Makers Academy

Joining Makers in May 2020 has been the best decision I made in my life, and here are the reasons :

Teamwork. In my whole educational background, from Business School to University, I never learned how to properly work in a team. At Makers, from Day 1, we are taught to work with different people from different backgrounds through peer group check-ins in the mornings/afternoon, and of course through intensive coding pairing sessions!
Not only did I learn how to work and code with other people, but I also improved my communication skills. One particular point that was crucial during those sessions was to be able to share our feelings, introspect, and share ideas and thoughts. Of course, another big thing was to help others with something and to be helped with another one. 
Now, I feel really better about working with people. I know how to listen to people's ideas, give them my point of view, lead if appropriate, or even challenge their ideas to go further. 

Track learning. In the same way, I have never been taught how to properly keep track of my learning before Makers. We discovered a wide range of tools such as Trello or GitHub to be able to write down our new learnings, our daily and weekly goals, and even our areas of further development. I'm now CTO of my own startup, and I could not imagine working without my Trello board now! 

Self-learning. Although the course focuses on teamwork, it also required us to work a lot on our own. This involved reading a lot (articles, GitHub courses), looking up a lot of concepts and issues on StackOverflow, watching videos, and online courses to go always further! Being curious and motivated is also the clue when joining Makers and is part of the journey. 

Support. During the whole course, I have been helped by a lot of people at Makers. Firstly, by my peer group, when I was not feeling really good or experienced issues with something. Then, the whole May cohort on daily issues. And finally by the coaches that gave me advice on both course-related issues and personal ones. After the course, I also took benefit from the Slack community which was the perfect way to reach out to the coaches or my fellow Makers!

Coding the good way. Before joining Makers, I started to learn JavaScript on my own to develop the platform of our business. I followed Udemy and Code Academy courses, did some reading, and learned by doing. Yet, I knew I was not really coding the good way: my code was not DRY at all, had some repetitions, and above all, it was not tested... At Makers, I learned that before writing a single line of code, you NEED to test it. Then you can build a code that is perfectly tested and performant. This was a  totally new approach for me and when I went back to my business it helped a lot!

Modeling. In the same way, I used to code straight without really knowing the variables at stake or even the main goal. During the course, I have been taught to write down every variables (classes, methods, objects) involved in my program before writing my first line of code. This has been so so useful in my personal project, and I always start with modeling before coding now!


In short, joining Makers Academy has really been the best experience I ever had. I totally change my way of thinking, working, coding, and approaching an issue. A warm thank you to everyone that contributed to this amazing journey with me. 

The coaches are skilled, caring and supportive. They get to know you and really care about your success and wellbeing. 

The course is very comprehensive and at times intense but not as intense as I was expecting. It was manageable and I learned so much in such a short space of time. I wouldn’t say I felt totally prepared for that first role as a software developer but that’s more because of many companies’ unrealistic expectations on Junior Developers (and maybe a little bit of a self-confidence issue, too - I was a teacher with zero coding experience before making the switch). 

If you put in the work, you can make that career switch with Makers. They came highly recommended to me and I saw why. 

One of the best parts of the Makers experience which is not highlight enough is the continued support once you have completed the bootcamp. As an alumni, I have received consistent career support from the Makers team, in the form of job offers and apprenticeships they have received as well as CV reviews and interview prep. As an Alumni I also feel like part of a community with my fellow alumni.

An important note is that it may not be the best experience for everyone, the curriculum follows as strict pace, although anything you want to work on can be done in your own time, that being said some of my fellow cohort struggled to keep up and this can be very demoralising for some people. Being part of a cohort does mean that you do have peers to aid you, as was my experience.

Overall the experience was well worth it, between what I learned to the community I became part of. 

This bootcamp provides a great experience for those with no prior tech experience (such as myself!) and you are taught the basics of what is required to flourish in the tech industry. You are taught in-demand languages, frameworks and technologies whilst also learning how to efficiently learn/teach yourself new technologies. You learn industry ways of working in teams such as agile metholodies, TDD (Test-Driven Development), pair-programming and how to conduct stand-ups. By the end of the bootcamp you can effectively build full-stack projects in agile teams and are given the tools for success.

However, the mission is not finished when you graduate from Makers as you still need to build up your tech skills, behavioural skills and projects to get interviews for jobs. The support from Makers is lacking for job-hunting, but I hear they are improving it for alumni which is promising news.

I would advise prospective students to always keep learning new things and building upon their skills as this will benefit their portfolio and skills bank and therefore improve their chances of being employed.

I was in the March 2023 cohort and just started my first tech job last week so it is possible, but you need to perservere and not give up!

Makers coaches are pretty good and the curriculum is good and with the good support that is provided during the course I am sure you will be able to achieve your dreams!

My experience at Makers was very positive. I chose them because they seemed like a supportive and inclusive place to learn and it definitely delivered on that. 
My cohort was between curriculum changes, so we learned Python and Javascript and only had the option to complete the software development track, and I believe was slightly shorter than the current iteration. During the course we worked on 3 group projects of varying complexity, using technologies such as Flask, Express and React.
Coach support was generally very good, although at times you would have to wait a while for your turn for support during coaching hours if they were helping someone else out for a long time. There were a couple of weeks where the coaches seemed a little disorganised and no one was sure who was supposed to be leading, but I believe this was due to sickness or absence of a few coaches at one time. In the end there was always someone on hand to introduce us to the next module and provide support during coaching hours. 
There were a few workshops on emotional intelligence and wellbeing that were a nice touch and they didn't take much time away from technical learning. There was also daily morning meditation and weekly yoga classes which I enjoyed.
Job support after the course was quite good, but limited by the market conditions. There is a partnerships team that makes relationships with companies to recruit directly from the pool of graduates, but there were very few opportunities in the 8 months that I was job hunting. Support in terms of interview preparation and CV advice was excellent though (thank you Sandy!).
Overall I would recommend the bootcamp, however I would warn that the market is really difficult at the moment and no matter what bootcamp you attend it will probably be difficult to find a job. It's taken me 8 months to get any offers and there are plenty of people who have been looking for longer and still haven't managed to secure any roles.

I attended Makers starting in September 2023 and started my first Software Engineer Role in May 2024. The experience at Makers was extremely valuable, mainly being exposed to a tailored curriculum of core concepts that any Software Engineer will need to understand. Having the support of coaches when necessary was extremely valuable to help build confidence in understanding of these concepts. I think it is great that the course now starts with Python as opposed to Ruby and that you can select a track to pursue your interest. I chose the Software Development track where I learned JS, React, Node and MongoDB. The group projects were really the main highlight as it's where you can feel your skills improving most and you make real progress in a very short time. I'd say the main difficulty for Makers and any bootcamp right now is the difficulty of the hiring market as ultimately you will be pitching yourself as an efficient learner with a good base to companies rather than a finished package, this can be a tricky sell but it's not impossible, as long as you work hard to remain productive after the course. My role will be using C# and .NET of which I have no experience (yet) so there are companies out there willing to take on those with great skills from their past career and a commitment to learning. I would recommend Makers, it's not easy, nor is getting a job afterwards but it is worth it and I'm very glad I made the choice to change career with Makers. 

I was able to really understand what I wanted to do with the tech industry by seeing how a domain could be constructed, accessed and consequentally be exploited by visitors!  I was put in a cohort with like minded people who wanted to change carreers as well as challenge themselves to do better and become something greater.  The teachers have a varied experience that they draw on to help the students effectively and the curriculum has helped in structuring this fast paced programme. Without Makers I wouldn't be where I am today!

I loved my bootcamp experience. I was pushed to work hard, but found the work engaging for the most part and loved the group dynamic. The pace of learning takes a big adjustment but once you get used to it, you find yourself surpassing what you thought you could do very quickly. 

You get out what you put in. Not everyone on the course is going to put the work in, which makes teamwork hard sometimes. But that's true of any course or job and you have to roll with it. As there's no formal assessment at Makers, it makes it easy for people to coast, and noone really checks up on how much work you've done or not done.

The real issues start after you leave Makers. The current job market is really tough, and Makers don't offer much support to help you. Out of my cohort of 18 people, I know that 3 of us are now employed in tech 6 months after finishing the course. A large part of that is the difficult market, but I do think another factor is the lack of support from Makers to help their graduates navigate the market. They don't really have many special opportunities (which used to be their big selling point), so you're left to your own devices. 

Overall it allowed me to career change which was the goal, and I enjoyed the course and the tutors were great, but I'm not sure I could recommend it without reservations.

The learning structure of the bootcamp was good, there wasn't a week when it felt wasted. The emphasis is definitely more so on producing projects and completing challenges rather than getting a thorough understanding of the topic, which is understandable given the time constraints. However, as topics got more challenging towards the latter end of the bootcamp, this lack of depth proved to be more detrimental. So see the learning as a foundation to give you the gist of what to learn in your own time during or after the bootcamp. 

I think the real value of Makers comes from the large alumni network you are able to tap into and take advantage of at any point of your career. Additionally, being able to learn, pair-program and do team projects with other fellow learners  is invaluable and is not easily replicated. Due to Makers reputation and selection process you are going to be in cohort with many amazing people that you will learn so much from and could help you down the line. There's also a big push on mental wellbeing and emotional intelligence, which is not necessary of a bootcamp, but just goes to show that Makers goes above and beyond for its students.

I found the course to be a great way to learn the foundations of Software Engineering. I think it's important to note that a lot of success depends on your own motivation and ability to seek help from peers/coaches if you need it, as a lot of the learning is hands off. Coaches are available to help with the course materials and run a few workshops/webinars. 

The structure for most of the course of 'solo work' in the mornings and then 'pairing' in the afternoons works well. You get assigned a pair that will either be behind you or ahead of you, and you work on the materials of whoever is behind. This way if you fall behind a bit, you can get guidance from someone that's further ahead of you, and if you steam ahead, you are somewhat forced to reinforce what you've already learned by helping others.

Careers support is pretty good, but again it's somewhat hands off. Lots of workshops to help with CV and cover letter writing, application tips, etc, and then ad hoc support when you need it. E.g. if you need a pep talk or technical advice before an interview you can schedule a call with a coach. Also students are allowed to book a (theoretically) unlimited number of 'code reviews' these are like mock technical interviews where you get really detailed feedback on your coding process and where you can make improvements, as well as a full recording of your review. These are done with an external partner so there's no bias. These are really useful so, if you do Makers, be sure to take advantage of these.

It's hard to give a fully thorough assessment of the careers support however, as the job market is really in a bad place right now, so the 'getting a job' bit is quite tough at the moment. The careers partnerships team seems, however, to have started bringing in a few nice hiring partners who agree to interview Makers grads, but for a while there was a real drought of any partnerships coming in so there's a bit of a backlog of job hunters in the alumni. General chatter is that the market is picking up again after the bloodbath of layoffs in the sector have started to stabilise, but it could still be a while.

Overall, I'm really glad I did Makers and I found a job 2 months after graduating, however some people have been less lucky and are still hunting quite a few months on. With that in mind just be aware of the fact that - given the current market - the job hunt requires a LOT of work to keep coding and keep your motivation up applying to jobs, and also requires a fair bit of luck too.. But if you have the logical mind for coding and the motivation to power through it I'm sure you'll be great.

Pros:

Learn javascript + ruby very well and indepth in 12 weeks
Learn frameworks and supporting technologies that are high in demand and relevant in todays workplace.
Fantastic support in learning via coaches and mentors. They will answer each and every question.
Experience working through projects in real-life, work applicable methodologies such as AGILE.
Be part of a cohort with like minded individuals who push each other to succeed.
Immense job support after the course through 1 to 1 tailored coaching, group sessions and interview advice.
Access to an exclusive network of Alumni Makers, many in senior and lead positions today.
A rubber duck as a souvenir.

Cons:

Will require effort. It's a full time endeavour, very intense and will require your full attention and effort.

Overall, I had a fantastic experience at Makers. Regardless of the extremely tough job market toward the end of 2022 and beginning of 2023, I managed to secure a very desirable entry level job with one of my favourite languages that I was taught at Makers. There are concepts that I had no idea existed in web development that were taught at Makers and my success singlehandedly goes out to them. If I could do it all again I would 100%.