The codED

Pros: Cost of tuition, hands-on, only two 3-hour classes during weeknights

Cons: Too good to be true, disorganized, no curriculum/syllabus, lack of resources or supplemental materials, overpromised and underdelivered

Summary: You will not gain the necessary knowledge or skills to become a gainfully-employed coder after this class.

I paid $2450 for the codEd App Factory Bootcamp which ran 1/7/14 - 4/2/14. I am a millennial who grew up with the internet, went to HTML summer camps when I was a teen, and have always been self-taught when it comes to programming. The following quote summarizes codEd as a business:

"Many businesses fail because they consistently promise more than they can actually deliver: the promises might get them a lot of new business, but the lack of actual results won't bring them return business, which is what counts. They might get by with more and more promises for a while, but eventually too many customers will hear of their bad practices and they'll go out of business." - Tom Peters, "In Search of Excellence"

codEd's App Factory Bootcamp was a profoundly negative experience, and I can confirm B.A. and martha g.'s reviews. Before becoming a student at the bootcamp, I had been teaching for almost four years - two with the Peace Corps and two at the School of Visual Arts. I have a lot of patience and empathy for teachers, especially young ones. The behavior of codEd's instructor was disappointing and frustrating, to put it lightly.

There is no actual syllabus or curriculum, and the structure of the course looks good on the website, but is disorganized and chaotic in actuality. Resources - like each classes' live video stream and online course documents - were either uploaded 6-8 weeks late or never share at all. The full-time staff consisted of three positions, however during this winter bootcamp the turnover saw new employees in two of those positions almost monthly. This prevented any suggestions or feedback from being solicited or responded to, and well as severe miscommunication between staff and students.

Watch the videos on coded's vimeo account. The instructor is knowledgeable, charismatic, and enthusiastic. However, this class is not his main priority, and the numerous side projects he involves himself with demand the majority of his time and energy. He does not do any lesson planning or prepare his class ahead of time, and this lack of attention is an overwhelming disservice to the students.

Conclusion: My experience was a waste of money, and a painful waste of time. I regret not spending that time, energy, and money on a codinging class that under-promises and over-delivers.