Codify Academy

From the start of 2014, I was still in a confusing  path and not knowing which steps to take.I was unsure if, Codify Academy  were the right choice or not

But, I am glad I took the leap of faith because Codify Academy's material are powerful knowledge.

Little by little my confidence in learning how to grow was growing.

I originally started with slow and inconssitent freelance jobs that kept me on edge due to the lack of reliable income coming in.

If you are like me and can see great opportunities from a mile a way then you will see how Codify Academy can improve search for a job or even just make some extra money on the side.

I would like to give a thanks to the Brody brothers for presenting this opportunity kickstart my career and skyrocket my growth. My man Chris, was not just a mentor,but a true bro.
I felt relaxed and comfortable and appreciate his genuine desire to want more from life as well as share that with those around him.

After the program I aggressively applied for jobs. Which I got interviewed and the very following day I heard this "I got some good news for you - YOU GOT THE JOB!!!"
Feeling of rejoyce sprung to my satisfaction.

Thank you Chris and to the CODIFY ACADEMY.

Live long and prosper,

Gerardo Morillo

                                      to be continued...          

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Before Codify Academy I had a decent background in front-end development, but I did not feel confident in my skills when looking for a job. I decided to look into coding bootcamps and chose Codify Academy because it was part-time and I thought Matt was a really cool person to talk to during the interview.

For the course itself most of the material you will read can be found online but the assigned projects will test your mastery of the material. If you are struggling with a concept or your project did not turn out the way you wanted it to, Matt is happy to help and take you step-by-step through your dilemma. Eventually you will get to create your own projects and that is when it gets really fun! Every assignment has a purpose to it and each one goes into building your portfolio. By the end of the course you have a solid portfolio and a good grasp of front-end development.  

At the end of the course I have an awesome portfolio, a mentor I can always go to, and a group of developers I can call my friends.

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I found codify on the net and instantly got excited. I have a design and old school web background so I saw this as an opportunity to see an update on my skills and get back into the work feild.

so far the class is great. Matt is super nice and egger to help whenever. i like that they give you a structure and get you going but also make you look for answers yourself first. thats exactly how the work environment is. if you dont know something you need to know how and where to look for the answer.

im not done with my classes so i cant attest to the rest of the course or the job placement help but so far i feel they are very helpful and i am confident i will find a job before class is over.

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This program is awesome. The biggest factor in my decision to choose this school was because it is a part time program. It is perfect for those who do not want to quit their current jobs to go into a full time school. Most other schools offer stull stack development courses for more than double the price of this one. This academy will teach you the necessary skills to get your foot in the door.

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I'm a single father working full time and my work hours are 12 to 8pm 5 days a week with 7 out of 14 days with my toddler daughter. I'm in this to provide a better life for my child. I get help when I ask. If I get behind, I get a week off in week five to catch up. That really means a lot to me because it takes adjusting to get a schedule down as a full time employee and half time dad to find the time to get everything done. Best of all, unlike they other boot camps, I'm not being charged two arms and a leg and I'm being educated one day a week with plenty of support for all of my questions. I'm new to all this. Without the Codify Academy option, I'd probably not be able to get trained for a new career while reading water in my old career and fighting to make ends meet. Read less

I have a full time job as a support engineer. I had problems looking for schools that would do part time teachings to learn coding. When I came across Codify Academy I was shocked with their criteria and excited to do the part time learning. I applied right away, I never thought it would be this fun with these guys and so supportive. They really opened my mind about the software engineer world. I'm glad I joined and worth every penny. I definetely enjoy coding and going through the courses and feels great to be a developer now. Thanks to Codify Academy. I 5 star rate this school and recommend it to anyone. 

 

Shout out to Matt Brody!!! lol

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I had some background experience in am older version of html. The first part of the curriculum was a good refresher as well as learning new things. The way the class was laid out helped me to learn the new parts quickly. Being stuck trying to get into nursing school was a bit of a slump for me but when I had the opportunity to try again I programming it was a very fortunate turn of events that I jumped on. Read less

Codify Academy has been an amazing experience for me. A little about myself when I started the course I was 21 years old working dead end jobs that required little skill. I felt I was doomed to stay at these jobs until I complete my bachelors in business administration which will still take me 5 years from now. I was feeling the need to learn a new skill that will give me a high pay & find somthing that will challenge me instead of repetitivness. My search ended when I ran into Codify.

I came to the SF office where the course was going to be taught to meet the instructor & get a general sense of the course & concepts I would be learning. They asked me if I'm up to the task & put in the time to learn what it takes to be a front end web developer. I said "I was ready to grab the bull by the horns & do this!".

They recommended me to read Head First: HTML & CSS, to get a general sense of what I was going to start learning. I grabbed the book & read it before the course because I believe if your going into a course for a short period to learn something you better give it your ALL. if not you will not recieve the full benefits they have to offer. Make learning these concepts & the curriculum a priority if you want to move ahead if not your just wasting your time. On top of that before signing up make sure coding is somthing you can see yourself doing. Check Khan Academy, Code Academy, & other free online courses to see if coding actually interests you & something you can see yourself doing. 

Now I'm so glad I took the course & I'm never looking back. I'm going to graduate in a month & I'm already apply to jobs, receiving interviews, & was offered a job as a mentor here. My eyes have been open to a new world that I would have never imagined being even remotely involved with in this field but now I'm hooked. Trust me you GET what you GIVE & I'm living proof including my classmates who speak of jobs they are working their way into here in SF. My classmates & I come from all kinds of different backgrounds, goals, & places in life. What brought us all together & made us into better selfs was this motivation to learn how to code & make somthing of ourselves. I highly suggest checking them out & just see what happens from there it might just suprise you.

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Codify academy is a front-end web development bootcamp in lower Manhattan.
Its founders are brothers who come from upstate New York.

One of codify academy's selling points was the fact that you'd have a mentor who would be able to guide you throughgout the process. In theory, the mentor was available 24/7 to answer your questions, motivate you, keep you on track. And while I did genuinely enjoy my time there, overall I feel that there was much left to be desired in the actual program.

I'll start with the curriculum. It was, in fact, a bunch of free resources you could easily find on the web. They utilized codecademy.com a lot and sites like egghead.io, JShint.com, web development blogs, etc. Not only that but most research and/or  problems were solved by just "googling" it. I could tell they took their time structuring the curriculum, but again, it was all free, just nicely presented. Its structured in a way that requires two hours of hand-coding a day, a feat that may be reasonably accomplished if, you know, you had absolutely nothing else to worry about in your life. Also the curriculum, as plentiful as the resources were, lacked a foundation from which to build further knowledge on. We were expected to dive right in, it was comparable to a "get on the bull and hold tight" scenario.

Now, I'll go over the general atmosphere of the classes. I had already paid the down payment, when the mentor revealed the classes would meet only one day a week. My first reaction was to cringe and think to myself "how are we to learn anything if we only meet once a week?", but coming fresh off a semester of college and remembering that classes only met twice a week, I calmed myself and so gave them the benefit of the doubt, a wait-and-see approach.

Throughout the continuing (two) months of classes I found myself enjoying my time there not because I felt like I was getting anything done but because the location the classes were held in was very modern & hip; beer was on tap, there was a ping-pong table, cool little nick-nacks strewn about the area, tv rooms. When going to class it felt more like I was just hanging out with "bros" rather than attening class. Don't misinterpret the last sentence, we did get work done, but it was often just review of the week's homework puncuated by a lot of digressions, surfing the web to find inspiration, a few "show-and-tells" here and there but nothing like a college class, interesting college class, which I think stems from the mentor's lack of experience.

Which brings me to the mentor. Personally I'd say he is a very pleasant guy to work, even chat with. Extremely patient & consistently helpful, which I consider to be his biggest assets, however his lack of formal training in any sort of education comes off as amateurish and unempathetic. He can only help you if you give him a specific piece of code you don't know, but more often than not just ends up with him typing it himself or "googling". And when I say unempathetic, I don't mean he's an asshole, rather it is just the ignorance that stems from their cultural-background: middle-class, suburban white.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea here. I do not feel in anyway vengeful, or feel swindled, I do regret a little about spending that amount of money, and had I known then what I know now, definately wouldn't have signed up. But, it should be clearly stated (if not on their website then here) that their program is best for people who already know quite a bit of front end development, and have the time and competence to accomplish such an "autonomous" style of learning. Their program is also ideal for those people who are desperate to change their career and make $$$ as soon as possible. I fall into neither. I am at a point in my life where, sure I have debts to pay, but I'm in no rush to pay them hence in no rush to get a job. I also learn by studying, collaboration and debate, things you can't really get in a two-month long, weekly-session program.

The job placement assistance was helpful, but overall fruitless. And after long deliberation realized that front-end web development isn't necessarily a viable career choice for me simply because i find it rather banal & mediocre. Sure, you make websites look nice, develop some neat applications, learn new web technologies, but overall it is just another highly specialized job, with a required skill set, and predictable expectations. I will say this though, this program has made me realize how interested I am in the overall function of the internet, programming, networks and even computer science as an academic subject, but for less self-interested reasons.

Summarily, if you have studied on your own for a bit, and like to keep it that way but also have the chance to work in a busy, hip, communal workspace and have access to beer as well as people who consider themselves entrepeneurs then by all means go for it, and hurry before they raise the price 100% again. But I ahve to say that you can also get the same things for free...jus sayin'.
 

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Codify Academy is runned by three brothers - really nice guys who are trying to grow their business in the Bay Area. They face stiff competition from many other boot-camps, and in my opinion, they really need to get more experienced instructors to teach their students.  There are three instructors who seem to have more experience teaching students - wished I could have switched over to one of their classes instead!  Unfortunately, I was stuck with a very inexperienced instructor. He was knowledgeable, but did not know HOW to teach people! My instructor would waste time, "hanging out and shooting the breeze" with other mentors or students....hey, I am not paying for you to "hang out" with your buddies!  I complained several times to Codify about the matter before finally did something about it; but the instructor just doesn't have enough experience teaching - most students leave the class confused and frustrated.

Also, I spoke with several Codify alums who are still searching for work after 4-6 months. They basically get a few "power sessions" with Codfiy on how to format their resume or Linkedin accounts, plus some help with interview questions - that's it....nada, you get nothing else. Granted, the job search is primarlily the students responsibility, but don't advertise that you help students get $87,000 a year jobs - that's just false advertising!  You are misleading people and really need to STOP fraudualently selling the program as "16-weeks to a new career".

Anyone considering Codify Academy, should re-evaluate if this program is really worth $6K.  There are so many boot-camps in the Bay Area to choose from - you can get better value for your money.

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Be Careful.

You start learning a course from a free online course and they "teach" you based on that. What is the purpose of paying for something that online is free?

My experience:
I started the course without an email specifying what I had to bring. At the first class all students were lost. I even didnt know I had to bring a computer since the pictures online shows that people are working with computers in class so I thought that the class had computer for students. They did not give us online aceess to register in their website until 3 days after. Total fail. Emails from them company are very "cheap" and not professional. The emails dont even have the logo of the company which make it not credible.

There is a catch:
They dont mention this to you... If you cancel even the next day after paying 6K they retain $300 dollars. So if you had to take a loan to pay them, you better be careful. They dont offer you a trial. My understanding was that you had 7 days to have your money back. Well you get you money back less $300 that they basically steal from you so you dont get your money back.

Not professional Company:
There is a lot of lack communication with the recruter and the students. He doesnt answer you and you have to text the mentor to communicate to him because he is not enough professional to even acknoledge your messages.

Note:
You are not important for them. They only want your money. What they "teach" you paying 6K, you can find it in CodeCademy for 20 dollars a month with mentors.

This is my experience. I understand not all people have experienced the same and thats good, but my advise is before you pay them, read all the TERMS in the contract and make sure they explain it to you.

My advise: Just be careful.

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Pros: 
 - Codify is run by three brothers who started out as programmers themselves, so they have great hands-on experience.
 
 - Price-point for course is relatively inexpensive compared to other bootcamps

 - All textbooks are included in the price, as well as your first domain/hosting service for a year  (where you will showcase your portfolio of sites/apps you build)

- They hold weekday evening workshops every once in a while and will often provide a meal then, as well as snacks (fresh fruit) during regular weekly meetings

Cons:
 - I would really like to give these guys a few more stars but I really can't . To start off, Codify is misleading and tells potential students that they are "ready to be hired" at the end of the 16 weeks. In reality, when applying for positions and talking to people actually working in the industry, they're feedback has often been that there were quite a few things missing in terms of experience and projects to get hired at an entry-level position.

 - In a class of 10-12 students that graduated in June (6 months later), there is currently 1 person I know of who has gotten a developer job, post-course completion. Many more folks, from my group and others who have actually gone on to take on other types of jobs because they couldn't break into the developer field with their Codify training. 
 
 - Codify instructors may know how to code but they DO NOT have a background in teaching or facilitation. There are often gaps in the progress of topics and in their priorities. E.g.: They spend about half of the course on HTML & CSS, a good amount of time on JavaScript and very little time on things like AngularJS or API's, even though knowing and working with these in front-end development are essential for getting jobs in the field. 
 
 - They sometimes teach different things to different classes, so you don't know if you're getting everything you need.

 - They often say "please let me know if you have any questions" but it will often take them a week or longer to answer emails/questions (and some go unanswered all together). I was sometimes "ping-ponged" back and forth between one instructor and another before someone actually answered a question, and at times when they did so, they could be rude and passive-aggressive about it, instead of being encouraging and helping me learn. Not cool.

 - When I signed up for the course, I opted to work with one of their suggested partners WeFinance (a startup that does crowd funding campaigns by having the campaign owner ask for loans that will be repaid on an agreed-upon schedule). When I initially got in contact with Codify Academy, I was told the course would last 12 weeks. I signed up with WeFinance and determined a pay-back schedule keeping this in mind, as well as how long they said a student usually takes to get a job (2-6 months). 

   As it turns out, when I thought I was in my last week, the instructor informed me, laughing non-chalantly that there was actually another month left in the course. Of course, this wreaked havoc with my crowd-funding campaign. Did not receive any acknowledgment, apology or help with this, either. 

 - Their "job prep" is a workshop where students go through a checklist for technical questions and then they mock-interview each other. They also give anecdotes of previous students who have been successful at presenting "value" to companies they want to work for. All things you can learn on your own, online. 

Conclusion: I absolutely learned some front end code while at Codify, but that's also because I have had the experience of teaching and facilitating; so I have a pretty good idea of how/where to fill in the gaps of their teaching style for myself. 

If you already have some experience with coding and/or you feel very confident about your ability to teach yourself when needed and find a job, you'll be ok with Codify. However, for the majority of folks, especially those with no programming background, it's well-worth it to spend a bit more and get a better education, elsewhere. 

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