Codesmith

Looking back on the last 3 months, I can safely say that joining the Codesmith community has been one of the best experiences of my life. It was a remarkable journey of rewarding challenges that taught me so much not just about programming, but about myself.

When I first decided to pursue coding, I did a lot of research looking into the many programs New York City had to offer. I remember the pivotal moment when a friend of mine suggested Codesmith’s “JavaScript the Hard Parts” class offered every Thursday evening, because attending that first class changed everything.

I found a community of supportive, passionate people who fostered an environment of collaboration and growth, the likes of which I had never seen anywhere else.

When I was accepted into the 3 month program, I found the excitement and passion for problem solving to be infectious, and I felt invigorated every day to push myself harder, and learn as much as I possibly could.

The instructors are amazing. Not only do they have an incredible wealth of knowledge, but they also possess the ability to dynamically teach it to others, and I think that’s very important to note.  The most important thing you gain from your Codesmith residency though, is the tool chest to learn anything. You are fundamentally trained to be able to figure your way through any technical block, and this is an invaluable skill.

Maybe you’re wondering… does it really work? Can I really get a job afterwards? The numbers don’t lie, and the answer is yes. The average salary is around 120k and my cohort is seeing these offers and better ones already. It’s only been a few weeks since we graduated.

My advice to you: Go for a visit on a Thursday evening and meet everyone. You’ll see what I mean. I can’t recommend it enough!

Sometimes it's hard to know if you made the right choice until you look back on it and I can say for 100% certainty that going Codesmith was one of the best decisions I made!

Of course, I didn't go through all the other schools/bootcamps but I did a lot of extensive research on all the options before deciding on Codesmith. Why I ultimately decided Codesmith was the right fit for me was... 1. The smaller class sizes allow you to receive more attention and bond with classmates 2. The production project (building projects that help the developer community) 3. Phil, Will, Dave, and all the other Instructors/fellows... you can replace curriculum but you can't replace great instructors!

When I was initially interviewing for other bootcamps, I felt like I was one of just another person of incoming students. Phil and Will, on the other hand, made me feel like I was part of a community and I really felt they cared about my personal growth above all else. 

The curriculum was amazing but more than that the community was the best thing about Codesmith! I've learned a lot from my fellow classmates and the energy that everyone brings is what Codesmith strives to cultivate.

Was it worth the price? Well, whether you find a job or not, you grow in every way possible. So in short answer... yes! What are you waiting for? ;)

If you're in a rush here is the information you want:
After completing the residency at Codesmith I received multiple offers of which the lowest was $120k. This is an objective fact. No smoke, no mirrors.

Another objective fact: my first offer was 13 days after I entered the market.

With that said, I want to be very clear about the end goal here. It is not about money. The end goal is mastery of your craft. It just so happens that companies will pay well for people who can demonstrate dedication to their craft. I couldn't command a 100k+ salary before completing the Codesmith residency. Afterwards I had a few options to choose from.
_______
About Codesmith:

Codesmith is about finding your limits and pushing past them. If you can consistently do that every day for the duration of the program and continue doing so in the job market then you can expect great offers. You get out what you put in. If you don’t put in the effort don’t expect stellar results.

With that said, there is no version of the universe where I earned as many offers without the team at Codesmith. From the top down Will and his team will prepare you for the demands of a job market that wants mid and senior level engineers. Codesmith is three-fold; it is one part becoming a better engineer, another part becoming a better person, and third part becoming a better interviewee. Each aspect of that is assessed before you’re admitted, and each part is worked on during the residency. You have the opportunity and the support to improve but again it is up to you to act on it.

Secondly, Codesmith is not a bootcamp.

I know because I went to a bootcamp prior to Codesmith, as have many Codesmith residents.

There is nothing else out there like Codesmith. It gets lumped into the pile with the rest because bootcamps are the closest thing. Codesmith is a residency. Unlike other residencies Codesmith makes sure that all of it’s engineers are on the same page. There is a 4 week curriculum in which you are thrown into the deep-end of full-stack Javascript. This is so that each engineer there has the same toolkit to collaborate and build projects together. And building projects is what you do for the remainder of the residency. Even during the 4 week curriculum you are building applications, just piecemeal with each piece of technology building upon previous units.

The day to day at codesmith is: you show up at 9am and keep coding until 8pm. It is not uncommon to see people stay even later and in fact most do. You get practical hands on experience building scalable applications and even more important you get hands on experience collaborating with other engineers with varying degrees of experience. It is truly a transformative experience.

At a bootcamp you spend 75% or more of your time observing or coding along to something. Of the 1000+ hours at Codesmith less than 5% of that is spent in a lecture setting. You are actively building products the entire time. There is support for when you need help but the majority of the time you are working in pods to build scalable applications. The goal is to overcome problems yourself with the help of your team, just how you would in the real world. That may sound intimidating or intense but know that the team at Codesmith is incredibly supportive. 

From the beginning they are highly selective about who is allowed into the program. Codesmith doesn’t just screen for determined and talented engineers, it also screens for nice people. A very talented engineer who is rude or hard to get along with will not be able to join a cohort at Codesmith. This is something that makes the 3 months in this environment not just bearable, but outright enjoyable. The staff go above and beyond to make sure the environment remains a positive one and there are activities built into the schedule to help prevent residents from burning out. 

So how are the results overall?
Well, from my Cohort of 12 only 3 have spent more than 3 months looking for jobs.
Compare that to my bootcamp experience where I had a cohort of 23 and after 6 months only 4 people had full-time jobs in tech. Nobody from my previous bootcamp cohort got offered more than 70k. Not one. The lowest offer from my Codesmith cohort was 80k and that same person also got a 90k offer.
I don’t want it to seem like I am only focused on money. I bring it up because Codesmith costs money to join, it is an investment in yourself and I want to show that it pays off financially. 

Beyond the financial payoff my confidence to create, collaborate, and contribute as an engineer have increased exponentially. Before Codesmith I had some difficulty learning new libraries or technologies. I didn’t know how to get information from documentation. If I had to learn something new I had to watch somebody on Youtube or Udemy teach me and then try my best to replicate that. Then once I replicated it perfectly I would branch out slowly until something broke and then I’d have to watch more youtube videos until I figured it out. Now I just read the documentation and figure it out in a few minutes. 

Everything is excellent from start to finish. Once you finish the program at Codesmith there is unparalleled support. There is staff available to polish your interviewing skills and even negotiate offers. There is nothing else like it. 

I remember being in my previous bootcamp and talking to alums who were in the market after graduating. Some of them had been in the market for months. The bootcamp I attended said the job search could take up to a year after finishing the program. The grads I talked to were looking for junior roles in the 60- 80k range. Anything higher than that was unheard of and many, fatigued emotionally and financially from the long job search, were willing to go even lower than that.

My first Hard Parts meetup was on recursion being lead by the Senior Engineer at Codesmith. At the time I had a vague idea about how recursion works but by the time I walked out it was clear as day. I knew I had to learn more. I started talking to some of the residents and graduates and they started talking about their job processes. Some of them were getting offers the same week they graduated for more than 100k. I didn’t think that it was possible but the more people I talked to the more I kept hearing the same things. At that point I decided to apply. I figured if I didn’t get in then at least I knew that I tried. I was rejected on my first attempt but on my second attempt (a month later, studying the whole time) I was offered a spot in one of the cohorts.

Before starting the program I thought that Codesmith residents must have been super-human engineers. But now that I've completed it I know they weren’t, they were just dedicated to their craft. Being a part of my cohort at Codesmith was the first time in my life I was surrounded by people equally as driven as I am. I’m a little spoiled now as a result.
_________

Shoutout to Will, Phil, Ryan, Olivia, Jac, Dave, Sam, Schno, Haley, Jenny, Mircea, Saim, Chris, Alesi, Ryan, Christine, & Joel. 10/10 would recommend.

If you are planning to join a coding bootcamp, consider CS Prep course seriously!

I took CS Prep this February to prepare myself get in Codesmith immersive program. I can tell you confidently it is so worth it. Codesmith is very famouse of just getting in is so hard. Before I did CS Prep, I took another prep course from other bootcamp, which was 100% online. I mean, CS Prep is also online course but they do it on live, not recorded lectures. Our instructor, Ryan, did a phenomenon job, took care of every single students, was very patient, and tried answer all the questions we had no matter how late it was or how many times we asked same quesitons. I was accepted into the Immersive on my first try!! I built solid foundational Javascript knowledge and was taught how to do proper technical communication. Every class you do pair programming that can help you to practice your technical communication. It can be very difficult if you have never done before, but once you get used to, you will understand how important it is!  You also can send a video of your technical communication to Ryan, he will watch it no matter how long it is and will give you a solid feedback. I can't say thank you enough to all the staffs of Codesmith and Ryan! 

I'm writing the review I would like to have seen here before making my decision. If you're skeptical about the idea of attending a three month program like Codesmith after graduating with a technical degree, I hope this review helps you.

Before attending Codesmith at NYC, I was a fresh graduate looking for work. I studied Computer Science as an undergrad and I had finished with a general set of skills. However I never learned about software engineering or the ways to approach building a project on my own. I never learned about best coding practices. I didn't have a body of work that showcased what I had been learning for the past four years.

I spent a couple of months self-studying. I took courses on Udemy learning JavaScript libraries like React and Redux, and was able to build some small projects. However, I hit a block where I wasn't learning as quickly as I was when I started. So I reached out to find other developers through Meetup and found myself at Hard Parts. The consistent delivery of energy and extensive explanation of fundamental concepts had me coming back every week. At some point, I had attended all of the workshops they had to offer, and during my time there I was seriously considering attending Codesmith as a resident. I was on the fence about it for a while, because I felt that it wouldn't have been necessary given my background. I wanted some more information about the program so I hung around and spoke with the current cohorts and engineering fellows. Everyone I asked was very receptive and gave me the ins and outs of the program and its potential tradeoffs. I really admired the community Codesmith fostered. I finally decided for that I wanted to be a resident, and ultimately a part of a community of developers who were driven and loved to build things.

Codesmith is all about collective learning. For the first six weeks we pair program every day, switching pairs every two days. The first thing I had noticed about the material is how quickly information was introduced. We spent the first week learning fundamental algorithms and data structures (subjects I wasn't exposed to until two years into university). After that week, my cohort mates, without any exposure to algorithms coming in, were already taking time and space complexity into consideration when solving coding problems. They were also thinking about how to optimize their solutions. What also got me going was constantly being around people who enjoyed discussing JavaScript concepts, web development and project ideas they had.

After the first six weeks, we get to ideate on a production project idea with a team. In my opinion this is the most important phase in the course. You spend the first six weeks learning all about and using web libraries like React, Redux, MongoDB, Node and Express, and you’re given an opportunity to use those tools to build an application from scratch. Most importantly, you do so with the cohort mates you’ve been growing and learning with. I learned the most during the production phase because it provided me with experience of being on a team, and working in a Git flow. For my team, we had common disagreements about the problems we wanted to solve, the technologies we wanted to use, and our workflow. Meeting up as a team, discussing these issues and resolving them are important experiences that both help you grow as a developer, and as a team player.

You can only learn so much by sitting at home and developing projects on your own. I’d say the most important things I got out of the program were the experiences I had with other developers that I could speak to. I believe that being able to talk about problems you were introduced to with other people and how you overcame them as a team can take you a long way. Codesmith was definitely the right choice for me. It definitely provided me with exactly the components I needed to land the job that I have now. Even after graduating Codesmith, I have the support of the mentors and the students I’ve built relationships with during my time there.

Simply put, Codesmith is a cut above the rest.

I came from a background of electronic music production, some decent experience with JavaScript, SQL, and aside from that, a largely non-technical background. After working hard and doing pretty much nothing but coding in my spare time preparing to get into Codesmith throughout 2018, I joined in the October 2018 cohort. I was hoping it would be a life-changing experience - it delivered 100%.

More than just teaching you how to use the most in-demand languages/frameworks/libraries, Codesmith teaches you how to solve problems. It builds that muscle for walking up to a wall of code and/or problems that you may have no idea how to solve, and teaches you to calmly dissect it, piece by piece and solve the problem at hand. Doing this over and over, time and time again, is what prepares you for that mid to senior level engineering role.

Codesmith is extremely effective at curating a group of residents who are passionate and willing to make this their top priority. It is not easy to get into Codesmith, and this careful vetting process shows. My cohort was filled with brilliant engineers who were not only driven to improve their skills as engineers, but equally invested in helping to grow the skills of all those around them. In turn, the result is that everyone levels up together, and lifelong friends are made in the process.

Curriculum includes Algorithms, Data Structures, Big O notation, JavaScript, React, Redux, Webpack, Node, SQL, noSQL, etc. The program is very challenging, and takes the approach of giving you a "birds eye view" overview lecture, and then throwing you into the deep end to build with what you've just learned about. This process can be extremely challenging, frustrating, and definitely made me doubt myself at times, but in the end, was incredibly effective in improving my problem solving skills, technical communication, and making me more comfortable being uncomfortable.

The hiring program at Codesmith is one of the main aspects that sets Codesmith apart from any other coding residency I looked into. A strong emphasis is placed on considering not just what technologies you know, but why you specifically chose to use these technologies over other available options, what the tradeoffs were, and strengthening your technical communication to effectively communicate these decisions in a mature and thoughtful way. From whiteboarding and mock interviews, to SDI's, one-on-one salary negotiation, multiple resume and online profile reviews, and a unique, results-driven approach to applying for jobs, Codesmith sticks with you when it gets real after graduation. Lifetime hiring support is provided - I did two mock-interviews after graduating that were both instrumental in helping me to land the offer in LA I just accepted for a full stack engineer position.

Lastly, I would like to speak on the lifelong friends and colleagues I met at Codesmith. Upon graduation, two of my cohort mates and I decided to form a slack channel to hold each other accountable and check in with each other throughout the job search process. We made sure to touch base every day, and shared things we were learning throughout each technical interview we encountered. I am proud to say that all three of us have landed 125k+ positions within a month and a half of graduating.

It is possible! Make the sacrifices, make this your top priority, and you can do it! Codesmith has the roadmap laid out - you just have to make the commitment, work harder than you ever have before, and make it happen. If I can do it, so can you 🤘

I graduated from college in 2017 where I majored in Finance/Economics and minored in CS. I tried management consulting for a year, but realized that the parts of the job that excited me the most were related to computer science, so I self taught myself HTML/CSS/JS as far as I could. 

But when it came to applying to jobs, I found that my experience just wasn't enough. So I applied to Codesmith on a whim, and it turned out to be the best decision I could have made. I was making $75k as a consultant, and was interviewing for junior positions that would have paid ~$80k, but even these positions I wasn't passing the phone screens. 

After putting in a few months of hard work at Codesmith, I received a contract offer with JPM for $60/hr! And now, a few months later, I've leveraged my experience here into a full time position with American Express for $130k, and I have another final round interview with Amazon for $160k!!! (omg)

These numbers are absolutely not something I ever ever ever thought I would be making but its all been possible thanks to Codesmith. 

Going into the program, I was already fairly comfortable with web engineering since I had self taught and I studied CS in college, but the breadth and depth of the Codesmith experience let me take that to the next level. 

I took CS Prep this February and it was a very fulfilling experience. I will start by saying that after taking CS Prep, I was passed my technical interview and was accepted into the Immersive on my first try. CS Prep provided me with a solid foundational Javascript knowledge and taught me the technical communication skills that were necessary not only to be admitted to the program, but to begin to think and work like an engineer. Each day of class for about an hour, we pair program which is a great exercise in learning to be a better communicator. Our instructor Ryan kept class interesting and informative and was always willing to provide extra help and guidance. The group project that we did at the end of the course was my first experience building something from scratch in Javascript and while it was challenging, it’s very rewarding to now have something to show my Javascript abilities. Some of us in the class who were based in LA met up outside of class to pair program and study together so the prep class was good at fostering a sense of community as well.

This place changed my life.

I spent a lot of time trying to decide which school to attend to become a software engineer. I looked at General Assembly, Hack reactor, and Thinkful. None of these compared to the Codesmith learning experience offered in just their free lectures (JS Easy parts and JS Hard parts).

I would strongly reccomend this school for anyone who really wants to understand practical applications of computer science to the core. Their curriculum is challenging and will probably be one of the hardest things you'll learn, but the reward in the end is worth it.

Trying to navigate your way to the RIGHT bootcamp in 2019 is a lonely, confusing place to be. Codesmith's CS Prep course, along with their free CSX courses and free streamed/in-person "Javascript the Hard Parts" are a great way to get to know the culture and pedagogy of Codesmith. I've been accepted to most of the top bootcamps and have had my eye on the space for more than a while. My experience in CS Prep confirms my suspicious that Codesmith's curriculum, pedagogy, and culture are unmatched in the 12-16 week bootcamp space.

Ryan Trontz, the teacher for CS Prep, has a long history of teaching subjects from Economics to Mathematics to Programming. He HIMSELF is a relatively recent product of Codesmith's SWE immersive. He's able to both zoom deeply in on topics to give you a step-by-step understanding of how the JS Engine works AND zoom out to give you a contextual understanding of where X tool fits into a SWE's workflow. If you're considering Codesmith or another top-tier bootcamp, I recommend CS Prep wholeheartedly.

My experience with Codesmith started with despair and self doubt. Before interviewing at Codesmith, I have been self studying for a couple months. I reached Codewars Kata 6, I finished Fullstack Prep in a week, I completed Hack Reactor's online program, and just to add another layer of security, I finished CSX before I applied. I thought I was a shoe in, and boy was I wrong. I was completely crushed in the first interview, got close to being accepted by the second one, and I was wondering if I could ever get in, and maybe I should just go with other programs. At the end, I gave myself a hard dead line, and the rest was just the beginning.

Codesmith is going to push you out of your comfort zone. If you are naturally curious (aka console.log blobs just to see what it says, or try to use Node to build your own containers), then you are in luck. You will find other engineers who are equally curious. By the way, do you know the difference between setTimeout, IO callbacks, setImmediate, and Promises? What if I told you they go into different queues and a lot of other people have it wrong thinking there's only one? Codesmith will not teach you those things, but if you have an inquisitive mind, you will naturally gravitate to find those answers with like minded engineers.

It is normal that different people have different preference. It's not good or bad, but simple preference. If you require detailed instructions (like a classroom setting or tutorial type walkthrough), then Codesmith will be disastrous for you. You will absolutely hate it because the only instructions you get are very high level. No one will say, declare a function here with three parameters, and you loop here, then you return here. You are supposed to extend your knowledge to unknown areas like a true engineer.

Do you think building a functional CRUD app is a big achievement? At Codesmith, residents build CRUD apps as dummy data for projects. Before I began, I never thought of achieving the level of of engineering capability that I am now, but I can honestly say, if you love pushing it, if you love to break things and see what happens, Codesmith is definitely the right place for you.

Before I decided to join CSPrep I was using the CSX site offered by Codesmith to understand what's needed for their immersive program. I didn't realize that what I was lacking in wasn't my ability to learn, but how I could communicate to other developers. 

CSPrep is a nine day course spread into 2 weeks. It allowed me to collaborate with others who had the same goals which made it so much easier to develop my technical communication.

The course emphasized working with others over knowing the material as the goal is to learn independently. 

The instructor Ryan is also an amazing person who has a background in education which is apparent in his drive to help his students understand the curriculum and to be able to expand it further even after the course and continues to offer advice after the course ends.

Coming out of this class I learned how to explain myself as well as how JavaScript works under the hood and honestly I have learned more in the two weeks than I have in the 3 years of self teaching. 

I recommend this course to those who are seeking to apply to any bootcamp and want to improve their ability to not just learn new JavaScript concepts but why they work as diagramming problems takes up a good amount of the class time.

I also recommend to spend the Thursday off at Codesmith's free lectures to supplement one's ability to grasp new concepts and apply them as pair programming exercises occur for each session. It also gives people the chance to meet others taking the CSPrep course.

And to conclude, I strongly urge to look into the scholarships they offer as the tuition will be transferred to the immersive program so there's nothing to lose when taking CSPrep and if anything, the people who take the class will grow regardless of the initial skill level.