UCLA Extension Boot Camps

Extremely well taught course. Instructors and TA’s are top notch.

Career services are a joke. I have unmarked career homework from them, even after reporting it twice during the course. Career services added zero value to the course.

I will still recommend this course for teaching in-demand languages, the teacher genuinely caring about your learning, and the great learning atmosphere provided. 

I loved the course!

I have background in electrical engineering and although I had some previous programing experience before starting the program, it was still very challenging. The pace of the program was workable but I had to manage my time effectively since I has taking the course part time with a full time job. 

In this program, you will get as much out of it as you are willing to put in. The time and effort you spend on assignments will help grow the and reinforce the skills taught in the classroom. The course will not go over every detail of the languages covered but it will provide enough of an understanding to enable you to continue learning on your own. The instructor and TAs are great; they did an excellent job of explaining difficult concepts and providing necessary support.

Overall I found the experience very rewarding and felt like I gained the skills needed to start a career in software engineering. 

I recently completed the UCLA Full Stack Web Bootcamp. It was one of the most meaningful educational experiences of my academic career. This was money well spent!

The course is challenging from a number of perspectives. First, while individuals with no prior programming experience can succeed in the course, I would advise that anyone who wants to enroll, focus on JavaScript (or another language) prior to entering the program. Spend at least 30 hours on an online education site like Udemy, Treehouse, or FreeCodeCamp prior to entering the program. The pace of the program is fast and it will be to your advantage to have some experience with JavaScript or another programming language. I noticed that individuals who had prior programming experience (but were not necessarily experienced programmers) where more successful than those that did not. Also, some students mistakenly spent the majority of the pre-work on html/css instead of the programming aspect (JavaScript). HTML/CSS is easier to pick up. Javascript will be a challenge for beginnier.

Secondly, many of the topics in this course, are in normal circumstances, a semester long class. In this case, the topics are covered within a week (or less). It is incredibly important to spend at least 20 hours outside of classroom time studying/practicing what you learned in the class.

Thirdly, I had prior programming experience but when we started the backend part of the course I was basically a beginner. This is where many people started to feel frustrated (including myself). But if you practice, you will feel more comfortable. The key in this program is to practice, practice, practice!

In order to complete the Boot Camp successfully I would suggest the following:

1. Spend at least 30 hours on JavaScript prior to taking the course.
2. Use TreeHouse, Udemy, and/or FreeCodeCamp or some other resource simultaneously as you’re taking the course. All are excellent resources for everything that is taught in the course.
3. Align yourself with individuals who you are comfortable working with. This will be important for the group projects.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and/or schedule office hours with the professor or a TA. The program provides great support so don’t be shy!
5. Be prepared and have some exposure to a topic before the lecture. This will make it easier to understand.
6. Clear your calender for 24 weeks! It's going to a fun ride!
7. Bonus: There is free parking along Veterans if you’re willing to walk (about a six minute walk).

I

Overall very rewarding experience. The instructor and TAs  were passionate about coding and really cared about the success of their students. Student Services was also very receptive to feedback to make the program better. The material was challenging and requires a lot of self discipline, no one is going to hold your hand, but if you are passionate and are putting in the work yourself, the instructional staff is always very supportive. Also, no one is going to hand you a job after program completion. I always felt very supported by my instructors and my classmates and I would definitely reccomend it to anyone seriously considering a big career change. 

In the beginning, I personally didn't know what I was going to get from the course. I saw all of the reviews and promotion that were promising job placements and things of that nature. The class moves at a fast pace, but if you put the time in and passionate about the subject this class is perfect for you! I love to code and this class gave me a great footing, now I freelance and about to start applying for jobs with a lot more confidence that I had going in! I know I have the skills to compete in the job market, I was taught all of the fundamentals and given resources to continue to grow on my own whether that is with or without a company. I am very grateful for this beautiful opportunity and if you are also looking to become a coder this is a great place to start!

The Coding Bootcamp at the UCLA Extension was challenging but absolutely doable with the resources provided by faculty and one's own personal commitment. At first, the material can be intimidating, especially for people who do not have any prior experience programming, but there was pre-work given before the first day of class in order to give every student exposure and to motivate and bring awareness to the difficulty of the course. The pace of the class is quick and it is very easy to fall behind, if that happens, you will be doomed to play catch up while the pace of the class gets quicker and quicker. I found that all of the assignments and in-class activities were dependent on your knowledge of the previous lessons in order to fully grasp the new material. 

It is very important to be able to teach yourself and know when to ask for help. The staff does a great job being supportive of every student's learning and providing help outside of class. 

Omar is an excellent professor, he obviously a master of the craft and teaches it in the easiest way for everyone to be able to understand and will go the extra mile to help his students. He firmly believes in every student but will show tough love if a student does not make their own contribution. 

What you get out of the program is what you put into it. 

The course is very challenging for a student who has no background in the subject. Expect to put in tons of time outside of class if you want to succeed. At times the class can start to slow down, but do not let these brief breaths of air fool you. It can be very easy to fall behind if you do not continue to pay attention and practice outside of class. 

The instructor Omar and all of the TAs and support staff are extremely helpful and available. Omar regularly hosted review sessions outside of class time, and he really cares about the success of his students. He really pushes his students to succeed especially for the ones that really need the push. 

The reason I chose this bootcamp over all the others in LA was because it answered three questions I had about choosing a bootcamp. The first was could I keep my full-time job and take this bootcamp? The second was does this course teach the most relevant technology being used by hiring companies? And the third was are these teachers experts in their fields and are they good at teaching? I'll explain more below.

This course is no joke even though it is part-time. In fact, the process of going to work everyday and then shifting gears at the EOD to cram new concepts was one of the most difficult experiences I have ever been a part of. The payoff was immense and totally worth it though. The work ethic that was required to finish the homework and projects shines through when you begin your job interviews and solo projects. It was like working two jobs at once but your second job is a constant reminder as to how amazingly thought-provoking your new career can actually be. That and you can afford to eat and pay rent while you gain skills for a new career.

The curriculum changed halfway through the course for our class. I only bring this up to emphasize the awareness the counselors and teachers had to re-evaluate the course to make sure the languages and frameworks being taught were the most relevant in the industry. The shift from PHP to Java showed that this bootcamp is not a mere money grab by UCLA but a serious program that wants their students to find success in the real world. I was very happy about this and I saw it reflected in my job search as well.

Finally the teaching staff. The two main instructors were current senior level software engineers that very clearly love what they do and wanted to share their knowledge with the students. I really liked that the TA's were all basically former bootcamp grads that also have a love of learning programming and loved sharing that with others. The career counselors were all super supportive individuals that were always there if you needed them. No complaints here for any part of the teaching department.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this bootcamp for people that really want to get serious about jumping into a coding career. The amount of time and effort that it takes to do this and keep a full-time job is immense. You must make sacrifices if you want to seriously make it through. But that's going to happen regardless of the bootcamp you take. The reason you should take this one is because you can keep the lights on at your house while you do it, the course is changing and stays up-to-date with industry standards, and the teachers are top notch and very professional.

This program is a bootcamp, so be prepared to invest some serious time and energy outside of class to really keep up. The program is perfect for those working full-time or who have other obligations. The staff are constantly checking in with you and are available for extra review of concepts. The career assistance has been on of my favorite aspects of the program, which includes company tours, guest speakers, resume and LinkedIn profile help. This program is a great introduction to programming concepts and provides a solid foundation for aspiring web developers. I would describe their approach as pragmatic rather than academic. 

Before going into detail, it's important to explain the context around my particular objectives.  I'm an experienced startup exec on the business side of things who wanted to learn to code, not to change careers, but to become a better tech entrepreneur.  So my experience is about learning, more than the career-change aspect of the program. Before starting the program, I'd only just started to try and learn to code.  Having stumbled through some online courses, I realized that, being a classroom learner and people person, it'd be a lot better to learn with others, and to follow an integrated curriculum.  I reviewed all of my options for bootcamps, and since I needed to attend a part-time program, The Coding Bootcamp at UCLA emerged as the best part-time option for me.  It is a 6 month program, and it is fairly intense, especialy if you have a full-time job.  Expect to put in about 10 hours in the classroom plus 15-20 on homework and projects.  You will definitely learn, a lot, perhaps too much!  The curriculum is very up to date with the latest frameworks, libraries, and technologies.  To be clear, learning to code like an expert will take you several years, and will be a lifelong activity, since there is just so much material to cover.  You will not be an expert after 6 months, but will learn a lot and become very confident about how to find the answers.  You will also have a roadmap for further learning.  By the end of the program, you will have coded dozens of applications (at least one per week, for the homeworks) and 3 group projects (two of them fullstack).  The teachers are great, and very commited.  Shout out to Michael, who is a coding/debugging machine and might even have a superhuman brain...and to Omar, who is also super smart, funny, engaging, and goes above and beyond helping students.  Gabrielle, the career counselor, is incredibly good at her job, and the classmates are amazingly supportive.  The community definitely makes the learning more fun and effective. I miss it already, and would definitely recommend the program to anyone who wants to learn to code.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

My reason for taking this course was to get ahead of my Computer Science program at my university. I have a background in biology and chemistry but had a great interest in coding and programming and didn't know how to be up to par with everyone in my undergrad program. CBC not only give me the skills and the tools to learn how to program but also gave me the closest thing to experiencing real world situations or experiences in the computer science field. in the program  you get to work on your own as well as in teams where you can learn more technologies and learn from other students that may be more experienced that you. The instructors and the TAs are the best resources you could ever ask for. They are highly experienced individuals that have and are working in the field that we all are trying to get in. The career and student support team are amazing as well. They will make sure that you are getting all the help you need as well as support you need through your whole journey. Trust me you'll want the emotional support when you go through the course haha. I definitely got what I intended to get from this program plus so much more. Worth every penny and worth every moment of struggle through this program. This was not an easy course I'll tell you that. I know I'm ready to face the challenges I'll be facing when I go back to my university next semester!! 

This class was exactly what I needed! I am from a business background who currently runs an E-Commerce Magento Website. I wanted to be able to develop on my own website and be able to do basic/intermediate things. This class is very fast paced... this class will give you 2 year headstart in developing within 6 months. If you want to truly jump careers, this is a great place to start. Developing is such an individual sport in the sense that there is so much to learn and resources to read. It is more like a lifestyle because it is impossible to learn everything. It is also a team sport because you cannot build a truly meaningful app without a team. This class gives you both experiences with all the focused homework, and 3 Group Projects. Every experience was integral in learning what developing is really like. 

I run a large company and have a family. I spent alot of sleepless nights trying to stay on top of things. If you take this class, I recommend you are fully devoted as if it was a 40 hour a week job. That is how you will gain the most from this class. Just trying to master the concepts taught in class will be a full time job. 

I do not recommend this class if you are already a seasoned developer looking to master a more niche topic. This class is for those who are looking to change careers from a non developing background. They are very dedicated in landing you the "job". 

Note, developing is such a deep skill that involves alot of "struggle". This class makes the struggle alot easier. 

When looking into the program you are directed to a Trilogy "admissions" specialist who is a salesperson trying to get you to fill a spot. They will push you towards an upcomming cohort to fill the class but many of things they "check for" (ie distance to the campus) are irrelevant (people lived 2 hours away from campus). Check to make sure that you are provided the appropriate invoice, I was provided one amount, then another amount, and then finally another amount in the form of a refund since I overpaid. The pre work gets you through week 1, which just happens to be the drop period to receive a refund. The pre work also provides structure to assist with learning, such as links to articles, a related exercise, and is "modular" -  building off of each lesson. 

Day 1 of week 2 begins and the prework is irrelevant and the structure is gone. I signed up for the full time course and regretted it week 2, as you go over multiple important concepts in 1 day, and there is no time to catch up if you don't grasp the concepts with no helpful links or exercises that build upon each other. As a result, I spoke to the class admin because I was unable to keep up with the course but was already told that I was past the drop date (in week 2!). My classmates who were doing well were not focusing on the class, but on CodeCademy and other supplemental learning, and many had not focused on the homework (either not completing it or finding completed assignments online).

The attendance requirements should be loosened since being in class could be watching a fumbling teacher who has no idea what files you are accessing. This makes you feel like you could be more productive at home watching videos from YouTube (this was in fact more productive to understanding concepts). I was part of a class whose curriculum was being used for the 3rd time, on a first time Trilogy instructor. There was little guidance from the TA's who were fresh out of code bootcamps themselves. After a few weeks I was able to receive a pro rated refund after jumping through the hoops Trilogy set up, despite being told I could transfer to a part time cohort. I decided that I needed to stop the class because of the stress it was inducing: constant homework assignments where you are provided little to no direction, you are not told what is important to focus on during class, the pre work does not help you beyond week 1, TA's are former students, they test new curriculum with new teachers, a rigid refund policy compared to other programs.

Based on the responses to reviews here, it seems that UCLA Extension is fine with this. My teacher told me that the class is not conducive to my "literal learning style" (his words) which had ultimately pushed me to drop the course - I wasn't grasping the concepts quick enough. Later, I learned that the teacher has been replaced making me think that it may not have been my "literal learning style" but perhaps the instructor that could have been the problem. They weren't explaining what they were doing during lecture, they would not provide guidance for the homework, they had no idea what kind of information the students were receiving, and little direction when it is clear you are struggling. Who is responsible for monitoring the instructor during a cohort? UCLA Extension? Trilogy? It seems to be no one. I was told that I could "re apply" to the part time program and repay the whole fee. If you are interested in the full time program I would suggest significant time invested in Javascript, don't worry about the pre work, don't focus on the homework, speak up and speak loudly, and complete a course on GIT. U

ltimately, it didn't seem like anyone was concerned with teaching, it was more like a cluster each day of lecture and activities. 10 min lecture on a topic accompanyed by a 10 minute exercise, then repeated, is the curriculum. Save yourself stress with a program that has a more flexible refund policy so that you have better options when there is no one able to provide helpful details. You are trying to learn a mass amount of information and a new kind of logic, I don't think that UCLA Extension is doing an adequate job auditing this. 

I had a great experience at the UCLA boot camp. It's tough so make sure you have time dedicated to studying. You'll learn a little about a new language each class but it's your responsibility to study up at home and familiarize yourself with it or you will fall behind. Trust me on this one! Also, take advantage of the resources. We didn't find out we had a tutor available for free until the end of the course. The teacher and TA's were great! Make sure you're in Charlie or Tristan's class. You will by far get the most for your money and understand the material much better. They are very knowledgable and patient. Take this course, it's worth it!

I recently completed the boot camp.  This is a pass or fail class so the grades are just for you to know how you are doing.  You will learn a little about a lot of different topics, and will need to spend 30-40 hours every week working on the homework and learning on your own.  The TA's are very helpful, but find the one you like best and always go go them when you can.  It helps to build a working relationship, because they will know your code and be able to help you better.  Plus when you are looking for work, you have a current reference who knows your work when an employer asks for it.  The homework assignments will keep you on your toes, and take more than the part time hours they claim.  This needs to be a full time commitment, and if you make it you will come out knowing a lot.  It will seem overwhelming at first, but remember writing code you are going to be breaking and fixing your apps over and over and over again.  You will fail you will make mistakes, but the most important thing is to learn from them. 

The only part I think needs improvement is the Career help.  It was partly due to the fact that our orignal Career Success Manager was promoted, and we were left without anyone or any help for 2 weeks.  Then our new manager was just tossed in, because they did not bother to hire a replacement.  She is nice, but months behind on helping us.  There is career homework, and despite turning it it in on time it took months to get feedback if we got any.  We had to turn in the the social media links we were required to have accounts on, linkedin, stackoverflow, github, and our portfolio and resume.  We did not get feedback on them until 3 weeks before class ended and we were suppose to be looking for work 2 months before it ended.  She was also to give presentations to help us, but never showed up prepared and just made it up as she went along.  Then the demo day is a waste of time, do not bother going.  They waited until the last minute to schedule it and only 6 people showed up, most of whom were not hiring.  Then she stood there giving lame excuses as to why nobody showed up, and how it was beneficial to have fewer people there.  Then a month after finishing she is finally asking for a copy of my cover letter, and still has not given me feedback on it 2 weeks later.

Summary, learned a lot about web dev but got very little, very late career help.  I am still looking for paying work.

I recently graduated from the Trilogy/UCLA program. UCLA, and other schools, are partnering with a company called Trilogy. The owner is a former educator now capitalizing on the boot camp hype. He knows nothing about programming himself.

I was originally sold on the program because it was part time over 6 months rather than full time over 3 months. This seemed to me a better way to really absorb the material, because it's not realistic to code 12+ hours a day for 3 months and retain much, like many of the other boot camps try to do. The brain just doens't work that way. I was also sold on the UCLA name thinking it would hold more weight than many of these code schools, which are all incredibly new and don't have much of a reputation in the real world.

Ultimately, I made a poor decision. While the program started off reasonably well, towards the end, the last third of the program (2 out of 6 months), it pretty much fell apart, for the following reasons:

1) The curriculum kept changing. Originally we were to learn Angular, PhP/Laravel. But sometime through this was changed to React, React Native, and Java. Ok, no problem you might say. Except that each of those complicated topics got no more than 3 days of attention. So the time used to cover these topics at a very introductory level was pretty much wasted.

2) Overall the curriculum tries to cover too many topics. You cover a lot of topics but at a very introductory level. And the time weighting for topics is distorted. For example, you spend the first couple of months doing basic HTML/CSS/jQuery/JavaScript, but then breeze through topics like Node, Express, databases, React, etc. Sure, you have to set the foundation in the beginning, but you can't breeze through complex topics and claim they've been taught.

3) There is a big gap between teaching and learning, meaning that the typical process for any given topic goes something like this... "Here are steps 1-3...now go do the homework/projects incorporating steps 8-10. Figure out steps 4-7 on your own."

4) Instructors are hit and miss. Some instructors are incredibly involved, both in class and outside of class, other instructors show up for class and that's the only time you hear from them. So outside of class it's up to you and the other students to figure everything out. There are "office hours" before and after most classes, but when there are 30 or so students in each class, there is only so much attention you're going to get.

5) Project work can be hit and miss and it completely depends on which people you are teamed up with. I ultimately had a very poor project experience because on two of three projects half of my teams decided they just had no interest in making an effort. There are no negative ramifications for students not participating other than they don't learn. So of three projects I was supposed to have I ended up with a single project to present. That's not very impressive to employers when over a 6 month period you were able to pull together one project, a project that was done over a single two week period.

6) Project work is very, very rushed. You typically get no more than 2 weeks to develop a full project, and while you are working on your project you are bombarded with new material that you are expected to fully digest and in some cases were expected to incorporate into your in-process project. This was just ridiculous. As such, most of the material taught during project weeks was competely ignored by most students.

7) Demo day, which is the day you get in front of "partner" companies, was less than impressive. Less than half of the students (out of 60 or so total) participated and of those only a couple got offers from those partners. Other than that, I don't know of anyone that has even had an interview with those companies.

8) Career services consist of the boot camp making sure you're sending out a bunch of resumes and some guy in another state sending you daily emails of job links, even though he knows nothing about your market, what you're looking for, etc. Some people have gotten jobs, but many others have sent out well over 100 resumes and gotten little to no response. Some people already had jobs and aren't looking. You have a mix of experiences. But overall the program, even the UCLA name, appears to carry no weight in the market. This could vary by market and school.

One helpful thing Trilogy has implemented is weekly continuing training sessions for graduates and current students alike. The topics include both new topics not covered during the program as we all job search tips, like how to write a resume, cover letter, how to focus your project portfolio, etc. But ultimately it comes down to sending out a ton of resumes and networking on your own, as you would expect for any job. Don't expect direct job placement from the program.

Overall, what the program provides is some structure around learning. But just keep in mind that you're only getting a very high level introduction to a bunch of topics and will not come out of the program being well-versed in any one topic, unless you can become so on your own time. The students that did well are those that had some experience coming into the program. Most of those with no experience struggled a great deal or rode on the coattails of the more experienced folks. Even the experienced folks sometimes had problems.

I'm sure the program continues to improve because my cohort complained quite a bit in the weekly surveys and during class. And hopefully Trilogy is listening. But personally, based on my experience, I can't recommend the program.

PS: You'll notice all of the glowing reviews of the program (I know all of these people) and you'll notice the wonderful response from the program. Remember, they are trying to sell you to enroll. And honestly, the program doesn't do well with negative feedback. Much of the response during the program was to push the blame back onto the students. I don't know any other business that works this way.