Codesmith

I started this course knowing next to nothing about coding besides a few small lessons (ie what a variable is). This class goes over all of that and more, providing a foundation for more advanced courses. More importantly, this course gives a great taste of what coding is like and whether it may be the right path for you. The final assignment is a fun group project where you create a text-based game. I got really into it and along with my partner ended up creating one that was pretty advanced for my level, which encouraged me to keep going forward with my journey. If you're just starting out and not sure where you should start, this is the course for you! 

I was part of the first JSB cohort that ran over one weekend. The schedule was Saturday and Sunday (9 AM/PST-3 PM/PST) and Monday(6 PM/PST: Group Presentations). 

The Curriculum was great I feel it prepared me to tackle the problems presented during and after class, and even if I didn't get it right on my first attempt I had the tools to take a different approach.  The pair programming really helps to alleviate the imposter syndrome that I was facing trying to learn in isolation. 

Curriculum: 10/10


My Instructor was Sophie Nye. I have nothing but superlatives to describe Sophie.  She was knowledgeable, extremely thoughtful and, patient. She had an infectious energy that radiated over the entire course.  Spend six hours in class is an uphill battle even for the highly motivated(which the cohort was), but Sophie made us feel safe, and serious but not too serious. The depth with which she answered each question was thoughtful, and without spoon-feeding. She constantly challenged us over the three days and we are all better because of it. I know I am. 

Instructors: 10/10


 This course will help you to solidify the foundational concepts of Javascript, but takes it further. This course pushes you to be able to upgrade your technical communication. Most of us could answer questions, but when asked to not only answer but explain your full understanding of what is happening is where we all grew.  You can easily find courses that can teach you the basics of  Javascript, but I was unable to find one that really pushed me to understand what was going on with every line of code I executed.  The best part of my CodeSmith experience (so far, more on this later) is the people I was able to meet and form fast friendships with. You get the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life, who are highly motivated and very welcoming. These are bonds that I hope to keep throughout my CodeSmith journey and well after.

Overall Experience: 10/10

If you are on the fence let me share some more information that may help: 

After completing JSB, if you are accepted into CS Prep, & later into one of the Software Engineering Immersive programs, your JavaScript for Beginners tuition will be applied to the next program you take. (This was huge in my initial decision making) 

If costs is a deterrent like it is for me. CodeSmith has very good scholarship programs (fingers crossed)

I was extremely satisfied with the JSB experience, and I highly recommend this course for anyone who wants to really learn on a higher level. I believe so much in every word I just wrote that based on my experience in JavaScript for Beginners, I have applied for the CSPrep and then will apply for the Full-time software engineering immersive.

It was such an excellent experience going through the course. They cover fundamentals & advanced Javascript topics, CS fundamentals(recursion, closures, asynchronous javascript, callbacks & higher-order functions, algorithms, etc.), CS fundamentals, pair-programming, coding challenges, video recordings, slides of all lectures so you can review, helpful recourses, the slack community where someone is always there to answer questions. The Codesmith community is so supportive and respectful. Their teaching style is the best I've seen so far and you gain a much deeper/in-depth understanding of the under-the-hood/inner workings of Javascript. The instructor, David, explained everything in such an easy to understand way so as to be able to grasp advanced concepts and was also very respectful and patient. 
I can't say enough good things about Codesmith-they rock!!!!! 

Overall I can truly say that I enjoyed my experience at Codesmith. I attended every easy/hard parts workshops, JSB, CS Prep, and the Immersive. The supportive community within Codesmith is what kept me coming back for me.  In the famous words of Schno, "Research, Parse, Implement". These are the words that you will live by everyday. I love that Codesmith implemented the "hard learning" technique because it encourage me to dive deeper into the docs. On the other hand, If I had to constructively criticize the program it would probably be  towards the curriculum needing a bit of updating.  Because GraphQL is a hot topic right now I think it might be a great time for it to be additional unit. Additionally I feel like CI/CD and Testing units should be larger and more emphasized units, and maybe placed a little earlier. 

The hiring portion of the program was definitely a huge help in my job search. Outside of the hard learning through back to back projects, the hiring portion is the bread and butter of the entire program.  Although the program does not hold your hand during the resume iterations and job board profile creation, they provide a lot of details on how they should look.

In the end your success within the program is completely up to you. Some of the keys to success: take advantage of every Hack-Hour, do not be afraid to be the only person asking a question during lectures, abuse help desk, be a collaborative/empathetic pair programming partner, and last but not least, make sure you choose a production project with technologies that you want to be apart of your narrative. The narrative part will definitely come in handy during interviews! 

I was skeptical that Codesmith could deliver what it promised—the software engineering job I wanted—after only three months.  And yet two months out from graduation, I received an offer to join the front-end web team at a great company as a software engineer (where I remain happily employed).  I had practiced law for eight years prior to deciding to become a software engineer, and had never coded prior to 2019 - my background was very “non-technical”.  Codesmith distinguishes itself from coding bootcamps by its commitment to its residents—they believe that no matter your background, you can succeed in tech by learning to view the inevitable mental blocks that arise while coding as opportunities for growth and pushing through them—instead of viewing them as indications that you’re “just not a tech person”.  By pushing through those mental blocks, I gained a confidence in my own abilities as an engineer that is as valuable (or more) as the knowledge of various technologies I came away with.  If you love solving problems and are drawn to making a difference in technology, but unsure how to break into the industry, look no further than Codesmith.

If all you're looking to do is learn how to code, Codesmith teaches that for free with their Hard Parts workshop and CSX community. I can attest to that, since I attended the free programs for almost 3 months before entering the immersive program. And in fact, that was all I needed to get the job I have now.

But without going through the program, there's no way I would have even gotten to the interview, let alone ask for the ridiculous salary I'm earning now.

The value prospect of Codesmith's immersive program is tailoring a context for students to showcase their skills and interests. For me, the greatest aspect of the program was ingraining in us a confidence and sense of worth by caring enough to push the pause button every now and again to relax and reflect on what we accomplished. 

(Personal Back Ground Information - if you just want the review, then you can skip this part :D)

To start off, my background was actually in Business and Marketing. However, I was interested in coding when I started my own business during my senior year in college. It was a professor evaluation website. Of course, I made the website by hiring an engineer, but it was a very good opportunity for me even though  I was just giving them directions. I very much wanted to learn about coding at the time, but I didn't have many opportunities or time to learn it because I was already in my senior year of business management.  When I could, I would watch coding tutorials on YouTube or blogs in my spare time, but it was hard to stay consistent due to my schoolwork After I graduated I worked for a fashion company,  and it was difficult to study in the evening because the fashion industry demanded a lot of commitment with a lot of overtime. 

But my engineer friend, who knew that I was interested in coding, told me he would be willing to help me learn about HTML. After I learned the basic elements of HTML and how HTML works on webs, I found it very interesting and fun and I wanted to learn more. Then I studied CSS and decided that I wanted to become a software engineer. The most attractive thing to me about coding is that what I do is visual and produces immediate results. It is the same reason I liked math since I was young. They both produce immediate answers and I'm able to check if the answer is right or not when I put the formula in. Although I've just started learning to code, even if it becomes too difficult or frustrating  I am confident that I can solve those difficult problems and hopefully feel a sense of accomplishment when I solve them.

(CodeSmith Experience)

Overall Experience: 10/10
I think the most important thing is the basics. This class will help you to solidify the foundation of Javascript. You can easily find courses of basic Javascript, but they don't talk about every detail of concepts. Not only it explains concepts and terms more specifically, but also it gives you endless example problems and challenges. If you want, challenges are endless. Also, you can ask a question whenever you want!! This is the best part of CodeSmith. Through CSX or JSB Slack, you can get help from many other students or instructors.

Instructors: 10/10
My Instructor was MICHELLE HERRERA!! First of all, she's full of energy. She makes our class energetic. As you know 6 hours class is not easy, but she makes me feel like 'I can study more than 6 hours!!'. Also, she's always very welcome if we have questions. She helps me until I really understand the concept or question. I can feel like she really loves to teach us and it certainly motivated me to work more hard.

Curriculum: 9/10
I had 2 weeks and a day class. 1st, 2nd Saturday(9 AM/PST-3 PM/PST) and Monday(9 AM/PST: Assessment&6 PM/PST:Group Challenge Presentation). Curriculum wise it's great but I would say I needed more time to solve the challenges or problems. I understand the concepts 100% but it doesn't mean that I can solve the challenge. I hope I could learn how to apply the concepts that I learned in the class in challenges. I really hope CodeSmith have workshops that solve CSX challenges together from an overview of CSX to Chrome Extension!!! or please upload the videos! That would help A LOT!!!

(+ Tip)
If you are accepted into CS Prep, & later into one of our Software Engineering Immersive programs, your JavaScript for Beginners tuition will be applied to the next program you take.

CodeSmith have very good scholarship programs!!

Since I passed the assessment, I receive automatic acceptance into CS Prep.

I'm very satisfied with the JSB experience, and I highly recommend this course if you don't have a computer science background! I'm sure that I would apply for CSPrep and Full-time software engineering immersive!!!

I had been doing a lot of work on my own and felt like I was cutting through frozen butter. I was making progress but every step took a lot of work and I had some bruises on my forehead from my desk. CS Prep gave me a glowing hot knife. I have a much better foundation and toolset for moving forward. It's hard to know what you don't know but CS Prep and my cohort helped shine a light on the foundations. 

The pair-programming we did was also fantastic. I learned the most from these sessions. Whether it was with someone more advanced than myself or someone struggling to understand the concepts, I walked away miles ahead of where I started. The pedagogy of the assignments was also great at creating those lasting "aha!" moments.

I definitely recommend the program, especially if you are aiming to get into a bootcamp (especially Codesmith).

First off, the immersive program at Codesmith is not for beginners - you should already have a strong understanding of JavaScript fundamentals before starting. Codesmith then builds on that foundation with an  intense and extremely rigorous curriculum - you will learn a ton of industry-relevant technologies and skills (Codesmith continually updates its education based on what's most relevant in the field). In particular, Codesmith is selective with its students, so you end up surrounded by smart, driven residents who strive to do well, which helps motivate you to do your best, too.

In particular, I want to highlight the hiring support program at Codesmith. People often say that the hiring support is worth the cost of tuition alone. Codesmith has a dedicated team of individuals to help coach you through your job search process (that you also have lifetime access to). The negotiation lessons and coaching also helped me get an extra $10k on my starting salary. The program is definitely worth the tuition.

Before you decide whether or not to do the Codesmith program, you should ask yourself if you're willing to put in 60+ hours every week in a grueling program - how bad do you want to become a software engineer? If your answer is yes, then Codesmith will definitely deliver on its quality of education and value. 

Going to Codesmith has been the best decision of my entire life. I have only graduated 1 month ago and have already landed a dream job that normally requires 5 years of experience. It gives you all the necessary skills and confidence to completely change your field to software engineering regardless of what your were originally doing in life. The knowledge and overall approaches gained by attending Codesmiths 3 month immersive is, in my opinion, as good as 3 years of of experience in the field. 

Hi.

The simplest way to convey the distance I’ve had to travel to get to where I am now would be to describe my onboarding process. After filling out the highest level of education I’ve completed with “middle school”, I finished it with my new title: Software Engineer III. Now, half a year in, I’m drowning at work under the endless influx of topics to learn and explore, I go to sleep with the last vestiges of code still lingering in my head, and I love every moment of it.

But you’re reading this review to decide if Codesmith is the right choice for you, not to pat me on the back. While that’s impossible for me to ascertain, I can share why it was the best choice for me, and hopefully that will aid your decision one way or another.

Prior to attending Codesmith, I spent two years as a technical recruiter, looking for strong technical talent. As a layman, it was hubris to think I could adequately gauge technical aptitude. So I relied on other companies to do it for me. I started to collate a list of reputable engineering teams in the area, reasoning that if a candidate had survived a year or more on one of those teams, I could expect that they were more than capable of fulfilling the needs of my clients. What I noticed during my search is that there were a fair amount of Codesmith graduates employed at the companies on my list. That told me that Codesmith produced strong results, and those alumni would be people in my network that I could reach out to when I eventually found myself on the job market. Being accepted into the program itself proved to be no small endeavor either, which meant that I would be struggling alongside individuals with a certain caliber of competency and conviction. I also appreciated Codesmith’s emphasis on technical communication, something I frequently witnessed cropping up as an obstacle in my role as a recruiter. Finding a solution shows you know an answer, but articulating the leaps of intuition you make while under pressure in a technical interview, shows that you understand it. I needed every advantage I could get as a high school dropout with no technical experience, so for the reasons listed above, I went with Codesmith.

My time in the program is a distinct chapter that altered the trajectory of my life in more ways than just my career. The staff who run it behind the scenes are amazing people who are constantly looking for ways to iterate and improve the student experience while welcoming any feedback that will inform their efforts. The instructors are so passionate about the topics they teach that it's contagious (perhaps a poor choice of words in the current clime, but maybe it'll age well). As for my peers, following the adage, I usually strive to be the dumbest one in the room, but my cohort made that too easy. Suffice it to say, I had a lot of people to learn from and with, and I couldn’t imagine my time at Codesmith sans a single one of them.

The caveat here is that Codesmith is not a panacea; it can only amplify what you bring to the table. If you lack the drive, disposition, and discipline, well, you're not going to find it there. But if you have those prerequisites, Codesmith is the crucible you're looking for.

As a person who already had a technical background, I was hesitant to join the program in the beginning. However, after finishing everything and going through the curriculum, I never regret my decision! The skills that you learn at Codesmith are what market is actually looking for, which will place you at a position where you are actually getting a lot of interview requests. They also update the curriculum every cohort to follow the fast-changing tech industry standard. What makes the Codesmith stands out from other boot camps, however,  is people. You will have a wonderful time working with excellent instructors, staff, and cohort mates who are energetic, passionate and willing to help each other. I have met so many new people who have the same passion as I do and doing projects with those people is absolutely amazing experience. Having that network and being part of Codesmith Alumni is very valuable. If you are hesitating like I was last year, I highly recommend that you don't and go for it! 

Codesmith is the best coding immersive program available. Third party (CIRR) reports show that Codesmith graduates have the highest median annual base salary compared to all other coding immersive programs. The instructors, staff, and curriculum are all amazing. However, the rich career development program and hiring support are what allows Codesmith to stand out.  Prior to Codesmith, I was in the United States Marine Corps with zero experience in programming. As I was getting ready to transition out of the Marines, I started to learn JavaScript on my own in order to pass a technical interview at a “top tiered bootcamp”. I chose Codesmith because of the outcomes report and the Codesmith teaching style I experienced at the free “Hard Parts” classes they offered.  The first half of the immersive program was difficult. I remember telling my family and friends that asked me how the program was going that I felt like “I was trying to drink water from a fire hose”. Even though it felt like I was drowning and not absorbing a lot of information, the second half (the project phase) of the program is where “the magic happens”. When I started applying the knowledge I learned by building applications and projects, I was shocked at how much knowledge I obtained but also realized all that time “drowning” was actually developing my skills in tacking challenging problems, diving deep in technologies, and learning to become comfortable with the unknown.  I like to joke that there is a third part to Codesmith that isn’t officially part of their program: the “application stage”. Learning never stops and it should definitely not stop after Codesmith. Codesmith taught me many things and I loved my time there but three months is a short time. Even after I finished the program, I spent many hours/days/weeks/months learning on my own and honing my interviewing skills: white boarding and algorithms, take home projects, and fundamental computer science knowledge.  I am thankful to Codesmith not for allowing me to work full time as an engineer getting paid over six figures but because Codesmith is where I found my love for coding, learning, and struggling. 

Currently enrolled in their Part Time Remote Immersive (PTRI) course, so I can give my impressions so far for those interested in this new course.

Overall Experience:
Challenging, rewarding, and fun!  The coursework can be difficult and you will run into blocks (many times), but you get a ton of support when needed, even outside of class hours.  You will be trying to learn a ton of material in a short amount of time, and at times you may feel overwhelmed.  That said, even with personally setting aside an additional 1-2 hours each day for review or doing bonus exercises, it largely hasn't affected my other activities and schedule outside of class hours.  And the class has become its own little online community, where we learn from and support each other.  It's been both a highly rewarding and fun experience so far.

Curriculum:
Exactly what I was looking for to get into full stack development, not just in terms of course material but emphasis on engineering, problem solving, technical communication and pair programming.  You learn a new topic each week and dive deep under the hood with lectures and weekly exercises that can be really challenging.  There are some bonus exercises, hack hours, and hackathons that you will work on outside of class hours, but that has not impacted my other activities so far.  As I'm still only part way through the curriculum, I can't speak to the later sections of the course, including the solo and group projects.  But it seems the weekly learning and exercises is building us up to that point and will likely really test what we've learned and can apply in actual big projects.

The weekly skill builders and unit exercises can be tough to get through, but you also pair up with another student (different each week) to work through them together and this has been a great experience, as you learn from each other and also work on fine-tuning your technical communication.  I find that learning from other students through this process has been just as invaluable as learning the actual course material from the instructors.

Instructors:
Enthusiastic, supportive and friendly!  The PTRI course is setup with a Lead Instructor, a Lead Technical Mentor, and two Fellows.  They have been great to interact with and learn from and are always available to help.  The amount of support you get is great.

Job Assistance: n/a (haven't gotten to this portion of the class yet)

     I’m currently enrolled in the new Part Time Remote Immersive and even though it’s a new program, it delivers. It’s tough to give a full 360 degree picture because I’m still in the first leg of the journey, but so far, it’s exactly what I expected. I chose Codesmith because I didn’t want to be spoon-fed information and spit out the other side of an assembly line as a cookie cutter coder. I wanted to learn about being an engineer. That means working through blocks, learning how to learn, and applying concepts to new and unfamiliar problems. That’s what I do here.

     I almost always feel behind, but I should. Who wouldn’t when you’re on boarding this much information this quickly. I think what constantly surprises me is how much more efficient, knowledgeable, and capable I’m becoming without even realizing it. I constantly have to remind myself that I’m doing things seemingly impossible to me a month ago. And I don’t feel like I’m missing anything doing it all remotely. They make sure you have iPads for virtual whiteboarding, GitHub and Slack are seamlessly integrated for sharing code and resources, and the team is smooth in its virtual classroom execution. I’ve even applied some of Codesmith’s virtual etiquette and teaching techniques to the meetings and trainings I conduct for work while we’re all stuck in quarantine. 

A typical week so far looks something like this:

     Mon - Thurs -  3 hours of remote class which include introductory lectures on the week’s unit mixed with programming challenges that you’ll tackle both alone and with a partner via video conferencing, reinforcing and expanding on the topics presented. You’ll develop real problem solving knowledge in the subject matter with which you’re wrestling. 

     Saturdays - 6 hours of class reviewing the week’s material looking at an expert’s approach and the approaches of your classmates to learn from each other and implement other approaches to the challenges you faced. 

     That’s phase one. There’s a project phase and a hiring phase which I can’t speak to yet, but the order of operations here makes sense. Learn core material -> Exercise core material in real world settings -> Package all that knowledge and experience to get high paying jobs. The outcomes speak for themselves.

     Everyone in my cohort is smart, knowledgeable, hardworking, and friendly, and while it’s easy to look at that and count myself so lucky to be working with such a great group of people, my hunch is that something about Codesmith’s interview process ensures that most cohorts have a similar makeup. And the instructors are the same. As much as they emphasize “work through the blocks” learning, I’ve never felt on my own. If I hit an unscalable wall trying to conquer a problem, the instructors are always right around the virtual corner to ask just the right questions to get me to start climbing on my own. That’s really all I have in terms of a review, this next bit is more personally important to me.

     Because I remember how I felt when I was scraping the internet for reviews and wondering what to believe before hopping on this wild train, here’s my full disclosure statement. I was asked to throw a few words into a review because Codesmith doesn’t do a lot of advertising other than virtual word of mouth. In no way was the content of my review discussed or influenced by anything other than my experience. I wouldn’t have agreed to write it if it had been. So these words are mine and I’m not really someone who can say a thing I don’t believe. With that said, what I’m about to write next should be the biggest takeaway for anybody looking.

     If was having a negative experience (which I’m not), and I did load this review with criticisms, I don’t think there’d be backlash from Codesmith. Even though I’m still in the program, I don’t think they’d reach out in anger or retaliation. I think they’d want to know how they could do better. The team at Codesmith is always looking for ways to better serve their residents even though it seems they already have it pretty much down to a science. That’s true on the curriculum level, the execution level, and the human level. I think that’s why they have the outcomes that they do. It’s a healthy, hardworking environment and, coming out of the program, it’s my bet that people carry that with them into their careers.

I stumbled upon the PTRI program while looking for a bootcamp and almost immediately fell in love with their block-driven approach and supportive community. I considered going to the on-site program in NYC, but like many people was not able to quit my job for months to do that. 

The PTRI program is not easy, but the 3 hours a night are doable even if you work full-time. The instructors and other staff are top-notch - super supportive, responsive, and they make you feel like you belong. 

The community is awesome, and Codesmith has been very successful at creating a tight-knit group, even though we're geographically far away from one another. So kudos to them! 

I haven't gotten to the hiring portion yet, so I can't speak to the efficacy of it personally, but they have great outcomes, so I'm not too worried about my prospects. 

Overall, if you are dedicated and hard working and want a challenge, I definitely recommend this program! 

I graduated with a degree in Graphic Design but I felt unprepared for actually finding work/ furthering a career in Design in a meaningful and stable way. For that and several other reasons I decided give programming a go. I enrolled into two other programming schools before attending Codesmith (Call me nuts). Here are somethings I have to say...
1- Codesmith is one of a kind. I don't think there are any other programs out there that can help an individual improve themselves and their careers at such a high caliber. In terms of Codesmith as an educational entity, I learned more valuable and practical things here than I did in most of my undergrad. In comparison to the programming schools I attended prior, Codesmith felt more like a Graduate/Masters Program. Which leads to the next point....
2- It's not easy (Seriously... its not).When I initially saw the active hours of Mon-Sat 9am-8pm I thought about the commitment I was getting into. In total you may spend +1300 hours at Codesmith. You have to be serious about this. You will be introduced to CS/ Full-Stack concepts at an unnatural rate that will be juuust uncomfortable enough that you will feel challenged throughout the program. But you aren't expected to know everything. The thing to understand is your peers are there to learn too. No one is perfect. You just need to make sure that if you do decide to enroll into Codesmith, you go in with an open mind and are serious about learning. The Codesmith community will only cultivate you and let you grow as an engineer. This is something that Codesmith does quite well. 
3- The Codesmith Bag of GoodiesCodesmith equips its students with things that I noticed others schools didn't. Some examples: 

• a) Being a student at the New York Campus has a likeness to working at a start up company. Both classes (Juniors and Seniors) share the same space. There is no "Classroom code along" and only a small portion of your day is devoted to lecture. Most of your time will be spent pair programming/ working at engineering problems. On top of that, your senior portion will have you working in close proximity with other engineers where you can practice things such as working in an AGILE environment, GitHub workflow, Brainstorming/Building an application from the ground up as a team. These start up elements can help grads both form opinions about these concepts AND adjust to environments of the start up companies that want to hire them.  

• b) Codesmith's hiring portion is on point. Your credibility as an engineer will be boosted by Codesmith's teaching style regarding your resume writing, self advocacy, proper salary negotiation and job searching techniques. I learned a great deal in this phase of the program. 

• c) The curriculum is well thought out. You are given things that will help you build a strong resume. Aside from the great amount of technologies you touch and your smaller projects, the production project you build over the course of several weeks is great experience. This larger scale project will get you though enough engineering challenges to allow you to formulate a mature engineering narrative that will help you when on the job search. And don't even get me started on the tech talk.

4- I am thankfulI'm someone who has struggled quite a bit with programming. But after devoting less than a year to focus on studies I am now working as an engineer with a salary that is 4x greater than I've ever earned before. So for that I am thankful.

Five years ago, I quit my job to go to a (different) web dev bootcamp. It got me my first developer job, but that experience doesn't compare to what I got out of Codesmith. Several years and two jobs later I found myself unable to find my next opportunity. I was over-qualified for Jr roles and under-qualified for Sr ones because even after my on the job experience, my actual  core programming knowledge base was sorely lacking.
Codesmith changed that and I couldn't be more grateful. After three VERY difficult months I found myself in a VERY different place - I was more confident, had recent cutting edge projects under my belt, and finally felt deserving of a Senior title. Newly empowered I ventured back into the job market that just months earlier had been rejecting me repeatedly.
Codesmith kept supporting me with constant advice, and encouragement and now I have the job I've always wanted. To top it off, my salary is 81% higher than it was at my last job. I can't recommend this program highly enough.

If you are looking at Codesmith's Software Engineering Immersive Program, but feel that you are not quite ready yet, CS Prep might be exactly what you are looking for. I was in that position a few weeks ago, in which I was familiar with some Javascript fundamentals but did not feel that I could pass the entrance interviews due to a complete lack of technical communication. I had done coding challenges by myself, but never really had the chance to communicate this to anyone else. 

I recently finished my CS Prep cohort at Codesmith after having dabbled in Javascript for a couple of months before starting. I worked through all of CSX - CodeSmith's own online free learning environment - to prepare myself for the concepts that would be covered in CS Prep. The focus within CS Prep lies heavily on technical communication. Examples of this are found in the daily opportunities to pair program, to pseudocode well during the problems, to share a video where you walk the viewer through a problem and when you work with your group on your final project. Those could sound like daunting tasks, but you get used to it quicker than you would think. 

The lectures themselves followed a similar format each day. Typically we started with a problem of the day, then the instructor would walk through the problem of the previous day. After that, a new topic would be introduced and explained in-depth. Lastly, we would be assigned a pair programming partner, which allowed us to work through the problem sets related to that day's topic together. The use of technology (mostly done with Zoom and their own CSBin to write code) made for a seamless experience. The lectures require a lot of diagramming so that you get a deeper understanding of why the code is doing what it's doing. Students are called upon (students join with microphone and camera) to analyze the lines of code and to technically communicate what is happening. The instructors are extremely engaging and approachable. 

My cohort consisted of about 30-35 students and we had an active slack channel going with the instructors actively participating as well. This way, there was always someone to answer your questions as you were working through your problems. A sidenote here is that I was unemployed, so I was able to spend a lot of hours daily to practice and to get the most out of the experience. However, there were many people that were doing this next to their studies/full-time work, and they still performed very well. 

I am also happy to say that I got into the Software Engineering Immersive Program and will be starting in the NY March Cohort. I practised by myself before CS Prep and I probably would have gotten there in the end, but CS Prep helped accelerate the process and made everything much more enjoyable as well. If you are near either of the two Codesmith locations, you are also likely to run into other people from your CS Prep program if you visit the JavaScript the Hard Parts workshops, which is an additional benefit.

Overall - Nothing but good words for CS Prep and the instructors: David, Chris and JinSung. I came out with a much better understanding of JavaScript, am now able to communicate my thought process much more clearly, made some friends, and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

 

I have to admit, I’m usually skeptical about online bootcamps. When I decided I wanted to learn Javascript, I did everything I could to learn for free and in a self-paced manner. I took online courses, some live classes, meetups, study guides, and bootcamp prep exercises from Full Stack Academy, Hack Reactor, the whole 9 yards. I did this for about 3 months part time.  I will admit that these resources were a great introduction into learning Javascript, but up to a certain point I hit a plateau. The new surface level knowledge I gained from these courses were not contributing to my overall fundamental understanding of Javascript. In other words, I was spinning my wheels with these courses. 

I didn't realize this until I was sick and didn't code for two weeks and then tried to jump back into coding and realized I forgot half the things I “learned”. It was clear I had deep holes in my fundamentals that I needed to address before advancing.

I enrolled in CSPrep after I took a FrontEnd Master’s course called “Javascript the Hard Parts”. The first thing I noticed about both instructors were that they had a very distinct way of teaching.

They always diagrammed everything, especially how the Javascript engine processes the code ‘under the hood’. They would speak in a very precise manner and have students weave this vocabulary into their understanding of the subject. This specific emphasis on technical communication and deep understanding is what I think makes CS Prep a worthwhile investment. 

My CSPrep instructor, David, flowed seamlessly through the course making sure everyone was on the same page and that we continuously hit a deeper understanding of the topic at hand. I believe this “training style” is what led to me to pass the interview for the full time Software Immersive Program at Codesmith. After all, the interview topics (Closures, Higher-Order Functions) were not necessarily the easiest resources to find online. 

 

I would highly recommend checking out CSPrep and Javascript the Hard Parts. If I had to do it over again, I’d go to their free in-person Javascript the Hard Parts workshops held every week before jumping into CSPrep, that way the new knowledge is built on strong fundamentals.