Concordia University Coding Bootcamp

I have a college diploma in computer science, but never pursued it as a career. I took this program as a refresher and because there were services provided to help you find a position upon completion.

The 3-month program was tough, but because of my background, it was not as challenging as it might be to someone without any coding experience. If you're in a position similar to mine, I would highly recommend this program to get yourself up to speed. For everyone else, this program is quite difficult and fast-paced, so you might find yourself overwhelmed by the amount of learning and workshops/projects. My advice is to give yourself ample time to learn on your own to find out if coding is right for you before considering a bootcamp. 

With that said, the instructors were friendly, helpful and approachable, and I enjoyed working with the other members of my cohort, some of whom I've now befriended. My career coach was awesome - she followed up with me weekly, provided great suggestions on how to approach my job search and interviews, and also gave good advice that can be applied to life in general. The networking events were a great way to get some face-time (via zoom) with employers which was how I was able to land my first job in tech. 

Overall, I'm very pleased for having entered and completed the program. Read less

As a complete beginner of coding, I can't imagine I got a job after 6 weeks since I finished my CV.  Why faster than I thought?
1. The courses we learnt during these 3 months are tremendous comprehensive and trendy. 
2. Amazing classmates are helping each other during study and the instructors are so helpful, many of them work overtime to help the students.
3.the career service during job searching is beyond my expectation. They hold events to provide a platform for us to practice the interview skills and build connections. The one-on-one coach prettify my resume and Linkedin profile so that I kept contacted by recruiters. (even after I accept an offer). The most stunning thing they did to me is to give me spiritual support so that I didn't give up. Those people are the most professional, thoughtful, powerful and sensitive people I have ever seen. So if you are shy doubtful to yourself and unconfident, those people can boost you up for sure!  Read less

Taking the Web Dev Bootcamp really helped me with my career. I was impressed to see how much I learned within only 3 months! Bootcamp material is well-designed for students who are new to this field and for those who already have some experience with coding. The instructors were well-prepared to assist students and you will get the help that you need effectively. Also, the career service helped me land on my dream job as a full-stack developer.

If you are thinking about pursuing a career in Web Dev even with no prior coding experience, this Bootcamp is for you! Read less

Best school experience of my life. Each day you learn more and more that builds on what you learned previously. You learn from doing, building, and creating rather than through studying. My instructor was super nice and always approachable, as were the technical coaches. There are always people you can turn to if you're struggling a bit, but honestly I didn't often find the pace too too hard to keep up with.
Once graduated, there was quite a bit of help provided as well. We were taught all about what to do and not to do during our job search, and there were weekly meetings with a career coach to help you stay on track. There were also coaches available to guide you through any technical test/interview you might get while on the hunt.
All in all, a great experience which opens so many doors for you and gets you started down an amazing path! I'd recommend it to anyone! Read less

I applied to the Coding Bootcamp because I needed a career change but didn't want to do another multi-year university program. My overall experience was very positive - it was a lot of work and there were many moments of frustration but this is all part of the experience of learning a new skill. Every step of the way there are people there to cheer you on and remind you that YOU CAN DO IT! If you can keep coming back to this mindset you are sure to succeed. The most gratifying part of the program was working on the group project with everyone's ideas coming together. My cohort was entirely remote which had its challenges but overall worked out really well - we formed virtual study groups early on which made learning from home a lot less isolating. 

My career coach had a very positive approach and helped me see the value in my skills from my past experience - this was a huge advantage when it came time to meet potential employers. The virtual job fair was a great experience to get a feel for different types of recruiters and practice networking skills - it really paid off for me because I was offered a job from one of the employers that attended! 

Some advice to anyone beginning this program: Stay connected with your classmates and study together often (virtually), ask questions during the lectures and don't hesitate to contact the technical coaches for help during the workshops, and stay positive! 

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TLDR: I would recommend this bootcamp to anyone who in interested and isn't too sure about making the jump into development. With these teacher, anyone who puts in the work will be a developer!!

I had a great time with Concordia's full stack development program. The school proved to be very flexible, since COVID happened right as we were starting the class, and within weeks they implemented an online structure for us to follow the course remotely instead of in-person as planned.
The stack they teach is extremely relevant, and an excellent base for any developer to get started and have a solid base. We went through HTML and CSS, and then basic, Javascript, NodeJS, React and MongoDB. 
The instructors were top notch, extremely patient, and very knowledgable, and also very easy to contact and get help from (very important!!)
The best part for me was the excellent post-graduation support for job seekers. They helped me with my cv and portfolio, but more importantly, they have interview coaches (both for HR interviews and tech interviews). How to present yourself, how to do away with the stress of interviewing, and how to best present yourself to interviewers. Read less

Overall, it was a really interesting class.  I had some prior experience working for Digital River, Inc. as a web designer and developer and then I went back to practice medicine again so that I could possibly make enough money to pay off some of my remaining student loans.  I have all kinds of mental health problems, and my mother was dying from cancer during the class so I quit the class and was given an opportunity to finish it after the class had ended.

The instructor, Alec W'ojciechowski "Where are your house keys", was really good, and many of the students were really attentive and worked hard throughout the class.

I even used some of the skills that I learned to work on another project for telemedicine and teleradiology later on, but that business opportunity did not work out, so now I have been traveling around Europe from March 2017 until now trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life.  I get about $1600.00 per month from the government for a disability, so I might not have to do much of anything except supplement my income a little bit with some other work.

Jamin Tcimpidis and I often sat next to each other, and I believe that he is at C.H. Robinson now.  Helge Johnson looks like he might still be looking for a programming job but he might have a job as a professional driver.  Andrew Verville is working for some company.  I would have to get on an alumni list of some type to catch up with what everyone is doing.

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Overall a great experience with great instructors. In the span of three months it really forces you to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself. Personally I have learned a lot and had a great experience. The technical help and job support were amazing and I would highly highly recommend this course to anyone. Read less

I signed up to this bootcamp after quitting my old job. Best decision I ever made! It's a very fast and concentrated course! Very hard and challenging, but definitely worth it! The professors and coaches are always there to answer questions and help you through the problem by helping you understand (rather than just giving you the solution). 

During our session we got hit with COVID-19 and had to switch to remote classes but the transition was so smooth and seamless, we had almost no issues after about a week. The job searching coaches are fantastic and the director of the coaches is super on top of things! They even helped me land a job in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and summer vacation. 

If you ever feel like breaking into the world of web development, this is definitely the course to take! Read less

Here's what I got from Concordia University in Saint Paul, and The Learning House:

●  An instructor ill suited to teach beginners. The instructor responded to questions with condescension, sarcasm, and deflection. This created a hostile learning environment in which students became afraid and ashamed to ask questions.

●  An instructor who was unprepared for class. Most of the time he was seeing lectures for the first time while he was presenting them. He often disagreed with information in the presentations which made it extremely difficult for students to sort out what information was important and accurate.

●  An incomplete curriculum. The curriculum purchased from the Software Craftsmanship Guild was missing important context for the instructor. Because of the aforementioned lack of preparation by the instructor, he often had to spend time during lectures trying to figure out what the slides were actually saying or asking. Potentially less important, but still concerning, the curriculum also contained many grammatical errors which should not be acceptable at an accredited institution of higher education.

●  A lack of direction on what to work on independently outside of class. After the first four weeks of class, students were unsure of what to be working on at home. When we asked the instructor for further direction beyond "the labs", he was unable to provide any. When Eric Wise visited from the Guild and told us his students work until 9pm most days, we asked our instructor what they were working on and he told us that he "had no idea".

●  A lack of opportunities to practice what we learned during lectures in class. Many lectures included an opportunity for a "follow along" exercise. Our instructor oftentimes did not have the patience to walk us all through the exercises together, so he just said he would demonstrate it and we could watch him do it. This was not an effective way to learn the material.

●  A lack of action by Learning House to address deficiencies early on in the program. We estimate that Dave Clinefelter, CAO of The Learning House, was in class an average of two to three days per week during the 12 week program. He should have been observing the difficulties students were facing, and taking action to correct inappropriate instructor behavior. Instead he was often distracting students by taking calls in the classroom and discussing business opportunities to open bootcamps at other universities.

●  A lack of opportunity to build a "strong portfolio". Realistically, the only project we were prepared and equipped to complete was a project in week four, which was a Console application, not a website. The instructor removed the requirement to complete the only other project we were assigned. Those items do not constitute a strong portfolio in the traditional sense of the word. On the second to last day of class, the instructor sent us an email explaining the Guild's definition of a strong portfolio ("code snippets"). If this was the non­traditional definition they wanted us to accept, it should have been presented to us prior to signing up for the program, not at the end.

We all quit our jobs and made a big investment to attend this program and by the time we realized how bad things were, it was really not an option to quit. We realized we would have to finish the program, as is, in order to hopefully scrape by at an entry ­level role with what we were able to learn.

We were told mutiple times that as entry level developers we would be "expected to know nothing". I got an entry level job, and let me tell you, that was NOT the case. I had to spend significant time outside of work playing catch up, and doing online tutorials via CodeSchool, and other online learning sites. Of course, I'm really glad I got a job, but I didn't expect to pay $10k to an accredited university for a half-baked bootcamp.

Learning House staff had zero respect for participants, and Concordia staff didn't care when concerns were brought to them. I was offered an opportunity to retake the course, which is ridiculous considering I would have to quit my job and be out of work for another 12 weeks.

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