Codesmith

Codesmith was a life changer for me. You will be exposed to the most in-demand technologies out there but you will not be hand-held. If you want to be a high level professional in 3 months you should expect to put in some work. 

What Codesmith offers is a system to help you rapidly approach your potential in this field. It’s intense but there is so much information that you need to have a grasp of. A very valuable thing you will learn here is programming fundamentals, principles that will help you succeed regardless of what frameworks or stacks you are working with.

You will also be (rigorously) prepared for the job search (mock interviews, white boarding, salary negotiation, etc). The end of the program is marked by a hiring day where you get interviews with several prospective employers and possibly get an offer right out of the program. 

I would do this again in a heartbeat. It’s a true investment in yourself and well worth the short-term sacrifice. You will meet some incredible people and the instruction is top notch. 100% recommended

Codesmith is truly a transformative experience. Prior to Codesmith I didn't have a technical background or any prior tech experience, and was looking for a career change. I began to assess all my options available to make the switch to a new career in tech. There were the numerous for-profit trade/career colleges, most of which seem great at first, but then as you dig deeper are very gimmicky, poor quality, and most are extremely expensive. Of course there's the traditional route of going to a community college & a state school or university, but being in my mid twenties, the extended time it takes to complete a degree, plus the limited career help and lack of modern in demand technologies, was not an investment I was willing to start. I decided I would continue working and self-studying in my free time with ambitions of making the switch on my own. The amount of resource online these days is amazing but starting out it can be very daunting. Without any prior programming experience, knowing what to look for, what to learn, and the quality of what you were learning was rough and a very slow process.

After a few months of learning html, css and the fundamentals of javascript, I wanted to speed up my learning and level up. I didn't want to continue this way on my own and began to look for Meetups to attend and learn with others. Through attending multiple Meetups is how I discovered coding bootcamps! It was awesome, and I felt energized and excited at this new approach to learning. I looked into all the Los Angeles bootcamps and I recommend you do the same to find what would fit you best. I went to many Meetups but the one that stood out the most was Codesmith's free Javascript the Hard Parts meetup offered every Thursday. You get a glimpse into the Codesmith mentality and community and is a perfect opportunity to see for yourself what Codesmith is all about firsthand.

The reason I favored Codesmith over the others was that it was clear it wasn't another coding bootcamp. Codesmith is an immersive residency and has 3 core values that sets it apart. Complete dedication to every student, an autonomous and deep understanding for learning, and a devotation for the community. Community is such a huge aspect of Codesmith and one of the many things I loved most about Codesmith. Codesmith hosts and sponsors many weekly and monthly events, is always looking to give back to the tech community in LA and beyond, and is an extremely diverse and inclusive space. Plus the alumni support is great and very connected, and they even have multiple times throughout the program when alumni comeback and share their stories of life during and after Codesmith.

The team and staff are amazing. Everyone is extremely nice, thoughtful and there to help you succeed. I felt comfortable sharing and expressing any concerns or feelings throughout the program. The curriculum is top-notch and well rounded. It still amazes me the amount of content I learned in a short amount of time. Spending six days a week and more then eleven hours a day onsite, it becomes more then just a program or school, you become a tight knit family with your classmates, the staff and the other cohort. Everyone is there with the mindset to help one another, and so should be your mindset going in.

With all that said, Codesmith is intense. It is challenging, tough, inspiring, motivating, and rewarding. Codesmith is an extremely fast-paced fully immersive program and is very demanding. Best way to succeed is to fully dedicate yourself for 3 months and make the tough sacrifices necessary to give your all during the program. This is truly one of those kind of experience when "the more you put into it, is the more you will get out of it". Take full advantage of everything offered, your classmates, the instructors, the staff, the connections, the networking, the events and will be amazed at how far you've made it. 

Your journey doesn't stop either after program. It is key you keep the same intensity going during the job search phase. A wonderful standout experience at Codesmith is the hiring day event. It provides such an awesome space to meet companies to network and jump start your hiring process. It is vital to stay in touch with the staff at Codesmith during your job search for endless amounts of support and guidance they provide to help you improve your interviewing and networking skills.

If your looking for an experience that offers top-tier challenges & curriculum, a thriving community, and a location that is in the heart of it all and only a few miles from the beach, you'll find it and more with Codesmith.

I went to Codesmith from August to October of 2016. Honestly, it was the best decision I ever made. Not only was I able to get the skills I needed to become a professional software developer, but I was able to meet some of the most intelligent, humble and interesting people. In addition to your fellow students being magnificent, the staff at Codesmith is always happy to help you out with whatever you need, be it emotional or intellectual support.

If your goal is to find a bootcamp that will help you learn the skills you need to be a web developer, look no further. There isn't a better option out there.

First I will mention what convinced me of Codesmith over any other bootcamp in LA -- I watched Will Sentance give a free talk called Javascript the Hard Parts and hung around afterward to chat with students in the program. You will get to see a glimpse of how Codesmith instruction works, the supportive community, and also get to tour the beautiful space. I promise you will not have to read another review after experiencing it for yourself, but here are my thoughts:

A few weeks out from completing Codesmith, I've fully realized the impact this program had on my life, and I want to share with those who may find themselves in a similar posotion. Before attending, I had a B.S. in Electrical engineering, some programming experience from undergrad/codeacademy/etc, but no projects built to demonstrate my skills. I had been struggling for over a year to land any kind of software development position. My resume was rife with the rookie mistakes many make -- too vague descriptions, not technically challenging, no underlying story marketing myself as a software engineer. My interview skills were weak, I would lack confidence in my answers and be lost for words when salary negotiations came up. Furthermore, my answers to the technical interview questions were often just wrong!

This all changed thanks to Codesmith and I'm happy to report I'm currently in negotiations for software developer positions at two companies which came to our hiring day! Codesmith will teach you the technical and career development skills you need, plus support you throughout the hiring process. 

This is probably all the review you're looking for, but read on for more details :)

The most unique things about Codesmith are the tight knit, brilliant Community and the proven Pedagogy. Your cohortmates will absoutely become your family. You spend many hours solving problems and supporting eachother through demanding challenges. Of course we work hard, and we also play hard! Thursday nights are a chance to socialize and let loose -- really any time is good to challenge someone to a ping pong or Magic the Gathering match. It's a lot of fun being there, I miss it!

The pedagogy takes you through basic software engineering skills all the way up through react/redux workflows and advanced git. The steps are mostly the same throughout -- get a high-level overview of the topic from an expert lecturer, then struggle to build something with that new skill. This is highly effective! 

I hope this helps you make the right decision for your future as a software engineer. 

I am a recent Codesmith graduate and soon I will begin work there as a fellow. The curriculum is fast-paced, thoughtfully constructed, and relevant to the current job market. The instructors are experienced, eloquent communicators who routinely go above and beyond their duties. The same can be said of the rest of the staff as well. I remember visiting Codesmith as a recent applicant and asking for help setting up a linter for my code editor (exciting!) The lead instructor had just finished a meeting and was packing his things to go home for the evening but agreed to stay late to sit with me and figure out my issue. What sets Codesmith apart, and what has inspired me to stay, is this type of commitment within the community. 

From the beginning of the application process there is a strong emphasis on the development of not only leading software engineers but leaders in general. This includes expectations that students, staff, and alumni look out for, support, and push one another, and the bonds that have formed as a result will remain strong long after my time at Codesmith has passed. It is amazing how we as a cohort went from a collection of individuals to one family in such a brief time. It may sound cliche but that is my most important takeaway from my time as a student at Codesmith -- I have a group of people I know I can always go to and who can always come to me for anything. That, and after more 16-hour days than I could keep track of, I am pretty sure I can do anything.  Oh, and I have the skills to land a mid to senior position at the leading tech companies in the world, as one cohort after another prove through their hard work and hiring results. 

If you are dedicated to learning and willing to work with and support those around you I highly recommend reaching out to this community to get a taste of it for yourself. Check out JavaScript the Hard Parts, send an email with any questions you have, or just stop by the school and meet the current staff and students. Codesmith is demanding, but it is so worth it. 

There are a lot of choices for people to learn to code, and choosing the right one can be very difficult. It was only 3 months ago that I too was looking on how to improve my coding skills and spent hours doing due diligence. I cannot speak to the level of the other schools, but what I can say is that I was very happy with my decision to join Codesmith. When I first heard that Codesmith was not just another bootcamp, I just wrote it off, as I figured that is what each bootcamp said, but as I now have finished the program, I fully understand why Codesmith is much more than a bootcamp. The program is truly a fully immersive coding residency which accepts only the best and produces maximum results from those students. Coding however is only just the beginning of what Codesmith offers its students. The first half of the program focuses on rapidly expanding your knowledge of Javascript fundamentals as well as the introduction to numerous frameworks, libraries, and tools. The second half allows students to not only solidify what they have learned, but takes them far beyond with production products that have garnered notoriety worldwide. If this weren't enough, there are numerous workshops and lectures that prepare you for the real world and the job application process. Students from Codesmith are now in some of the top companies in the country, and this list is only growing. Although I am sure any readers of this review are thinking that it is possibly fake and just hype, I can assure you I am only a thankful graduate trying to give back to the program that helped give me an amazing skillset and gave me a network that seems more like family than anything else. Codesmith might not be for everyone, but it definitely was the right place for me.

Codesmith was everything I had expected it to be and more. I was very worried at first because there weren't as many reviews for Codesmith as there were for other schools, but I really liked the modern frameworks that Codesmith was teaching. I decided to check out one of their weekly Meetups just to get a feel about what it's like and immediately, I knew that this school was for me. The school is super super fast paced and overwhelming, but I can say without a doubt that I became a better engineer because of it. The community was great and very supportive. The people that I've met at Codesmith will continue to be life long friends even after the program. I couldn't have asked for a better school to accelerate my growth. :)

If you're motivated and want to break into tech as an engineer, Codesmith is an excellent option. My cohort finished in January, and two weeks later I had competing job offers with salaries and job responsibilities in line with those that Codesmith advertises.

As a qualifier, I did have some prior programming experience and studied a technical subject in school (zero web development or formal computer science, though). Nevertheless, there were others in my cohort with far less technical backgrounds who saw similar otucomes. It's been about 2 and 1/2 months now, and the majority of my cohort is hired. Still, I highly recommend learning as much as you can before Codesmith. If you come in with more knowledge, you'll probably find it easier to get a ton out of the experience.

Many of the other reviews have accurately covered aspects such as the staff's support and availability, the curriculum, the community, and the challenging time commitment -- I agree with everything that's been said there. In my opinion, there are two things Codesmith does that set it apart and allow for such good outcomes:

1) The program is rigorous and places a strong emphasis on fundamentals -- especially in javascript. 3 month bootcamps have to teach you practical skills, but Codesmith is able to strike a balance between teaching enough practical stuff for you to be useful, while going deeper into some more theoretical territory so that you can come away with a foundation for understanding why things work they way they do rather than just knowing "how to make a single page app."

2) They select people who genuinely enjoy learning and are drawn to the approach I mentioned in the above point. You can make a lot more progress faster if you're immersed in a group of people who are all motivated to learn, help each other out, and go explore "under the hood" (a phrase youll hear quite often there). Codesmith excels in putting together groups of people who willl push each other to improve.

If you're interested in technology and have thought about transitioning to engineerig, I highly recommend Codesmith.

I graduated from Codesmith's January cohort and I have to say that they really proved me wrong and I couldn't be happier. After doing research for months and talking to many software engineers, the concept of learning Javascript in 12 weeks and getting a six figure salary shortly thereafter was looking pretty unrealistic.

I decided to set my expectations accordingly and wasn't really expecting much more than an internship or Jr. position out of the program. Ecstatic to report however that I am making exactly what Codesmith promised at a cutting-edge startup in Los Angeles. Don't get me wrong, the hiring process is rough, really rough. Not even the Codesmith staff telling you it’s rough will prepare you for how rough it is, however they do a stellar job setting you in the right frame of mind to survive. My advice is to treat every single interview like a practice run, because it's the only way you can handle that level of confrontation and rejection. It took me 8 weeks of aggressive job search and 6 final round rejections before I got my dream offer. 

Why Codesmith is the best in LA

I have to say that the community at Codesmith is unlike anything I've ever experienced. The staff is amazing, but your cohort mates are really what bring the program all together. Being surrounded by a community of people eager to learn and teach as much as they can is contagious and an incredibly effective way of taking a crash course in something. Its also nice that Codesmith is fairly small, because  you get direct access to job support, the CEO, technical leads, and technical mentors 24/7. All you have to do is approach them. This is immensely important and unique to Codesmith. 

Last thing I want to say is that this review is coming from someone who was on the lower half of our cohort's technical aptitude. There were some really smart people in my cohort. Throughout your experience, you will hear success stories of former graduates. I remember thinking that I would never be one of those stories, because I wasn't as quick as everyone else, It took me 3 interviews to even be accepted into the program. Very happy with my experience at Codesmith and consider it to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made :) 

Full Disclosure: I have a (rather old) Electrical Engineering Degree from USC, and have been dabbling in coding for a long time.  Prior to enrolling in Codesmith, I had been teaching myself with free? on-line courses for about a year and a half, with the goal of becoming a software engineer. I used codeacademy, cousera, nodeschool, and freecodecamp, and would highly recommend completing at least the freecodecamp front-end developer certification before applying to Codesmith.

Outcome: I got competing job offers about 6-weeks after graduation and ended up with a position that exceeded my expectations.

Environment

  The energy and environs do a great job of getting one in the mindset of constant collaboration and explosive growth - it's about 75% start-up, with a small side of dorm life, and just a touch of actual boot-camp via the 70+ hour weeks (if you are the type to leave early, that is).  That said, the core team does a pretty consistently amazing job of doing their best to make everyone as comfortable as possible in what is necessarily a sometimes stressful and monotonous (those hours again) environment.

Be prepared to learn as much from your cohort-mates (and learn by teaching them) as you do from the instruction - not because the instruction is lacking in material, but because there is so much to be absorbed that you will find yourself creating your own mental models and comparing them to your peers on subjects that were covered in lecture, but you couldn't grok at the time.  This accelerated lecture-and-self-study format is very well-managed, which brings us to…

Pedagogy

  The cirriculum is thoughtfully-designed, very well-executed, and constantly being iterated upon - and while the latter may lead to some speed-bumps in implementation (which a decent dev should be able to handle without missing a beat, anyway), the trade-off is familiarity with the absolute latest and greatest - or at least most-hyped and in-demand for hiring - javascript libraries, frameworks, and buildtools to make yourself useful in just about any modern stack.

  As the main instructor, Dan is an amazing fusion of industry vet and natural-born teacher, easily on par with any CS professor I had at USC.  Even if you are already a Javascript developer, Dan will end up teaching you some new concepts, and he'll do a darn good job of making sure you get them.

  In addition to the actual technical curriculum, the entire experience is impeccably crafted to provide the right nudges at the proper moments to catapult a particular kind of individual to heights they never thought possible.  The admissions process also seem to do an impressive job of screening for the 'right' kind of person that will benefit from the program in their admissions process, which is important, because your success will depend on the success of your cohort-mates.

Community

  This is hands-down Codesmith's greatest asset.  Many of the alumni still come to visit and participate, and they are all now capable, empathetic engineers who provide a great example and relate-able stories to new devs.  The culture fostered by them, the fellows and LTMs, and the core team is one of unquestioned mutual support and desire to succeed - I honestly felt that everyone there believed in me and wanted to see me achieve my goals.

  The real heroes at Codesmith are the core operations team for their ownership of the program and complete dedication to each and every member of every cohort.  If just about anything is wrong, Victoria can and will make it right.

  The star of the show, finally, is Will, who performs countless acts of voodoo to make the whole thing happen.  These include a genuine, contagious belief in the mission which gives him the power to inspire almost on cue, a demonstrably super-human name recall ability, and a charmingly British fondness for giving memorable toasts when they are needed.  If he is offering you kool-aid, drink it. Every time.

Codesmith is a great place to advance your coding skills to the level of a mid/senior level developer. The staff does an excellent job of pushing students' problem solving skills while making sure you are kept abreast to the latest web technologies. The community built around the institution is really fantastic. There is no shortage of former students/mentors that you can go to with real world questions and insight into life as a coder; and it seems like the CEO still knows every student's name thats ever attended the program. I think one of Codesmith's major differentiators is the quality of their hiring program. They will not stop working with you until you are hired, it doesn't matter how many days/weeks/months ago your class ended. When you get accepted into Codesmith it's not just for 3 months, it's for a lifetime. The network of excellent, smart, driven people that you become a part of will no doubt be vital to you for years to come. As an alumni, you can always go to Codesmith to work on a project, get so advice from one of the staff, or just talk with other devs. 

If you are serious about advancing your programming skills to a professional level, I definitely recommend taking a look at Codesmith.