest of the time is doing what they call workshop where you write answers in paper. They say they have you do this onsite because people...
Job Assistance: the professional development page gives a much stronger impression of the support you will find during the ten week program. Instead of professional development for one hour during 6 of the ten weeks it is a 6 hour day on the sixth and eighth week. The six hour days only contains about two to three hours of actual content. The rest of the time is doing what they call workshop where you write answers in paper. They say they have you do this onsite because people don't do these exercises at home. 30-45 minute topics are on: your brand; linked in page and inward facing partner profile; interview prep and a guest speaker on tech interviews.
The info isn't bad. However, for the limited amount of time they give guidance it should be a firehouse of information and guidance.
There was one career fair hosted three weeks before we graduated. Our class wasn't invited. Only previous graduates were. Odd as we all need jobs and were on the verge of finishing the program.
Their page says that you will receive a mentor. Unfortunately, that isn't accurate.
Their main advice. Network. That's absolutely true. I wish the professional development page on their website would be more humble and say it's really up to you to go out and sell yourself with the coding skills you've developed. Their is no shame in that promise of professional development.
Curriculum:
The curriculum isn't bad. You basically learn the MEAN stack. You will work weekends in groups. Lots of test driven development. Study that if you haven't. My biggest concern was that this course taught the same curriculum over ten weeks that our teacher admits he covered over eight weeks for the previous three development accelerators. It was $4,000 more for the exact same content that seemed stretched out. Many days of lecture felt like time inneficiently spent. That wasn't a good feeling. As far as I'm concerned they owe the students who took that class a deep apology and a refund of the extra 50% cost. Supply and demand I guess.
Instructor: this was probably the most challenging part for me. Our teacher seemed like he really didn't care about the students. This was such a pivotal moment of our lives in which we made huge financial sacrifices and time sacrifices and time pulled away from loved ones. It was so discouraging to have a passion and excitement to do something new and to have a teacher who appeared to just be coasting. Our teacher knew how to code. There is no question about that. Teaching is something different. Code fellows should take into consideration that their teachers really represent them as we don't get to meet many of the staff who I'm sure care and are hard working and do have a vision for people to succeed and transform their lives.
Overall experience: I've ran into people from other code camps and this isn't an unfamiliar phenomenal. The code camp pages, recruiters, preview nights are always going to glow with how much they are going to do for you. But the biggest indicator of success are two things. One, you have surrounded yourself with people who are committed and passionate. Two, your passion and drive.
The code school can definitely enhance those things. The 401 for me, however, didn't.
I also was a Code Fellows student in their 201 and 301 classes. I struggled in both classes due to an inability to absorb so much information in such a short time. However, Code Fellows understood my situation and has given me the option to retake both classes at no cost. They also provided me with a learning plan at the end of my 301 class. I am still pondering on whether this vocation is for me, but I appreciated the empathetic approach that Code Fellows demonstrated towards me.
...I also was a Code Fellows student in their 201 and 301 classes. I struggled in both classes due to an inability to absorb so much information in such a short time. However, Code Fellows understood my situation and has given me the option to retake both classes at no cost. They also provided me with a learning plan at the end of my 301 class. I am still pondering on whether this vocation is for me, but I appreciated the empathetic approach that Code Fellows demonstrated towards me.
The only advice I would give is to perhaps toughen their entrance standards for their 201 class and also require more prep work before starting the 201 course, as this class felt overwhelming almost from day one.
Description | Percentage |
Full Time, In-Field Employee | 81.7% |
Full-time apprenticeship, internship or contract position | 12.1% |
Short-term contract, part-time position, freelance | N/A |
Employed out-of-field | N/A |
How much does Code Fellows cost?
Code Fellows costs around $12,000. On the lower end, some Code Fellows courses like Ops 101: Explore Ethical Hacking & Cybersecurity Careers (Full-Time, Online) cost $99.
What courses does Code Fellows teach?
Code Fellows offers courses like Code 101: Explore Software Development (Full-Time, In-Person), Code 101: Explore Software Development (Full-Time, Online), Code 102: Intro to Software Development (Full-Time, In-Person), Code 102: Intro to Software Development (Full-Time, Online) and 45 more.
Where does Code Fellows have campuses?
Code Fellows has in-person campuses in Seattle. Code Fellows also has a remote classroom so students can learn online.
Is Code Fellows worth it?
The data says yes! In 2019, Code Fellows reported a 100% graduation rate, a median salary of $72,500, and 98% of Code Fellows alumni are employed.
Is Code Fellows legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 228 Code Fellows alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Code Fellows and rate their overall experience a 4.49 out of 5.
Does Code Fellows offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Yes, Code Fellows accepts the GI Bill!
Can I read Code Fellows reviews?
You can read 228 reviews of Code Fellows on Course Report! Code Fellows alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Code Fellows and rate their overall experience a 4.49 out of 5.
Is Code Fellows accredited?
Code Fellows is a private vocational school licensed by the State of Washington. Code Fellows was the first code school in Washington State to be approved by the Veterans Association to receive the GI Bill. Learn more at www.codefellows.org/gi-bill
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