About
About
Makers Academy is a highly selective 4-month, full-time program (preceded by a four-week pre-course) which teaches web development in London, England. Makers Academy is creating a new generation of tech talent who are skilled and ready for the changing world of work. The academy is inspired by the idea of discovering and unlocking potential in people for the benefit of the 21st-century business and society. At the core, Makers combines tech education with employment possibilities that transform lives. The academy accepts only exceptional applicants into the course. And while they are highly selective, they focus on your passion for becoming a developer by gauging your coding experience.
The course has been designed by a team of inspirational software engineers with strong backgrounds in educational psychology, enabling students to master any technology in today's marketplace. As big believers in self-directed learning, students will finish the course as a confident and independent software engineer ready to hit the ground running. There's a focus on life-long learning skills, while the course includes technical tests, working on open-source code or even working with the Makers engineering team on live, real-world, production code.
Makers Academy also offers a software engineering apprenticeship and fellowship as a pathway to a long-term career as a software developer. You don’t pay tuition and on completion of the course, you will become a Makers employee for 12 months and will work on site with a hiring partner with continued support from the Makers Academy coaches and careers team. Fellowship applicants must demonstrate a technical ability that outshines other candidates — Makers is looking to invest in outstanding individuals and a more inclusive tech future.
With one of the UK’s largest Careers team dedicated to finding you a job after the end of the course, Makers Academy will introduce students to over 250 of London’s top technology companies looking to hire (including but not limited to Deliveroo, British Gas, Starling Bank, Financial Times, Compare The Market.com, and Tesco).
Recent Makers Academy Reviews: Rating 4.81
Recent Makers Academy News
- May 2020 Coding Bootcamp News
- Coding Bootcamps + COVID-19: Updates, Scholarships and Tips for Learning Online
- Coding Bootcamps + COVID-19: Updates, Scholarships and Tips for Learning Online
Courses
Courses
Web Development
ApplyAngularJS, HTML, Git, JavaScript, Sinatra, jQuery, Rails, CSS, React.js, Node.js, Front End, Ruby, SQL
In PersonFull Time40 Hours/week11 WeeksStart Date None scheduled Cost £8,000 Class size 24 Location London The course is designed for everyone, whether a complete novice, a computer science graduate wanting practical experience, or an entrepreneur sick of looking for a technical co-founder. Students learn an incredible amount, including: Ruby on Rails; HTML5 and CSS3; Agile and Lean Development; JavaScript, jQuery and NodeJS; along with Git and Heroku, and software design best practices. Students learn through first hand experience, community-driven classrooms, pairing, and project-based work.Financing
Deposit £800.00 Financing Lending partners include PCDL (UK Govt) and EdAidTuition Plans Available through 3rd parties Scholarship £500 scholarship to any woman attending the course. Getting in
Minimum Skill Level We expect people to generally understand what coding is about and have some exposure to trialling simple coding challenges. Prep Work To prepare for the pairing session with one of our developers, we would ask people to complete some coding exercises at home and then come in for a pairing session. Placement Test Yes Interview Yes
Reviews
Makers Academy Reviews
Shared Review
- A Great Course with the Potential to be Amazing- 12/6/2019Jake Pilikian • Graduate • Verified via LinkedIn
I’d like to start this on a simple note: I paid £8000 for this course and got a software engineering job between 30-40k per year. Regardless of what follows in this review, that alone makes this course worth the time and money.
As I'm sure anyone looking at reviews is aware, Makers runs a 3 month boot camp course that gets you ready for work as a junior developer. It’s a great course, but I think there are a few things that stop it from being an amazing course. The first thing to know is that you are required to complete a one month precourse before you can join the main course on site. After you finish the course, expect the job search to take some time. All in all, the whole process from zero to software developer takes roughly half a year. How you choose to handle the job search is entirely up to you and Makers gives you a lot of freedom here. Some people choose to stick it out, while others go back to their previous employment while they search for a software engineering job.
It’s a great course, but I think there are a few things that stop it from being an amazing course.Pros:
Learning
The most valuable thing I gained from this course was the ability to learn. By the end of the main 12 week course, I truly felt that learning anything is possible. Makers also encourages you to keep your skills sharp by focusing on your process. They effectively teach you how to break down problems. Generally, it’s a very friendly and diverse community and everyone is very approachable. You’re also encouraged to take care of yourself during downtime. There’s a fully stocked kitchen, ping pong table and beer on Fridays. You’re also encouraged to participate in meditation, yoga and mindfulness in general by the Chief Joy Officer. It helps you to centre yourself and without her this course would be a lot harder.Hiring Partners & The Careers Team
This is without a doubt the most useful and best part of the course. Help is given for CVs, interview techniques, tech tests, and there are constantly lunchtime talks, seminars, meetups and other useful events about the industry and the best ways to get in. At the end of it all, this is what made me choose Makers; they have valuable industry connections that other boot camps don’t seem to have.Cons:
Self-directed learning
I think it's important to know that this course is very self driven. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing but £8000 is a lot of money to pay for a course where I mostly have to teach myself. Coaches are on site but their availability hours are rather narrow and sometimes it can be difficult to get the help you need.Hiring Partners
Makers have a lot of hiring partners which is great because often I found a lot of companies didn’t understand what boot camp grads did or just didn’t think we had enough experience for a junior role. Unfortunately the process isn’t perfect and I sometimes found the selection process of Makers hiring partners to be questionable; even though they had been endorsed by Makers some of them still seem not to what they require from a junior developer. Feedback from hiring partner companies also felt inconsistent.Communication
This was probably my biggest frustration with the course as communication at Makers can range anywhere from excellent to poor. Naturally, a lot of it takes place over Slack. Sometimes you just need important information and you could either get an answer from someone instantly or not at all. I found myself frequently feeling left in the dark--I think if someone needs help with something, it would be good to just shoot them a reply with something like "I'm still looking into this but I'll get back to you soon", instead of just not replying at all.
Overall Makers was still a great experience and I'd recommend it to anyone interested in starting a career as a software developer.
- Incredible, intense and totally worth it- 7/3/2020Kate H • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via LinkedInI joined for the February cohort which was interrupted by Covid-19. Even when we moved the course online, the community and the staff continued to make the whole experience productive and positive - I have learnt so much in just 12 weeks it's crazy. The course material itself is really engaging and the difficulty builds week upon week at a nice pace.
But the course is difficult - you will have moments where you wonder why you chose to sign up for this. The discomfort is worth it.
I just managed to get a job despite the current climate, thanks to the extra support of the careers staff (who are amazing). The main thing I will take away from my experience at Makers is the wonderful new friendships and a new passion for learning which I haven't had since I left university many many years ago. Thank you Makers!
- Best way to kickstart your developer career- 6/25/2020David McGregor • Junior Front End Developer • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via GitHubI took the plunge and signed up to the web development bootcamp after doing Udemy/FreeCodeCamp courses on and off for a year. Looking back I regret not signing up to Makers sooner - there's no better way of learning the fundamentals quickly than building real group projects with students using best-practice tools and methods e.g. pair-programming, test-driven development and agile methodology. The course is demanding but there is plenty of support from staff and peers. Makers also provided external code reviews which simulated the pressures of real-world job interviews. The post-course job assistance was helpful, and being in a community of job-hunters meant resources and leads could be shared. After the course I now have the confidence to learn independently, and a clear sense of the trajectory of my future development career.
- A tranasformative 16 weeks- 6/10/2020Overall I think Makers is absolutely brilliant.
It's exactly what I wanted from a bootcamp, namely a lot of exposure to technologies and methodologies I would have otherwise struggled with learning by myself, and excellent support from experienced coaches.
There's also a great alumni community (which I have just become a part of).
They start you off with 4 weeks of independent learning and challenges (the pre-course) before the course (12 weeks) starts in earnest, which is where the real magic happens.
The course starts with Ruby (a language I really enjoy), which has a clean and simple syntax, allowing you to focus on programming concepts you can take to any language (which you do then apply when learning JavaScript). This approach allows you to build skills that you can apply to any field or language. For your final project you can decide on anything at all, even applying your newfound learning skills to get to grips with tech you have never used before to great effect.
The style is mainly self-led learning, with provided materials to for you to use, but you are also encouraged to learn from other materials you can find. I really like this approach as it has set me up to be a lifelong tech learner, rather than struggling to learn on my own once the course finished.
The coaches are there for you to get feedback on what you have done yourself, and to help you get unblocked in sticky situations, rather than to spoon feed you information. I think this is representative of the working world as a junior dev.
Because of this, you learn a lot about communication and teamwork, as its often other members of your cohort that you turn to first when you have a problem.
That said, the course is tough because of this, don't expect an easy ride. It will be uncomfortable and hard at times, but hopefully that signals that you are growing and improving. Self discipline to be on time and put the effort in, willingness to trust in the course's process, and the ability to give things a go when you aren't entirely sure of yourself will all serve you well on this course.
- The Direction and tools I needed!- 5/19/2020Patrick Oliver • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via LinkedInHave you ever wanted to learn something, but you just can't fathom how to begin learning?
I doubt I will ever face this problem again thanks to the self learning skills that Makers Academy has set me up with.
The holistic approach to their learning is simply refreshing, and effective. Equipping you with no only the skills and tools needed to secure a career in Software, but also the roadmap to becoming a more balanced and emotionally intelligent person. Equipping you with the skills to learn independently and effectively.
This truly has been an amazing experience, One I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interesting in forging a career in tech.
Just do it!
- Web Development Bootcamp- 5/6/2020Toby Dawson • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via LinkedInI really enjoyed my Makers experience, the course is really well thought out and keeps you busy 100% of the time. Being onsite at Makers breeds a really brilliant work environment and atmosphere. The pair programming and team projects are really well thought out and its great to be able to step away from coding occasionally and play some ping pong.
- Katie • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via LinkedInSupportive staff who want you to succeed. A fast paced course to introduce you with some of the needed skills to get a job as a dev. Lots of focus on wellbeing and becoming a better and more rounded person. Would be better if there were staff available to help in the afternoon as sometimes in projects you can become stuck and could help to move forwards quicker.
- Fantastic Experience!- 3/5/2020Having had limited tech experience before Makers, I found the interview and the pre-course really helped prepare me for the course. While it is a lot of work, the coaches, projects and reviews help prepare us for what it's like working in the tech field.
I had a truly fantastic experience at Makers. The support from staff from getting on the course all the way to finding a job made a huge impact on my time here. For anyone who can put in the time and make the commitment I think it's a fantastic opportunity but it is important to keep in mind that it is a self-lead journey and you get out what you put in.
For anyone looking to make the career change into software I would definitely recommend this course!
- An Eye Opening Experience- 3/4/2020I came into this course already knowing how to code, therefore you may think that I had no reason in being there? Well I learnt much more than how to code, I improved my pair programming ability and this therefore made me a more valuable member of my team, as I now have the ability to explain problems and solutions to all skill levels, and I've got Makers to thank for that :)
- Life changing- 3/2/2020Kriss Wiltshire • Full stack engineer • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via LinkedInTaking the plunge into a new career can be extremely daunting, but Makers made my transition from IT consultant to Software engineer near to seamless and enjoyable. From as early as the pre-course Makers encourage you to work with your peers, this was something that didn't come naturally to me but was something that I have been wanting to work on for a long time so I embraced it. You will pair on a daily basis and learn to work with every personality type, and you are guaranteed to make some lasting connections.
I never felt too comfortable, which is a good thing, I was always challenged and felt like I was learning something new every day. You will learn not only how to be a great dev in 12 weeks, but you will be given the tools to continually learn and code anything you can imagine.
The fact that Makers place soft skills on the same level as tech skills was refreshing. Not only did I learn a lot about coding best practices but I learnt a whole heap about myself throughout the process.
I can honestly say that Makers has changed my life, I am starting a dream job and have all the tools to make it an enjoyable experience.
- Life changing experience- 2/19/2020Faduma H • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via LinkedInI had a great time studying at Makers and it was exactly the challenge I was looking for, equipping me with the skills to have a complete career change. Great support from coaches and the careers' team, and have met some wonderful people! Highly recommend!
- A Whirlwind, Rollercoaster Ride!- 1/28/2020Marc Blenkinsop • Apprentice Junior Software Engineer • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via LinkedIn
I attended the Makers Academy Bootcamp from September to December 2019. Being in my 30s and having very little prior knowledge (a smattering of hobby coding from my teen years) I went into the course apprehensive that I wouldn't be able to keep up and end up left behind. How wrong I was! I learned a phenomenal amount in just 3 months!
The learning was approached from a bottom-up perspective with a heavy emphasis on learning the very basics of coding first and then using those basics to expand and extend the knowledge learned in a gradual and manageable way to complete more and more complex projects. In addition to the coding there was a heavy emphasis on emotional learning as well, through meditation, yoga and workshops on how to be a more well-rounded and emotionally healthy person in a tough, fast paced industry.
The only con I can think of from the whole experience was the hands-off approach to teaching. Don't get me wrong, the coaches were there to help and provide advice (and were fantastic), but the learning was not in the same vein as school or college wherein the teaching was more formalised and followed a strict curriculum. This was jarring and somewhat difficult to get used to, and at times rather frustrating, but in hindsight it was actually a positive. They gave me the tools to learn organically and on the go, which (after a month in my placement) is absolutely essential and I am definitely grateful for!In short: the bootcamp was tough, oftentimes frustrating, but ultimately it was a fantastically valuable experience that has given me the knowledge and skills I needed to take my first steps into the Software Development industry!
- Great course if it suits your learning style- 1/23/2020Kevin Hanna • Software Engineer • Graduate • Course: Web Development • Campus: London • Verified via LinkedIn
Makers is very much a self driven course. There are coaches available for classes and assistance, but most learning will be done with your peers using the Makers provided curriculum. If this suits your learning style, I would highly recommend the course. If you prefer structured learning, it might be a bit of a challenge but success is still definitely achievable. You'll get out only as much as you are prepared to commit! Be prepared to work 12 hours a day during the course, with weekend work as well. The course is intense and there's a lot to take in, but with the friendly staff and students I highly enjoyed my time and kind of wish I could do it all again!
