Codesmith

I was very nervous about starting Codesmith. I enrolled in the CS Prep program and despite the fact that I enjoyed that, I was apprehensive about dedicating 12 weeks of my life, 6 days a week to this program. I would do it all again. I started the program insecure about my ability to be a software engineer, but now I have the tools to succeed in this industry. 

What makes the Codesmith curriculum so powerful and different from other programs? First: the people. Seriously. The instructors, the fellows, the staff, the people they select for the cohorts. Everyone is so supportive. In your moments of deepest doubt, they are there to support you and lift you up. I never once felt ashamed about asking for more help. It's really a special place. Second: the production project. Forget the Snake game. Forget the Chrome extension. That is done in week two. Codesmith does something special and the second half of the program is focused on diving deep into a technology and creating a developer tool around this technology. My team and I dove in deep on Chaos Engineering; something I had not even heard of before Codesmith. This project gave me so much confidence going out in to the job market and has given me a plethora of topics and technologies to talk about in interviews. 

If you're even questioning Codesmith versus another program STOP QUESTIONING. You won't find a better place than Codesmith. Seriously. Do it. You'll thank yourself. 

This review is only for CS PREP.

CS Prep is a great way to get your feet wet with the fundamentals of advanced topics such as High-Order Functions/Callbacks, Recursion, Closure, Big O Notation, and etc.. Before CS Prep, I was stuck on the HOF section of CSX and did not know a single thing about the advanced topics I mentioned. After completing CSX, I was able to finish CSX and pass technical interviews for multiple top tier coding bootcamps on the first try!

Disclaimer: I have not taken the Codesmith technical interview yet (scheduled to take soon). I took tech interviews for other bootcamps in order to gain practice for the immersive program that I plan on joining: Codesmith. However, I would not have been able to have the confidence or the skills required to pass the technical interviews without taking CS Prep.

Overall, I loved my experience with CS Prep. I enjoyed learning from the instructors Ryan & Shane. Ryan & Shane are both so passionate about teaching and coding that their enthusiasm permeates throughout the whole course. I learned so much not only from the instructors but also from highly motivated students. 

Prior to Codesmith, I knew I wanted to further my skills as a software engineer, but didn't know which bootcamp to go with. These are a few of the reasons I chose to go with Codesmith.

1. Better outcomes

The fact that most of their grads get jobs as mid to senior level developers after graduating and their superior salary results definitely appealed to me. The website says the average for NY Codesmith grads is 112K but the current average is something like 130-135 now. Codesmith really sets you up for success and gives you the confidence that these salaries are achievable. To give some context, I graduated about 6 weeks ago and received my first 2 offers 2 weeks ago for mid-level software engineering positions and have another on-site interview with a FAANG company.

2. Rigorous interviewing process

I actually first interviewed with Hack Reactor and I got in through an extremely easy interviewing process. However, I didn't think much of it since I didn't find any part of their program particularly unique or attractive. Additionally, the Hack Reactor interviewer told me that I solved the problems he asked me faster than any of the candidates that he's ever interviewed, and I was surprised by this. I was looking for an environment in which I'd be surrounded by smart and knowledgeable individuals so I could learn more and I was definitely not looking to be the best problem solver in the room.

When I went through Codesmith's interview process, I could tell right away that they were looking for more than someone who know the basics of Javascript and can solve a simple algorithm problem. They asked questions about programming concepts that most other bootcamps wouldn’t ask and they wanted to see if you are a good technical and cultural fit for their program. Moreover, their final production projects were a lot more impressive than the ones I saw at other bootcamps/residencies. I figured that this was the best residency if I wanted to push myself.

3. Hiring support/staff/community

I got a good sense of what the community was like during the couple of times I attended their Hard Parts meetups so I highly recommend checking that out if you are thinking of choosing Codesmith. Furthermore, the hiring support after graduating was amazing. You get mock interview support to practice for the real interviews and bi-weekly check ins to see how you’re doing and potentially give you feedback on how to improve. Shout out to Will and Phil, who were actually my references for one of the companies I was interviewing for, and as a result I received an offer from the company! Also, shout out to Eric, who is there to help you get an offer and after you receive an offer, he literally holds your hand every step of the way of the negotiating process so that you get a much better offer than what you were already satisfied with.

Overall, the entire community is great and Codesmith really provides you with the technical skills, communication skills, talented people and confidence to excel in this industry. Highly recommend!

CodeSmith taught me data structures, algorithms, React, Node, SQL and NoSQL. In addition, it taught me how to think and communication as an engineer. 

The course structure is fast-paced and challenging. It is designed to constantly pushing for your limits. I also formed tight bonds with the cohort mates due to everyone being very supportive of each other. 

The hiring program is also another major piece of the puzzle of getting your first software engineering job. 

This is not a program for you to come to class and leave like a college course. To make the most out of the experience, you should put your best effort into it. And you will be rewarded for your effort 

If you're looking for a purely objective criteria for figuring out whether to attend to Codesmith, then you can easily find the average salary of its graduates on the website. It's a little over 110k. I just recently graduated and about half of my cohort has signed or is in the process of signing offers with cool companies with great salaries (in line with or above the average) within 1 month of graduation and I am highly confident the rest will have signed offers within 3-6 months.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I am going to highlight some of the other aspects of Codesmith that are also important in making Codesmith an invaluable experience and setting it apart from other programs.

1. The curriculum

Over the course of the program you will dive into technologies including but not limited to React, Redux, Node, Express, Mongo, Postgres. Also, Codesmith is devoted to continually updating the curriculum and adding value based on alumni feedback. They added an AWS module to the curriculum (my cohort was the first to receive it), after hearing that most of their graduates are interfacing with AWS in some way. 

Pair-programming is one of the main pillars of learning and growing as a resident at Codesmith and you will be engaging in it for the majority of your first six-weeks at Codesmith. So if you don't work well with others then Codesmith might not be the program for you.

2. The staff

The instructors at Codesmith are all super knowledgable, super passionate, and can break down complex topics into manageable chunks really well, but don't take my word for it. Every Thursday night Codesmith hosts a free meetup called Javascript The Hard Parts, where they deep dive into advanced javascript concept such as closures, or higher-order functions. I was blown away by the level of detail, how much I learned, and the amount of clarity I left with by just attending their free workshop. Phill (The lead of NY) and Will (CEO) who usually teach the meetup are also instructors during the residency so you know you will be getting that same great experience throughout the program as well.

The fellows are also very hardworking and help round out the experience by providing help sometimes even long after the day has "officially ended". Examples range from helping you to understand that concept/algorithm/technology to providing guidance on whipping your resume into shape. The fellows are all instances of empathy in engineering and a big part of the reason that the community is so great.

Can’t forget the non-technical staff as well. Software engineering is mostly technical but there is a value in soft skills as well. And it’s very helpful in having people there to help in those areas as well.

3. Amazing Cohorts

The class sizes are small. My cohort had a total of 16 residents - all with varying technical backgrounds, from less technical (on paper) to computer science degrees. Going through a program like Codesmith with a small class size allows you to really connect with your fellow cohort-mates. It's really easy to bond with your fellow residents after struggling and challenging one another to push and continually break through each other's limits to get to the next level over the course of three months. I have made connections and bonds with my cohort that I will foster for the rest of my career as a software engineer.

4. Projects / Production Project

Codesmith is fast paced. Most of the lectures take place within the first four weeks and after that you will working mostly on projects moving forward. You will work on solo, scratch, iteration, production, and reinforcement projects.  Each of these projects allow you to gain greater experience and depth with technologies learned in the earlier part of the program as well as those technologies that are not covered but you might have an interest it.

The most important project out of these is the production project. For the production project you will have about 4-5 weeks to dive deep into certain technologies with a group of residents. It really is amazing what the cohort can accomplish in this time. Again, don't take my word for it, you can check out some of them at https://www.codesmith.io/software-engineering-immersive-projects. I don't think other programs are producing these types of projects.

4. The community

A new cohort starts every six weeks. Your first six weeks is your junior phase, and the next six weeks after that is the senior phase. Juniors and seniors utilize the same space. When you just start the program it helps to have a group of people who just went through the same process that you are about to through as well. Not only do you have your own cohort mates to network and connect with you have the one before you, when you are in the junior phase as well, as the one after you, when you enter the senior phase as well. Of course, you also have access to all of the other Codesmith alumni working at great companies as well.

5.  Hiring Support

The hiring program at Codesmith might be worth about half of the cost of the program alone. As you progress through the latter half of the program you will start the hiring phase. This includes countless resume iterations that will get your resume in the best shape it probably has ever been, how to negotiate your salary, and how to approach the job search, and more. 

Even after you graduate there are check-ins every two weeks to see how things are going in your job search and they will help you iterate on your approach based on your feedback. You can even schedule mock interviews with Codesmith as well.

All that being said, it feels weird calling Codesmith a bootcamp. Codesmith, is a software engineering residency that will undoubtly change the course of your life.

Shout outs to Will, Phil, Ryan, Dave, Olivia, Kyle, Victoria, Joel, Christine, Raphael, and Altai and cohorts 8,9 and 10.

There are already a lot of reviews that focus on what the program is like and why they personally enjoyed it. So instead I will just make two points that I believe are important:

​1. Who Should Go To Codesmith

There is a reason why Will (the founder) markets CS as a residency for experienced engineers — it is because the value that the program provides grows exponentially with the more experience you have.

I wanna stress this because I feel that a lot of people might fall for this narrative: "I feel like I already know too much to join a bootcamp". And this could not be more false when it comes to CS. If you do not have a job that pays 120k+, then this program is for you (assuming you want one of course). And the reason is that the core value of CS is NOT the technical knowledge it provides: we all have access to the Internet, you can learn everything here. The value lies on the engineering narrative you will build while being exposed 14hrs+/day in a structured way to modern technologies that companies value nowadays. 

2. How Codesmith Gets You A Job

I will reason about this from my personal narrative. So I finished the program and I start following the very specific and detailed instructions on how to apply for jobs. I started getting phone screens, then a few take homes, but it wasn't after a few onsite interviews that I realized how CS had actually prepared me for this process.

Looking back to the interviews, I started noticing that a lot of the questions I was asked were in the shape of "have you ever heard of this technology?" or "do you have any experience working with X". And that is where the CS experience comes into play: having spent over 14hrs/day being exposed to modern technologies and "living" with people that share your same interest, I could instantly relate those questions to my experience in CS. Whether it was during a morning coffee chat or during one of the exercise units, I had indeed heard of it.

So tldr: I highly recommend Codesmith to anyone that is really passionate about software engineering. It will be tough, but — as they say — trust the process and the rewards are very real. 

For anyone looking for a prep course to get into any bootcamp, CSPrep is the ideal preparatory course.  Our instructor, Ryan, is the most passionate educator I have ever come across and his energy permeates through each student.  CSPrep students come from different backgrounds and varying levels of experience, and Ryan does a phenomenal job at creating an all inclusive, judgement free environment to ensure the most optimal learning experience for every student.  The course moves at an relatively high pace, exploring major Javascript and general coding concepts such as higher order functions & callbacks, closures, recursion, and algorithmic problem solving.  Each session consists of a problem solving/live coding session, diagramming of that day's programming topic, and pair programming.  In my opinion, pair programming is the most crucial component of CSPrep as it provides students with an environment to master their technical communication and to learn how to effectively collaborate with others, both of which are vital to an engineer's career.  Lastly, as far as I am aware, CSPrep's course is never stagnant.  Ryan is very open to feedback and is constantly looking for ways to improve the curriculum to best fit his students' needs.  Whether you come from experience or not, CSPrep is a great way to get your feet wet and experience Codesmith's brilliant curriculum first hand.  

CS Prep is a great program to be a part of. It’s filled with a diverse class of people trying to get better at being a problem solver and fluent at the tool-set which Javascript provides.

Throughout the course, Ryan delves into the fundamentals that will pave the way to being a more autonomous problem solver. You are actively participating and engaging with ever challenging questions and problems. Sometimes you know the answer and more than often you don’t, but it’s that intellectual vulnerability that allows you to learn and further cement that knowledge at those moments.

Ryan cares about each of the students’ success in the course. He is fully transparent about his role and what he expects from each of us. This makes the course become more than a mere transaction, and more of a mutual learning space of respect and support. The students in CS Prep are really rooting for each others’ success. Ryan follows up with you and makes sure you felt you got what you expected out of the two weeks. Weeks after my CS Prep cohort ended, we’re still actively sharing resources and asking questions to one another, and in my case, still meeting up with fellow colleagues to study and practice peer programming.

Like any learning endeavor, you really do get what you put in. I spent a good amount of time revisiting problem after peer programming to make sure I would be able to solve them on my own. I’ve heard other students echo this experience themselves. You are investing in yourself when taking on a program like CS Prep and I do think it’s a worthwhile program.

This program is a prep course for the Immersive program. I recommend it to people who have done their due diligence of research and are committed to their career pivot, further education, or need that extra clarity on hard Javascript concepts.

It’s real, it works, and it can work for you.

The purpose of this review is to give a little inside to the program, but mostly explain how it’s possible that you can enter this program without a previous software related job and leave with job offers on average of $105,000. For me looking into the program it was something I truly believed in, but now on the other side it makes a lot of sense.

A little inside to myself so you can put this in perspective. Before I started my pursuit for Codesmith, I worked in Construction Management and had no previous coding experience, but after two months of applying (post graduation) and over 100 applications I got the offer I wanted at Capital One. And I wouldn’t say I’m the exception, but more so, the norm of a Codesmith student. One that hasn’t really coded before. One of the cooler things of this program is seeing people from all different walks of life. But regardless of their previous coding experience, they’ve all had success.

I’m sure you have the same thought I did, this is too good to be true… But let me explain. First off, you’re not becoming a software developer in three months, the journey is a bit longer than that. To get into Codesmith you need to already have solid Javascript skills, but nothing you can’t teach yourself. I spent a few hours after work a couple times a week until I was strong enough to get into the program. For some, this could be a few weeks (if you studied heavily), for others it could take months (if you studied more intermittently like I did), it really depends how much time you put into it. If you have any questions for what to study, visit Codesmith or one of their easy/hard part sessions. They’ll point you in the right direction and you can get a better feel for the program. To be honest, if you have any interest in this program, you probably should stop reading these reviews and just GO to one of those sessions. You’ll learn a lot more about the experience, why I loved this place, and how this is all true.

But... if you’re still reading, I’ll continue explaining.

Once you get into this program you already have a solid understanding of Javascript, which is more than a lot of the people in the industry know about Javascript. And I’m serious about this. The rise of Javascript is pretty recent, especially front end frameworks like React, and there’s a BIG demand for developers who know this. Most people in the industry just haven’t had the time to pick this up these skills and keep up with them. At my work I’m lucky if I get to spend an hour a day trying to pick up new tech, and even luckier if I get to work on a new language. Meanwhile by the time you’ve got into Codesmith you’ll have no problem writing Javascript algorithms. And THEN the next three months at Codesmith you REALLY dive into the language. Like twelve hours a day of coding and learning at the fastest rate of your life. Once you’ve considered this, it doesn’t seem to crazy that someone would hire you as a front-end developer building in React or full-stack with Node. In my case, I got a company to hire me to build in Angular and Java (even though I had NO experience in either, they were confident I could learn both).

That brings me to my last point.. Codesmith teaches you how to get hired and be hirable. After the program ends they organize meet ups, mock interviews, and follow ups with you. There’s also great interactive lectures, and lessons on how to get hired and succeed in interviews. This may seem weird or you could question the necessity of this, but trust me it makes the jump from being a good coder to getting hired. Unfortunately, knowing how to code and being a successful interviewer are almost two different skills. Honestly, the challenge of getting hired out of this program isn’t the lack of knowledge, it's the perception that there’s no way you could have that knowledge after “three months,” or going to a “boot camp.” With Codesmith’s emphasis on being hirable, you’re able to past this perception, and get back to whats important, your software knowledge and being able to work with a team. One of the things I haven’t mentioned yet but is important to note, Codesmith has a strong culture on being a team player and focusing on technical communication. This not only makes you a good candidate, but again will help you shine a bit more in your interviews.

Overall though, this program was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I was able to switch from an industry I didn’t want to be in, to an amazing one I wanted to be a part of. It was three of the hardest months, but honestly, three of the best months as well. I had a lot of hesitation joining a program that was so intense, thinking.. how the hell could I code for over 12 hours a day? But the community and culture there is so strong its easy to love it there.

If you’re thinking about this program, please go to their easy / hard parts lessons. Also feel free to ask me any questions, I’m more than happy to help.

CS Prep is a fantastic resource to get started as a software engineer. Ryan, the instructor, truly has a gift for teaching in a way that breaks down complex concepts into digestable fundamentals. He's also superbly interesting and clearly passionate about what he's teaching. The curriculum itself is pretty standard, covering the must-know concepts before you're admitted to an elite coding bootcamp like Codesmith ... functions, higher order functions, closures, recursion ... but the magic comes during paired programming and Ryan's live coding of each day's problems. Many times during CS Prep I had an "eureka!" moment as Ryan broke down coding challenges and explained each step carefully.

Another great aspect of CS Prep is the community. You'll be coding along other very motivated students, some of whom are working together in the CS Prep Slack after each class. We share resources and even help each other on code review. Learning coding solo is tough, but you'll have a community to help your coding journey with CS Prep.

If you're set on doing Codesmith in the future, then doing CS Prep is a no-brainer. If you're considering other bootcamps or want to apply to junior dev positions, CS Prep will still give you a valuable boost towards your goals. The learning I got not only helped me get into Codesmith's Software Engineering Immersive, but also gave me the valuable tools and mindsets to tackle any technical challenge.

Let me start my review by saying if you are considering switching your career to tech, or debating which program to take, just trust all the amazing reviews here and choose Codesmith. I think the result speakers for itself. I finished the program in late Jan 2019. Within  6 weeks, I received 2 offers and more leads in the pipeline.

I started going to Codesmith’s Hard Parts for about 4 months learning JS fundamentals before enrolling into the program. I studied and worked in finance for many years with no prior computer science or coding experience whatsoever. One thing that makes Codesmith different from all the other programs is the high technical requirement. I was actually accepted by another reputable program when I didn’t even think I was ready. Setting the enrollment bar high showed me that they truly cared about students’ success, not about making money! Everyone from my cohort mates, to the fellows, to the leaders at Codesmith was so involved and caring about each other.

Another thing I’d like to point out is that yes, you can learn everything by yourself or go to take some courses elsewhere, but what really set Codesmith apart from any other programs is the EXCEPTIONAL hiring support - this is priceless in my opinion. You learn how to interview - technically and culturally, you get 3 one-on-one help/feedback sessions on your resume and online profiles, you learn how to negotiate offers and so much more! After graduation, you still have ongoing support for job hunting. I have some friends who have gone to other programs at the same time. They were amazed by the level of support and commitment that Codesmith offered to its graduates.

This whole experience was so rewarding and humbling. I could have never dreamt of switching my career this smoothly. There is no way I could have done it without everyone's support at Codesmith.

I took CS Prep to help bridge the gap between self preparation and the software immersion program and it was definitely worth it. I've taught in postsecondary education for years and can say that Ryan is the best online instructor that I've ever seen. He's very knowledgeable and will push you to do your best. The pace of the course moves fairly quickly but that ensures that all the necessary topis are covered. I took another prep course at a competitor school -- that is also highly rated in NY -- and CS Prep was a much better experience. Topics were delved into at a much deeper level and more thoroughly. If you're going to spend money on a prep course, CS Prep is the way to go.