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MakerSquare is now Hack Reactor
As of 11/1/16, Hack Reactor has unified its network of schools, including MakerSquare and Telegraph Academy, under the Hack Reactor brand.
Subject to regulatory approval, MakerSquare's network of schools are rebranded as Hack Reactor Austin, Hack Reactor Los Angeles, Hack Reactor San Francisco and Hack Reactor New York City.
If you graduated from MakerSquare prior to October 2016, please leave your review for MakerSquare. Otherwise, please leave your review for Hack Reactor.
To view updated and accurate information, please visit the
Hack Reactor Course Report page.
MakerSquare is a 12-week immersive career accelerator program in Austin and San Francisco that aims to turn ambitious beginners looking to learn computer programming into marketable software engineers. MakerSquare's curriculum focuses solely on JavaScript with a large focus on software engineering fundamentals. NodeJS, Angular, Meteor and Express are just a few of the libraries, frameworks and platforms students work with. Additionally, throughout the program, MakerSquare hosts a variety of interactive events like mentorship night, weekly Makerstories sessions, Demos 'n' Drinks nights, hackathons, and career prep events. MakerSquare hosts a Career Day at the end of every class and also provides ongoing graduate career support to help students get interviews with partner companies. MakerSquare is looking for students who are passionate, tenacious, curious, patient and critical thinkers.
There are a lot of things left out of the positive reviews here. Mostly because most kids don't want to commit career sucide by publically admitting that there was not really much value added by MKS and that it is an organization that appears to operate without standards or credibility.
That's not to say that people don't learn at MKS. Most do. But thats mostly because they are highly motivated, intelligent people putting in 80+ hours a week. They largely succeed in spite of ...
There are a lot of things left out of the positive reviews here. Mostly because most kids don't want to commit career sucide by publically admitting that there was not really much value added by MKS and that it is an organization that appears to operate without standards or credibility.
That's not to say that people don't learn at MKS. Most do. But thats mostly because they are highly motivated, intelligent people putting in 80+ hours a week. They largely succeed in spite of MKS, not because of it. Here are some of the many things I would have liked to know before attending MKS, and which, aside from a handful of recent reviews on here, are not reflected in the information available to prospective students.
Makersquare provides you with a crowded, noisy, and busy co-working space in which your main educational resources will be a series of video lectures (half of which are low quality and pedagoically poor) and the guidance of a handful of teaching assistants, who, just a few weeks ago were in the same position you were. This is, with little exagerration, almost the entirety of what you are paying for.
This is not really communicated externally, but sit and think about it- you're paying $17k to have someone with 10 weeks of experience 'teach' you. Depending on who the TA who is on call, half the time I didn't even bother to ask for help because I knew the TA knew as little about the problem as I did. I say 'teach' because MKS emphasizes above all else 'self-suffieincy' i.e. google the answer yourself. This is supposedly to help you become an independent learner but is mostly used as an excuse to largely not have anyone on-site with any relevant technical knowledge. You end up with a half-baked base of knowledge cobbled together through trial-and-error hacking, trawling Stack Overflow, and otherwise doing stuff you could be doing from your own home, without MKS.
I say this not to demean the TA's, because they're doing their best. Its just ludicrous to have them as essentially the sole educational resource available. In my experience, a good number of the TA's chose to continue as TA's after MKS precisely becasue they felt a lack of confidence in their technical skills and wanted to spend a few more months post MKS improving. This isn't to say anthing against the TA's, who do the best they can, and, in my experience, are highly motivated, caring, and dedicated professionals. Its just an absurd situation that is succesful only in allowing MKS to staff itself at the lowest cost possible. Its an amazing business model when you can get kids to pay $17k, add no value, and then hire them back for a pittance to teach the next generation. But that's exactly what they do.
The first 5 weeks for me were extremely trying and consisted of sprints, which were presented in rapid-fire fashion without any real time for reflection or learning.
The sprints seek to bring you up to speed by layering on multiple concepts on top of each other in a way that is unhelpful and confusing. Hey, today we're going to learn about databases! But we're going to do it within the context of using an MVC framework you've never used, and oh, what the hell, let's throw in an ORM-layer on top! Nothing makes it easier to learn than half a dozen layers of abstraction! Don't worry if you don't get it, because tomorrow we'll be moving on to something completely different.
Most of the TA's I spoke to admitted the sprints were poor and that they had been planning to rework them for ages, but last I'd heard nothing has changed. This isn't really surprising since senior management seems checked out of the actual educational product and is focused on growing the business by adding new programs to sell, charging employers more to access students, and otherwise seemingly attempting to extract as much value as they can from students.
For the second half of the program, you are placed in a group to work on a project that will be the sum-total of value received for your 10 weeks and $17k. If things work out and you get a good group, you might have a nice project to speak to employers about. If you're placed in a dysfunctional group, you'll be on your own and MKS will not do anything to help you.
There is one person on the Austin instructional staff who cares. His name is Gilbert. You will be fighting for his attention with everyone else in your class. The other 'experienced' engineer is a guy who is checked out of his job and will be absent from the curriculum if he can even bother to show up. If you're wondering, hey, how might this actually be done in a production setting? What is the best practice for this type of problem? Save your questions for if/when you get a job, becasue outside of Gilbert, essentially no one here has a clue.
It seems that there are no actual admission standards, that the 'hiring standards' they claim to uphold are in fact highly flexible (no one I spoke to had ever heard of anyone failing), and in my experience, the school will always act in its own interests before its students. Since they hire the teaching staff from the former cohorts, I know more about this place than I care to. Management has leaned on TA's to accept kids who don't meeet basic technical standards in order to drive revenue. When people fail technically, MKS apparently carves them out of the employment statistics by having you sign a release. When people fail the hiring assesment, they're apparently given a special pass and allowed to graduate like everyone else. This doesn't do anyone any good except MKS.
I mention their apparent focus on managing metrics because I took a week off after the program (it was the week of Christmas, FYI) rather than start my job hunt. The main concern of MKS' careers team was to get me to sign a release so they could scratch me out of their hiring metrics, which demand that you adhere precisely to their instructions. This is, in a sense, helpful in the very narrow sense that it insures that you have comparable data (i.e. everyone started looking for a job on the same day), but to my knowledge they do this with anyone they view as a potential problem case. I would by very very suspicious of their reported metrics and I suspect that they are highly manipulated. It seems to be that anyone that represents a potential problem case is removed from the data. If MKS actually believed in transparency I would encourage them to report additional metrics that allow us to see how many people they carve out, what their outcomes are like, etc. That will likely only happen with regulation because many of the practices I encountered suggests that MKS prioritizes itself over its students at almost every step of the way.
As far as I can tell, the only tangible value from MKS comes from the project you deliever. Ours was challenged because we had a highly disruptive group member who experienced almost daily breakdowns and proved to be impossible to work with productively. Despite MKS feeling wary enough about this person to prevent them from using the school's career resources and disavowing any relationship with them (although these are largely worthless in any case), they gave us no assistance in dealing with this person. This speaks to their apparent philosophy - if they're protected, the students' outcomes don't matter.
Makersquare's management and educational philosophy is that if you repeat something over and over again, you actually start to believe its true.
These pressures to focus on revenue over educational quality are probably worse than ever following the Hack Reactor acquisition. Despite this supposedly being MKS's main campus, I saw the CEO onsite once in 3+ months, although the co-founder did drop by once to hit on a few of the women in the program and offer some bogus motivational speech about how much he cares about you. For me, seeing how apparently tuned out of the core business management was was a reminder that I had just wasted $17k paying for the startup equivalent of Devry University, wrapped in a trendy and self-serving aura of BS.
The career resources they emphasize consist of having a former pick-up artist coach and professional wrestler teach you how to negotiate through sleazy hard-ball tactics in 2-3 seminars in your last week (spoiler alert: these amount to 'negging' employers and refusing to ever name a price first). This is the extent of your career prep, and his opinions are presented as the be-all end all reality. I talked to more than one executive around town who told me that he was well aware of these tactics, found them distasteful, and had a negative opinion of MKS because of the kind of high-confidence, low-talent grads this place cranks out. I have removed MKS from my resumes and professional references because I feel it raises as many questions as it answers for employers.
Oh, also, they now charge employers a $15k placement fee for accessing MKS students through the largely non-existant job placement they offer. This was a new policy for my cohort. This wasn't communicated to us even though, to my mind, this makes previous hiring metrics irrelevant. Obviously there is a much higher burden to hiring kids when you are charging a recruitment fee on par with what an experiecned hire woudl command. Again, I only found this out from industry contacts. In either case, the job board they tout is a phantom. EVERY SINGLE JOB I APPLIED TO from the MKS board I was informed by the MKS careers team that the employer wasn't actually hiring.
The degree of incompetence and laziness at MKS relative to the amount of value they extract from students seems to be so extreme that it borders on unethical. I very much get the sense that management views this as a short-term play and is focused on maximizing their return before tech hiring slows down and it becomes impossible to hide how little value they add.
One last, infuriating example:
Literally the week of graduation they sent out an e-mail trying to sell us, for another $2.5k or something, an introductory course to algorithims and data structrues. Even though that was supposed to be the first couple weeks of MKS. It was one of the biggest middle fingers they could have possibly given me, and just reinforces the sense that this place is a start-up equivalent of a Devry University.
I was a student in LA back in Jan 2016-March 2016. I graduated with a $95k base salary with benefits that exceed $120k (like paid lunches, ubers to and from work, health+vision+dental, bonuses + monthly paid out profit sharing of $1000 [untaxed] per month). So if you're questioning whether it works or not, it definitely works from my perspective. I was nervous at first when taking the dive - afterall $17-18k is a lot to trust in a school that is less than a decade old. But that's a better ...
I was a student in LA back in Jan 2016-March 2016. I graduated with a $95k base salary with benefits that exceed $120k (like paid lunches, ubers to and from work, health+vision+dental, bonuses + monthly paid out profit sharing of $1000 [untaxed] per month). So if you're questioning whether it works or not, it definitely works from my perspective. I was nervous at first when taking the dive - afterall $17-18k is a lot to trust in a school that is less than a decade old. But that's a better option than paying anyhwre from $65-200k on a 4 year degree. The dollar per time spent is a much higher value.
As I like to say: you take YOUR brain (no one else's) to job interviews, so it's your responsibility for what is inside it by the time you start your job search after the program. Like anything in life, you are responsible for what you know and what you don't. Anyone who expects to passively take the 12 week course and get good offers floodiing in afterwards without a spiffy online portfolio and stories of lessons learned while building applications during the program are fooling themselves. After you're done, you need to hunt for your livelihood in the real world - and it's a game of selling your skills and negotiating for the best offer after your time spent learning during the program.
While at Makersquare (hack reactor) you will need to put in 8-12 hrs per day to gain the skills necessary to earn a job in the field. Tha'ts what's great though - Makersquare gives you the focused cirriculum and support needed during the uncertain time of learning a trade to get you from novice to professional. If you learn on your own, it's hard to tell what is a waste of time and what will actually help you gain professional profficiency. For this guidance - Makersquare (aka hack reactor now) is very valuable. The students you are with are equally motivated to learn and they will help you discover tools / tricks of the trade. You will undoubtedly give back to them too with your unique perspective.
A lot of people complain about the video lectures, and that makes sense. The video lectures are just about as good as you can get online (if not as good). But that's not really the point of going to a bootcamp. The real value you gain is from struggling on real projects during the program using modern javsacript/(fontend and backend) frameworks and tools with real people who know more or less the same amount about software engineering as you do. You can't rely on someone who is more knoweldgable than you to get things done (just like the real world). You make mistakes, you get lost, and you learn through collective struggle. My brain hurt a lot through all 12 weeks. It felt like that ache that you get in my muscles after I work out, but in my brain. Through this process, I became a better individual problem sovler, and a better teammate.
As for career advice, i think the program was lacking here - but at the same time the confidence and negotiation tactics (aka learning the bravado necessary to make $100K/yr demands from employers) I got from the program did help me. They basically taught me how to look past the BS that recruiters will tell you, and how to defer saying a number first when negotiating for a salary (and what to ask for aka 100k/yr). I quickly learned while on the job search that recruiters are basically amateurs that dont know how to code that assume that they know everything about tech. It's best to avoid them, because they suffer from the Dunning Kreuger effect worst of all (which sadlly, we all suffer from but have to recognize in ourselves). They trick themselves into thinking they know what companies value, when in reality, they dont truly know what it takes to provide value to these companies (or else they would know how to code).
Anyway, I've talked too much already. In my opinion, you should do it because it lead to a great path for me. But if you're that baller that you can learn software engineering all on your own (see Dunning Kreuger effect) then by all means, go it alone. I'm proud to say this program helped me, and I dont need to listen to anyone else that doubts.
I was in the 3rd Cohort at MakerSquare back when they still taught Ruby on Rails and JS. The main thing I can say is it is well worth it in terms of value. Learned everything I needed to to get a job at a company I had always dreamed of working at. As far as the job placement / interview process it was definitely rough at times during the tech interview part, but overall not that much worse then when I first got out of College with my batchelor's degree. Also I am sure their connectio...
I was in the 3rd Cohort at MakerSquare back when they still taught Ruby on Rails and JS. The main thing I can say is it is well worth it in terms of value. Learned everything I needed to to get a job at a company I had always dreamed of working at. As far as the job placement / interview process it was definitely rough at times during the tech interview part, but overall not that much worse then when I first got out of College with my batchelor's degree. Also I am sure their connections have gotten a lot better since I graduated.
My name is Brian Boyko - you can reach me at brian.boyko@gmail.com, so you know I'm a real person, real student, real everything.
I'm going to give an unqualified, enthusiastic recommendation for MakerSquare.
But, you have to come into MakerSquare with the attitude that you are there to learn. You will be coached and pushed along by your peers and your instructors, but you only get out of the course what you put into it.
And yes, you do need to *actually ...
My name is Brian Boyko - you can reach me at brian.boyko@gmail.com, so you know I'm a real person, real student, real everything.
I'm going to give an unqualified, enthusiastic recommendation for MakerSquare.
But, you have to come into MakerSquare with the attitude that you are there to learn. You will be coached and pushed along by your peers and your instructors, but you only get out of the course what you put into it.
And yes, you do need to *actually like* coding. This is important: I think that the promise of bootcamps is not that "anyone can code" but that the potential for learning to be a good coder can be found in unlikely places. I'm kind of a "prototypical" example: Before MakerSquare I was a liberal arts major and marketing consultant who thought he could never program because he was "bad at math", and had even tried to major in programing in the 1990s, only to be told by professors that I'd never succeed.
But I always had an analytical mind, and if it wasn't for a (crazy) few life events, I never would have learned I had the talent, never would have gone to MakerSquare... never would be where I am now: an engineer.
That said, it *is* possible to do everything in MakerSquare with something like FreeCodeCamp. I actually like and recommend FreeCodeCamp for just about anyone considering a bootcamp program. But there are a few things that MakerSquare offers that FCC doesn't:
* Free Code Camp is almost always done by one person, themselves. MakerSquare is structured so that the first half is dedicated to pair programming. Both FCC and MS will teach you the technical stuff, but MakerSquare also makes sure you can communicate those ideas to your partners and teammates.
* Free Code Camp relies entirely on self-discipline. That can be difficult for many. MakerSquare's structure and required attendance helps you stay on track.
* MakerSquare prepares you for the job search, giving you guidance and advice for how to present yourself to employers, as well as lifetime career support.
Here's my thought: If you're on the fence about joining a bootcamp, go to FreeCodeCamp.com and give it a try. If you hate coding, you just found out for free that it isn't for you.
If you are self-motivated enough to do it and have all the projects: Great! You saved a lot of money. If you are happy doing this kind of work but maybe don't have the self-motivation? That's where MakerSquare can help out.
Ultimately, I consider MakerSquare one of the most transformative experiences of my life.
I recently graduated from MakerSquare and received employment about 1.5 months after. More than just the curriculum, which was excelllent, the big thing I noticed about MakerSquare was that the instructors all care about the students and help in any way they can. They know that bootcamps are stressful and they offer any support they can.
If you're willing to put in the time it's definitely worth it. That Ricky Walker sure is a dreamboat.
This Review is about the initial phaze of getting into the Fullstack Immersive program in NYC.
I recently just started the process of getting into Makersquare Fullstack Immersive program in NYC. I was really impressed with the clarity of the steps, and the resources available to bring you up to par with what starting the program requires. They, not only provide you with the guide that you need, but also provide free workshops, so you that you can get a feeling of what the program...
This Review is about the initial phaze of getting into the Fullstack Immersive program in NYC.
I recently just started the process of getting into Makersquare Fullstack Immersive program in NYC. I was really impressed with the clarity of the steps, and the resources available to bring you up to par with what starting the program requires. They, not only provide you with the guide that you need, but also provide free workshops, so you that you can get a feeling of what the program is about. I am starting today the MakerPrep: Introduction to JavaScrip that lasts about 1 month, 3 days a week.
Although, I haven't finished the program yet, I have to say that of all the other coding bootcamps that I applied to in NYC, Makersquare has definitely been the best. I took one of the free workshops offered bt the school, and I loved it. The day following the free workshop, I signed up for a tour of the school, I was lucky enough to be given the tour by Omar Mohammed, who up to this day, has provided me with excellent guidance, as well as providing me with info about all the tools available by the school in super sincere manner, going above and beyond to help me. I also got to meet and speak with Tyler Lamber, who is the Managing Director. He is unbelieably friendly, and you can feel his possitive energy, and his willingness to make you feel warm and at home. Mr. Lambe was also present during the free workshop, overseeing the lecture, and helping prospect students with questions, and inquires about the program.
I applied to some of the most popular coding bootcamps in NYC, and in most of these programs, everything has been more of a guessing game, and a gruesome and lenghty process, leaving you frustrated most of the time, with little or no guidance on the application process, with the exception of very few. This is where MakerSquare in my opinion, so far, succeeds, and exceeds. I am looking forward to finishing the program, and provide a more comprehensive review. I highly suggest that you start out by trying Makersquare.
Great experience, even though I had to drive almost 2 hours every day it was worth being around an awesome group. The people are the difference here. The curriculum was challenging, but the staff, especially the fellows, were supportive and helped get me get through technical and non-technical challenges. The job support after graduation was effective, I had my first offer after 4 weeks. My suggestion to job seekers is to not apply to their first choice positions at the beginning of the se...
Great experience, even though I had to drive almost 2 hours every day it was worth being around an awesome group. The people are the difference here. The curriculum was challenging, but the staff, especially the fellows, were supportive and helped get me get through technical and non-technical challenges. The job support after graduation was effective, I had my first offer after 4 weeks. My suggestion to job seekers is to not apply to their first choice positions at the beginning of the search. Even though we did mock interviews and whiteboarding during the class, I underperformed on my first few interviews and I wish I would have gotten that practice for a position I was less excited about. At the end of the day, I'm at a company I like with a salary that is far beyond what I was making before so everything worked out.
Makersquare is hands down one of the best experiences I've ever had. The awesome community built upon an already awesome community is what makes this bootcamp so special. From the initial moment you see your classmates faces on day one, you know you're in for a unforgettable ride. Furthermore, the instructors and staff are genuinely excited to meet you and assist you on your path to a software engineer.
But to describe Makersquare in a few words, it's almost like an intricate and...
Makersquare is hands down one of the best experiences I've ever had. The awesome community built upon an already awesome community is what makes this bootcamp so special. From the initial moment you see your classmates faces on day one, you know you're in for a unforgettable ride. Furthermore, the instructors and staff are genuinely excited to meet you and assist you on your path to a software engineer.
But to describe Makersquare in a few words, it's almost like an intricate and beautiful timepiece with numerous parts working together to achieve one common goal. Cheesy I know, but it's honestly how my experience felt like.
Almost all the pieces of this program are present in order to craft you into a software engineer: top of the line instructors, equipment, and community. But it can't finish the job until it has the last missing component, your endless hunger to learn and improve. You have to go beyond 100%. The moment you step out of your comfort zone and solve a problem, you're hooked. You look forward to the next day of being bombarded with unknown alien code and jargon for 10 hours because you know the feeling is amazing once you figure it out. If you stay hungry and are genuinely curious about the full spectrum of web development, then the program will take care of you because it did for me.
I'd like to preface this review with this: If you are not ready to work and give a school 110%, MakerSquare might not be the place for you. Though it is only 3 months, It definitely takes a lot out of you. But what you get in return is much more than I could have ever imagined.
The staff was amazing. So many resources there to help you in constructive ways. Instead of giving flat answers, they worked with you until you would came up with the correct logic to the puzzle.
...I'd like to preface this review with this: If you are not ready to work and give a school 110%, MakerSquare might not be the place for you. Though it is only 3 months, It definitely takes a lot out of you. But what you get in return is much more than I could have ever imagined.
The staff was amazing. So many resources there to help you in constructive ways. Instead of giving flat answers, they worked with you until you would came up with the correct logic to the puzzle.
One of the toughest challenges in learning any programming language is getting passed the basics. Learning where and how to take that next step can take years. At MakerSquare, within a month I was learning advanced concepts, bleeding edge frameworks and technologies, and solving complex algorithms on a daily basis.
Upon completion of the program, I felt very prepared in every aspect for my future career as a Software Developer. Not only did I have the required technical and interview skills, but I learned how to properly work in a team to develop dynamic applications.
I was able to land an amazing job within about a month of graduating the course. It was the best career move I could have ever made.
10/10 would learn JavaScript again
As a graduate of MKS27 I had a very good experience overall. My main purpose in writing this review though is to not rehash all the stuff you've already read about them, but maybe offer some encouragement for a different group that might be considering applying.
I think alot of the reviews are coming from the type of person you're likely to see at Makersquare, namely "unmarried, 20 somethings, that have some college or a less useful college degree". All in all they are great...
As a graduate of MKS27 I had a very good experience overall. My main purpose in writing this review though is to not rehash all the stuff you've already read about them, but maybe offer some encouragement for a different group that might be considering applying.
I think alot of the reviews are coming from the type of person you're likely to see at Makersquare, namely "unmarried, 20 somethings, that have some college or a less useful college degree". All in all they are great people, hell they were me 10 years ago, but how many more reviews can you read from that same person.
I was not the typical MKS student. I'm married with two children and was looking for a better future for my family. If you are concerned about something similar, just know it's doable. Budget, plan accordingly, lean on your family and friends, and just knock it out.
The rest is like everyone says, namely it works. Yes it can be difficult at times, but you learn enough to land a job relatively quickly that pays pretty well.
How much does MakerSquare cost?
The average bootcamp costs $14,142, but MakerSquare does not share pricing information. You can read a cost-comparison of other popular bootcamps!
What courses does MakerSquare teach?
MakerSquare offers courses like .
Where does MakerSquare have campuses?
Is MakerSquare worth it?
MakerSquare hasn't shared alumni outcomes yet, but one way to determine if a bootcamp is worth it is by reading alumni reviews. 89 MakerSquare alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed MakerSquare on Course Report - you should start there!
Is MakerSquare legit?
We let alumni answer that question. 89 MakerSquare alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed MakerSquare and rate their overall experience a 4.41 out of 5.
Does MakerSquare offer scholarships or accept the GI Bill?
Right now, it doesn't look like MakerSquare 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 MakerSquare reviews?
You can read 89 reviews of MakerSquare on Course Report! MakerSquare alumni, students, and applicants have reviewed MakerSquare and rate their overall experience a 4.41 out of 5.
Is MakerSquare accredited?
Approved and Regulated by the Texas Workforce Commission—Career Schools and Colleges
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