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Makers Academy is a highly selective, tech program which teaches Software Engineering, Data Analytics, DevOps (or Cloud), and Test Engineering online and in hybrid cohorts at their campus 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. While they are highly selective, they focus on a student's passion for becoming a developer by gauging their coding experience. Makers Academy offers apprenticeships through their bootcamps.
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.
With one of the UK’s largest careers team dedicated to finding students 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.
I was on the course from September to December 2014. I had three of the most fun, intellectually stimulating months in recent memory when I was on the course. I loved my cohort, the teaching style under Enrique's leadership was well-suited to my learning style, and Makers provided a focused, work-like environment without which I never would have learned to code. The CEO, Evgeny, is very receptive to criticism and promotes a culture of openness within the company, among both the staff a...
I was on the course from September to December 2014. I had three of the most fun, intellectually stimulating months in recent memory when I was on the course. I loved my cohort, the teaching style under Enrique's leadership was well-suited to my learning style, and Makers provided a focused, work-like environment without which I never would have learned to code. The CEO, Evgeny, is very receptive to criticism and promotes a culture of openness within the company, among both the staff and the students.
I also cannot say enough good things about the placements team. Samantha, Ruben, and Will really, really go to bat for you. Makers has only been around for two years, but when a group of us went to Silicon Milkroundabout earlier in the year, we attracted a lot of interest because employers could pick out that we're Makers students. I think it says a lot that so far (and it's a tremendous reflection on the placements team) Makers has done a reasonably good job of churning out grads of consistently high caliber.
I've been reading about a bubbling backlash against bootcamps like Makers Academy in recent months, and I think a lot of it is caused by misplaced expectations on the part of students. It's not a magic pill that will turn you into a great coder in 12 (or 16, now, with the precourse work) weeks. That's impossible. The Makers system works really well for people who are reasonably smart, but much more importantly, hard-working, self-aware, and willing to help those around them. You don't need to be a genius to succeed in a coding boot camp. It's precisely because these are the qualities that are found again and again in good developers. If you walk in the door on Day One with the mindset, "I've paid £8000 to be here, I expect these people to make me a developer in three months," you are probably not going to do too well.
You're probably wondering, what is Makers' distinguishing point from General Assembly, or any of the numerous boot camps in North America? I don't know enough about Dev Bootcamp or Hack Reactor, but Makers is much more discerning than GA, particulary when it comes to Test-Driven Development (TDD). Do some research on what TDD and Behavior-Driven Development means before you make your decision. Learning to write automated tests alongside your code is a painful process the first few times, but it is incredibly valuable -- it is often the difference between building something maintainable and extensible versus just hacking together 200 lines of spaghetti code that somebody else has to spend a week untangling later down the line. When you have junior devs who have been coding for 8 weeks already thinking about technical debt before they've written a single line of production code... I think that's pretty awesome.
But, since this is a review, I'm gonna be honest about where Makers still needs improvement. I feel extremely fortunate to have been on the course when I was, in large part because of Enrique's teaching. However, as of November 2014, Enrique is no longer with the company. Neither is Alex Peattie, who left in September 2014. There is currently a lack of experienced senior developers with industry experience on the permanent teaching staff.
I think Makers also need to better define its target audience. There are generally two categories of people who sign up for Makers: those who want to become developers and those who want to become entrepreneurs of tech startups. Makers is successful at meeting the needs of the first category, but is currently not well-suited to the second category, particularly with the introduction of an entire week dedicated to finding a job placement at the end of the course. If you are just looking to prototype a web app, I would say that Makers is probably overkill.
Overall, I had a great experience at Makers and would recommend it to anyone who wants to make a career change and is willing to put in the effort and time.
How much does Makers Academy cost?
Makers Academy costs around £8,500.
What courses does Makers Academy teach?
Makers Academy offers courses like Web Development.
Where does Makers Academy have campuses?
Makers Academy has in-person campuses in Bristol, Cambridge, London, and Manchester. Makers Academy also has a remote classroom so students can learn online.
Is Makers Academy worth it?
Makers Academy hasn't shared alumni outcomes yet, but one way to determine if a bootcamp is worth it is by reading alumni reviews. 408 Makers Academy alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Makers Academy on Course Report - you should start there!
Is Makers Academy legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 408 Makers Academy alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Makers Academy and rate their overall experience a 4.78 out of 5.
Does Makers Academy offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Right now, it doesn't look like Makers Academy offers scholarships or accepts the GI Bill. We're always adding to the list of schools that do offer Exclusive Course Report Scholarships and a list of the bootcamps that accept the GI Bill.
Can I read Makers Academy reviews?
You can read 408 reviews of Makers Academy on Course Report! Makers Academy alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed Makers Academy and rate their overall experience a 4.78 out of 5.
Is Makers Academy accredited?
No
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