Makers Academy

Makers was a fantastic experience, albeit very intense! They do a lot to foster a sense of community, I met so many lovely people both in my cohort and staff members. This really pays off during the course as it is difficult and you are really pushed so having a support system within the course makes such a difference. There's also a lot of effort put into student well-being with yoga and meditation classes. The course focuses on helping you to teach yourself, you are not spoon fed very much beyond the very first steps and are taught how to find the answers yourself. Beyond coding, you also learn good practices to use while coding which I found invaluable, this works as a framework for everything you pick up. I think my only criticism would be that there is a lot of self-learning, but with perspective, it has helped me so much after graduating when I'm working on my own.

As for employment the careers team were lovely for me and supported me all through the process. They found me relevant jobs and chased up companies who were dragging their feet.

I came to makers with no tech background and now have a job as a developer! If you can afford it and are a hard worker I would definitely recommend it!

If you're serious about a career change and are up for a challenge then Makers Academy is for you!

The entire course is pretty intense, 3 months of weekly topics followed by weekend challenges to really make sure you learn as much as humanly possible. It was amazing!

This is not to scare you off but equally if the above doesn't excite you then you might struggle because every person who makes it onto the course will have signed up to this and be raring to go!

 

The course: Like many people I wanted to make a switch into development and doing tutorials at home wasn't really cutting it. The course itself is great, every week (well most) your coach starts the week of introducing the next topic. Sometimes this may involve whiteboard sessions, talking through syntax and others just pointing you and your pair to the repository for that topic. That week you then spend working through a specific challenge focused on teaching you about this topic. Each day you switch pairs so you have the benefit of looking at different code, different ways of thinking and learning from one another.

This is ultimately the key thing that makes Makers Academy so good. They get a whole bunch of passionate people from diverse backgrounds together, set them a challenge and support where necessary. Makers isn't an onsite tutorial because if it was you really wouldn't understand the content. If I didn't have to figure things out myself (or with my pair) I honestly don't think I'd remember half of what I do now.

 

Career support: They have a great careers team who do everything they can to support you in your job search afterwards. But just like the course, this is driven by you and you have to be prepared to put the hours in.

I loved Makers Academy, but be warned, this course is not for the faint-hearted! It is really intense - it has to be, it's only 12 weeks long! So you have to be prepared to commit utterly during that time, including weekends, if you want to make progress.

I chose to do Makers Academy because I felt that just doing online tutorials by myself was difficult to find time to do while working, demotivating and left me with a lot of questions. Makers Academy did not disappoint. The way that the course is structured means that you're not spoon fed a 'how to be a developer' syllabus but rather led to discover yourself how to be a developer - you're given signposts, if you will, rather than an actual map. So we were taught concepts, skills and behavioural practices (Agile, XP values) over the concretes of how to actually write code, as the latter is usually quite easy to find yourself.  The focus is put on learning how to learn and learn quickly in order that students can leave with a certain level of self-sufficiency when coming across a new language or coding practice after the course is over. 

We pair programmed throughout the duration of the course - this is great for honing communication skills,  for learning how to talk clearly about unfamiliar concepts and enhancing understanding. Again, this is not for everyone - if you're a lone ranger,  get frustrated at others for being slow or resentful of people being ahead of you, then you should probably look into other courses.

One of the really great things about Makers Academy was that we were being taught best practices on real-world applicable projects from day one. It meant that right from the beginning I knew that what I was learning I could actually use once the course was over - which sounds daft but I did a degree and have not used it since graduating. 

I also appreciated Makers Academy's attention to the wellbeing of their students - it could be easy to burn out in such an environment, but daily meditation, twice weekly yoga and the support of the Coach and Joy Officer kept me simmering at an optimal learning temperature rather than boiling over.

Conclusion: do this course if you want to be a software developer, are happy to put in the time, are cool with self-learning and enjoy collaborating with people to build awesome things. 

Pros:
- Incredibly knowledgeable and experienced coaches who provide excellent mentorship, support and feedback in your learning journey. This includes workshops, tutorials and one-on-one support with coaches through daily "coaching hours"
-  A wonderful careers support team who helped me every step of the way in landing my first tech role with workshops,  one-on-one Zoom calls and fantastic advice 
- Through the support of Wellbeing coaches you feel as though Makers really cares about the learner on an individual basis, helping you to develop a positive mindset and develop good habits and providing well-being support if needed 
- A fantastic curriculum which can take you from 0 knowledge of code to a decent standard in as little as 8 weeks 
- Being a part of a community of like-minded individuals through the "cohort" and also having a "peer group" to navigate everything together with during calls every morning

Cons:
- Although the pacing of the course is excellent and the support is available if required, navigating through the content is a self-guided learning process which some may find difficult at first. This does however force the learner to really internalise concepts and seek support if needed 

Overall, I genuinely really enjoyed my time at Maker's and it did indeed allow me to change careers and get my first tech role. 
The way the learning is delivered and the focus on group projects towards the end provides a solid foundation and insight into working as a developer. That being said, you definitely need to be committed to on-going learning on top of this. 
I took the course when Maker's was changing their curriculum and unfortunately my cohort was bridging the gap between the transition from the old curriculum to the new. This often meant our cohort felt like the awkward middle child and it seemed as though coaches often did not know what the plan was for our group going forward. Nevertheless, we got through the course successfully and moved into the dreaded job hunt. Although I appreciated the job hunt was going to be difficult given the state of the market, I do think there could have been more transparency about the lack of current opportunities via hiring partners. Although there is lots of support available to help with CV writing and applying, this can only take you so far when the opportunities simply aren't there. 
I do think it's really important to highlight that my negatives are quite situational/circumstantial and so may not reflect the course now. In terms of the learning, I do think it was transformational in giving me solid foundations to pursue a career and I did genuinely enjoy my time at Makers. You just need to be prepared for a gruelling job and stay motivated to continue your own learning.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Makers and am so pleased I made the leap to switch careers into software development. The course is fast-paced and provides a solid grounding in areas like Test-Driven Development (TDD), pair programming, version control, and agile methodologies. It's definitely challenging, especially with the volume of self-study required, but it's excellent preparation for becoming a more independent learner, which is crucial for software engineering.

I really appreciated the hybrid nature of the course, benefiting greatly from the on-site learning and collaboration in their London workspace. Both the staff and my cohort were fantastic, making it a fun and rewarding experience. The EQ sessions and career coaching were extremely beneficial. Makers also provided support, mentoring, and mock tech tests while I was going through various interview stages which really helped me feel more prepared and confident.

If I had to point out one drawback, it would be the limited number of partnered job opportunities available when I graduated. However, I believe this was more due to the state of the job market at the time rather than a shortfall on Makers' part.

Overall, I'm really happy with my Makers experience and feel well-equipped for my future in the tech industry.

Pros: 
The content was really great; it was a lot to get in in a short period, but it really did teach you the fundamentals of programming
Learning 2 languages and how to use learnings from one language into another; this was a really helpful skill to learn and makes it much easier to pick up other languages
The coaches and their willingness to help. They really did want to help you solve problems, but also made you independent enough to exhaust all other routes first
Dedicated EQ lessons and daily meditation made me incredibly pleased that I chose Makers. It really did set them apart from other bootcamps and has been invaluable

Cons: 
The communication and management of expectations was a bit of a let down in places, it felt very chaotic when it needn't have been
There were times when people at Makers were very disorganised which really didn't support learning

My life changed after the bootcamp at Makers. I had no clue I was able to learn so much in such a short time and I really love coding and learning about new technologies to make my apps always more awesome! Before the course I wasn't sure I would have been able to become a software developer, for the amount of knowledge ahead and because my attempt to complete university education didn't go very well. How wrong was I! Now I am sure I can create and maintain amazing products and the course finished leaving me experience of hard work but also team work, a lot of new friends with whom I shared my journey, the pride of what I have done and the excitement, curiosity and optimism that are and will be my traits throughout the next future. I love creating software and I am ready to hit the market, thank you so much Makers!

I recently completed the Full-Stack Software Engineer Bootcamp with Makers Academy, and I can confidently say that it was an incredibly rewarding experience. Although the course is self-led, Makers provides tech coaches who are available to help, and answer any questions that may come up. They are knowledgeable and friendly, and they create a supportive and inclusive environment that encourages collaboration and growth.
Throughout the course, we followed the industry’s best practices (e.g. TDD and pair programming), worked in agile teams, and participated in tech rituals (e.g. retro-meetings, and stand-ups). We started with Ruby and then moved to JavaScript on Week 7. We learned how to debug and search for answers to our problems, making us confident in learning new languages and technologies both by ourselves and as part of a group. 
One thing that really stood out to me about Makers was the emphasis they placed on community building. There are always interesting events and activities going on (e.g. daily meditation, weekly yoga, EQ workshops, and community breakfasts), providing a great opportunity to make friends and collaborate with other students who share similar interests and goals.
On Week 10 we were given time and guidance on how to prepare a GitHub portfolio, and once we graduated we were able to count on a team of wonderful Success Coaches to help with our CVs and Cover Letters, prepare and practice for face-to-face and tech interviews. They were always available to provide feedback, advice, and support, which helped to keep us motivated throughout the job-hunting process.
I managed to get a job offer within 5 weeks of completing this training and while I had a great time at Makers, I want to emphasize that this course requires commitment and dedication. The curriculum is designed to be intensive and challenging, so it's important to be prepared to put in the time and effort required to succeed. That being said, I would highly recommend this course to anyone who is willing to make that commitment. The experience is incredibly rewarding, and the knowledge and skills you gain will be invaluable in your career as a software engineer.

Overall - Studying at Makers Academy not only got me my dream role, but it was also some of the best weeks of my life. Each week, you'll either study a fundamental aspect of web development, or build your own application. They work hard on building an atmosphere where everyone can ask questions and learn without judgement, which really pays off. If you throw yourself in, you can learn an unbelievable amount in 12 weeks.

Pros -
· You can genuinely go from no coding experience to succeeding on this course. This was not the case for me, but I saw it happen with people on my cohort.

· Gives you experience of all the areas of web development that are needed to land a role: agile development, test-driven development, object-oriented principles, relational databases.

· The emotional intelligence curriculum is excellent, I have become so much better in working in a team because of this course. The meditation and yoga sessions are also available for alumni for free!

· You quickly form a close bond with your cohort due to Makers selectively picking a certain type of person, even if you do the entire course remotely, as I did.

· Job hunting support post-course is exceptional. The careers team provide workshops, individual coaching sessions, and a special mention to Hunor for reviewing about 1000 cover letters every single week!

· On completing the course, you will have three full-stack web applications as a portfolio for employers.

Cons-
· The only con I can think of is that the first half of the course is in Ruby, which is a fairly dead language at this point (at least in terms of what I saw asked for when jobhunting). Makers do this because they believe it’s the best language to learn as a beginner, so fair enough. Personally, I think it’d be better if the first half of the course was in Python, which I started with, found very intuitive, and it’s the most used language in the world.