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Le Wagon is a global tech training provider that offers full-time, in-person and online bootcamps in Web Development, Data Science, and Data Analytics. Le Wagon also offers part-time courses in Web Analytics, Python & Machine Learning, Growth & Data Automation, and Data Analytics Essentials. Le Wagon is aimed at individuals seeking to change careers or acquire specific skills. Le Wagon’s training has helped more than 18,000 students accelerate their careers, transition into tech, or launch startups. Le Wagon was founded in 2013 in Paris, and now has in-person campuses in over 40 cities and 25 countries.
Beginners are welcome at Le Wagon. Applicants of the Web Development bootcamp do not need any previous technical experience, but should be motivated, curious, and social. Applicants to the Data Science bootcamp should have basic knowledge of programming and mathematics.
Students at Le Wagon have access to comprehensive career services, such as 1:1 coaching, tech talks, and assistance with job materials and Github. Le Wagon offers students access to their extensive hiring network, and organizes regular recruiting events for students to participate in. Graduates will have lifetime access to Le Wagon’s learning platform.
Le Wagon offers various scholarships and financing options, such as installment plans, Income Share Agreements, public funding, and more.
It pains me to admit that this program did not get me where I needed to be. After several months of self-studying on Codecademy, I wanted to switch careers and become a software engineer in the US (my country of residence), so I attended Le Wagon for several reasons: A) it is cheaper than most US bootcamps, B) it teaches Rails and JavaScript, C) I saw amazing reviews, and D) it would allow me to travel to another city and be part of a culturally rich experience where I am surrounded with s...
It pains me to admit that this program did not get me where I needed to be. After several months of self-studying on Codecademy, I wanted to switch careers and become a software engineer in the US (my country of residence), so I attended Le Wagon for several reasons: A) it is cheaper than most US bootcamps, B) it teaches Rails and JavaScript, C) I saw amazing reviews, and D) it would allow me to travel to another city and be part of a culturally rich experience where I am surrounded with students from all over the world.
In the end, I did not feel like I was where I needed to be and I actually ended up doing a second bootcamp which was a night and day difference, and landed a job a week after graduating. I do want to give a disclaimer and say that Le Wagon is not a bad bootcamp, and I don't take it lightly that I am basically the only one with a negative review. There are bootcamps out there that are much worse, and this is a decent one. It's just that this bootcamp was not enough to accomplish my goals. I ask everyone looking into bootcamps to think about why exactly you are attending, and, if your goal is to become a software engineer from a non-engineering background, particularly in the US where competition is tough, I would caution you against attending Le Wagon as it might not be enough to get you where you need to be. If you are looking to just learn to code to boost your resume, if you have a start-up idea and just want to build out the platform for that one idea, if you have a STEM background and learn very fast and are super disciplined to continue learning on your own (I thought I was and it still didn't work out!), or if you reside in the city where Le Wagon is located and plan to stay there to be a developer, then attending Le Wagon might work out for you.
Without further ado, here are the reasons why Le Wagon did not work out for me even though I really wanted it to:
1) From the very beginning, this bootcamp did not strike me as a place that accepts top talent and has good job outcomes. There was no test to get in, there was no technical interview, and it felt like they would accept anyone. During the one interview I had, I was informally accepted into the program and told to just pay the deposit as quickly as possible to secure my spot before it fills up. When asked about job outcomes, their typical response was that they don't want to turn students into numbers, and the bootcamp is not about turning out statistics, so I guess I should've seen that as a red flag.
2) It seems like the students at the bootcamp had very different goals, where not everyone was looking to become a software engineer. Some students just wanted to boost their resume and others just wanted to learn to build out their startup idea. That shoud've been a red flag because it shows that the program's goal is too open-ended instead of being specific and it's open to a lot of different audiences.
3) Don't count on getting hired if visa issues may arise. This is something I should've considered more seriously at the time, but if you attend Le Wagon and plan to work in a place where you don't have a work visa, you're going to have a harder time finding an engineering job because not only will you have the task of finding a job, but you will also need a job that is willing to sponsor you. Most places don't want to bother with it and would rather hire a senior dev with a lot of experience than someone straight out of a 9 week bootcamp who they need to sponsor. One of my classmates actually was hired over me because she didn't need to be sponsored and I did (so if you don't foresee visa issues it might work out).
4) Think about what the job market is like if you need to return to your country or city after Le Wagon. I should've considered more seriously that the competition is much stronger for developers in the US (especially because the salaries are higher) and that it would be difficult to find a job there after 9 weeks of Le Wagon, a bootcamp that is not really equipped to prepare students for that kind of competition.
5) There was no support for students falling behind. Part of the issue here is that they let almost all students into the bootcamp, so they are bound to accept people who will not succeed. Everyone struggles at times and I definetley struggled at times even at the second bootcamp I attened. But when there is no solid preparation or assessments to get into the bootcamp and to get everyone on the same page and you are struggling, you think that you are the stupid one instead of the bootcamp being flawed. I was somewhat average and I still struggled because the pace is very fast. There were students who I know where completely lost and had fallen behind too far and probably didn't get very much out of the program. There is no support when students are behind. The program will not let you make office hours with an instructor, they will not let you repeat a part of the program, they will just push you ahead and the instructors/other students who aren't behind will just code more of the project for you so that you graduate even if you didn't understand most of the material.
6) Nine weeks is simply too short to become a fullstack developer and feel confident. If that's not your goal and you just view this as an immersive course to boost your resume, you'll be fine. If this is your goal, unless you have a STEM background and are the top student of the batch, prepare to struggle. And even if you are all of those things, prepare to struggle and feel like an imposter at your first job. I have spoken to alum who managed to get a job after this bootcamp and they struggled a lot- they had to spend several months self-teaching themselves, and then had a really hard time on the job for months. I also noticed that a lot of alums can't find jobs and just become TAs. For a bootcamp that takes you from beginner level to fullstack developer, nine weeks is too short to truly feel confident and like a master of the material. It's not even enough to feel like you can learn anything on your own afterward. The bootcamp I did afterward was 17 weeks and it started at an intermediate level with tests and technical interviews to get in, and only then was it enough to get a job and feel confident in my skills.
7) Your instructors will code large portions of your project for you. My team was an average representation of the students at the bootcamp- not really anyone super falling behind or any super geniuses. We had problems with our final project and our instructor coded large portions of it for us. After finishing the program, I did not really feel like I understood all aspects of the project or like I could build something like that independently. That defeats the purpose of being independent and being ready to join the workforce.
8) They kept switching instructors on us. I did not like how almost every day there was a different TA giving a lecture. It did not feel very cohesive or like I had a person I could approach or someone who knew my progress well. I also did not feel like the TAs were knowledgeable enough to give the lectures or help out with debugging since they were just students themselves.
9) They try to teach you the maximum amount of material in the minimum amount of time and really cut a lot of important things out. They also just hand out a lot of material so you don't have to struggle to do things on your own or understand how they work. There's a lot of examples of this, but for istance I did not like that I didn't understand how rails routes work because we didn't have to build them ourselves and I didn't understand how user sessions worked because we were given a devise tutorial instead of having to write sessions ourselves. I still don't understand how devise works.
10) Going off the last point, I felt like too little time was spent on each topic. For example, we spent about two days on SQL, two days on JavaScript, three days on HTML/CSS, and those were not enough time to understand how those things work. But it was done so that the bootcamp can be taught over 9 weeks at the expense of teaching in-depth.
11) JavaScript- I feel like this should be its own bullet point. I really felt like there was basically no time spent on JavaScript and one of the reasons I attended the bootcamp was because it was on the curriculum. It's a really important language and every fullstack developer must know how to use it since it runs in the browser. I graduated being afraid of it and not knowing how to use it at all.
12) There was essentially no career support. After you finish the program, you are completely on your own. I made an appointment with one of the program leaders to look over my resume and portfolio which she kindly did in her own time, and that was it. There are job boards on slack where anyone can post jobs, but that's all you have. The other program I attended had a career success team dedicated to helping you get a job- we practiced mock interviews (behavioral and technical), we practiced whiteboarding where we solve algorithms and talk about big O notation (I didn't learn any of that at Le Wagon), we had regular check-ins for our resume, linkedIn profiles, practiced our elevator pitch, etc.
13) Feedback is not taken seriously at Le Wagon. They ask for feedback after the program but they will not change the program based on feedback. They simply can't because the program is too big. It runs in too many cities with batches happening at all times, that changing the program is too defficult.
14) Sexism was a thing. Not a big thing, but enough to matter and make me and certain others lose confidence as a programmer. When issues were mentioned to those in charge, it was denied and not addressed.
15) There were no soft skills taught and some group project dynamics were very difficult as a result. In fact, group projects were a popularity contest. We were told that after pitching our ideas, everyone would fairly vote on the top ideas and those projects will be built. Instead, people only voted for those they wanted to work with, different ideas were built, people were left to the wayside quickly scrambling to find a group, and difficult group dynamics resulted for some groups. I felt like if there was more oversight by the instructors to choose and arrange the groups, get some feedback from students, the process would've gone more smoothly. Some groups did not know how to resolve conflicts and were very tense, and I feel the program would've benefitted by giving some talks about how to approach these kinds of issues before they arose.
16) Finally, pair programming was not taught the way it is supposed to be. In a real pair programming setting, there is a driver and navigator where only one person is allowed to type. The students take turns switching roles, communicate together, learn to talk about code and brainstorm together. Instead, we were given partners but not taught about the true way to pair program. Students merely sat with their partner and each did their own work. I know that some students were falling behind when working with partners but too afraid to ask their partners for help because of the way pair programming was structured.
I hope this review is helpful and those reading it understand where I am coming from. I think a big part of the problem was the Le Wagon did not align with the goal I had in mind (to become employed as a Fullstack developer), but that's a pretty big deal considering that's what most bootcamps should be able to do. If you have a lesser goal in mind, Le Wagon is a great place to get a general overview, be introduced to coding, and learn about the flow of designing and developing a website. It's also great for being in a culturally diverse environment. However, I would say the program is not enough for most people to become a fullstack engineer afterward (without a lot of struggle and continued learning) which was ultimately my goal.
How much does Le Wagon cost?
The average bootcamp costs $14,142, but Le Wagon does not share pricing information. You can read a cost-comparison of other popular bootcamps!
What courses does Le Wagon teach?
Le Wagon offers courses like Data Analytics Bootcamp, Data Analytics Bootcamp Online, Data Analytics Essentials Skill Course, Data Engineering Bootcamp and 12 more.
Where does Le Wagon have campuses?
Le Wagon has in-person campuses in Amsterdam, Bali, Barcelona, Berlin, Bordeaux, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Casablanca, Cologne, Dubai, Lausanne, Lille, Lisbon, London, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Mauritius, Melbourne, Mexico City, Montreal, Munich, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Porto, Rennes, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toulouse, and Zurich. Le Wagon also has a remote classroom so students can learn online.
Is Le Wagon worth it?
Le Wagon hasn't shared alumni outcomes yet, but one way to determine if a bootcamp is worth it is by reading alumni reviews. 3,326 Le Wagon alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Le Wagon on Course Report - you should start there!
Is Le Wagon legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 3,326 Le Wagon alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Le Wagon and rate their overall experience a 4.96 out of 5.
Does Le Wagon offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Right now, it doesn't look like Le Wagon offers scholarships or accepts the GI Bill. We're always adding to the list of schools that do offer Exclusive Course Report Scholarships and a list of the bootcamps that accept the GI Bill.
Can I read Le Wagon reviews?
You can read 3,326 reviews of Le Wagon on Course Report! Le Wagon alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Le Wagon and rate their overall experience a 4.96 out of 5.
Is Le Wagon accredited?
While bootcamps must be approved to operate, accreditation is relatively rare. Le Wagon doesn't yet share information about their accreditation status.
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