Craft Academy

I would call it a great investment of your precious time to learn a high paid and in demand skill sets.
The boot camp is not just about barely learning coding languages, but its rather to teach how the software development industries work in real life. From design of the product to production line.
For someone entirely new to coding languages it might come across quite difficult to understand and manage everything.
But again if there is will there is way

I was looking for a valuable bootcamp to get back into the Software Development industry (after 4 years out of it). After looking around I came across Craft Academy, and I did the right choice.
I believe in big "classrooms" it's hard to focus on each student, with Craft Academy you'll get direct help from the coaches and you won't feel abandoned.
The time span is short, but a lot is learnt and you're pushed further your limits, to the point you won't believe how much you were able to learn. Of course the main drive will be your passion for coding and your hard work. Without it, you will not be able to take the most out of any bootcamp.
You will struggle, you will may feel lost at times, but struggle will make you grow. If you'll find yourself in a dead end, the coaches will guide you towards the right way.
Here you are taught the agile methodologies, pair programming, Test Driven Development... A lot of things I never heard before. You're thrown into an agile environment, you'll collaborate with your team mates in order to develop great applications. You'll inspire each other and your confidence as a developer will grow.
The bootcamp is provided with a Preparatory course, which will be crucial for you to learn the basics before getting started.
My advice is to not underestimate the Preparatory course and start working hard from the start. 12 weeks will fly, and if you solidify the basics you'll have a better experience through the bootcamp.
Changing your career is possible. It's up to us doing the hard work and make it happen. With the right guide, like this bootcamp, we can achieve our dreams. My dream is to evolve my career in software development and make a living out of it.

There are many web developer bootcamps to choose from, but this one is special. Like so many things in life, what you get out of it is based on what you put in, but at CA the curriculum, the instructors, and the collaboration (hello pair programming!) with the other students is an incredibly potent mix that gives you so much, way more than what you put in. Now don't get me wrong. I've never worked this hard in my life, but I've not also never experienced such rewards. 

A few things on the job hunt that follows: Being able to do Test Driven Development, which I understand is no guarantee with many coding schools, with the same ease as writing a for loop is an amazing confidence boost. Having done three months of project based work using agile methodologies is further evidence that you can hit the ground running, no matter where you land. I would also add that agile methodologies give you more than just a feather in your job hunting cap. It's actually useful in tackling so many complex problems outside of software development. As a final personal note, I want to also say that it's incredibly nice to look at all these job listings and see my CA skillset be so sought after: exactly what I was looking for to achieve a career adjustment.

TLDR: 
Pros: Amazing experience whose difficulty is only eclipsed by its rewards. 
Cons: You won't do anything else for all 12 weeks (but let's face it, that's sort of the point).

Where to begin?

A little backstory, I worked in the corporate world of buying and purchasing, long days working as a middle man between different departments, dealing with issues etc etc etc.... either way I hit the proverbial wall and was on sick leave for better part of half a year.

I did a lot of searching during the latter part of this time, I wasn't enjoying my job, I was anxious about going back and didn't want to end up in the same place again. Light bulb moment, I like computers, I should work with them, did some online courses, seems like fun, lets see what's actually out there. Low and behold Craft Academy turns up in my google search. Within a month of applying I am starting the prep course, the part time bit of the pie you get to eat before devouring the whole thing.

Issue with that pie is it comes with a baseball bat to defend itself, and it fights hard. First two weeks you're in Ruby some basic challenges but you and your paring partner are there a few days in left to work your way through 2 challenges that week. Looking back now, a simple task, then not so much.

This is a pattern that continues through the boot camp, it pushes you to your limits to the point that you fail, those failures are some of the most important lessons during the boot camp. Things don't always work out a typo here and there some back ticks should be use instead of quotation marks. Lessons that make you pay attention to details and learn for next time. I wouldn't say I enjoyed failing, because failing sucks, but what those failures created was a detail orientated developer than can quickly go back and see what's gone wrong.

On to the substance of the course:

What you learn

Vanilla and React JS, HTML, CSS just to name some on the front-end, the back-end you're in Ruby using Rails, everything is catered to speed and learning, you've got 12 weeks got no time to learn complicated syntax. Ruby on Rails may not be super popular anymore of be the in language. But it's easy to get to grips with, fast to get up and running and except for making sure all the 'ends' are in the correct place not much more than the odd comma here and there. It's simple to read and works very well with database languages like Postgresql.

You get to learn about version control, super valuable, more complicated than it seems and a must listen. This will save you more times than Thomas curses at an issue he is having :) Super important and a very easy thing to mess up in the beginning. Now I don't think I could ever work without version control. A fantastic tool that all devs and future devs should use.

Agile a way of working that speaks to me, work as small teams, deliver often, work with your client (here's to you Billy Ray). I was at first skeptical to the pair programming had a hard time understanding how it would work, but also a hard time not wanting to let go of a problem that could turn up. Now pair programming again is something I don't think I could live without. It's fun, efficient and productive.

The Team

Thomas and Emma who were my coaches during my time were fantastic, knowledgeable, helpful, patient and fun. They made the experience for the most part great. You'll have your frustrations when the same pull request has been sent back 5 times to fix something, but they do it to help you learn and grow as developers.

My teammates we also great, we were all guys, so we all had that moment of working out who was who in that first meeting. But through the camp we built a bond like I've had very few times in my life.

Wrapping up

If you get this far in my review then you are probably interested in the course. It's expensive, there is no getting around that, the knowledge you get  is worth it though. Does it take all your time, yes it does, pretty sure my son forgot who I was there for a little while. Friends, family, outside you won't see them for a while. It's all worth it, at the other end you'll come out a better person and be a Junior Fullstack developer. 

To quote Shia LaBeouf 'Just do it' you won't regret it. 

  

Like many I choose this bootcamp to change career and get into web development. I had basic experience in programming, I new what is variable, array, loop etc. and could manipulate them on basic level. However software development is much more than just hacking away, I new that it should incorporate some workflow and you should follow some standards to be successful, that's why I decided to spend very considerable sum of money for me, to enter this bootcamp and never regretted it.
 
Learning Curve:
It is not a school or University.. not at all! And I like it much better! Curriculum is laser-focused on what you NEED to know to build web applications, literally 0% BS. Every minor detail that in the beginning seemed not important came into play later in bootcamp. Learning curve is not linear - it is exponential. In the beginning they hold your hand through challenges they throw at you. As you progress they slowly take that away. In the end you forget that there was any documentation, you rely solely on yourself and your peers.  If you give everything you have, you will be surprised how much you've learned and how natural the knowledge is after the bootcamp. I would say in regular tempo and regular approach it would take much longer to acquire similar skill set. The price for that, is that it takes ALL YOUR TIME. Forget about family and friends for 3 month, you will be coding all day long, with no weekends.
 
Curriculum:
As I said, there is no BS. Focus is on what is necessary for web development, but it is more than just learning different languages. For example in the beginning you will learn Git for version control! HTML, CSS, vanilla JavaScript and Ruby come later. It may seem strange, but it is what I value most about this bootcamp - you learn how to be a professional: naming standards, clean code, write your tests first, have good Git game and more. And you start practicing it from day 1. In the beginning it feels like too much. In school you are given theory first and than you practice it, here you start practicing right away, following the same flow you will be using on your last project. It is hard, but rewarding. Now I have no idea how you can code without Git or Test Driven Development (you write tests before implementation), it is in my blood and it makes me a better developer. 
You will learn modern libraries and frameworks like React, React Native and Ruby on Rails to rapidly build professional applications. They will also show that if you will need something more hyped like Python and NodeJS it is not that different and can be learned very quickly. Let me stress again, languages are not everything (in case you don't see the one you want to learn), the professional flow is what you are paying for.
 
Teamwork:
I'll be honest. I am shy and introverted person, the ability to work in a team and confidence boost that this bootcamp has given me is of immense value. You will work in horizontal team where every one is responsible for planing the application, delivering features on front and back end, doing devops (deploying application etc.) and presenting finished result to a client. You will not code alone, always in pairs. It may seem scary but it is fun and it increases productivity immensely. Other reviewers mentioned personal growth as one of major factors of this bootcamp, and it is so for me also.

Final Thoughts:
It was hard and it was expensive. But it is worth it. If you are serious about getting into coding and you don't want to spend several years in University, I cannot imagine a better place that Craft Academy to do it. As a final thing, in our last project we were doing application for real client, real startup in Gothenburg, and they loved it! Check Craft Academy Youtube for that. Good Luck! 

To me, Craft Academy was a perfect match. The super high intensity, the clear pragmatic focus, the fine red thread throughout the course, the great coaches, and an awesome team made this boot camp one of the best decisions I've ever made. 

I could come with many anecdotes or renditions of my time at Craft, but I think one of the most important realizations that I can pass down is that this boot camp provides the foundation, the boundaries, and the motivation - but you are the one who has to put in the work.
If you are curious, open to the process, and in it to win it, you'll have an awesome experience.

Cheers  🍺 

I recently completed the boot camp and this is a crazy feeling. It was hard but fun journey and it has been a lot of ups and downs during the boot camp. But with the support of our coaches we made it. 

The program is very intensive and you don't get what's going on from the start, but after first weeks you get used to the working tempo and realize that all is going on the right way. You start to understand whats happening, you start to create things that you never thought you could do before and that was awesome! 

We learned front end and back end using test driven development. This helps you to build your application with the skills you have and have a clean code without errors when using TDD. Not all the developers nowadays know how to test so this makes you be more visible while searching for jobs.

One other benefit of this program was pair programming, this was good experience for my future to work in teams and cooperate with your teammates using Agile way of coding.

I would say everyone can change their career and become a developer if you choose this boot camp. It is a hard education but it gives you a lot. 

Why I chose Craft Academy:
I found Craft Academy after I began learning Python through books. I realised the most efficient way of learning was repetition, practice and having some sort of a mentor. I wasn't wanting to spend 4 or so years to get a degree in a field where it's possible to show knowledge without paper. I was looking for an environment where I could work in a team and work in real life situations and projects. Craft Academy offered all the things I was looking for.

Curriculum:
The curriculum and process of learning can be very efficient, getting introduced and taught about a certain topic/language, then using what you've learnt within a project. There is a lot that goes into the 12 weeks and various processes that you are taught to follow early on on the camp. You really need to have full dedication to this Bootcamp with as little distractions as possible, it's close to 3 months of hell but you can learn a lot. Something to also mention is that a majority of the time you're split up in teams such as Team A and Team B with 4/5 members each and Team A splits further into pairs of 2/3 so it's up to you to learn whatever you miss out from the other pair. Same goes for learning from from Team A to Team B, both teams do thing's differently so it's possible to learn even more if you have the time.

Who should do this?
Regarding knowledge, anyone should do this, if you have a passion or interest for development this type of course is for you. I cannot stress this enough, you neeed to be fully free for this course, it is incredibly time consuming and mentally draining at times.
I would also say being comfortable with English is a big plus, theres a lot of theory, reading and talking done and it would be tiring to have to always thing twice as much.

Would I do it again?
I'd purely do it again just to learn all the things I missed out on. I'm happy with what I've learnt in such a short period but I feel there was too much that I missed or just didn't have the time to get to.

Overall thoughts:
Great curriculum and content, pretty decent support from coaches, can be very stressful depending how you handle it but if I look at my first project compared to my last and current projects I'd say it's worth it for the overall experience and knowledge.

Before l attended to the boot camp. What l had in my mind was, is 100k really worth a 4 months education. Will l learn much and be able to get a job offer once l am done? I am sure whoever reads this thinking about joining thinks the same. Let me tell you that this is really worth it. 

I recently finished the boot camp and honestly l feel so proud and happy over myself for doing this. It was such a hard journey and it has been a lot of ups and downs during the boot camp. But with the teachers support and how dedicated they are for you to succeed, we all made it. 

You learn more than you know. It goes in such an intensive pace that you never have the time to take in and think about how much you have learned. I realized that when l was done with the education. From not knowing anything about coding to knowing how to build my own application using front end and back end.
That they use a test driven approach is also such a bonus that they taught. Not every company uses that and it will sure be something extra you will have to offer in the future. 

I would really recommend anyone out there that are interested in starting a new career as a developer. It is a hard education but it gives you a lot. I graduated 3 weeks ago and l have already got calls from companies that got interested of how much we learned at Craft Academy. 

I learnt a lot during these past weeks and I really can chime in with the choir when they say that it is a fast pace and you have to really "Live" coding during these weeks. But it is rewarding in the end, and for me landed me my first coding job at my current workplace where I before worked as a QA.

Since I knew some programming (Mainly HTML, CSS and some Javascript) before applying I think I had an easier time during this bootcamp than some, and to some degree I recommend having that. It will allow you to quicker start sprinting along this bootcamp curriculum than someone that has no idea what coding is. But if you are eager to learn I saw plenty of people doing just as well as I did.

One of the best moments for me was doing the larger assignments where I got lucky and ended up with a great gang of guys with the same sense of humour. Since there basically is no free time during this bootcamp, it's imperative that you end up with like minds that work well together. We ended up doing the final project together, and that really helped keep the motivation up during the last 2 weeks of the bootcamp where we basically coded from 8 to 22 to get it done.

I do want to stress that, THERE IS NO FREE TIME during these 3 months. And don't underestimate that. As a husband and a father I felt it was hard to neglect my loved ones at home during this time, and that weighed on me. So if you have kids, take that in mind.

The positives:

• Learning Javascript and React. This is why I was here, and I loved how much you get to work with it. 
• Even if you focus more on learning the frontend parts, like me, you still get the understanding and you know what the backend does.
• We got to make mobile apps! I worked with the Ionic framework and that was easy to develop with.
• We learnt to work in small agile teams (sort of) doing all the scrum activities like stand-ups, requirement analysis, retrospectives etc.
• We were pushed to prove to ourselves that we know what we're doing by DELIVERING projects.
• Lots of nice contacts from your fellow students. You should use those to help each other to get a job. Very valuable!
• I learnt a lot, and in the end it landed me a job! And isn't that what we're all aiming at?

So, to the negatives:

• The curriculum changed after we applied, were we where promised to learn React Native. This was one of the reasong to why I went for this bootcamp instead of perhaps Technigo. Instead we got to work with Ionic which is fine and all but it's not as well established (easy to get a job) as React Native. In the end we got to test it out during the bootcamp, but not enough and it felt like an after thought since we had been complaining. 
• Learning Ruby for the backend instead of something more in demand like Node.js, that would have helped us get a job easier. Yes, it was easy to get into, and that's most likely why we got to learn JS and React as much as we did. But there's not much demand for Ruby(o.R). It's a shame.
• Some students got waaaaay more help than others. And by that I mean, 24/7 assistance from some coaches, even on weekends. It was frustrating seeing that favouritism when you were struggling on your own project and no coach is to be found.

So to conclude:
You eat shit sleep code. 
You won't have time to see your friends or family. 
You will feel like a thanks giving turkey being stuffed with knowledge. 
You get to take responsibility for your own learning.
You will meet new friends in the same position as you. 
...and in the end you'll get a t-shirt that says Junior Fullstack Web Developer.

After wondering, where can i go to learn coding while picking up some soft skills and good coding practices, I came across Craft Academy. Their curriculum didn't only focus on teaching me to code, it was design perfectly to make me job ready by the time i was finished with the course. I was taught the best practices to use when coding. I was taught to use agile methodologies and test driven approach when developing softwares. I was given great job assistance. They modelled their curriculum to feel like a real world simulation. There was constant tech interviews and new projects to develop. I got the opportunity to work in groups doing pair programming which is also a valuable skill to have.
The coaches gave good guidance and was there every step of the way ensuring we are picking up the necessary skills. The demos were interactive and so i was allowed to ask questions as soon as i was getting confused. Needless to say, the experience was great one, they made a very rough journey feel smooth.

I was working in marketing as CRM Specialist for quite some time. In the beginning, I was quite challenged and had a great team. I was kind of an all-rounder regarding creative and technical tasks as well as analytics and business strategies. But after 4 years I realized it's not challenging anymore and the career steps I could take in that field are limited. 
I've decided to push my technical and creative skills to the next level and do the coding bootcamp Craft Academy. I knew some web development and JavaScript beforehand, this was quite helpful for me but don't be afraid if you have no prior knowledge, the whole course is designed for people with no experience with coding whatsoever.

The course is divided into two parts 4 weeks of preparatory and 12 weeks of the main course. I suggest you practice Ruby and JavaScript during the first 4 weeks as much as possible because 12 weeks will be very intense, you will barely find time go over basics again. You gotta be a quick learner during the course, develop your way of learning things efficiently.

It's important to know that this is not just a coding course. There are many currently used industry concepts that are being taught such as Behaviour Driven Development, Test Driven Development, and Agile Scrum Web Development. Learning these concepts(and many others) and learning how a web developer approach design challenges or problems will make you ready for taking part in a real web development team. At the end of the bootcamp you will have enough knowledge to start your career in the tech industry. But you should not stop coding ever, web development is always changing you need to keep your skills sharp even after you finish the bootcamp.

There are few individual projects but most importantly many group/pair projects. Nowadays, lone web developers don't exist anymore in tech companies, it is now a norm to work in web development project groups. Craft Academy teaches you how to work in groups as web developers and deliver minimum viable products in a given time.

The coaches strive you to succeed, they can become hard critics on your code but remember that your code is not you, you shouldn't take criticism personally. And ask a lot of questions to them, they will help you anyway they can. Be sure to listen to their soft skill and hard skill suggestions, you will receive lots of valuable insights.

You must know that you need to give your full attention to this bootcamp for 12 weeks. You must spend your evenings and weekends coding if you want to be a truly successful developer at the end of the bootcamp.

I'm very amazed by how much I've learned in 12 weeks. Most importantly I learned many marketable skills to kickstart my job search in the tech industry.

Don't hesitate to contact them if you have other questions about the bootcamp

Overall, I can honestly say that the Craft Full Stack Developer experience was a great one. 

I knew nothing about coding before joining this course and it was not an issue. The course begins with the basics, and at a pace that is completely maintainable. Starting with a prep month that is extremely necessary to help start building solid foundations. The instructors are always available to help throughout the day and can be reached at certain office hours later in the evening. I never had a problem getting help when stuck, even at 8pm. 

The pace does pick up relatively quickly and it is extremely important to stay on top of the subject material if you do decide to invest in this course as all later weeks build on what you have previously learned. The working environments are individual and in teams.

As for the material, I am quite happy with what they have chosen to fit in in only 12 weeks. The libraries, frameworks and methodologies taught are all relevant currently and I have seen demand for all in the active job market. 

I have solid confidence now when creating my own apps, frontend or backend, with Rails and React and would like to thank all my coaches at Craft for getting me started on this path to an excellent new skill, in an ever increasing online world. 

My experience at Craft Academy is not one I will soon, if ever, forget. There was much blood, sweat and tears that went into the program. That said, I had an amazing experience and feel that I came out prepared to go out into the workforce as a Junior Developer. You definitely get back as much as you put into it. 

From the beginning, the coaches push you to be self reliant. At first I was frustrated with this approach, but now at the end of the bootcamp I am grateful that they so strongly enforced us being able to troubleshoot ourselves through our issues and questions. As a coder it is imperative to be able to dig yourself out of what ever hole you dig yourself into. You never want to fear experimenting or going down an unfamiliar path, that is where the creativity and fun come in, so having the ability to research, troubleshoot and backtrack is a must. And I am grateful they instilled these into us. 

I believe that most everyone can learn to code, but I do not believe this program, or rather bootcamps in general, are for everyone. You must be ready and willing to dive into the unknown, step out of your comfort zone everyday, move at breakneck speeds, and be able to put your life on hold for 3 months. Given the nature of a bootcamp, you have to be able to take to heart, quickly implement and make a habit out of EVERYTHING that they tell you. 

One of the parts that I appreciate most about Craft Academy, is that they take a real life and practical approach to what they teach you. You will not come out a Javascript or Ruby expert, but you will understand how to employ the Agile mindset to project planning and execution, how to work effectively in groups, how to pair program, how to discuss your code in a concise and precise way, how to write up good Pull Requests, how to use Github, etc. Basically, I now have a very clear understanding of what a software developer does on a daily basis, and how to see projects through from beginning to end. With the wonderful foundations Craft Academy set, I can continue to self learn and grow my coding skills within a job.  

If you decide that Craft Academy is right for you, you will go through a roller coaster of an experience facing every human emotion. But if you fully apply yourself, listen to everything they tell you to do, code, code, and code some more; then you will come out at the end surprised at how much you learned about yourself, about coding, and about this industry in such a short period of time. 

Would I do a bootcamp again?
Ask me again in a few months once I've caught up on sleep! But generally speaking, yes. And I would definitely recommend Craft Academy to others who are serious about making a career shift in a short period of time. The coaches care about and invest in all their students, the curriculum is ever in flux to improve and adapt to changing technologies, and the approach is well balanced between coding, soft skills and project management. 

The one negative I would say, is that there was sometimes a shortage of coach availability because of the larger cohort size of 15 people. 

This boot-camp teaches you a lot about code but even more about yourself. It's important to make time, give it your all and keep up with the pace. If you do not you will not get the best out of this boot camp. You will not get extra help if you can't keep up. Remember that these coaches are not teachers they are coders, great people who love code and love to teach but in THEIR ways and methods - forget what you know from school. Most importantly - have realistic expectations, compare only to yourself and code more than you read.

This is by far the most well spent money and time I ever invested in myself.

I expected in the beginning of this journey that I would somewhat know how to code when I was done with the bootcamp.
What I didn't expect was that I would sit here and write this review and fully honestly say that I know how to build a responsive frontend that consumes an API, I can also build that API in a restful way and as the cherry on top I have good flow with version control and I know how to in an agile way start, build and finish a software project. I forgot to mention that I also have some knowledge about how to create a mobile app.
I expected it to be hard core, and it was. But I didn't know that it was possible to learn this much in three extremely short months.

Is the bootcamp for everyone?
I would say no. I think everyone can somewhat learn how to code, but this bootcamp is about so much more. You learn how to work agile, how to take a software project from start to finish and how to collaborate in a team to make progress.
But to get the most out of it you need to leave your ego and comfort zone at home and come to 'work' everyday as an open book. You need to put yourself a side to work with people that maybe is clashing with your personality, you need to put your own ego and previous experiences aside to accept and absorb that you are a beginner who is learning something and you have to give it all.
If you are not willing to do all that, I hardly believe you would get the amazing experience I had.
 
Would I do it all over again?
I definitely would. (But I am not sure my boyfriend would stick around if I did another three months like this, lol)
This was such a life changing and amazing bas ass journey that has changed my life.
I have learned so much about myself and what I am capable of if I just put my head into it and dare to push my comfort zone further and beyond on a daily basis.

Craft Academy is all about pushing your own boundaries and learn from your failures. 
I have failed, I have been frustrated, I have cried and I have been doubting if this work field is something for me, more than once. 
But I have also succeeded, celebrated, solved difficult problems, pushed myself beyond my comfort zone and came out convinced that this is the best business a human can ever get the pleasure to work with.
If you never fail, you will not know what success is and if you never fail you won't know how to solve the problem when you end up there. And Craft Academy teaches you just that, how to fail and how to dig yourself out when the tunnel collapsed. And the better you get at digging yourself out, the better you get at digging from the beginning so the tunnel won't fall in over your head. 
Everyone can learn a programming language but that is not enough to be a software developer. 
Craft Academy gives you the right tools to become a software developer, and along the way you will learn some javascript and ruby. 

But this bootcamp gives back what you put into it. I put everything in and I got twice my input back in knowledge. 
 

When deciding on joining the bootcamp or not, I believe the most important thing to keep in mind is to really listen to the fact that you need to drop everything around you. The rest you can't really prepare for, just do it.

A big chunk of the coding part of the course is done independently, or together with your programming partner, the hand-holding phase blows over pretty quickly. If you've grasped some of the basics before starting the ITP course even that's a big plus.

The best thing about Craft Academy is that the further you delve into the bootcamp, the more it's starting to become a simulation of a workplace. By the end you know the drill of how to plan, work on, and make dynamic changes to the project as efficiently as possible. This is your selling point when graduating.

This bootcamp is not for the weak, you'll be taught to be independent quickly through finding your own information och solving your problems which is something you do alot when codeing. It's a high intensity education where you get to know 2 programming languages in the course of 12 (16 if your count the part-time introduciton to programming course) weeks. The coaches support you but also make sure you stand on your own feet very quickly so prepare to not have that much hand-holding. 

For me it was a great way to change careers quickly. The focus on using automated testing and SCRUM/XP was a huge selling point for me. 

What is this?

The process spans 16 weeks, starts with 4 easy going weeks and moves into 12 not-so-easy going weeks. Looking back, I would probably recommend that people try to learn as much as possible during the first 4 weeks as possible. Try to learn as much Ruby and JavaScript (look into ES6 syntax) as you can before the actual bootcamp begins. It will allow you to focus more on the concepts and the big picture instead of the details when they turn the heat up.

The coaches are good people and they all want you to succeed. It's important to keep that in mind, especially when your "code" gets an ass-chewing.

I think it's important to keep in mind that this isn't just a coding bootcamp and you can learn to write code pretty much anywhere. I would say that this is a place that prepares you for a certain work environment and hopefully enables you to land on your feet once you enter the real world. That is why they put so much emphasis on the soft skills. In my case it was the "how to work as a developer" part of the bootcamp that I was after. Of course my coding also got a lot better during the process and the whole testing aspect of the bootcamp had an enormous impact on my way of thinking. Now there is no going back from writing tests. I think I would feel very weird about having a job where I write software with no tests. I would probably start writing tests as a skunkworks project.

Would I recommend the bootcamp to other people?
Short answer: Maybe
Little bit longer answer: When they say that you have to put your life on hold for a couple of months, they mean it. I had just moved to Sweden with my family a few weeks before the bootcamp started. My kid is 8 years old and he had a tough time adjusting to the whole thing so the timing, in my case, was sub-optimal. In hindsight, it was probably the wrong time to do it because I often felt like I wasn't able to fully commit and there for I didn't get as much out of it as I could have. It's difficult to come home in the evening, ignore everyone and get back to work. I was unable to do that but if we had been settled in a bit more, then I think it would have been a bit easier. Also, you NEED approval from your spouse. It's a tough process for them as well.

Would I do it again?
Yes, I would.

I also look forward to attending future Coffee'n'Code events and staying in touch with the coaches and my cohort.

Okay, so if you're reading this you're looking for a change in your life. Maybe you want to change fields and work in tech, maybe you want to change city or country and open your horizons, or maybe you want to meet new people and create new professional and personal connections. Now you found CraftAcademy but you're a bit reluctant to spend almost 100k of your hard earned money on a new adventure. That was exactly where I was 4 months ago.

And was it worth it, you ask? Yes, it was.

Would I go throught it again? Oh yes I would.

Did it change my life? Read the review's title again.

I started the course with 0 experience in any type of coding. From the beginning of the course I had the feeling I was in waaay over my head. And the beautiful part is that that feeling hardly goes away until the last couple of weeks.

You'll be pushed behond your limits. You'll run distances you never thought you were capable of running. You'll learn so much stuff so fast you will feel desoriented.

But you'll reach a point where you'll realize that you're not that coding newbie anymore. You'll be able to code your own solutions for the milions of problems and challenges you'll face. And how rewarding that feels!

You'll learn Frontend and Backend technologies as well as our beloved Test Driven Development, always following the Agile and Scrum methodology. It's amazing how much you can learn and grow in just 12 weeks.

As a personal reference, one week before finishing the course I was already in contact with some companies in the great tech hub that is Stockholm, and they were really impressed with the skills we aquire in such a short period, being able to solve recruitment tests designed for Senior Developers. And a week after the course was over I landed my first job as a Frontend Engineer.

Apart from that, I made so many great friends in the bootcamp that I'll carry with me throughout my entire life! Shout out to the Brogrammers!

So, to sum up, don't even think twice. Just send that email, and join the course. Once you do that, just give your all, work hard and work smart and at the end you will be collecting the fruits.

Thank you to all my colleagues and all the CraftAcademy team! Noel, Faraz, Adi, Greg, Oliver and our fierce leader Thomas! You guys are the best!

Want to become a web developer in 12 weeks? The Craft Academy bootcamp is how to do so, if youre ready to bring on the challenge.

Learing by doing is the motto here. Instead of spending hours and hours reading and talking about code and concepts, you will be thrown into the deep side of the pool and then you’ll have to learn how to swim. But not only does the course prepare you with pure coding skills - by taking agile methodologies into great account, you will develop and improve many soft skills that go along with coding, but are also applicable on other aspects of life. 

Test driven development and version control is the true core of Craft Academy. During these 12 weeks you will also learn how to learn new concepts, and thus feel comfortable enough to head on to other programming languages later in your career if needed. However, the course curriculum is continuously revised in order to deal with the most trending frameworks and libraries. 

For anyone intrested in this adventure, I’d like to give some advices and reminders:

• Keep in mind it is a bootcamp - you’ll only do it once, so be ready to put in a great amout of work. In practical terms, don’t be afraid to cut down/out movie nights, workouts and long cooking sessions.
• Challenge yourself and stay curious - the course material is often written to guide you to a certain point in a project, and from there its your choice to go that extra mile or not.
• Are you a lone wolf? Well, you do have to work in teams/pairs 80% of the time, so you just have to put up with it.
• Prepare well -  Retrospectively, I wish I had put in more effort during the introductory course prior to the bootcamp, and preferable even before that. Not because you really need to, but things will go much smoother if you do so.
• If you’re used to university stuides, you’ll soon experience that this is different, maybe not because of the written curriculum particularly, but the way of teaching. A bootcamp means it does come with a lot of mental stress and the coaches do their best to impose this on the students.

Towards the end of the bootcamp, you will be offered to attend a series of career talks to prepare you for possible job hunting, but they are also a great way to sum up what you’ve learned and then you will realize how far it is possible to go with the right guidance and hard work!

Oh man! This bootcamp...

This bootcamp was one of the most unique, intense and nerve-wracking experiences I've ever had. And I would do it all over again!

I was a complete and total newbie when I started at Craft Academy. And when I say newbie, I mean that I could barely scroll up and down the page on my computer. I was curious about programming though and the idea of creating something out of nothing has always been appealing to me. I was at a point in my life when I really needed a change and was commited to walk the mile but still needed someone to guide me in the right direction, so learning to code on my own wasn't really an option for me personally. 

I took a chance on Craft Academy fullstack developer bootcamp and boy, did it pay off! 
The course material is very well thought throgh. Even when you find yourself in doubt about how is everything connected, you soon get to discover that it is and a fair amount of "Aha" moments become part of your every day experience.

This is not, by any means, an easy ride. Be prepared to invest all of your time and put your social life on hold. Be prepared to make friends with frustration, exhaustion and having your way of thinking challenged on a daily basis.

This course will teach you how to work in a team and collaborate with different people, with different backgrounds. This is the closest simulation of a real work life you will get, because most people in the industry concur that pair-programming is one of the fastest ways to learn new concepts and troubleshoot errors, so if you are a lone wolf this course might not be the best choice for you. 

As far as support, I have nothing to express but my gratitude to all of the coaches. These people are dedicated, knowledgeble and commited to help each one of the students to reach their goals. 

If you are looking for a way to invest in your future, I would say from experience that CA is the right place.

Craft Academy: A whirlwind, once-in-a-lifetime experience for any wouldbe programmer interested in a full-stack programming curriculum.  This no-frills course is designed to get you a career in the IT realm as fast as humanly possible.  It worked for me; I left this course 2 weeks early because I landed a job with a local Stockholm tech company as a Front End Developer.  They weren't looking for a junior, but because I had learned so much at Craft, they brought me in anyway.  Don't believe me?  Check my employment details here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-nejame-b02039183/ . 

To be clear: this is a bootcamp.  This course is not for the faint of heart.  This is not for people who are 'playing with the idea' of becoming a programmer.  This course is for people who are hungry for knowledge.  This course is for people who are ready to make a drastic change in their life.  There is no handholding, there are no friendly pats on the shoulder, and there are no participation trophies when you fail.  You will be challenged, you will be pushed outside your comfort zone, and you will question your sanity.  But if you stay the course and graduate, as the founder says, you will have the skills necessary to reboot your life as a programmer.

Frankly, the cost of the course was a put-off for me at first, but compared to other courses I checked out in Stockholm (and also in the states), it ended up being many thousands of dollars cheaper.  Combine that with the fact that the course is literally paying for itself within weeks of graduating, and the invaluable skills that I've acquired, I'm grateful I took the chance.  Forgive me if this sounds like a long-winded advertisement, but I cannot overstate the value of signing up for this program.  I strongly recommend CA for anyone with the money and the time to invest. . .just be sure to clear your calendar and let your friends and family know that you will be off the map for a few months.

The staff (Noel, Faraz, Oliver, Adi & Thomas) are all great guys and eager to elevate your coding chops and work tirelessly to ensure you are absorbing the knowledge you need to become a dev.  Shoot them an email or give them a call and see for yourself.

Craft Academy builds holistic software engineers capable of working and growing in the software industry. I joined Craft Academy right after graduating university with very little programming knowledge and experience. During bootcamp, we built products that enabled me learn as much as possible with regards to software development best practices, version control, TDD/BDD and many more skills while adhering to industry standards. It all did not make sense while at bootcamp (I was a bit of a not so good student) but later on I have got to appreciate the opportunities attending craft academy has brought my way. The instructors are really experienced and professional too. I commend Thomas Ochman, Raoul Diffouo and the whole Craft Academy team for the great work they do and the knowledge they give us at bootcamp. Trust the process. It's surely worth it. 

 

 

Can you learn to code in three months?

The answer is “yes”. Although worth to keep in mind that this is so much more than coding - in three months time you will learn to plan and execute design sprints, apply agile methodology in practical terms, organise work in team, work test driven way, practice pair programming, and yes - a whole lot of coding.

The cost of it is hard work under immense pressure. Non-stop grind for 3 months, a lot of frustration, some tears even - this is not an easy fix for a career change by all means. All work done during the bootcamp is very practical, simulating a real world work environment, which is tiring yet super exciting at the same time. You will learn things that you thought you could never do and gain a whole new confidence both professionally and personally.

I feel like it was 100% worth to put my life on pause for three months to experience this, and the knowledge and friendships gained are priceless. If you are curious about coding and prepared to put in the work I absolutely recommend this bootcamp!

 

 

High pace, intense, exhausting, frustrating, thoughtful, inspiring, and extremely rewarding learning experience!

The 12 week Craft Academy bootcamp throws you right into the basics and foundations of web development, in a case -and exercise driven approach. With the personal support from (multiple) highly knowledgable coaches - in a team setting of about 6 people - this truly is a perfect experience if you want to:

• Learn the basics (and far more than that) of multiple programming languages - both back -& front end
• Get practical (and applicable) insights into modern technical frameworks - not just theory
• Understand the benefits of web development in a team (pair)-based setting
• Understand the benefits of working in a true agile setting
• Learn how to setup a web development project, and get acquainted with all roles and stakeholders
• Get the rewarding feeling of constantly delivering new functionality - not just wait for a final exam

… and all that in 12 weeks!

I can truly recommend this course for anyone who wants to either explore a career within web development, or (like me) are curious to both demystifying the concepts of programming and web development - and enhance your knowledge tremendously in a field which you knew very little about 12 weeks ago.

Thank you to all coaches, Thomas, and all team members for a fantastic and exciting journey that I will always have use for -and feel grateful that I took part in!

The course is very well balanced and gives you a very nice foundation to build upon. 

What it comes down to is your ability to work hard and to communicate with your coding partners. If you work hard and sleep well you're going to do fine!

If you don't have any experience at all the prep course is extremely important and should be at the highest priority. Coming to the first day of the course without knowing what the prep course covers leaves you in a very bad spot (and your pairing partner).

A tips is to try to do some coding online (there are several sites where you can try languages and solve problems) before you decide and see if you like it. If you find it stimulating and fun this course should be perfect for you!

Last thing is that you really need to understand that this course wont give you a job without you having to give your all. It's NOT a relaxed journey towards a nice job waiting for you on the other side. Go all in and collect the prize! =) 

Why:

I joined this bootcamp because I wanted to make a career change and because I knew two former camp students (with no prior knowledge in software development) that successfully found a job as web developers after attending CraftAcademy's bootcamp

Bootcamp experience:

My experience at the bootcamp was great. I learned how to code, how to pair program, how to work in a test-driven way but most importantly, I learned a method to continue my learning experience. At camp we also practice the Agile approach.

Bootcamp curriculum:

The course is structured so that you start with a 4-weeks prep-course where you cover the basics (Ruby and JavaScript languages). If you are not sure to go all-in with the full bootcamp, you can also purchase the prep-course only.

The actual bootcamp is 12-weeks, it's project-based, with week assignments, but also weekend assignments and the complexity increases steadily week by week. During every week you learn something new, building up your knowledge week by week.  

Bootcamp coaches:

My experience with the coaches was great. They are very invested in what you are doing and if you want to take on some extra-challenges, they are there for you, sometimes even during the weekend (when they are not supposed to be working). They can be tough at times, but keep in mind that that's part of the learning process.

My advise:

Take this bootcamp if you want to find a job in this area, but be ready to put your personal life aside for the entire bootcamp length. You will need full support from the people around you, because you will simply have very little time to spend with them, and they need to be prepared for it. Without full commitment, it will be much harder to finish the bootcamp successfully. The more time you spend, the better outcome you'll get from it.

If you are not sure if you like coding i would advise to start by taking the prep-course.

I will start by saying this was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. 

The course itself covers a massive amount of information and there is so much support from the coaches. Even though we were under loads of pressure, the environment was welcoming and my fellow coursemates were amazing. Changing careers can be scary and intimidating but there's support for that as well and I think the most important thing is that after graduating I do feel that I have the skills now to actually call myself a developer.
The school offers a shorter introduction course if you're unsure if you'd like to tackle the entirety of the 3-month boot camp.

     I'm a week out from graduation and I'm still buzzing.  Not sure if it's pure shock, excitement for the future or the feeling of creative freedom now that I have the coding tools to start this adventure.  Honestly, I'm sure it's all three of those things.  When I started this course, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I knew it'd be hard work and I'd have to block out any social life for 3 months.  What I didn't expect though was the pair programming aspect.  You will NOT be doing this alone.  This courses main two focuses are teamwork and testing your code.  The instructors are amazing people and will give you a lot of their time and energy.  They really do care and it shows.  They have given me a new passion and hunger for coding.  If you have an interest in coding, I definitely recommend reaching out to Craft Academy.  

I worked as a team leader for a customer service when I wanted to change my career. I have always had a technical interest, but had never coded, now after the course I work as a developer at the same employer where I worked as a team leader

Although everyone tells you that it's a tough course in a high pace, I could never imagine how tough it actually is. You put your usual life on hold for 3-4 months, but it is definitely worth it.

Something that I liked very much was that you worked in project form, you always had to develop something and the theory was minimal. If you choose to do the boot camp, you will first have a prep-course of 4 weeks. Craft says that you should spend 15-20 hours / week on this course, I would recommend everyone to do this course full-time, because it will benefit you so much during the actual bootcamp. I worked part time during the prep course, which I would not have done if I had done the bootcamp again.

Intro:

• I decided to take this course because I wanted to do something different in my life. I have worked in the consumer goods industry for almost 5 years, but always felt some kind of calling for the tech industry. So this is my background
• To be honest I joined this bootcamp because this was the only one I found in Gothenburg. I did not have much expectation, I know it is going to be hard and I hoped that I will learn how to code, but I learned so much more.

 

About the curriculum:

• The curricilum is well build, they teach you everything 3 times, each time covering more. In what this camp excells is that you have to do a lot of projects, some of them guided, some of them left up entirely on your team. This is the highlight of the camp this is where you can learn the most. 
• Speaking of projects, you are not only going to learn coding but most importantly project management. This is when you will experience what is like to be a software developer, delivering features, and planning the days and weeks.
• Speaking of teams you will not code alone most of the time! This is essential that you will learn how to pair program, and how to work in a team of 4-5 people delivering a project.

FAQ:

• How are the coaches?
  • They are incredibly helpful, sometimes even on weekends and evening can help you out, but also tough enough that will get you into a good habit during coding.
• Was it hard?
  • You bet it was! They say that you have to code 7 days a week even in evenings and that is true. If you want to have the most out of this camp you have to give it everything you have
• Was it worth it?
  • It totally did. I learned how to code, I learned how to pair program and manage projects, and I learned a lot about myself during the process. It is an experience that if you can get the chance you should have in your life
• So should I go and do it?
  • Well it's really up to you. Did you felt some kind of exicetment reading through my thoughts and you can dedicate your time and resources to this camp? Do you love the idea of creating something by inputing a bunch of lines after one and other? Do you like the ever lasting circle of frustration and instant satisfaction of solving an issue, or putting that picture in the perfect position on your website? Then Hell Yeah! But if you just want to join because you think that there are good opportunities in the tech industry, than I would think twice.

 

Final thoughts:

I gave this camp everything I got and gone out on the other side swining. I learned to learn, to develop, work in teams, and manifest my ideas. I am very glad I took this course and knowing what I know now I would do it again!

I completed Craft Academy Full Stack Developer Bootcamp in February 2019. 

Perspective: Do not join merely to learn coding, instead join to become a great developer and a genuine team player.

Experience: Three months of daily learning (day/night/weekends). Cutting edge tech knowledge interlaced with project management, working and delivering under pressure, being a team member,regular presentations, iterative improvement in true AGILE manner. DO NOT expect spoon fed content, you will be treated as adult responsible for your own learning. Coding skills will improve by leaps and bounds. Coaches actually practice what they preach (hard work, constant improvement, always receptive to feedback). Always a surprise around the corner to keep you on your toes.

Take aways: Expanding my comfort zone, self discovery by regular self reflection(part of formal learning process), being under pressure but never alone, coaches who work even harder to deliver best content. A huge toolbox of tech skills honed by 'rule of 3' practice. Confidence in test drive development with Ruby on rails and javascript.

Recommendation: Join for expanding your thinking, horizons, knowledge of cutting edge tech and to learn more about yourself.

Warning: Say goodbye to social life if you really want to make the most of the 12 weeks.

Bottomline: It is definitely worth the time, money,energy, sweat and tears I have put in.

I graduated in february 2019 and this course was the best decision I have ever made. They teach a lot more than just programming, you will learn how to develop a project all the way from beginning to end. They will also push you out of your comfort zone a lot and they have what is called "Tech interview training", which I found extremely helpful for when I will look for a job.

They also have a prep-course where you will learn the basics of programming. I highly recommend you spending as much time as you can of going over that course and try to experiment with your code (it will help you a lot during the bootcamp if you have a good knowledge of the basics) because if you know the basics then you can focus more on the harder stuff during the bootcamp.

What you get out of this bootcamp is very much reflected on how much time you put in. Do not go in to this thinking you will learn just by signing up and showing up, you have to really sit down and code to learn it.

For me it was an awesome environment to be in every day. The coaches are extremely dedicated to you and having other students next to you that goes through the same thing was very helpful. Be prepared to work all day, 7 days a week. Tell your family and friends that you won't be available a lot during these 12 weeks, because you will literally sit and code all the time.

To anyone who wants to get a good look into programming and how the industry works, I would strongly recommend this course.

A challenging experience with high rewards

I am coming to the end of my journey with the Craft Academy Full Stack Web Developer Bootcamp and it has been one of the most challenging but rewarding thing I have done.

In 12 weeks, I came from not knowing anything about coding to leaving with the knowledge to join the workforce as a Junior software developer.

In the course you cover a lot, I learned Ruby, Javascript, HTML5,  frameworks Ruby on Rails, Angular, Ionic. The course also covers test driven development, pair programming and version control.

The bootcamp not only teaches you how to code, it sets you up to work in a software environment.

The bootcamp teaches you about agile methods like scrum, we had daily stand ups and discussed what we were working on, if we had any blockers and what we would move on to that day. The course mocks what a real office environment is like but in an extreme way.

It is call a bootcamp and that isn’t some cool buzzword, it really is a boot camp.

The course prepares you for a developer job in 12 weeks and you have to put the work in, that includes 7 days a week and evenings. You learn to code with weekly challenges and weekend challenges and if you put the work in you get so much out of it.

Sounds scary but you have some much help, the course material is really detailed and the coaches in the course go above and beyond the call of duty,

The coaches of the bootcamp are the heart of the course, they really invest in their students, they go out of their way to help you, they push you to the very edge and bring out the best in you.

The boot camp also offers assistance getting a job, offering tech interviews, career talks that review your LinkedIn, your portfolio and advice on the kind of interviews that you will go through after the bootcamp.

I came into this bootcamp not sure on it, wondering how they are going to teach me to code and get a job in a software environment, but it has set me up with the tools for future employment in this industry and for me to develop new skills in coder for years to come.

 

Superb course for all. Fantastic coaches and a broad training schedule.

I had written a long and descriptive review, but unfortunately the login flow on CourseReport meant it was lost in the ether.... so instead (and in the interest of brevity) here are the top 10 "truths" about the Craft Academy Full Stack Developer course.

1. A fantatsic all-round course - not just about coding - much more about how to be a highly effective developer in the real world
2. Coaches are brilliant, work on a small student to coach ratio, and are always there to support
3. Don't expect to learn "by rote" - you will need to find the answers for yourself - this mirrors real life
4. This is a bootcamp. Period. Tell your friends and family you will be "off limits" for 3 months. If you aren't prepared to work 7 days a week (including evenings), then this isn't the course for you. Sure, you may get to the end, but you will severely miss out on everything the course has to offer
5. It's a great overview of a range of languages and frameworks, although the "go-tos" are Ruby and Rails.
6. The course is focused on building high-quality, fit for purpose software. Expect to be exposed to many best-in-class philosophies and approaches (eg agile, BDD, XP, pair programming etc).
7. If you just want to learn to code then this is not the course for you. If you want to learn to be a developer with all it entails, then it almost certainly will be.
8. Be prepared to collaborate. At Craft Academy, nothing is a solo sport. If you can't/won't work with others then this either isn't for you or, hopefully, this is an opportunity to learn that skill.
9. This course is hard. Really hard. I've been an investment banker and a management consultant - I've spent much of my career doing 80-100 hour weeks. Whilst the actual hours probably won't quite reach that level (I'd estimate more like 70-80) the amount you will learn in those hours if exhausting.
10. This course has been fun, hard, frustrating, exhilirating, rewarding and painful in equal measure. I made the right decision to do it.

"Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty…" Theodore Roosevelt

If you embark on this course, you'll understand how right Teddy was - so worth doing, but no walk in the park!

Intense but really rewarding. In 12 weeks I learned a lot and I can definetely see myself as a junior web developer and confident to enter the job market. 

Craft Academy bootcamp will not teach you only how to code but also how to work qualitatively as a developer with the agile methodology. 

The program is well thought and coaches will push you to the extent of believing that you cannot take it anymore, but this is part of the process to build you up. The support from them is continuos and you will really feel that they care about your learnings. 

In 12 weeks I learned technologies and frameworks but I also learned a lot about myself and abilities. I am now exiting the bootcamp as a more confident person and If I had chance, I will do it all over again. 

I highly recommend Craft Academy. 

This bootcamp will teach you the technologies and frameworks necessary to enter the job market with skills that allows you stand on your own. It is challenging and you will be pushed to the brink, but the coaches are there to guide you and help you in times of despair. Just remember that in the end it is you that will have to do the heavy lifting. Coaching only gets you so far.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the bootcamp. Even if I had some prior knowledge of programming I was always kept at the edge of my abilities. The curriculum is designed in a smart way and it is not until the end that you really understand the kind of transformation you will have gone through. For my part I was able to land a job at a company as a frontend developer before I even finished the camp. Just make sure to work hard and diligently, and update your portfolio as you go along.

I started this boot camp knowing next to nothing about webdevelopment and coding. The boot camp did not make me into a expert programmer, but it certainly taught me a solid foundation to stand on and to continue. I was taught the best practices for writing code, to work and collaborate as a team and test driven development of webapplications.

The coaches are very professional, helpful, capable and highly commited to your learning. They are there almost every hour of the day to help, assist and challenge you and keep pushing you forward.

I highly recommend taking this boot camp!