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I attended Coding Dojo about two years ago. I never wrote a proper review about Coding Dojo, but the experience has really left a bitter mark, to where I honestly cannot recommend Coding Dojo to anyone. Hopefully they have improved by now, but from what I hear, many problems I encountered are still there.
The camp that I attended started in November 2013, finishing in February 2014. It was a 9 week program which focused on HTML, CSS, Ruby on Rails, and PHP. It was at the Mountai...
I attended Coding Dojo about two years ago. I never wrote a proper review about Coding Dojo, but the experience has really left a bitter mark, to where I honestly cannot recommend Coding Dojo to anyone. Hopefully they have improved by now, but from what I hear, many problems I encountered are still there.
The camp that I attended started in November 2013, finishing in February 2014. It was a 9 week program which focused on HTML, CSS, Ruby on Rails, and PHP. It was at the Mountain View location.
THE PROS
- I managed to land a job as a front-end developer after graduating
- I learned a lot about PHP, Ruby
- The knowledge I gained acted as a springboard to leap off of
- I made some lasting connections with my cohort-mates
- Lunch and dinner are included in the program, and delivered every day
- Weekly afternoons in the park were organized to give ourselves breaks, get some fresh air, and get some exercise
THE CONS
- 90% of the material is done through an online self-guided tool, which contains videos, quizzes, and assignments. There were daily morning lectures, but they were unorganized and were still being slapped together up until the instructor began the lecture. Most of the learning was through powering through these assignments. They enforced loose deadlines and reviewed assignments regularly, but that was it. The program essentially amounts to you staring at a computer screen for 8-12 hours a day, going through the online assignments, and asking for help from a TA when you have a question. Rinse and repeat for the entire program.
- The content might not be enough to land you a job. I know at least one of my cohort-mates ended up going to another code accelerator after Coding Dojo.
- Your experience varies drastically depending on who you're sitting immediately next to. They sat us in groups of 4. I was fortunate enough to be sitting with a group of fairly smart individuals with some coding background, so we made a great study group. The other groups, mostly made up of complete beginners, struggled big time, and most of them dropped out.
- Over half of the group dropped out by the end of the camp, because they couldn't keep up with the self-guided material. Only about 25% of campers had a project to show during demo day.
- We were only taught PHP and Ruby, with very minimal javascript. In fact, the instructors hardly even know any javascript themselves. Granted, this was in a time where Javascript and the MEAN stack was only just becoming the next big thing, but you'd think that for a code accelerator they'd prep you for what employers will be looking for. At the end of the bootcamp, our instructor told us all that we should learn Javascript and the MEAN stack to land a job. Well, what the hell did we pay you guys for then?
- Instructors and TAs are all Coding Dojo alumni. Everyone that works there is someone who finished the Coding Dojo bootcamp recently. They create videos to update the online learning tool, lead lectures, and share what they just learned a few months ago. Which means, none of them have any industry experience, wisdom, or connections. None of them can be labeled as lead developers or anything. Maybe except the man who runs the entire show (Michael Choi), but seeing as how he spends his time running Coding Dojo, I doubt he has any industry developemnt experience either. How can you expect to learn anything useful from people who've never actually worked in the industry?
- There was no help in the job search. None. Zero. Zilch. All my job hunting was done on my own accord with my own effort. The dojo offered no connections and no recruitment, beyond some basic pieces of advice from the instructors. During our demo day, no recruiters showed up.
- One of our instructors was laid off in the middle of our camp, who was replaced with another instructor. This put a huge dent in our learning flow, to the point where many people simply couldn't get back into the rhythm.
- All of our instructors were laid off at the end of our camp. Our TAs, our instructors. Why, I have no idea. One person who replaced them was a coding dojo alumni, who was an instructor-in-training during our camp. Goes to show how things are run.
All in all, I really hope that things have improved by now, but from what I hear, many of these problems are still in place.
My best piece of advice I can give is: if you're the type of person who is self-motivated, can take on a challenge, and can do above and beyond what is asked of you, you might be able to excel in this program. The nature of this program is that it's mostly self-guided, so you get out whatever you put in. If you want a mountain of homework dumped on your head and to put money on the line to motivate you go to through it all, go for it. If you want a polished and well-organized learning experience, look elsewhere. I personally would have preferred a guided learning experience, rather than just doing homework 8-12 hours a day. What was I paying them for, anyway?
I was able to push through the bad parts (read: pretty much everything), learn all I could, and land a job. I can't say the same for an overwhelming majority of my cohort.
With how poor our experience was, it felt like I was robbed $9000 and 9 weeks of my time. Everyone felt this way. Everyone was pissed. By the end of it, everyone wanted a refund. Most of us dropped out. Most of us didn't have much to show for the past 9 weeks. Some of us even went to another coding bootcamp after. None of us got any help with the job search.
I do not recommend Coding Dojo.
Katie of Coding Dojo
Community Relations
Apr 06, 2016
Sarah of Coding Dojo
Alumni Relations
Sep 06, 2023
Description | Percentage |
Full Time, In-Field Employee | N/A |
Full-time apprenticeship, internship or contract position | N/A |
Short-term contract, part-time position, freelance | N/A |
Employed out-of-field | N/A |
How much does Coding Dojo cost?
Coding Dojo costs around $16,995. On the lower end, some Coding Dojo courses like Software Development Online Part-Time Accelerated cost $9,995.
What courses does Coding Dojo teach?
Coding Dojo offers courses like Cybersecurity Online Part-Time Bootcamp, Data Science & Machine Learning Online Part-Time Bootcamp, Data Science & Visualization Part-Time Online Bootcamp, Software Development Online Full-Time and 2 more.
Where does Coding Dojo have campuses?
Coding Dojo teaches students Online in a remote classroom.
Is Coding Dojo worth it?
The data says yes! In 2019, Coding Dojo reported a 80% graduation rate, a median salary of $72,048, and N/A of Coding Dojo alumni are employed.
Is Coding Dojo legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 628 Coding Dojo alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Coding Dojo and rate their overall experience a 4.39 out of 5.
Does Coding Dojo offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Right now, it doesn't look like Coding Dojo offers scholarships or accepts the GI Bill. We're always adding to the list of schools that do offer Exclusive Course Report Scholarships and a list of the bootcamps that accept the GI Bill.
Can I read Coding Dojo reviews?
You can read 628 reviews of Coding Dojo on Course Report! Coding Dojo alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Coding Dojo and rate their overall experience a 4.39 out of 5.
Is Coding Dojo accredited?
No
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