Makers Academy

Ultimately I would recommend Makers as the best way to quickly get into the exciting world of software development. If you’re someone who loves learning and is excited to work hard at something new, then this course is for you!

Pros

No background in coding needed.

Cheaper and quicker than a degree.

Good course materials, you will learn loads in a short space of time, and have more material than you can possibly get through so you can choose bits that interest you. If you missed bits during the course, the material is always available to you after the course.
You learn how to code in a workplace to make you as employable as possible. You’re taught Test Driven Development, Version control, good code fundamentals, how to pass interview tech tests and how to code as part of a team which are all really useful.

Makers have a great team of coaches/staff that are lovely, both during and after the course. They are open to feedback, which has resulted in the course evolving over the years. The coaches are happy to help with problems if you’re struggling. I found the post-course coaches to be the most helpful, they have a wealth of knowledge and resources to help with all job hunt aspects.

Emotional wellbeing focus - there is a dedicated person to provide emotional support, there to listen and help if you’re finding it stressful (and a career change can be pretty stressful). Meditation and yoga are great if you’re into that.

Amazing network of active alumni that help out with problems and will link to mid/senior roles for later in your career
This course is good for people who are willing and able to work hard. You don’t need to be super smart, just able to deal with situations where the work is tough and no one is providing you solutions straight away.

There are projects to get involved in after the course to learn additional skills while you job hunt, the teamwork never has to stop!

Macbooks provided while on the course.

Cons

It’s not easy. Your brain will work hard to put all this new information into it. And it doesn’t end once you land a job - you never stop learning. Be prepared.

The course is best for people who like to work with others - you will be pairing or in teams every day on the course. If you prefer to work by yourself, this is probably not the course for you.

The course is currently remote due to the current world situation. You will have to work a little bit harder to get to know your cohort, however there is plenty of time dedicated to working with your cohort so bonding really does happen. Also remote courses work best with a reliable internet connection for all the zoom calls.

Course is mostly in Ruby with some Javascript, which is lovely for beginners, but there are not so many jobs in Ruby. You have to be willing to work after the course/at the start of a new job to pick up something new (this is much easier with the skills you learn from the course).

As of September 2020, the job market is just picking up after Covid, and Makers don’t currently have as many hiring partners with open roles as they did. There are still roles, but most people will get jobs from outside of Makers. Be prepared to spend time dedicated to jobhunting after the course.

The job offer guarantee refund isn’t automatic - to get it you need to apply to ~20 jobs a month and put in learning hours after graduating. Talking to coaches can give you flexibility and help you find a structure that works for you. If you take the refund, you will lose help from coaches so it’s not the right option for everyone.

Graduates in Comp Sci will know more than you, especially on software and hardware background. Learning about algorithms is an option course for makers grads whereas Comp Sci grads often cover it early on. To get jobs, you have to be able to market yourself in other ways, explain non coding work experience is relevant, show you know how to code in the workplace and have made cool projects during your time at Makers. Absolutely do-able and Makers will help you do that. Makers have a good reputation in the industry which works in your favour, but there are some jobs that will favour uni grads.

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Makers provided a really great environment to learn how to become a professional software developer. It catered to all styles of learning and had a good balance between directing our learning and forcing us to learn by ourselves. Experiencing this process with a group of like-minded people also created a fun and supportive environment which helped to maintain motivation throughout the course.

Makers also offered amazing support after graduating to help us find a job. I attended free workshops to further my coding skills, a hackathon and I participated in a group project that was lead by one of Maker's coaches. Makers also offered loads of 121 support with coaches, interview practice, and so on. Job hunting during a pandemic was tough at the best of times, but Makers put in a lot of effort to help us be successful despite this. Read less

I had a fantastic time at Makers, so much so that I have regularly said to people that I wouldn't mind starting again!  
It is a really supportive positive environment where the main takeaway for me was that the key was "Learning to learn".  The coaches offer just the right amount of guidance and support without holding your hand. This allows you to learn to unblock yourself and find your own answers which is ultimately the key skill which will see you succeed.  Read less

To sum up, the approach at Makers is to help you learn to learn better. You will not be spoon-fed, they will teach you the basics and from there it is up to you to find the answers where you do not already know them. This is important, as one of the aims of the course (although not stated) is to get you to a point where you feel comfortable being uncomfortable. A point where you feel comfortable not knowing something and then being able to use the process they give you to find the answers. This is better than other courses that follow a 'we demonstrate and then you replicate' approach. You will be constantly stretched throughout the course, simply because of the time constraints. As soon as you think you are getting to grips with a concept, you have to move on to the next thing. You cannot hope to learn all the material available on the course and one of the toughest things was to be at peace with that.
The curriculum is good overall. They start you off using Ruby due to its accessible nature, you then move onto learning JavaScript which is a fairly smooth transition because of most of the things you know from Ruby translate to JavaScript. You also look at other areas such as databases and the HTTP response cycle. In our course, there was a two-week project that used Ruby on Rails which I personally felt was wasted time. Although there are plenty of companies using Rails, two weeks would almost certainly be better spent building a full-stack JavaScript application using a framework like React or Vue. These skills are simply much more in demand. There are other technologies or concepts that would be great if they could include in the curriculum but I think considering the time constraints it is a very useful and complete grounding in web development.
The coaches are all very personable and are genuinely determined to make you better. As I touched on previously, if you can't work something out, they won't give you an answer, they will start by asking you what your process is and making you go through the process so that you can arrive at an answer. For sure this is the right way to go about things. Occasionally, however, you simply just don't understand a concept, you've tried your best to find out the answer and you really need someone to explain it to you like you are a dummy. I found the coaches could be a little blind to that, and on occasion somewhat resistant to helping. Indeed there were some frustrated conversations where we wondered what we were getting for our money as we may only get 3-4 hours worth of workshops in a week, and otherwise, we were teaching ourselves everything (again I acknowledge self-teaching, overall, is a pro of this course). I also think that the coaches are a little overstretched. It could take a while to get feedback or help with something. I believe there are some moves being made to get some extra coaches in, which should help this. 
All Bootcamps are naturally intense experiences and one of the things that Makers do best is look after you. There is an emotional intelligence curriculum to help you manage your emotions better and also to work with others. The coaches are all very empathetic and approachable but there is also a coach dedicated to the emotional well being of students who gives fantastic, constructive methods so that you can finish the course without excess stress. I know for a fact that Makers supported people who needed substantial help to overcome some serious difficulties and for this, I cannot commend them enough.
The careers team is great and very supportive. You feel they are genuinely in your corner and rooting for you all the way. Again I think they could do with more technical coaches for post-course but I believe steps are being taken to increase numbers here.
A final minor point is there were a couple of moments where I felt that political opinions were given by Makers staff which I felt were shared in the assumption that everyone would agree with them and whilst I don't think organisations have to be apolitical, I think care should be taken over this. 
Overall I would definitely recommend this Bootcamp. The curriculum is good, the coaches are great and I've definitely made some good friends who I've shared the experience with. I mentioned that at points we wondered what we were getting for our money. The price tag is hefty (but cheaper than some others), but so much of the value of that is being put with a group of fellow students who share your ambition. You drive each other on. By being with like-minded people you are so much more likely to achieve your goal rather than going it alone. I think there are things to improve upon and I have had no problem with writing my critiques publicly because as an organisation they are very open to constructive feedback.
If you want to change career, this won't be easy, but commit to it and you will get the rewards.
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Having programmed as a hobby for around a year before joining Makers, I couldn't say I was completely new to software development. Everything was self taught up until that point and I had wanted to make a career switch from Structural Engineering to Software Engineering.

After failing a few tech tests before Makers I realised I had quite large knowledge gaps and needed a way to fill them. Having spoke to a graduate of Makers from around a year and a half ago, I decided to go all in on Makers. What attracted me were 3 things:

1) learning best practices
2) careers fair
3) Job offer guarantee

What followed was 1 month of learning on site and the 2 last months was spent entirely remote working.

The 1 month spent on site was honestly the best experience I ever had learning. You are on site with other people who are aiming for the same goal and there is a sense of camaraderie as everyone encourages and helps one another. Plus, there is a kitchen and there is a table tennis table. The  time spent playing table tennis and eating peanut butter in the kitchen is sorely missed!

The last 2 months were spent being entirely remote. It was difficult to adjust at first. Having experienced how good Makers was on site, the first 2 weeks spent remotely just felt like a major bummer in comparison. It helped to remind myself of a dream of mine, which is to travel and work at the same time so I tried to see this as training for that dream. The coaches still provided lots of support and everyone was getting better with remote working as the days went by. So in terms of the level of education you'll receive, it is still consistent with being on site. Though whether you feel you can work better on site or remotely entirely depends on yourself. I will say that working remotely seems to be the present and the future so getting some experience with working remotely is a great opportunity you'll receive at Makers. 

The course was entirely self led which is important because things move very fast in this industry and you need to learn to learn. I can understand why some people may be frustrated that coaches won't always just give you an answer to your question. It's like "I paid so much money, why can't I just get an answer?". Just realise that the indirect answers you get is on purpose and it is to make you find the answers by yourself. That is an important skill to develop and I feel Makers tries their best to promote that.

Anyway, You'll still get workshops and you are encouraged to join the workshops. I've been to some of these workshops and they are well worth going to. A lot of knowledge can be gained from there and it'll definitely make you think! 

By far the best thing about Makers are the people in your cohort. You'll be pairing on problems throughout the course and this really is a fantastic experience. You'll also work on group projects and this is an opportunity to see what it's like to work in a dev like environment. You'll need to work as a team to create certain projects which is very fun!

And finally there is the demo day which will involve you and your team thinking of an idea and creating it! We had just over a week to make our own application. Given the time constraint we were under, we were under a lot of stress but it all came together at the end because of good team work. The moments spent creating this application I will cherish for a long time.

The careers support team are sensational really. They encourage you and support you all the way. One of the reasons I joined Makers was for the careers fair, as stated earlier. Because of the whole covid situation, we never got a chance to experience careers fair which I hear is an amazing way for juniors to get noticed by these companies. So that was a real shame and I hope Makers can make the whole careers thing happen again one day.

So even though the Makers course has moved remotely, for now, I still recommend Makers. Hopefully people can experience what it's like to work on site again but you'll still get the same level of support from everyone there. 

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I had such an amazing experience learning to develop at Makers. The program itself is high-paced, fun, social, and challenging, and you really do learn something new every single day. I actually am very confident that this is the best program for career changers out there, as it has a great reputation in the industry, but also I personally find that it prepared me really well for my software development apprenticeship. I can't recommend Makers enough if you are thinking of changing careers; trust me it really has a great reputation for a reason.  Read less

I absolutely loved Makers, and the experience is exactly what they say it will be. There's something to be said for having a bunch of driven, likeminded people in the same room, and you instantly form a bond as you are working very hard to gain these new skills together. It is certainly intense, but there is support there for you both academically and emotionally. I would encourage anyone considering doing it to spend a few days (straight) coding, and see if you enjoy it. Because it is significantly different from what you experience playing around with CodeAcademy and the like, and it's important to be sure you enjoy it before taking the plunge. The only thing that I think could be improved is the JavaScript portion of the course (2 weeks out of 12), as it was slightly outdated and therefore not super well aligned with industry best-practices. The job support was brilliant, with coaches on hand to help with things like CV's/Cover Letters, and interview prep. They are also adding new services to bolster job support given that it has become a bit more difficult in the current circumstances.  Read less

Incredible experience where you focus full-time on learning and practising something you love, with people that share the same passion. For me, it was an oasis of enjoyment, always looking forward to the next day and going home with a smile on my face. What makes Makers so special is the culture of the people and the energy and different background students bring to the place. I would highly recommend this course to a friend, as a chance to speed up your development experience in an agnostic way and meet some great people that will become friends for life.

The course is very comprehensive, but it is structured in a way that it is up to you how much you put in. No-one is going to push you to work or check on you, so it is important to take responsibility for your own learning and maximise the available resources as much as you can. The day is usually structured with morning lectures or autonomous learning and pair programming in the afternoon, with weekly goals to achieve around the main theme, like databases, object-oriented programming, or javascript design patterns. The interesting thing is that every day you pair-program with a different person, which massively helps you learn how to communicate with different characters and personalities and gets you to know better each one of your cohort-mates. By the end of the course, there are group projects, where you have the chance to simulate real-world work environments, work within a team, and give presentations in front of your mates. The ping-pong table is the most popular game for break times and it is the fun heart of the school.

There are four coaches that have different strength and again it is up to you what you can learn from them and how to interact in the best way, with physical questions or slack messages. It is important to note that most of the time they won't give you the answer you want, but they will probably answer with another answer, forcing you to do the research and get the answer by yourself, which is much more effective. Also, you get the feedback you ask for and no more.

A special person at Makers is Dana, who I believe is the most unique personality in the community. She is in charge of daily meditations, mental health, lectures about awareness and feedback, and yoga lessons for two days a week. I had never done yoga before, and for me it was a very pleasant surprise becoming a must-go-to event, even during the final project weeks, to release stress, nerves and simply feel better.

After graduating, every month, there are career fairs where you have the opportunity to meet companies, ask them questions, and apply to jobs directly through Makers, where you usually have higher chances to get called for an interview than external applications. You can also practise interviews with external reviewers directly through Makers, to improve your skills and exercise under pressure. 

The overall feeling I had at Makers was to be around people that decided to step out of their comfort zone and challenge themselves. This naturally brought positive energy and created a special bond that went beyond programming. Read less

Makers has given me a fantastic introduction to being a developer. The course encourages best practices like TDD and pair programming and allows you to practice agile team work. Most importantly, the course aims to set you up for ongoing learning.

the learning is highly self-led. I was a bit frustrated at times as I wanted more technical coaching, however I do feel well equipped now to find answers on my own. The course does require self-discipline and you get out what you put in.

The best thing about Makers is the way they provide a great learning environment. Working in a cohort of developers all at a similar level, sharing the experience with fellow career changers and the extra focus on wellbeing as well as just code really made this a great experience. Read less

- No prior knowledge of coding is required (other than some basic ruby achieved through codecademy).
- Provides a perfect atmosphere to meet new people, make friends and learn in a safe environment.
- Course content is engaging, challenging and rewarding providing you put the effort in.
- Ping Pong table & Yoga every Tuesday & Thursday definitely helped relieve stress & mental blocks.
- High calibre of students, everyone is eager to learn & help one another. Read less

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started Makers having not been in a learning environment for a number of years. I'm happy to say that I've really enjoyed the last 4 months. I've learnt so much in such a short space of time and been able to do so with a wonderful group of like-minded individuals. I've been taught how to test drive my code, agile methodologies and a variety of design principles, as well as a number of different languages and frameworks. The big highlight for me was the group project work - bouncing ideas off people and producing an actual working app was incredibly satisfying and has put me in good stead to start my own project work.
Obviously being in lockdown hasn't been ideal but Makers made sure that work continued as normal even if we were all remote. I was on various calls all day so there was still lots of contact time.
To be honest, I'd be happy to do it again.  Read less

I am a Makers graduate and I can say Makers has been such a great experience for me and I would definitely do it again if I could; I highly recommend this course to anyone who is willing to change their life and begin to learn code. If you put in the effort, you will succeed, especially with their job offer guarantee. There is no prior knowledge needed, as I had minimal knowledge in coding beforehand and I thought the course went at a good pace. The partnerships team really make the difference, the companies they partner with are such great companies to work for. Overall, an amazing course which I highly recommend to anyone willing put in the effort! Read less

I finished Makers in January 2020 and it took me just over 6 weeks to get a job thanks to the post-course careers support and careers team/partnership team.

The journey to get here has been an intense and sometimes frustrating experience. But overall the experience I had at Makers was extremely rewarding and definitely set me up for life-long learning. The course really does do a great job at giving you a well-rounded foundation to become a junior developer. The focus is not on learning fancy frameworks or languages, instead opting to build foundational knowledge of things such as Test Driven Development, SOLID software principles and agile working. These principles can be applied to any language and really help solidify core concepts. I found starting in Ruby and then moving on to JavaScript, I was able to translate these fundamentals into other languages when the time came. I have accepted a job working in C#(something that we didn't cover) but the concepts and ideas learnt transfer across.

This course is very much self-lead learning. At first this can seem quite intimidating and you can feel a little lost in the first week. The only downside was it did take a few weeks for good self-lead learning techniques to kick in. This could maybe be address in the pre-course instead of you having to find them out as well as tackle new material in the first week. Once you get on top of this though the knowledge really sticks and stays with you. I am continuing to use these techniques now and will continue to use them. Don't expect to be given the answers if you want help though. Feedback can also take a while to get(if you ask for it that is) and it does not come unless you ask for it. 

Overall a fantastic experience, where I met and worked with some very talented people. The course teaches you what you need to know, what you need to work on, how to learn and how to continue learning and developing. I would recommend it if you are serious about changing career and have a decent level of self-discipline. You do only get out what you put in. Read less

I don’t come from a tech background, but I found the Makers course easy to get in to. It’s hard work, but they have a great group of coaches on hand to help you through it. If you take the time and effort, the course is extremely rewarding. I feel like I learned a lot in a very short time. Read less

I finished Makers in January 2020 and have accepted a job offer about six weeks after graduation - I'm very happy as I thought it would take a lot longer than that! The average time to find a job is more like three to four months.

Personally I had an amazing experience at Makers and never doubted for a second that it was the right choice for me. That's not to say that it wasn't a difficult and emotionally intense six months! (From pre-course to securing a job) My advice would be that you need to be sure that you are ready to commit to it and it's what you really want. I started the process of trying out coding, researching learning materials and Makers, looking at job possibilities and planning my finances almost a year before starting the course - not everyone does it this way but I wanted to be sure I was making the right decision.

Like plenty of the other reviewers have said, you get out of the course what you put in. You're definitely not spoon-fed the course materials, you need to take initiative and solidify a lot of the concepts yourself, either by self learning or working with fellow cohort members. The coaches were generally lovely and helpful but you need to be proactive and go seek them out when you need them. You're also responsible for setting your own learning goals and deciding how you will reach them. I found this tough at first as it's not at all how I learned in the past, neither at university nor at work.

I met some lovely people on the course from all kinds of different backgrounds. I enjoyed the experience of everyone learning together and pairing with different people every day, I think this helped to bring us together and I felt the cohort members really supported one another.

A big plus is the course's focus on emotional well-being. It's easy to promote this attitude while not actually living it but I found Makers really do practice what they preach. As well as regular meditation, yoga and table tennis sessions, we also had talks and workshops geared towards working effectively with other people and looking after yourself. If you are struggling whether with technical or non technical issues then help is there when you need it. This attitude and support carries on after you finish the course and begin looking for a job.

I think what Makers offer that's unique and worthwhile is that they show you how to go about teaching yourself new tech and concepts and prepare you as best they can for your first job in a professional tech environment. Read less

Although I had some experience coding, Makers quickly identifies your breaking point and gets you pushing yourself further every day whatever your ability. This is very much self-driven study and the coaches are there to help guide you...
-to find the solution yourself,
-to work with others in paired programming,
-to work in groups on projects,
-to communicate effectively,
-to work under pressure of imminent deadlines,
-to work with an understanding of Agile methods,
-to work on self-development and self-improvement,
...honing exactly all the other skills you need alongside coding.
In terms of coding, you could probably learn the content yourself if you were disciplined enough but you would be missing out on a lot of soft skills appropriate (desired) in the workplace. The Makers coaches help to sustain the pace and enthusiasm to keep constantly challenging yourself and enable learning so much in a short amount of time. Read less

From day 1 Makers creates a very supportive environment conducive to learning while also preparing you well for the working world.  With a curriculum that covers pair programming, agile processes, test driven development, object oriented programming, continuous development/ integration and emotional awareness, it is a uniquely holistic course. Not to mention the yoga, meditation, ping pong, well stocked kitchen and socials! In addition, there are process workshops, external code reviews, talks from hiring partners, CV clinics, 1-1 careers coaching and careers fairs available for you to attend. Maker's self-led learning and language-agnostic philosophy is refreshing, although many felt that the course materials could be updated to be more reflective of the current job market (e.g. React and Node.js instead of Rails).

I would highly recommend this course if you are in a financial and mental position to be able to commit fully and make the most of all it has to offer. Makers undoubtedly provides you with the tools you need to succeed but ultimately (as with most things in life) you will only get out of it what you put in. Read less

Before Makers I was working at in a role which gave me very little pleasure and offered little in the form of learning opportunities or technical skill.  Makers Academy has given me the tools to pursue a real career change and find a role that I really enjoy in a very short period of time.  I am grateful for the support of the coaches and career team who are committed to helping you through the course and afterwards.  One of the main benefits of Makers is the environment that is available to you throughout the course, the material is great, but the real advantage is being able to work in teams or pairs with other people who are passionate about becoming developers.   Makers has been a fantastic experience from start to finish and although it was scary leaving a stable job to enroll in the bootcamp, it has been totally worth the risk.  I would reiterate past reviews that the teaching style often follows a hands off approach, which initially may be difficult, but in the long run I have found it a very useful approach to learning.  

I would definitely recommend this course for anyone looking to make a career change! Read less

Leaving my job to apply and pay for this course was one of the scariest decisions I've made! It was UTTERLY worth it - it has been the best experience of my life.

The course content taught me so much more than I could ever have learnt at home through online courses. I felt fairly confident about my Ruby syntax before starting, but I still learnt SO much about programming that I would never have been exposed to without the course - things like programming best practices, TDD and thorough testing, deploying projects etc. As well as Agile team processes. The holistic workshops about EQ have also been fascinating and taught me a lot about working styles and personality types, which will be useful with dealing with future colleagues.

The course is very much self-led learning, and all the staff and resources are very open about this from the beginning. In fact, one of the factors in my decision was being told that the course was largely self-led without much hand-holding during my campus tour before I had applied. I personally enjoy the challenge and freedom of the style, but I think some students can find it frustrating or even daunting, so you should consider whether this will suit your learning style when choosing a bootcamp.

There are 4 technical coaches. One coach will work with your cohort each week, leading morning workshops and setting the challenges for the week. All coaches are on-hand in the morning to help with individual challenges, although you are actively encouraged to find solutions yourself before asking for help (as you will be in the industry). The coaches are all very approachable.

I hadn't really considered the post-course careers team and support when choosing a bootcamp, but the team at Makers are fantastic. They take time to sit with you and understand your technical skills, as well as your preferences in what sort of role and company you are looking for. There are many lunchtime talks and careers fairs where hiring companies present their organisation and currently available roles. There is the opportunity throughout and after the course to participate in "reviews", which is like doing a live tech test with a reviewer over Skype. These are daunting but incredibly useful, and definitely take some of the fear out of tech tests in interviews. Finally there are two careers coaches available for graduates during the job-hunt, who are WONDERFUL - always approachable, available, reassuring, full of practical advice for for specific questions about your job-hunt, but also very pragmatic about the experience - for example, I was surprised and delighted to be actively encouraged to take a holiday after I'd graduated, and to make sure to factor in "fun things" into my daily to do list during the job-hunt.

Makers is undoubtedly a very intense experience, with extreme highs and lows. However for me, it is one of the best experiences of my life. I have learnt SO much, which has been very stimulating. I have met wonderful people from diverse backgrounds - both the staff and my fellow students. And in a short period of time, Makers has given me the skills and the opportunity to have a complete career change. Read less

As someone already working in a team of software engineers for over a year, at first I wasn’t sure what the course would bring to me in terms of knowledge and skills. What can I say, it was simply the most productive learning experience I have ever been involved with. Professional coaches, well designed tasks, and great support and feedback all the way through. Has given me the confidence to become the engineer I always thought I could be. Especially loved the constant focus on test-driven-development, really job-relevant and teaching me the skills I need for my day-to-day work. Having tried a number of different development routes, I could not be more positive about Makers in comparison to the others, they are streets ahead and I will be recommending them to everyone that I speak to over the coming months and years! Great job!

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