Meet Our Review Sweepstakes Winner: Kendall Lu of Codesmith

Kendall Lu, a graduate of Codesmith’s software engineering bootcamp wrote a Verified review of his bootcamp experience and won our latest sweepstakes competition! Over 1,200 tech bootcamp graduates wrote a Verified review for their school on Course Report and went into the draw to win a $500 Amazon gift card! We caught up with Kendall to hear about his coding bootcamp experience and his job in software engineering!

Want to win $500 in our next Reviews Sweepstakes? Write a Verified review of your coding bootcamp experience – we’ll pick the next winner on December 31st, 2020!

When did you graduate from Codesmith?

I graduated from Codesmith in November 2019.

What did you do before attending Codesmith? Why did you choose to enroll at a coding bootcamp?

In college, I was getting my business degree with a concentration in finance. Long story short, that path didn’t work out for me. A close friend said to try coding and see if I enjoyed it, and if so, I should try to apply for Codesmith. 

How difficult was the Codesmith application process? Any tips for getting accepted?

It was tough and my timeline to learn the basic concepts was a lot shorter than I would have liked. I was able to pass the technical interview on my second try after about a month of studying (8+ hours a day). 

Here are my tips for getting accepted to Codesmith:

• I’d say pair program as much as possible. Find a pair programming partner! I was able to find one within a week or two of starting JavaScript.

• Follow CSX! The 3rd round or technical interview at Codesmith is based off of CSX. I was able do fairly well on my first round of the technical just by going through and really understanding each section of CSX. If you’ve outgrown CSX or a section doesn’t make sense, supplement that with resources, like Youtube, Freecodecamp, and all the other free resources out there.

Where do you work now?

I work at a cyber trust startup as a front end engineer! 

What is your advice to someone considering Codesmith or another coding bootcamp?

For those considering Codesmith, it’s a great bootcamp - you can read my review! But, don’t be biased towards Codesmith or any one bootcamp — Do your research! 

Write a verified review of your coding bootcamp experience!