Makers Academy

The Makers Academy course blends learning to code and learning to be a collaborative developer. These are not the same skills, and actually the second set is arguably more important to getting hired as a junior dev. If you wanted you could learn to code alone, using online tutorials, but there's no substitute for having to actually use those skills with other people to build something together. As we found out, a job in software is a team sport, and the course perfectly sets you up to make that career switch.

They have fantastic people and culture at makers. The curriculum is well thought out and constantly updated, the  coaching is quality, and the ongoing support after course end to help find a job is strong. It can be a challenge to fit in everything you want to get out of the course in the time you have, I personally could only spare about 40 hours per week and I think it would merit about 50, but you will be fine either way.

Highly recommend.

If your goal is to get a job as a software engineer, this course will work 
The 12 week immersive course prepares you for learning things at a quick pace which is arguably the most important skill you need to succeed in software engineering. The thing that I didn't anticipate when signing up for this course is how much I'd value the team-working aspect of the course, it really simulates how it feels to work on real projects with others which is an invaluable experience in and of itself but especially when you begin interviewing. Some of the cons of the course are that it can be a little hard to get in contact with coaches, they do state that they are only available officially from 9am till 12pm for coaching as they have other duties as well so if you keep that in mind you should be ok - your coursemates should be able to help too.
By far the best thing about Makers is the careers support you get to access after the course. The team are amazing, they are always there to help you and support you - they are all kind and lovely people and being around that fosters motivation and the kind of nurturing environment you need at this time. They also really do help you get a job whether that is through advice during coaching sessions when applying for external jobs or by finding companies that want to exclusively hire Makers students. Overall, I'd recommend this course if you want to get a job as a software engineer in potentially 13-16+ weeks. 

My Makers journey was special, from learning and solidifying my understanding of certain concepts to meeting great people. The bootcamp is highly self dependent, so expect to manage the curriculum yourself. It’s intense and the coach support is always available. 

One key benefit to Makers is the coaching and career support once the course has finished. The team go above and beyond to help and ensure you’re doing the right things to land yourself a job. Overall it was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it for someone looking to move into development.

Being a Makers student was a great experience and exactly what I needed to start my career in Software. I got all the support I could need from the coaches, a lot of experience with both relevant tech in the industry (like Ruby, JavaScript, MongoDB, PostgreSQL and also testing frameworks) and also agile methodologies (daily pair programming and using agile approach during team projects).Another good thing to mention was the support you receive after you finish the course, with another team of coaches being there to support you in the process of getting a job, helping with creating your CV, preparing for interviews or just speaking with you about your concerns.Overall an experience I can definitely recommend to anyone who feels like getting into this industry. It is intense but fun.

This was a great bootcamp for anyone wanting to join the world of software development. The group work and pairing with like minded individuals made a lot of difference.

Pros
-A really helpful introduction to programming.-Uses a lot of job relevant tech (JavaScript, HTML, CSS, React, PostgreSQL, Mongodb).-There is a lot of group work and pairing, which is useful in preparing for a job.
Cons
-Unlike a traditional academic experience.-There should have been marked exercises/ assessments possibly to help steer a better learning path.

The Makers environment and community is incredible and highly supportive.

Makers goes beyond just teaching you how to code - you also learn how to work, solve complex problems and communicate with others effectively. There is also a focus on your overall wellbeing and emotional intelligence.

Makers tries to simulate a "real-world" environment as much as possible so you are fully prepared to work in the field.

You learn the core fundamentals of coding which you can apply to any programming language you wish, and you "learn how to learn" so you can go on and keep improving yourself on your own. There's a good balance between Makers guidance and working things out on your own.

Can't recommend Makers enough.

It is not only the quality of code knowledge that you can be sure to find here, it is all the many things you will need to be ready for your first role as a developer. I knew Javascript pretty well before Makers, and turns out didn't learn more Javascript then I already knew during Makers - but I hadn't written a single test in my life! And I doubt I would have talked about 100% code coverage if I stuck to Udemy and YouTube. So TDD, OOP, SOLID, Agile, Pair Programming, Git, EQ (emotional intelligence curriculum!) - all of it ... everything you need to hit the ground running as a reliable and promising junior dev is what you'll find at Makers. Put as much in as you'd like to get out and the absolutely AMAZING Makers coaching team will be there to support you every step of the way, from "Hello World!" to hello first job!

I loved my time at Makers bootcamp! I hardly knew any code before Makers, only a bit of Ruby that we needed to learn before joining. The curriculum covers a vast amount with exciting group projects, and is mainly self led learning and pair programming. The experience after finishing the course and joining the careers bootcamp was AMAZING!! You receive loads of support, and they are there to support you until you find a job! I can't thank Makers enough for helping me with this career change and successfully finding a job so quickly!

A 16 week full time intensive training course in Software engineering. Makers espoused a TDD and BDD philosophy. During my studies I learnt how to apply 'Agile working' methodology in a software development project setting. I have learnt how to adapt both self-learning and pair programme to enhance my learning. Through the facilitation of Makers, I was also able to complete several process reviews. As part of our course, we completed a total of 3x team projects and a solo weekly weekend project - 10x in total. As part of good learning, we were encouraged to complete regular constructive code reviews of our peers work. Emotional intelligence; an understanding of the needs of a team and how to support them was also a core aspect of the Makers ethos. 

I decided to change career after moving to the UK, after doing some researches I decided to go for tech with Makers. I will start with the pros.
Pros: 
- Pair-programming: we did pair-programming almost every day. It gave us the opportunity to learn from each other. It also allow me to get used to working with other people.
- good cirriculum structure: It saved me a lot of time trying to figure out what to learn first. It allowed me to learn step by step and progress with a good speed 
- 3 group projects: we worked with Agile, which gave me some taste of working in a team with high speed. I was surprised how the group projects helped me grow as a developer. - demanding workload: yes, I do think it is a pro. We had weekend challenges at the second half of the course, so expect to work really hard even on weekends. But it helped me to learn quick. 

Cons: 
- Full time and expensive. It's actually quite expensive, adding the fact that you have to study full time, you need to be sure tech is really what you want before joining. 
- Sometimes it is quite self-paced, so nobody can promise you that you are able to learn everything fully by the end of the course. You still need to pay a lot of effort to really absorb everything. 

Overall: Yes, the course is demanding. It provides a good structured cirriculum. You can get prepared to join the tech industry in a relatively short time - if you are willing to work very hard.

Applying for Makers was the best decision I could ever have made for a successful career change. 

I had been working as a product manager for many years so I had no doubt that becoming an engineer was something I wanted to do. I have spent time doing online courses which really helped me be a better product person whilst confirming coding was something that made me truly happy, but I wanted something with more structure and would give me all the tools and skills that would make me 'market ready' at the end of it. 
By this I mean that this is not just a programming course. You'll be a dev and start coding from day one,  learn how to work in an agile environment, pair with your cohort peers every day in the weekly challenges, have self organised team projects where you'll be building applications that you can show on your CV at the end, tutors there to guide and support you (but not spoon feed you the answer!), testing frameworks and the importance of TDD, fundamental concepts of software engineering etc... And a team at the end ready to guide you and give you support on finding your new dream job :) 

It is hard work though and not for the faint hearted! The course is based on self learning so be prepared for that as this is not a 'hand holding' course at all and it goes at speed and when you least expected it's demo day and you're presenting your new project to the outside world and can't believe it's "over"! But believe me it's going to be amazing and you'll love every second (ok maybe not when that test is not passing and you can't see why!) and you won't regret it!

So yes, applying for Makers was a no brainer as I had been following them and their course for years and knew they were the best bootcamp around and the better fit for me and the fact that I could do it remotely was perfect! 

Finally, I also got my shinny first software engineer job with an amazing Makers partner within about a month of beginning my job search and started it with a friend from the same cohort!  I had code in production before the end of the first week - that's how well prepared we came out of Makers! I really could not have asked for more :)