UW Coding Boot Camp

This is a very intensive and rewarding 12-week bootcamp to learn full stack web development. It is not for the faint of heart. You will work on the content every day for many hours a day. You will learn front and back end languages and will be able to build full service applications. You will also receive career coaching and invites to hundreds of seminars. Well worth the money. Read less

I am fresh out of my bootcamp experience with the University of Washington. I have to say, this was a ride! And the ride was pretty intense at times! This class ended up being wonderful. When I started my journey to learn web development, I was unsure about whether to do a bootcamp or learn on my own. At this point, I can say I am so happy I decided to do this bootcamp. I’m going to break this review down into a few different parts here… 
 
  Curriculum: I would say this is a pretty good curriculum. Although, the way this is designed and its effectiveness lies heavily on how well the instructor teaches, as well as, group collaboration. I will touch on our instructor more later, but overall – the curriculum does follow the same instruction as a lot of other online resources. You will need to plan to do above and beyond the course work to get the most out of this class, so prepare for that. I don’t care what the school is or who the instructor is – when you are learning to code, sometimes it takes many explanations of the same concepts by different people for it to finally click – so plan for that and strive to find any resource you can that helps you to succeed. 
 
Additionally, before investing in a program like this, I highly recommend you do some practice coding with free tutorials for at least some HTML and CSS (and maybe tutorials on working with Github!). Get a feel for it and see how you like it before committing to something this intense! Also, by taking the time to do this, the first month of class will be way less crazy for you and you feel much more calm as you learn the ropes. 
 Instruction: We did have some hiccups with the instructor within the first month or so of class and our instructor did have to be replaced. This was a bit of a stressful time and I’m removing a star on instructors in my review because of this very challenging first month. But we were ultimately blessed with Tom McCarthy, the most wonderful instructor!!! If we had him the whole class, I would rate instructors at 5-stars, easily.   I could say so many good things about Tom – but I’ll limit it to the bullet points here – He was positive, helpful, encouraging and best of all – very clear and organized with his thoughts. When he explained something, it made sense. When you were stuck on a problem – he was happy to unpack it with you, following the breadcrumbs to find the answer. He was so good and I’ll forever be so happy I got to learn from him. We additionally had two teaching assistants in the class as well who would go around while working on activities. Typically someone from the instructional staff would check on you to see if your group needed help during every group work period.   Support Staff: For the part-time course you do have access to tutoring for 50 minutes a week. I, personally, only met with my tutor once – so I cannot really speak to this program very in-depth, but I do know many of my fellow students met with their tutor every week and found that resource very valuable. Our student success manager was nice and helpful. I got a little behind on assignments once and she checked in with me to see how she could help. Additionally, what first impressed me about this school was the enrollment specialist I worked with was communicative and helpful answering all my questions and going over the program with me.   Collaboration: This is probably one of my favorite things about this bootcamp – working with other students! I have made some really great friends and it is so nice to be able to have at least a handful of people to keep in touch with and chat about web development stuff! Even my crew for our final project, we are still working together on developing our idea further out than what we could accomplish in the two weeks we had to work on it for class. It is great to have had the opportunity to develop these relationships and connections as we all head out into the real world of development.
 
 Career Services: I have decided to not use this service as much as I could have. They offer reviews of all your employment documentations – resumes, portfolio, LinkedIn, GitHub, etc. You can submit your documentation and career services will provide feedback. They help you throughout the course but you have 90 days following the course where you can continue to utilize these resources. 
 I think that covers the course and what you can expect. When it comes down to it, this is a good course but it absolutely will not do all the work for you. I put in at minimum of 20 hours a week into studying and homework above and beyond class hours. This is going to be an intense program and a huge time commitment. But worth it if this is really the career you want to pursue and most importantly… if you really enjoy coding! Because you will be doing a lot of it!   Read less

Be prepared to pay for an over priced course that does not seem to screen their instructors. The first 2-3 months of the course were absolute hell on earth. 13k (or more if you get a student loan) and they hire an instructor that seems to have no interest in teaching what so ever. Then , once they quit or got fired, we were stuck with subs that were just extremely hard to follow and disorganized due to the nature of them just being thrown in to have a warm body present. On top of that, the window to quit the course is extremely small and if you miss the chance you are stuck miserable paying for a course that has all the exceptions in the world for you as a student but, UW can’t keep it together on their end. I will say the new instructor we had after all of that was phenomenal however, it was too little too late at that point. They blab about how much support is given when in reality,  they will read you the same script and do the bare minimum to help their struggling students. Also, i’m not sure why there is even an overall passing grade if you have to pass every assignment. So if you have anything going on in your personal life, don't even count on their being any wiggle room to help you. This course would be great for someone who has no bills, no kids, and can spend every hour of their day on the course work. They did a nice job presenting this course as if they really care about your success because in reality, they don't. All they care about is dollar signs. Read less

I came into the UW Coding bootcamp with the intention of transferring my skills as a Quality Engineer from a manufacturing industry to a Software Quality Engineer. I am satisfied with the skills I have learned and acquired. The instructional team was awesome and always ready to assist and provide guidance throughout the program.
The bootcamp was the best way for me to breakthrough in the tech industry. I learned a lot and I am well equipped to start a career as a Software Development Engineer. Read less

Bootcamp- get ready to hit the ground running. This is an intensive fast paced learning environment. I am not going to lie, I took the full time course and this is what it takes to succeed: When they say 40-60 hrs of practice time is required outside of class time- TAKE THAT SERIOUSLY! No matter what level you start, put in the hours of practice and learning. The result is worth the sacrifice. In 3 months, after coming from a minimal background of tech- (zero knowledge of coding) I  can now build an entire web application from front end to back end. Joe, my teacher, does an outstanding job of explaining each lesson and gives us adequate time to replicate on our own- plus he has a way of keeping the students engaged with creative lines and jokes to keep the atmosphere of the classroom stress free which is an important element to have in a great teacher. At the end of each lesson there is a Q and A to make certain the clarity of the assignment is understood by all. He then keeps a help queue open so that students always have access to him or a ta during live activity practice. Outside of the classroom, you have so many tools to help you succeed. Sign up for tutoring (I would do this immediately). You are allowed certain amount of tutoring time. Use it. Utilize office hours. Every step you take to use the tools in your tool box will aid you through this course and into your dev career.  There is also the student success manager, who is available to you. If you are doing everything you can, utilizing all your tools, and still not understanding- they have a solve for that too- they can extend your tutor hours to offer you more support. My point is, This is an OUTSTANDING course, for those who commit to it. The school has done an excellent job to take a panoramic view of everything you might need to help you through the course and made it easy for you to access, and if you find something they haven't covered, I know, you can reach out to any staff and they will help you find the information you seek.  I would encourage anyone interested in coding to buckle up and take this course! You won't be disappointed!!!  Read less

As a product manager who does not have an engineering background, I needed to gain some coding skills for web app design. The UW boot camp has been very helpful and it offers a lot more than just coding skills but also wireframes, user stories, and acceptance criteria. As a result, you will have a full picture of the Software Development Life Cycle. You will be able to coordinate with other team members to make your app work, which means how to merge your codes together without a bug! During difficult times, when I couldn't fix bugs on time, TA, tutor, and instructors were always there to help me. If you are looking to switch to software engineering or a career related to that, this would be a great option for you to gain coding skills in a short period of time.  Read less

As a product manager who does not have an engineering background, I needed to gain some coding skills for web app design. The UW boot camp has been very helpful and it offers a lot more than just coding skills but also wireframes, user stories, and acceptance criteria. As a result, you will have a full picture of the Software Development Life Cycle. You will be able to coordinate with other team members to make your app work, which means how to merge your codes together without a bug! During difficult times, when I couldn't fix bugs on time, TA, tutor, and instructors were always there to help me. If you are looking to switch to software engineering or a career related to that, this would be a great option for you to gain coding skills in a short period of time.  Read less

Prepare to dedicate six months to this program because it is a grind, the course (even part-time) hits the ground running, however the course provides you the tools to research deeper into these topics outside of class.  In all honesty it was very intimidating at first but with the help of the instructors, TA's and tutors, you are guided through this course with many tools to help you untangle the spaghetti.  As you go through the course you will begin to recognize the building blocks that this course guides you through; much of the knowledge gained comes from the hours you dedicate outside of class for you to better your understanding of the many topics covered in this course. This has been an amazing experience for me personally and to be able to reach that finish line is an incredibly rewarding feeling!  My appreciation for the staff is held in very high regards. Read less

This fast-paced coding bootcamp was an incredibly rewarding experience. There is a ton of information covered, from concepts to coding languages to career advancement opportunities. Though certainly challenging, the support available is above and beyond the level of support I had ever received in my undergrad studies. I went in to the course with very minimal tech experience and graduated with a job offer already in hand. I recommend this course for anyone looking to break into the tech industry, regardless of your level of tech experience so far.  Read less

I really enjoyed being part of this BootCamp. I am not going to lie, this course is fast-paced but in the 6 months I've attended, I was able to gain knowledge about the front end and back end of web applications. The teacher is very helpful and the faculty does assure that the students get as much help as possible. The TA's are awesome and do a great job explaining any units that you are unsure about. The tutors that you get assigned to also do an amazing job helping me understand the concept of the homework. The student success manager is awesome because if you need more tutor help, they will extend your tutor hours if need to. They will also let you know how you are doing during your course so that you don't fall behind any curriculums.  The farther down you go through the course, the more challenging the units get but every unit that is being taught in this class helps you further understand how web development/design works. After taking this course, I am excited to use the knowledge that I have learned to incorporate it into any future career I get into. This course has also made me interested in understanding how to do gaming development. Overall, this course was fun, intense, and exciting at the same time. I do encourage people who are interested in coding but not sure where to start to take this course because it will help in the long run.  Read less

A great experience overall. I personally took the course to fill in gaps and brush up on the modern tech stack. A good portion of the class started with no prior experience and were doing amazing things at the end. The instructor, Peter Surowski, is good at taking complex topics and making them accessible. The structure of the sessions is designed to be interactive and will not allow you to doze off. There were many opportunities to work in teams, make friends, and get ready for the workplace. Keep in mind that it's called a bootcamp for a reason. It's intense, but totally worth it. Read less

I came in not knowing what to expect and came out extremely happy with the decision I’ve made to join this course.  I’ve learnt more in the 6 months in this class than my last 5 years on my own.  I can now truly say that I am a Full-Stack developer.  The instructor Peter Surowski was great, and the TAs Ali-Schrech and Ben Abbott were super helpful.  There is so much material in this class for a 6-month course so you will need to spend a good amount time outside the class to stay on top of everything.  The class projects were super fun be a part of.  You will learn to work with others as a small development team to design, develop, and deploy a fully functional application using the knowledge you gained from the class.  Overall, great course, great experience.

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I joined the bootcamp when I felt stagnated as a developer, and the course was great for refreshing my skills AND learning some new tech. The job assistance felt rather lacking; I didn't feel like it was any of it was different than what I already could find outside the program. Read less

Overall the course moves at a blazing speed, but if you dedicate to the program you will be able to come out on top. The instruction staff was absolutely amazing throughout the course. Joe Rehfuss was my teacher and he did a fantastic job making sure we all understood the coursework. Louis Coleman was our TA and he helped out quite a bit throughout the course. I would highly recommend this course for anyone looking to get hands on experience with Javascript, HTML, and CSS in a consistent learning environment. Read less

It definitely was an experience but a great one! I could not have done it without the support of the instructor and TA’s. The instructor was great and genuinely wanted to teach and help us all become web developers.  Also, getting connected with a tutor right from the start was so beneficial. The team was always willing to help out, so don’t be afraid to ask for help! They won’t know if you don’t ask :) it’s definitely a challenge but one that is worth the time and energy. 

Even though the program was restructured to be online d/t to covid-19 it still felt well done and you were able to engage with others in the cohort still. The material is relevant and could have used more time spent on the newer technologies than others that are not as current in the work field. None the less, you’ll be surprised by how much you’ve learned when you look back at day one.  Read less

Joining the Bootcamp I had little experience in web development. By the time I finished, I had a different view of the whole software development arena. Having an experienced tutor and a good support system helped me find myself in the field. The curriculum was wide and broad and accommodative in terms of where you want to diversify in the future.  Six months later, I know how much I don't know and thanks to the Bootcamp, my career has a direction now. The projects too were intensive, and they easily allow you know your strengths and weakness. You might not be employer-ready by the end of the Bootcamp, but, if you follow the instructors' approach to the whole thing keenly,  it is only a matter of time. Be sure to have your ass kicked, but it is worth it.  Read less

This class was amazing and truly a great experience! The course is perfect for someone who has little to no coding experience. I arrived on day 1 having done the prework, a previous HTML/CSS workshop, and a bit of personal research. However, I think it would be ok if you started day one with just the curiosity to learn code. I left knowing more about the basics (HTML, CSS, Javascript, SQL) but also about some newer technologies (GraphQL, Redux). The class also covers topics outside of technical coding skills, like how to work efficiently with a team and time management. My only issue is that I wish I had more time to code and work on projects with my cohort and instructional team. Our class met 3 times a week for 6 months and I still didn't feel like it was enough!  

The class is definitely rewarding in so many ways when I think about what I knew on the first day compared to now, but the course was for sure tough! Assignments do come and go very quickly, leaving a short amount of time to learn subjects before moving on. Often times, we'd only spend about a week learning a topic, but I would have liked to spend about a month on it. However, that does come with doing the part-time program and making sure to set time to learn on your own. Nevertheless, I want to highlight that I never felt abandoned in my learning. The instructional team was always fully present and ready to help. They really understand that learning can be different with each person and always made sure any issues I had were resolved. (Shoutout to John, Ben, Lynna, Michell (my tutor!) and the AskBCS Learning Team for being available all the time for help, even when I had the smallest, weirdest questions about coding!)  Read less

          I've thought that I could pick up coding easily since I always considered myself a fast learner I've picked up things easily; but this bootcamp have challenged me in ways I wouldn't expect. 

I've learned to manage my time by creating a game plan since I work 40 hours a week and try to make sure to put 20 hours/week either reading pre-reads (Yes they are important), practice coding other than the 12 hour class per week. 

I've learned that more you practice will help you enhance your knowlege in coding, understanding and practice your keyboard typing skills! 

I've learned Google-fu! I've google most of the answers on how-to's on the homework and the projects that we've made. And you can also use it out side of the class! 

Over all I had fun with the Coding Bootcamp! It is definitely worth it in the end! 

Thank you! Read less

This was definitely quite an experience.  The course is well rounded and taught all of the most current technology being used in the market.  With that said, it just felt like there was not enough time to absorb the information until we move on to the next module. Understandably so as I know that ongoing learning is part of this profession.  I loved my instructional team.  They did a tremendous job providing our class the support that we needed, always going above and beyond in helping us succeed. Big thank you to John, Ben and Lynna for making this hard journey worth the effort! Read less