CodeCore Bootcamp

If you are thinking about pursuing a career in the software industry then I highly recommend you to come and checkout CodeCore bootcamp. They have friendly and experienced teachers from the industry, and they provide great supports in assisting you to land your job after the bootcamp.

Learning by yourself or taking a university / colleage program would take much longer time, and could be harder to keep up with the fast-chaning industry. Take the bootcamp to learn the most up-to-date skills that will help you to survive in the industry,and ,furthermore, gives you the ability to pick up other materials own your own.

Before the bootcamp I had limited coding skills. After finishing the bootcamp, I am now a full-time mobile / web developer doing the job I love.

I highly recommend CodeCore to anyone who is willing to work hard for a successful career change to becoming a programmer and wants the best support out of a bootcamp in Vancouver. Honestly speaking, taking the Codecore bootcamp is the best decision I have ever made in my life given that I just graduated from UBC Sauder with honor in accounting one year before taking the bootcamp; I was as scared as anyone who is trying to start a new career in an area for which they have no previous knowledge, but with CodeCore's help, things could not have been smoother after I decided to just go for it. 

CodeCore stands out the most from other bootcamps I have looked into in Vancovuer in terms of its constantly evolving curriculum, amazing support from its teaching staff and its strong community. Having graduated almost one year ago, I am amazed by how much the material you will learn at the bootcamp has evolved in every bootcamp and how related they are to the current trend/what the employers are asking for. And the results of graduates coming out of the bootcamp has shown that the skillset you will get and hopefully master by the end of the court will make you a competent junior developer ready to be hired. The teaching staff at CodeCore are well-equipped with both passion and industry experience to help you understand this material, give you suggestions on how to use them and help you connect to companies which pay you to use them.

One of the highlights from my experience of the bootcamp is how amazing the teaching staff are at CodeCore. For instance, they will actively try to get to know you, give you new programming knowledge as well as tips based on their experience and follow up on your own personal learning progress. With the support of the teaching assistants, I never feel lost during the course despite being constantly challeneged; furthermore, they are also very passionate about students' personal projects and will give you amazing ideas on how to achieve them. And frankly, they are also really good and fun people with very unique or even weird personalities, but at the end of the bootcamp, you will be so glad that you have made friends with these amazing people.

One characteristic of CodeCore that makes it stand out the most from other alternatives is its strong community. Because of the fact that all graduates are forever welcome to come back and work on their start-ups, listen in lectures to learn the latest technologies, ask for TAs' help and help out current students, CodeCode always has friendly and competent graduates who are passionate about contributing to the commmunity by inspiring students with their own work and helping them out with course material. Furthermore, having naturally developed strong bonds with the teaching staff through the bootcamp, students will gain tons of valuable industry relationships, hence having more options in terms of job opportunites. Furthermore, students will have no shortage of chances to attend industry events organized by CodeCore or software companies; these experience are crucial in helping them gain connections as well as understand the industry better. Overall, CodeCore just feels like a community filled with TAs who go the extra steps to help and bond with students and alumni who enjoy being permanent and contributing members of the community.

As an intermediate developer, I am currently working in a freelance team. One aspect I like the most about my job is being available to work on projects on different subjects from the begining to the end. My transition from accounting to programming and having a job I actually enjoy could not have been smoother and more clear-cut without CodeCore's help and all the friends I have made through CodeCore, and knowing that I will always have CodeCore's support makes me so glad that I have joined the community. Hopefully, if you are in the same boat as I was 2 years ago, my review can be helpful to you.

My experience at CodeCore began very positively. Despite not having a background in computer science I felt very comfortable with the tasks we were being given, and overall enjoyed the lessons and homework. Things started to change a little over a month in. The material became dated in contrast to what I was finding online and we were spending a lot of time on seemingly unimportant topics while breezing past others.

Although some of the instructors were very helpful and knowledgeable, some others simply seemed to be going through the motions. I was surprised to find they didn't review any of our code with the exception of quizzes (which were completely unstructured and students often worked together to complete) and the group project towards the end of the course. So I didn't really recieve much if any feedback in regards to my progress.

Upon completion of the course, they offered a week of job preperation classes (covering resume building, cover letter writing, and interview questions), and while I felt most of this was common sense I'm sure it did benefit some. Unfortunately, this was the only help we were given in regards to our job hunt despite the advertisement on their web page saying they would work to help place us in an entry level or intern job. While the skills we were taught were helpful in learning the fundamentals of web development, I'm not sure about their relevance in the current job market.

I encourage anyone looking to take this bootcamp to consider other options until things are improved at CodeCore. There are plenty of fantastic online courses that can provide you with a similar, or greater level of education, as well as many other bootcamps in the city.

I completed the Codecore bootcamp in October 2016. I found the bootcamp to be immensly informative and useful. 

The course covered all of the major components of web development. There was plenty of material to get through every day and I certainly did not fully retain all of it. However, it provided a good basis for me to do my own learning aftewards. 

The instructors were overall competent and helpful. Many of them were web developers in the Vancouver tech community. They came from different backgrounds and had a diversity of perspectives. I found it useful that there were 3 types of instructors. Lecturers, Lab instructors and TA's. The majority of TA's had completed the bootcamp previously so they were familiar with Ruby on Rails even if they were not currently working with it.

I had an engineering degree prior to starting the bootcamp with a basic knowledge of coding. I was able to get a job very shortly after completing the bootcamp (around 2 weeks). I am very glad that I made the choice to switch careers by doing this bootcamp. It provided me with a way to smoothly transition into web development while connecting with like-minded people.

The environment at CodeCore was quite welcoming. I made a number of friends while completing the bootcamp and we are still in touch months after. CodeCore staff were accomodating and eager to provide all needed help, and of course coffee :)

The bootcamp itself was a fun experience because for a few months you are constantly surrounded by other people who are trying to achieve the same goals you are. It was a great way to build relationships and work together learning how to program. It definitely beats trying to learn on your own. The full time program was fairly intensive and I would suggest people have a little bit of programming experience before taking the bootcamp in order to not fall behind. It's not as difficult as people make it out to be but since the pace is fairly quick, it's better if you have a little experience or a quick learner. The program focuses mainly on Ruby and Rails and by the end of it, you will have a fairly good understanding of creating fully working web applications. Despite programming on my own a little bit, the bootcamp really helped me understand the neccessary steps in putting everything together in terms of the front & back end. You will definitely be able to create some cool working applications as can be seen from the end of the program demo days. You also learn a lot of other programming fundamentals as well as languages/libraries such as Javascript/React/Node...etc. However, these portions are very small - only a few days for each so don't expect to learn enough to program or work in those. The focus is on Rails. 

The instructors and TAs are extremely friendly and knowledgeable. As the main instructor, Tam was a fantastic teacher and really knows his stuff. Very approachable and was willing to help you out if you had any problems. The Codecore campus is also pretty nice. Plenty of room to come in and work on anything whenever you want.

Cons

While the learning experience was great. The overall goal for every student is to easily and quickly get a job by the end of the program. Unfortunately this is where the program falls short. Contrary to what their website tells you, there is little to no help in regards to finding employment. Essentially after the program ends, they encourage you to come into campus as much as possible to work on code, resumes and applying for jobs. They will meet with you occassionally to go over your resume, your github, linkedin....etc. While these are helpful steps towards employment, their website ( as well as any other bootcamp ) claims that they have hiring partners, networking events, and other resources to connect you with employers. This turned out to be a let down in my experience.

Obviously nobody is going to job search and hand out resumes for you, but one would expect due to their claims that there would be an easier path towards employment by taking their program. Unfortunately, the process of gaining employment is a grind that you will have to do alone. Having met with other students from other coherts, the ones that will typically get a job right away are going to be students that have had previous programming experience and were top of the class. 

You will learn a lot during the program and have access to fantastic resources like Tam and TAs to help you. You will certainly have an easier time learning than by self teaching. If you are thinking of taking the bootcamp in the hopes that it will better prepare you for a job post camp, be warned that it is not as easy as they make it out to be.

If you have the extra money to spare and want a fun learning experience. Take the program. If you want to take the program in hopes that you will have better resources and connections to employment. Save your money, learn on your own and apply to jobs yourself.