Epicodus

I signed up for Epicodus because I wanted to transition out of marketing roles at venture-backed startups into a more technical role. 

I got just what I wanted at Epicodus. 

The classroom environment was collaborative, and each day we worked in pairs solving difficult coding challenges. Our reading and video homework was completed at night or over the weekend, so we could spend valuable classroom time coding. 

At the end of the class, I was contacted by an engineering-focused development shop, DevelopmentNow, for an internship opportunity. Together with two of my classmates, we worked on a Backbone.js mobile responsive client project, and we were all hired by the end of the second sprint. I was really excited to be an employed junior developer just a few weeks after class ended. 

I learned more that just coding skills at Epicodus. I learned how to work on a project with multiple developers with git flow. I also learned how to make scope adjustments in projects and what the tradeoffs really would be - considering we only had a day or two to work on each project. 

I'm also super impressed with the school's dedication to student diversity. As a women in tech, I really care about companies and schools  like Epicodus that fully embrace minority student outreach in the tech industry. 

I would recommend this school to any self-motivated person who wants to change careers with a little help from a community of fellow learners. 

Epicodus offered more than any other bootcamp out there. In fact, their job-search support is nearly worth the price of admission alone.

What made Epicodus an extremely worthwhile course in my mind?
1. Time: You spend hundreds of hours coding over the duration of the class, with other people, building actual working (for the most part) apps.

2. Content: You are exposed to a variety of programming tools, and considering the timeframe, get a rather solid foundation to continue learning once school ends.

3. The internship: The last month of Epicodus is spent at an actual company, getting a sense of programming in the “real world.” The interview process for these also helps take some of the edge off for your first tech job interview.

4. The people: The staff was great and I met a ton of smart, interesting people throughout the course.

5. Career support: Post-Epicodus, we (graduates) had amazing support from the staff as we searched for real work. The plus for job-seekers: Programming talent is in short supply and high demand. Some found jobs quicker than others, but we were in regular contact with the Outreach Coordinators at Epicodus, as they passed along job leads, interview and cover letter/resume prep, and general moral support. The luxury of being able to work on code projects while they did a lot of the job search for us, was priceless.

Of course, not everything was spot on. Figuring out how to pace yourself to keep up and retain knowledge is a real challenge. During our class, they were still figuring out best practices for running Epicodus, but constantly asked for, and often implemented, student feedback. I would have liked to have had some actual group lectures/teaching to introduce new concepts.

Last, I think it’s really important to know what you want to get out of a code school like this and what your goals are after it ends, before deciding to attend. Epicodus’ application process did a good job of giving you a sense of whether you have enough patience for, and interest in coding. The rest is up to you.

Overall, I would recommend Epicodus. It opened up a lot of opportunities and gave me a great foundation to continue building my skills.

About 6 months before my first day of class I decided I wanted to learn programming, but I wasn’t comfortable or disciplined enough to learn it on my own. Epicodus was so much more than I expected it would be - not only did I receive skills that advanced me far more quickly than I thought was possible when it came to learning to program, I made friends and gained a network of great people who will be with me in the industry for my entire career. I cannot recommend it highly enough. As a woman in tech, I found the environment supportive but not patronizing - in fact I felt more included there than I have felt anywhere else. I strongly encourage anyone who is ready for a life change to sign up for Epicodus.

I love my Epicodus family (shout out to the Winter 2015 Ruby cohort). I am extremely happy with what Epicodus provided me. If you are considering attending a code school, I think you would be hard-pressed to find a better value anywhere else in the US. Epicodus gave me a leg up on a career change into web development, taught me how to tackle difficult coding problems, and showed me that I am capable of teaching myself new languages and frameworks. In the Portland area (and perhaps beyond) Epicodus has a reputation of graduating successful developers that follow best practices and pick things up quickly.  This is not by accident. The staff is caring and from the top down everyone wants to give you what you need to succeed as a developer, including staff dedicated to facilitating your initial job hunt once you’ve graduated. Emphasis is on pair programming, which translates into the ability to work with people from different backgrounds, to contribute as part of a team, and to explain what your code is doing. It also results in the class partially teaching itself (as novel techniques disseminate through the classroom with each new pairing). I came into the program with a small amount of experience programming in other languages, but not a lot of confidence in my abilities. As with any code school, your personal motivation to become a developer is the most important ingredient. Having a computer background helps, but I also saw fellow students who came in with little or no background excel through hard work. The pace at Epicodus was reasonable, the night homework was generally 15 - 90 min. I have zero regrets about my decision to attend and I am optimistic and excited about the opportunities now available to me as an Epicodus graduate.

I consider Epicodus to be one of my most influential life experiences of the past decade. The phenomenal curriculum, stellar teaching staff and hands-on approach to learning gave me a solid foundational understanding of programming that I continue to build on.  I use this knowledge constantly in my current capacity as a Technology Consultant; supporting clients in finding and using the most appropriate apps/technology for their needs and abilities. 

Epicodus catapulted my understanding of programming and boosted my confidence in problem solving.  But the icing on the cake was how well I was taken care of after the program was over.  Michael Kaiser-Nyman, President of the school, contacted me on a regular basis to support me in finding work.  He gave me feedback on my resume and cover letters, and was my cheerleader through many interviews.  Once I started working, he still sent me an email every few months just to follow up and see how things were going.  This sort of care is so uncommon, and I really appreciated how supportive it was (and continues to be).

Here are the facts about my time at Epicodus:

1.  I got a job as a consultant at a Ruby on Rails shop within a week of graduating and has opened the door to a career.

2.  This was by far the most I ever enjoyed a class of any kind.  I could not wait to wake up get to class and start coding.

3.  I made a bunch of great friends.

If you were to ask me if Epicodus was worth it I would answer that it is a no brainer.  Absolutly worth every minute and dollar I spent.

I was in the Summer 2014 session(Javascript, Ruby, Rails).  I moved to Portland from Southern California to attend Epicodus.  My only experience in programming was the pre-course work that we had to do for the class before Day 1, and maybe fiddling around with pre-made Myspace & Tumblr layouts way back when.  I'll be honest, I definitely felt that not having any experience made it especially hard because it's difficult not to compare yourself to the ones who are moving at a quicker pace, especially during that first month.

About the school:  

It's a 4 month long immersive program, with the 4th month being an internship at a local company.  Class was 5 days a week, 9am-5pm (there would often be students who were there outside of class hours to work as well).  Once a week, they would bring in a guest speaker to talk to us about the industry, as well as answer our questions and give us an opportunity to network.  

Once internship time rolled around, we all had a few weeks to go over the list of companies available to us.  We chose our top 10 to interview with.  Out of the 10, Epicodus worked their matchmaking-magic and set students up to interview with 5 of the 10 they chose.  The week and a half of interviews was stressfull as heck.  It was the week students became sharks in order to get their top choice (just kidding).  After interview week, students made another 'top 3' list out of the companies they interviewed with, and the companies also ranked their top candidates.  Then Epicodus worked their matchmaking-magic again and boom, success, most of us(if not all) ended up with companies that we were happy with and had a great experience at.  

Not only was Epicodus there to help us gain programming experience out in the real world, but we had a whole week of interview practice, something that colleges may offer but don't always push you to do.  Best of all, a good number of Epicodus students were hired on full-time at the companies they interned at.  For those who weren't,  after the 4-month session came to a close, the Epicodus coordinators continued to work hard at networking and reaching out to companies in order to find employment for their alumni.  They kept in contact with us, encouraging us to keep our github active, and not to give up on applying to jobs.  They would also bring in recruiters every so often to give us mock interviews.  It is no joke how much Epicodus cares about its students.

A year ago, I was working at a boutique PR firm, making minimum wage.  Today I'm making games, something I never thought I would be doing in this lifetime.

I attended Epicodus a little over a year ago and had austerely minimal experience with coding beforehand. What I did have was a desire to learn and problem solve.

With a lack of experience came some nervousness, but that faded away after sharing my enthusiasm with Michael in our initial phone interview. What I had experienced over the phone came to fruition in class as well: what matters most is having the ambition to take the time to fully understand something and figure out how to make it better. Michael teaches you the "how" and "why" of coding. The class as a whole encourages how to teach yourself!

That's the beauty of Epicodus - you're immersed in a learning environment where no one knows everything no matter how long they've been coding! Everyone is learning all the time constantly having new ideas, creating and figuring out many ways to solve many a problem. While I took the Ruby/JS course, the point of an immersive coding class was executed in full at Epicodus. The objective isn't merely to learn as much as possible about the languages covered (however, that's awesome too), but to go beyond that and understand the building blocks of web development, regardless of the language.

Michael has a knack for spreading the excitement and fun in web development because he's a developer at heart. That's what makes him such a great teacher: always striving to make things better. Be it code, be it Epicodus itself.

Long story short, I recommend it :)

The reason I chose Epicodus over other programs is the founder Michael. He is truly a wonderful person. He crafted the program with the intention to help as many people as possible. All course materials are freely available online and that alone speaks to his genuine passion to teach anyone to code.  I would highly recommend this program to anyone dissatisfied with his or her career prospects. The Epicodus sponsored one-month internship is why I am currently employed and being paid to learn iOS development.  

I came into Epicodus, physically, with nothing.
However, I did come with a passion for coding and a desire to learn. It quickly turned into the best experience I could possibly have.
It is exemplary in teaching you the skills needed. This is shown even moreso in how Michael has continued to offer cohorts for students that fall into disciples other than the typical RoR and JS setup. He truly wants to play it to what the market needs and is best for the students.

My class was very successful. Everyone has done well afterwards, and I'm doing amazing in my career and keep growing. And Epicodus doesn't only just teach you how to code. Michael is completely dedicated to virtues like diversity, lack of discimination and sexism, and other matters of that nature and it shows. It is the most friendly, inviting room in PDX and I believe it will be that way a long while.