University of Utah Professional Education Boot Camps

My name is Logan Lee and I took this course January of 2018, and finished in July of 2018.  My experience during those 6 months was different than any other education I have had.  I will not lie, it was challenging. One of the harder things I've done in my life.  Especially as someone who had absoltely no prior experience or knowledge on the subject.  The course moves fast, and there are a lot of topics that you will need to absorb to the best of your abilities.  However, all of the tools and resources are there for you to succeed.  This course tested my ability to soak in as much information as possible, and my ability to be self sufficient.  I never knew using google was a skill until I took this class haha! 

I feel very fortunate for two reasons. One, my instrucor Jonathan Bejarano was absolutely outstanding.  You can tell he cares VERY much about his students and their careers following the completion of this bootcamp.  He would take time to individually chat with you about any issues you were experiencing, job opportunities, interview tactics... you name it. He was very good at explaining complicated conepts by comparing them to everyday things that would be easy to associate and understand.  I could tell that he thinks about every lesson plan and finds ways to imporve upon them(he will adapt to the people in his class).I was very lucky to have him leading our class. Two, being my classmates. I have made life long friends from this course.  When I found myself struggling, I knew I had people that I could turn to and chat with about anything.  

I've learned four things from this course. The first, obviously, is how to code... Both front-end and back-end.  Second is how to work with people in a team setting. Third is patience, holding back frusturation when encountering annoying bugs that seem unsolvable.  The fourth being problem solving, being able to have an open mind, taking in all the variables and sorting through all possible routes to take.  Things that would once stump me and make me angry, I now look at in a completely different way. My brain is primed to troubleshoot and find solutions.  

Now that I have written probably the longest review in history let me leave any readers with some advice.  If you are thinking about taking this class, be prepared to face challenges that will keep you up late. Don't be afraid of failing at first, this is how you will improve.  Lean on fellow classmates and push for peer communication, DO NOT be afraid to ask questions.  Take advantage of any outside resources such as udemy, codewars stack overflow etc. as well as any resources that the course provides such as office hours and tutoring.  Six months can completely change your life and your career.  I highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to get involved in this industry, but doesn't want to pursue a traditional computer science degree(not saying that you can't do both). 

Thanks for reading, I hope some of you will find this review helpfull.

After completing this full-stack web development course, I can confidently recommend it to anyone who's interested in becoming a web developer. This program lasts for 6 months, and allows you to work during the day and attend classes at night, while completing projects on your own time at home. Now I know that some bootcamps get a bad rap, and it may or may not be for a good reason, but let me tell you why this bootcamp is among the best.

Pros:

• The staff in this department are EXTREMELY attentive to your feedback. If you have any concerns about anything related to the course, they will make sure you're needs are met as quickly as possible. They treat you as a professional, and not necessarily like just another student.
• The instructors, and the TA's are among the best I've seen in any program. They are working professionals who know what they are doing and know the industry well. They don't mess around with selection process either. If an instructor does not meet expectations, they take immidiate action to ensure they find someone who does. They know you pay good money for this course, and they take that very seriously.
• The curriculum for this course robust and covers a wide variety of different technologies that will help you get ahead in the industry. They are also constantly changing this curriculum to match what's being used commonly out in the real world. There were several times during the course where they changed the curriculum in order to teach us more commonly used technologies. 
• There's always help available. If you feel like you are getting behind or are having trouble understanding the material, TA's are always available to help you out. They also offer personal tutors outside of class hours to help you get the assistance you need. No one gets left behind, and the class keeps up a good pace.
• This program recognizes that the tech industry changes quickly. No matter how much you learn about current techs, there will always be new things to replace the current ones. That is why in addition to teaching you current technology, they put a lot of emphasis into self-learning. They make sure that you understand that once you finish the course and venture off into the real world, that you have the skills and the foundation necessary to continue learning and understanding new technologies so that you always stay relevant.
• Unlike other bootcamps out there, this one is offered at one of the most prestigious universities in the state of Utah. This means when you graduate you get a (really nice and official looking) certificate of completion. To me this shows employers that you were serious about where you got your education. And looks much better than getting a certificate from any other bootcamp.
• This program is split into two parts, Technology, and Career. So aside from learning how to code, you are also working closely with your career advisors to help set you up for success in the rough world of employment searching. They help you build up a portfolio, learn how to effectively complete tech interviews, build a complete resume, etc. They do everything they can to make you stick out to employers and have a much easier experience when looking for a job.
• It's just better. I've met graduates from other bootcamps in the area (I won't mention any names) who have felt that their experience wasn't a good one. I've personally worked with some of these graduates and found that some of them really struggle with what they've learned. I personally believe the quality of this bootcamp is far superior to other's I have seen. I've even met individuals who have done other bootcamps, then went through the UofU's bootcamp and have said that this one is the best by far.

Cons:

• The course gets started VERY quickly and with very little initial instruction. When first starting you are likely going to be very confused with how everything works and what is expected of you. These things become clear after a short period, but in my opinion they could have given more instruction and made the startup process a little more organized.
• This is, in my opinion, both a PRO and a CON. But the course is very fast paced (obviously, it's a bootcamp). But it's very important that if you take this course you are motivated enough to use the resources available to you so that you can keep up. If you feel like you are falling behind it's up to you to make sure you get the help you need. Everything you need is available to you for your success, you just have to make sure you stick with it and use those resources.
• Some employers are still a little biased towards bootcamp graduates. It's unfortunate, but it's true. Some employers may dismiss you because of where and how you got your education - but this shouldn't discourage you. I've seen many of these graduates do really well. It's up to us to change this negative stigma, so do your best and make sure your work is top notch.
• The technologies taught in this bootcamp (during the time that I attended) were open source, JavaScript driven technologies, like Node, MongoDB, Express.js. It was very cool stuff, but I quickly learned after being in the industry for a while that there is SO much more out there for you to learn that employers are looking for. .NET developers for example are in very high demand, but you won’t learn any of that here (Unless their curriculum has changed, which it very well may have). We got a small taste of other languages like Python, and Go, but those things were more of an introduction and I can’t say with confidence that any of it stuck. I would have really loved to learn more high demand languages in depth, like C# or Python.
• There are a few things that I believe are extremely important that were not covered in this course for some reason. Here are a few of those things.
  • Environment variables (Very important for security reasons when developing web apps).
  • SASS and LESS (Widely used extensions for CSS)
  • SSL Certificates (Also very important for delivering secure web apps)

The coding Boot Camp at the University of Utah is a great program. During the 6 month course I learned a lot about HTML, CSS, Boostrap, React, Javascript, node, Handlebarsjs, and many other things. I became fairly comfortable with all of it. With that being said you are given a lot but only have so much time to learn everything in class so be sure to set time aside to study and to work on the assignments. Because if you plan on just showing up to class to learn everything you are going to fail. The teachers and TA's are knowleadgeable and will help you to succeed if you ask them questions and pay attention. Be sure to take advantage of the career services to help you prepare a resume and to be ready to get a job by graduation. I just graduated I don't currently have a job but I have got a lot of potential jobs lined up. 

For any of you thinking of enrolling - or those who will start soon - please do more pre-work than is recommended.  I wish I would have come to the program more prepared, and most of the class feels like they are behind.  I don't get as much out of the lectures as I would like - because of the speed at which they move.  I am seven weeks in and there is so much I wish I would have done before the class started.  Get a good handle on JavaScript before class starts!  The pre-work only had one small JavaScript assignment and I would have been a lot better off if I focused on this.  I would recommend the book "A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript" before starting class.  The same author also has an HTML/CSS &  jQuery book that I wish I would have completed before class started.  I do love the challenge of the bootcamp I just wish I would have done more to prepare. More to come later!  Full review to come later.  So far plenty of support from Trilogy and the University of Utah, but I am new to this field and am wishing I would have done more to prepare for the bootcamp.  Longer Review to come when I finish.