Coder Foundry

Who is this program for? Someone who can dedicate 50-60 hours/wk for 12 weeks of immersive, intensive full stack training AND is serious about getting a job in web/software development.  Tell your family/friends that this program is your number 1 priority for the duration. It is 8 hours/day of live interactive learning. I went into the program unsure if a virtual program would be as useful as an in-person experience, but CF did not disappoint. The instructors not only teach but are active developers which means they are current on industry trends and issues. I asked as many questions as I needed within the lectures and received help whenever I needed it. Bobby teaches the first 3 weeks of the class, covering frontend HTML, CSS JavaScript and Bootstrap5. There is a heavy emphasis on Bootstrap(which I think is practical) and responsive design. We spent only a week or so on JS before heading off into C# and other backend technologies. Before starting this program, I would recommend you use free online resources to familiarize yourself with JS. I wish I had a little more background in JS--it would have made that week easier. Backend (ASP.NET, C#, Sql, API etc) is taught by Antonio and Jason.  You do not code your own projects, but work as a group coding pre-determined full stack projects(for us, the Address book, Blog and Bug Tracker) that encompass all the primary skills needed to demonstrate to potential employers. While I understand this approach, I wish we had the opportunity during the cohort to code one or more of our own features. After graduation, the job placement services were fantastic. Kelly presents both curated postings from various job sites and opportunities coming directly from employers recruiting CF grads. She posts to the alumni channel as well as messaging grads directly if she  feels an opportunity would be of particular interest. She was instrumental in my job search with advice and leads. She directed me to my current position.  CF is well worth the investment--both in time and money. My career has a solid foundation now.

Really great instructors and staff.  One of the most valuable resources I think they offer is job assistance.  Preparing for a developer interview can feel daunting but Coder Foundry walks with you and teaches you how to prepare and more importantly how to win!  There was a time during my job search I felt discouraged about an interview I had coming up.  I reached out to the instructors and was given a mock interview to help me prepare as well as a much-needed pep talk to boost my confidence. I would recommend it.  Just remember you get what you put in, you won't be successful anywhere if you don't give it your best foot.

Attending Coder Foundry was the best choice I made in 2021. The teaching faculty is second to none, and on more than one occassion, I received help outside of class hours to help me understand a concept that I struggled with. They're absolutely committed to student success in the classroom, and through their partnership with TEKsystems, I've been supported through the job search as well. Coder Foundry's self-paced course, which is available to students in the immersive course, also functions as a great tool for review, which gives Coder Foundry a leg up on other bootcamps. 

So to be transparent I had 9 months of C# experience before Coder Foundry bootcamp when I was learning Game development with C# and Unity game engine and dabbled in WinForms and WPF a little bit as well. So Coder Foundry is a C# and .Net focused bootcamp that focuses on Web Development. Web Dev is alot different than Game Dev or Desktop applications, so if you even if you have alot of C# experience but never tocuhed web you will learn alot. Even with previous knowledge I still learned so much and it was a blessing because I was able to pick up on everything alot quicker and remember it easier as well. I did have to humble myself when part of me wanted to the Instructor's job of teaching or when I wanted to teach my classmates advanced topics that weren't really relevant at the time. 

Coder Foundry is a bootcamp so everything is fast paced since there is only 3 months of teaching. The instructors are patient with us as the students and are ok with repeating concepts until we all get it and if one person still struggles they will help that person in a separate room(we used Zoom so breakout room). The way they do things is teach a little and then have you do lab sessions to immediately put to use what you just learned. It may feel like they are wasting all those dollars your paying just to have you figure a bunch of stuff out on your own but honestly it helps cement the information and they are there to help you if you need it, just ask. They teach encourage you to figure stuff out on your own because that's what you'll have to do one day anyways but they guide and point you in the right direction. They are teaching you to be developers instead of teaching you and having you fill a multiple choice test or instead learning a bunch of data structures and algorithms like someone with 4years of college will learn.

Because the teachers are patient with people who are struggling we didn't complete everything in the syllabus, which sucked but was still worth the 15,000 - 18,000 I will be paying one day. They do have a Self-paced course you can purchase access to for a monthly fee if your skeptical. I will say some of the biggest things that helped me in the bootcamp where learning how to debug each others problems. Seeing all the ways I could mess up in the future, the networking with classmates and teachers, being able to ask questions for more understanding instead of just watching a youtube video and trying to figure out the stuff they forgot to mention. And after being mostly isolated for 9 months because Coronavirus and not being in school for many years it got me used to talking to people again and asking questions even if I felt dumb and it got me more comfortable with Zoom which is must have skill after this pandemic we went thru alot of jobs will probably interview with Zoom so it's good to get comfortable with it. 

Also ask questions, your paying a lot of money so ask away so you can get understanding. I'm mainly an introvert but I tried to ask questions alot. It also helps people that more introverted than you or scared to ask questions, you will help out the whole class. There were sometimes when the instructors took longer breaks for lunch and that bothered some days because I felt jipped on my education and other days it was great cuz I needed a break. Also as far as job search I feel like they could of done better but they were in a transition period when I joined because there job recruiter just left the company and they now have a new partnership so future classes will benefit(I also benefit from their new partnership it just happened after the bootcamp). Also with job prep I feel like they were lacking. We were supposed to do mandatory mock interviews but we never did them(some classmates did have an opportunity but it a just a few) and I'm the kind of person that needs to be forced to do something like that, if given a choice I will say no. Besides not completing all of the projects they said we would do(just 1 we only half completed) and the lack of job prep Coder Foundry is still a great bootcamp and I would highly recommend it.

 If your on the fence take the software developer quiz on their website, that literally made the difference from me being a hobby game dev guy for the rest of my life to becoming a full stack web developer who can make a career change from working in restaurants/bars/factories /warehouses to someone who can code for a living.

This is a great boot camp. I had previous development experience. In 12 weeks I've grown immensely as a developer. From the onset, the instructors are very all senior-level developers with years of experience. I loved building the real-life projects that we build in the boot camp. The instructors teach you to leverage your projects in interviews. If you want to become a .net full stack developer. This is the boot camp that you need. I got a job under a week after completing the boot camp. 

Great bootcamp. The projects were incredibly valuable and the way they teach you to leverage them in interviews made a huge difference in my interview process. The staff are all senior-level developers with years of experience, no TAs or recent grads teaching courses. C# and .NET are awesome tools but very complex and I appreciated having skilled developers teaching us how to use them correctly. I HIGHLY recommend coming into this bootcamp with a good working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as these are really easy to teach yourself and will allow you to focus more on learning the ins and outs of C#/.NET rather than struggling with the basics. I had self-studied HTML/CSS/JS for about 6 months using some Udemy courses prior to starting and it definitely made my life easier when I got to the bootcamp because having a foundation in JavaScript made it easier to transition to C# and let me focus more on learning how .NET worked. Overall I'd say this is the best bootcamp out there!