UW Coding Boot Camp

The UW Coding Boot Camp (Full Stack Web Development) offers full time and part time courses in downtown Seattle and Bellevue. I attended the 24 weeks, part-time evening course in Seattle. I started on June 5th 2019 and graduated on December 5th 2019.

I have been hearing about the high demand for Web Developers for the last few years and that the demand will continue to grow for the next few years. I thought I should give it a try. The internet always fascinates me and I have always wanted to be a Web Developer. I wanted to know the inner workings of the web sites I visited daily. I had been a successful small business owner in the automotive industry for the last 20 years and had decided to retire from it recently, and I thought this is the perfect time to make my dream of becoming a Web Developer come true. So, I started researching for a coding school in the Seattle area. After a month of contemplating and comparing various coding schools in the area, I decided to enroll in the UW Coding Bootcamp. My decision was based on: quality and brand name school, cost, tuition installment payment option, and availability of part-time evening classes. The part-time classes allowed me to continue my apartment rental /real estate investment business.

My experience with the boot camp was generally very good though my feelings had been up and down the entire course of the program. It was no doubt a very intensive program and very challenging for someone who had no prior programming or coding experience. Before the course started, I was very gung-ho and couldn’t wait to start. The first month was great- we did mostly HTML and CSS.  I pretty much understood most of it. Then came JavaScript, and that was when things started to get blurry for me. I began to question myself why I enrolled in the program. I saw how knowledgeable some of my classmates are and I began to lost confidence in myself. To be honest, I thought of quitting a few times. I talked to the instructor and the TAs and they all kept telling me to hang in there and that things will get better. By that time, I was at a crossroad-quit and disappoint my kids and waste my money or to continue and see if things will change for the better. When I started the program, I wanted to be a good example to my kids so they can aspire to be good students. Afterall, I always tell them to work hard and to get good grades. Quitting was definitely not an option. I kept telling myself that I have to hang in there no matter what the outcome may be. So, I spent countless hours in front of the computer pouring over videos, articles, and reading books on coding. By that time, my wife was complaining that I was always in front of the computer and she thought I was been lazy. My kids probably felt neglected too. But I can’t quit, that’s not me, I am not a quitter. Now that I graduated and looking back, I am glad I stuck with it and I am glad the instructor and the TAs kept telling me to hang in there. I am so thankful for them.

My favorite aspect of the program is the chance to be among such wonderful teaching staff and my fellow classmates. Just about everyone was very supportive of each other and they never ceased to help each other in class. Our instructor, Arron Linton was the most caring instructor I ever had. He spent countless hours helping me and other students, sometimes late in the night after class was over. In addition, Arron would do extended office hours at very convenient time. That’s what I call; going above and beyond call of duty! All the teaching staffs genuinely want the students to succeed. Also, having a personal tutor (included in the program) once a week was definitely a great help. I wish I had taken advantage of this earlier in the program.

What I got out of this boot camp:

• A certificate from a renowned institute of higher learning- The University of Washington
• A network of industry professionals 
• An invaluable skill in Web Development with a better understanding of JavaScript and the internet
• An experience building apps as a team
• The skill of stress management

My advice to anyone who wants to sign up for the coding boot camp are:

• Minimize distractions by getting your finances in order
• Get full support from your family
• Start studying before the program starts.
• Get all your personal stuffs done before class starts because you need as many hours as you have-It’s hard work and it requires dedication.
• Stay healthy
• Be positive and don’t give up
• Always try to keep up and don’t fall behind
• Don’t compare yourself to other students who have a background in computer programming or have prior coding experience.
• Believe in yourself.
• Research and compare schools.

I graduated the full stack full time program a month ago, and I can firmly say it was worth it. Going in I had some experience with programming, and I'd been taking udemy courses on Javascript, so I was unsure if I should spend the big chunk of change necessary for the bootcamp, or if I should just keep going through the cheaper online courses. But looking back on it I am so glad I did go with this program...they move incredibly quickly through the curriculum, so it's hard work, but each section builds on the previous material, so it's constant reinforcement of the various skills. Plus, the teaching staff and other students are a powerful resource. Without them it would have taken me many, many times longer to learn the same skills, and much less comprehensively.
That said, it's important to set a couple expectations: you won't learn everything in extreme depth. You'll be laying the groundwork in front end, back end, APIs, servers, databases, etc, but continuing to learn on your own is absolutely necessary too.

I did knock them down to 4 stars on "instructors", simply because there was some inconsistency. Some of the TAs were absolutely stellar, and able to reliable point me in the right direction, and some were much shakier it terms of depth of knowledge. But all were wonderful to work with.

My overall experience with the UW Full-Time bootcamp was a good one, though I do have some points to share with potential applicants. One being, when they say the program is a lot of work, they mean it! Having a BA and other certifications as well as having several years of work under my belt going into this, I thought I knew what working hard long hours looked like. This reset the bar. Expect to work every night and weekend, with very few exceptions, if you want to do well. That being said, I went into this class as a true beginner, so if you have experience you may find the work to take less time.

This class is marketed to all experience levels, as well as to Project Managers. My next point of feedback is that I somewhat disagree that that’s appropriate. 100% you will get more out of this class if you have at least some HTML, CSS, and GitHub experience, and have dabbled in at least one formal programming language (JavaScript especially). If you can take some side classes at a community college to get familiar in any of those prior to the class, you would get a lot more out of it.

From the PM perspective, this class really doesn’t teach you anything about how to manage a project. If you are taking this with the goal of becoming a TPM or PM in the technical world, expect to get your hands dirty working on projects, but don’t expect to be taught any formal frameworks or best practices. What is covered is stand-up meetings and the use of Kanban boards. On a high note, the completion of this bootcamp, in combination with my past work experience and PM Certification, has made me a competitive applicant and I have received a strong response from potential employers since completing the program.

I rated overall experience as a 4 because I expected to get more formal training from the PM perspective. I rated curriculum as a 4 because I feel it was too ambitious for a true beginner. The pre-work will not adequately prepare you for the pace and content of the course if you do not have previous experience. The instructors were fabulous with real-world experience in most cases. The job assistance (career coach) is marvelous and walks through your application materials and the application process in detail. If you sign up for the program, don’t wait to start this process; start talking to your coach early so that by the time you graduate, you can hit the ground running.  

I'm currently attending the UW Full-Stack Bootcamp program (spring/summer 2019).

The program is only halfway complete, but I've been really impressed by the quality of teaching, its curriculum, and the general structure of the course.  The program packs a lot of learning into a very short timeframe, but the instructors and TAs are always available to help and they're genuinely interested in their students' success. 

The class requires a very serious time commitment, but by the end of the program, you’ll not only have a solid understanding of the MERN stack but significant hands-on experience (both individually and part of a team) as well.

I’m a definite fan of the program and can’t recommend it enough for those who want to start a new career or update and strengthen their skills. 

Computer Science teaches you the fundamentals, but not coding.  I signed up for the UW Coding Boot Camp to help me get started in coding and help build up my skills further, and I was not disappointed.  The program is challenging, demanding, but fulfilling; you get out what you put in.  If you are looking for a program to push you and challenge you, this is the program for you.  But, you won’t be alone in this journey, the support you receive from the instructional and support staff is amazing.  Aaron, Jen, Arjun, Alex and Maddie are phenomenal and have your best interest in mind.  10/10 would do it again.

I have worked in the restaurant industry since I was in high school, and I have been looking for a way out for years. I saw that the University of Washington had a full stack coding boot camp, something that I had been interested in for a long time, but never followed through with. Because this was from the University of Washington, I felt that it had a degree of legitimacy that other programs did not. I took a leap of faith and enrolled in the program.

I was terrified. I hadn't been to school in so long, and I never graduated from college. I decided that I would always be the first one to class, and that I would spend as much time as I needed to succeed in the program. The first day, Aaron, the instructor, saw my anxiety, and told me that I would be a developer. I didn't really believe him.

This class was not easy. I had to learn how to learn again; it's not the same as it used to be when I was in school. Everything is on the computer, there is a whole new vocabulary, and all the software was new to me. The level of support from the instructor, Aaron, and the TAs Arjun, Madeline, and Alex was great! Jen would answer my frantic phone calls and emails that I wasn't understanding and assure me that everything was going to be okay. I was assigned a mentor from a cohort before me who was helpful. I was also assigned a TA, Angel, who was definitely the reason that I was able to succeed. She explained to me all of the things that I wasn't understanding, and now I have a relationship with her where, even though she isn't my tutor any more, I have a contact in the tech industry that I can bounce ideas and ask questions of.

The pace was unrelenting. It seemed like every week we started a new topic. But after a time, I got used to the pace, and learned to integrate the concepts from the previous weeks into what I was working on then. My confidence grew. My ability to learn, research, and apply solutions found on the internet, from class activities, or from my peers to my own code grew with each week. I learned so much, and I now understand how to move forward.

I have been recruited to be a TA for an upcoming cohort of the UW coding boot camp. I am interviewing for jobs in the tech industry. Because of my experience in class, as my instructor said, I am now a developer, and it is going to make the greatest difference in my life!

In this class, you get what you put in, so come prepared to learn, and to spend all of your time coding. All of it. And when you emerge on the other side, you too, will be, a developer.

I was very pleased with my experience in the UW Coding Boot Camp program. The instructors and curriculum exceeded my expectations. Everything was well-organized and communicated, and the staff were very available and interested in the students' success. Not only did I graduate from the boot camp with a strong foundation for building a career in Web Development, I also left having created new friendships and connections. Even after graduation the program is continuing to be supportive what with Career Services helping with resume/online materials and the job search and other opportunities associated with the camp...Demo Day, Next Level competition, homework hackathons, etc. Very valuable and I'd strongly recommend the UW Coding Boot Camp to anyone interested in learning to code!

Over the past several years, I've had a pretty stable job but nothing that I was ever excited about. So I decided that I would start learning Web Technologies. My only problem is that I couldn't get started. I always had an excuse for not moving forward with additional education. Everything was so overwhelming to me. So back to my non-exciting job I went. I finally came to the realization that I needed to make a change. Enter the Bootcamp. I decided to take this route for a variety of reasons. Not least of which was the opportunity to have job coaching and be provided with the skills to apply in my chosen career path. I came into this wanting to change my life. I wanted to be put on a path to success so I can provide for my family both now and in the future. I'm so glad I did! The support has been absolutely tremendous. I have had weekly calls with my Career Coach. I've chatted over email with advisors who give me pointers on my resume. I've taken classes on interviewing and learning how to ask the right questions. I have weekly sessions with a Tutor who has helped me tremendously in my coding knowledge and ability. I continue to be amazed at the level of support offered (all of it lives up to the standards as advertised and then some). If I had one piece of advice for someone who is wavering on whether to join or not, I'd say run, don't walk to your computer and sign up! You will never regret learning new things. You'll hit a wall and think you just aren't going to get it. But just know there are countless others who have gone before you who experienced the same feelings. Furthermore, there are countless individuals who are there to lend an ear if that's all you need. So what are you waiting for?

When I first started plotting out a career change from retail operations into retail technology, I wasn't sure what my path would look like. I knew the tech stack that my teams were using and I knew there were plenty of ways to teach myself programming languages online -- what I didn't know was how to put it together in a real world context. This course included a practical, hands-on approach to the stack I wanted to learn, including time in person with other students. We practiced pair programming, working in small teams, and other key skills. By the end of the course, I was even able to build an iOS and Android app.

Most important of all, the confidence I have now is incredible. Before this program, I never would have felt comfortable building something and presenting it to a company. Now I'm pitching an idea directly to a company I admire and so far folks are incredibly receptive.